What is Internship? Internship is a period of supervised training required to qualify any desired profession.

This period is extremely essential in the life of a doctor. They learn the most important skills during this period. I have been extremely lucky to have been a part of a school, which offered me a project on internship. Doctors do internships for really long time, and I was supposed to do the same for 12 hours. Im of the very few students who get such experiences at a very early age. As every student has aspirations of their future professions, I have dreamed myself as a dentist from an age of 15. So, I decided to visit as an intern at a dental clinic. This internship has only made my desire more strong. It was only after I visited the clinic that I got to understand the life and work of a dentist. It indeed fascinated me, and now I really am firm on choice. In one word, this experience was VIVID. Dentistry is an upcoming field, it is developed already, but, it is STILL DEVELOPING High tech instruments are the reason behind it. MY VISIT: During the internship, I tried to know about the profession, and the basics of it as possible. I was lucky to have Dr. Rajiv Shah (M.D.S. Prosthetics) who had been supervising me and helping me with my understanding. He is a very competent dentist in town and watching him work was interesting.

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During my visits I observed the patients who came to visit the clinic. Many patients came to visit in these 12 hours that I was there. On taking an overview, the age of all the patients ranged from about 4 year olds to 85 year olds. This is quite a big range. But majority of them were below 25 years of age. My observation also made my conclude that most of the patients came with a complain of tooth ache due to dental cavities. DENTAL CAVITY: Dental caries, also known as tooth decay or a cavity, is an infection, bacterial in origin, that causes demineralization and destruction of the hard tissues (enamel, dentin and cementum), usually by production of acid by bacterial fermentation of the food debris accumulated on the tooth surface.[1]If demineralization exceeds saliva and other remineralization factors such as from calcium and fluoridated toothpastes, these hard tissues progressively break down, producing dental caries (cavities, holes in the teeth). The bacteria most responsible for dental cavities are the mutans streptococci, most prominently Streptococcus mutans and Streptococcus sobrinus, and lactobacilli. If left untreated, the disease can lead to pain,tooth loss and infection.

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On asking the doctor, I got to know that majority of the cavities occur due to food habits. The main ingredients which are responsible for cavities are refined carbohydrates. Decay can also occur around the edges of fillings in older adults. Because many older adults lacked the benefits of fluoride and modern preventive dental care when they were growing up, they often have a number of dental fillings. Over the years, these fillings may weaken and can fracture, allowing bacteria to accumulate in the tiny crevices causing tooth decay. Fluoride can make teeth less prone to decay but it is advisable that fluoride is gained naturally Dental cavities are so common, that its can now be called a lifestyle disease. THE INSTRUMENTS:

This is the main Dental Chair, when the patient is examined. The dental chair includes :

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1. The basin:

2. The RPM display: its used to change the rpm of drillers

The highlighted part in the picture of the main chair shows the main instruments. These instruments include: 1. Pesoscalar: It is used for cleaning and digging out around the teeth.

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2. Micromotor: It is used to grind the teeth and polish them

3. Air Motor: It is used as a sprayer and suction machine for water.

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4. Drillers: These are used for drilling the teeth during root canal treatments.

Root Canal: A root canal is the space within the root of a tooth. Part of a naturally occurring space within a tooth, it consists of the pulp chamber (within the coronal part of the tooth), the main canal(s), and more intricate anatomical branches that may connect the root canals to each other or to the surface of the root. Root canal is a treatment used to repair and save a tooth that is badly decayed or becomes infected. During a root canal procedure, the nerve and pulp are
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removed and the inside of the tooth is cleaned and sealed. Without treatment, the tissue surrounding the tooth will become infected and abscesses may form.

While on the internship, I was lucky enough to have witnessed a dental brigde treatment. Dental Bridge: A bridge, also known as a fixed partial denture, is a dental restoration used to replace a missing tooth by joining permanently to adjacent teeth ordental implants. Dr. Rajiv Shah is a specialist in for prosthetics, which includes bridges.

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Procedure: First the decayed tooth is removed from the jaw of the patient. Exact measurements of the barren space are taken and a replica is created.

This is the replica of the jaw of the patient. The red space is where the bridge is to be filled.

Below are the false teeth designed to fill the gap in the patients jaw. After these are fixed, it is almost impossible to make out any difference between the real and false teeth.

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OTHER INTRUMENTS: 1. Sterilizer.

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2. Pluckers: For pulling out the teeth.

3. Miscellaneous

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4. Drillers and Percha

The red area show the different drillers. The rest of the containers have percha which are used in root canal.

On observing the patients, one gets to know the true importance of healthy teeth. On hearing the advice of the doctor to the patients I found out that it it advisable to get regular dental check up, even if you have healthy teeth, at least twice a year.

Thankyou.

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