I look back at my first experience at Riverside Free Clinic back in 2019.
Trigger Warning: Bloody Tooth Pictured
At the beginning of the year, I had the privilege of volunteering at the Riverside Free Clinic with the University of California, Riverside Pre-Dental Society. This is the second time I have visited the clinic during my undergraduate career and I was so ecstatic because my first time volunteering was two weeks before the first COVID-19 quarantine was placed in March 2020. During my shift, I began reminiscing on my first time at the clinic and I wanted to write about this experience in this post.
As this was my first experience witnessing dental work firsthand, I remember being very anxious going into the clinic. I was nervous that I was going to be clueless and get in the way of the professionals on the floor. Looking back, I think this was a completely valid feeling as I was a freshman and had no clue what I was in for during that shift. I remember standing off to the side and just observing from afar until one of the dentists had asked me to assist him on tooth extraction. Of course, at that moment I may have seemed "chill" on the outside, but I felt like I was going to throw up a lung from being so anxious.
The Extraction
I vividly remember everything. The extraction was being done on a relatively young patient and the tooth that was being extracted was number 14, which is the first molar in the upper left side of the mouth. This tooth was extremely decayed and needed to be taken out. The dentist was able to take out the majority of the tooth, but faced complications with one of the roots. Since this is a clinic that offers very minimal dental procedures, the clinic is limited to a few tools and instruments. With this, it made it difficult to take out this molar without a proper instrument that can be found in a dental office. After quite some time and patience, the dentist was able to take out the last root.
Below, you can see the molar that was extracted. The black center is the decay of the tooth and we can see it was so deep that half of the tooth is gone. On the left root, there is a ball-like thing, which is actually a cyst.
Aftermath
After releasing the patient and leaving the clinic, I had a feeling like never before. I do not know how to describe it, but after this experience, I think I came to the realization that I wanted to pursue dentistry. It was the "click" I needed to know I wanted to pursue this as my career and would do anything to make sure I get to this goal.
As I look back at these past two years and see what I have accomplished in my journey to dental school, I think of how this small experience has confirmed everything I have done.
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