Pre-dental students assist dentist with surgery, prepare for future careers

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Three pre-dental students had an opportunity to practice their field in a way not usually accessible to undergraduates.

Travis Cordell, James Singer and Kevin Donovan assisted Dr. Norman Dzingle in performing dental surgery last Tuesday at Central Michigan Community Hospital, 1221 South Dr.

The patient was placed under a general anesthetic and 15 tooth extractions were done. Cordell, a Mount Pleasant senior, said two of them would assist Dzingle at a time by suctioning and keeping the patient’s tongue and lips out of the way while Dzingle drilled. The third person handed instruments to the others and observed.

“We just rotated so all of us could get a chance to assist, and then during the whole thing we got to learn a lot,” Cordell said. “I mean, Doc’s really good at talking through everything he does and telling us why he’s doing it.”

Singer, a Macomb senior, said he is grateful to Dr. Dzingle and CMCH for the opportunity.

“Doc explains all the techniques he’s learned over the years, and he’s practiced for more than 35 years, so he has picked up so much since dental school,” he said. “A lot of people go into the health field without going in and seeing blood; you don’t really know how you’re going to react to it. I know some people who have completely changed career paths because they couldn’t do it.”

Singer said the surgery took about three hours, and the patient needed all teeth extracted to have dentures put in.

“This time, the patient wasn’t awake, and with any of my other experiences of assisting, it has always been at Doc’s office and he has only used local anesthetic, which is like a shot you get in your mouth,” he said.

Singer said he and Cordell have been working for Dzingle since February, with Donovan being hired later.

“It was a great opportunity, and I didn’t think I’d ever get to do something like that as an undergrad. It really gave us some insight in the different areas of dentistry, and some exposure to things we had not seen before,” Donovan said. “And to get up close and personal like that is awesome.”

Donovan, a Williamston senior, said working at the office with Dzingle is better than shadowing because he gets to see everything that goes into the business.

“When you shadow, usually, you more or less just see a certain degree of it. You just see the procedure, but with this job we’re able to see the whole nine yards and everything that goes into it,” Donovan said. “That’s really eye-opening and helpful to me in deciding whether I want to do it or not. It’s a really cool opportunity.”

Cordell agreed and said Dzingle came to talk to their pre-dentistry club about a year and a half ago and ended up offering some of them a job.

“Dr. Dzingle has given all of us that work here an opportunity that every pre-dental student could ever ask for and hope for,” Cordell said. “Most pre-dental kids don’t even get the opportunity to do hands-on stuff and assisting like we get to do. Mostly they just get to observe.”

Cordell said the job is useful in seeing the day-to-day work of a dentist and in experiencing the non-dental duties of the business, such as scheduling appointments, handling money and working with people.

“Dr. Dzingle has put us ahead of the curve and given us a lead on everybody else,” he said. “And he is a great teacher while he’s doing it, too.”