Category Archives: ELA Writing Portfolio

Category for all writing for all of English classes.

Why should one expand his education to the fullest extent as an orthodontist and into a specific specialization instead of just a general dentist?

Austin Henry

Mrs. Pearce/ Pre-Ap English II

Research Paper

May 6, 2016

Hide Today and Smile Tomorrow

As George Sam of the U.S. National Library of Medicine wrote, “[The] majority of the students who had chosen orthodontics as their future specialty of choice at Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University Dental College, Saudi Arabia had taken up this specialty because they felt that orthodontics was intellectually challenging.” The field of orthodontics is a challenging yet a superior career. From the simplest monthly check up to the most complex case of misalignment; an orthodontist loves his job and his daily work. An orthodontist has the opportunity to make a once shy child stuck in his shell come out of his shell to embrace the world for a better tomorrow. To even consider becoming an orthodontist, one must be in the top five percent of his class at dentistry school; making the highest grades and practicing in the lab during his free time. An orthodontist goes the extra mile in what he does for the best results. Now having a better understanding of the world of dentistry and orthodontic; knowing what it takes to become an orthodontist in preparation of being in the field of orthodontics, orthodontics as a career choice in the many career options possible to me and how exploring this topic taught me the daily work of an orthodontist as well as general information of an orthodontist, and finally, how orthodontists helps the world and how each person is outshined by the finishing results after visiting the orthodontist in comparison to their first visit.

Ten to twelve years of schooling is required to becoming an orthodontist. Before an orthodontist is considered an orthodontist, he or she must obtain a bachelor’s degree from their university or college of choice with a degree of their choice, but taking courses in science is strongly recommended because of prerequisites (Applying for Dental School). Also, all orthodontists should gain experience in business owning and take classes of this subject in college because he may want to open his own practice in the future; business classes are not offered at dentistry school. Then, the graduate must attend a dentistry school; these are the three to choose from in Texas: The University of Texas School of Dentistry at Houston, Texas A&M University Baylor College of Dentistry [at Dallas], and finally, the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. The first two years of dental school is known to be fast, restless, and furious between lectures, long classes, and “free time” in the lab and also preparing and taking the first half of National Board Dental Examination; then the last two years of dental school seem to slow down with less classes and fewer lectures, but speed up with the time in the dental clinic treating patients under the supervision of a professor, and also preparing and taking the other half of the National Board Dental Examination (American Dental Association). Furthermore to becoming an orthodontist, a dental school graduate in the top five percent of his class can apply as an intern at an orthodontics practice of his choice. An internship as an orthodontist can vary between two to four years of gaining the ideal skills needed to become an orthodontist, but as Bruce Donoff states, “Although many look at the report as a call to make dental education 3 years rather than 4, it was the quality, not the time, which was important to [him].” Those few years as an intern are crucial to the next 40 years of an orthodontists life. It’s the foundation of all known experience, and as I said earlier, a dentist can choose any of the thousands of possible orthodontics offices, but choosing the one that he will learn from, he will gain experience from with the best knowledge is the one where he should decide upon.  The pathway to becoming an orthodontist is stressful, complicated, and has a very demanding work load, but at the end of the difficult journey, the next several years of an orthodontist is used to help others; not only to have straight teeth, but to give them the opportunity to outshine and completely change the way they look at the world with a better smile.

For that one year, every six weeks I would visit Dr. Spencer’s office down on Fourth Street. I enjoyed going to the orthodontist. At the time, I didn’t know why I liked it so much, but as I grew older, I understood why I appreciated going so much. While not everybody enjoys visiting their orthodontist, “dentistry [including orthodontics] is one of the ten most trusted and ethical professions in America” (Explore the Dental Profession). Of course, I would trust my orthodontist; he put a bracket of metal in my mouth that I couldn’t remove without him removing it from my mouth. Within this research, I discovered how interesting the daily life of an orthodontist really is. Yes, orthodontists do make a lot of money, roughly Texas orthodontists make up to $196,000 per year, but aside from that, orthodontics really seems like an interesting career choice. Seeing patients visit after visit, loosening and tightening braces, making molds, and just enjoying life as an orthodontist seemed perfect to me. According to Dr. Guymon of Myron D. Guymon Orthodontics, Dr. Guymon usually begins his day examining x-rays and studying patients’ charts to understand the most possible for the best results. He discusses with his team the daily schedule just before his first patient walks through the doors; then the busy day begins. Throughout the day, an orthodontist will visit new patients, returning patients, and rarely but possible, work emergency cases. As well as dentistry being a trusted career, dentistry is an in-demand profession that will always be needed in American culture; not only for that perfect smile, but also to improve self hygiene and word pronunciation by correcting: an overbite/underbite that causes jaw pain or discomfort and low self-esteem issues, an open bite caused by thumb-sucking that has awkward teeth placement and making it difficult to talk and chew, finally, excessive teeth spacing where most people with this issue sound like they have a slight lisp (Explore the Dental Profession and Dr. Spencer of Spencer Orthodontics). As of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the job opportunity of an orthodontist will increase sixteen percent by 2022. This number is increasing not only by the interest orthodontics brings, but also an increase of people needing basic and also advanced dental services as stated earlier . The opportunity of this growth allows me to have a definite job with the several years of schooling I have to go through and finally finished by 2029. The daily life of an orthodontist is exciting, enthusiastic, and very eventful with the new and old patients, the molding, the checking of each patients that walks through the door, and the constant fast pace being an orthodontist brings (Myron D. Guymon).

An orthodontist isn’t just a man living in a nice house, in nice clothes with a nice wife, no, he is much more. When people think about an orthodontist, they mostly think of the money he makes and how expensive his help is, but think of the end result of a smile that’s out of this world. The schooling it takes, the career, and the aftereffect of helping people amazes me and orthodontics is seriously a career I am seriously interested in. The learning doesn’t stop when he graduates residency. An orthodontists spends his lifetime learning new techniques, new skills, and often new equipment to better his patients. In order for an orthodontist to fully become his highest potential with challenges, he has to learn even after his schooling if finished.

 

Works Cited

Admin. “Health Effects of Having an Overbite.” Surgical Arts Centre. 20 July 2015. Web. 20 Apr.

       2016.

Brown, Danielle. “How Dental School Works: A Year-by-year Guide.” Gap Medics US. 06

    Nov. 2014. Web. 20 Apr. 2016.

Danoff, Bruce, DMD. “An Internship Year for All Dental Graduates.” DentalAEGIS.

    July-Aug. 2008. Web. 29 Apr. 2016.

Demas, Don. “Change the World – Team Demas Orthodontics.” Team Demas

    Orthodontics. 23 July 2015. Web. 29 Apr. 2016.

Evans, David, DDS. “THE HISTORY OF BRACES & ORTHODONTICS.” History of

    Braces and Orthodontics. 2015. Web. 29 Apr. 2016.

Gymon, Myron D. “A Day in the Life.” Guymonortho. 17 Apr. 2014. Web. 20 Apr. 2016.

“Orthodontist Salary: Too Good to Be True! – Orthodontist Career.” Orthodontist Career.     

    20 July 2015. Web. 29 Apr. 2016.

Thompson, Joseph. “How to Become an Orthodontist.” Ask an Orthodontist.com RSS.

  1. Web. 20 Apr. 2016.

Change of Respect

Written on April 24, 2015

“Mom!” Ana shouts, “I hate you!” – spoken words of teenagers at one point to a parent in our family life. We have disrespected ourselves, our parents, best friends, even strangers we’ve never met. Respect for other people is important because it allows us to treat others equally and build a lasting relationship that will last a lifetime.

Treating people with the same respect is essential in life because it can lead the human race to seeing an individual as a worthy person to be around. For example, when Ana is screaming in her mother’s face, her mother feels the pain inside her as she hears “I hate you”, spoken from her one and only daughter. Ana lost respect for her mother, and her mother lost respect to her daughter because they disconnected, making the respect for each other unequal. In addition, when I was younger, I remember my older brother, Justice, always talking back to my dad, storming, stomping away when he didn’t get his way, slamming doors when he received information he didn’t want to hear. The respect my brother gave to my father was weak and horrifying to watch, I told myself all the time I would never be that disrespectful to, not only my parents, but every person I come across in my path of life. Too often, parents are disrespected by their children; respect for other people is important because it allows us to treat each other equally and fairly.

A long lasting relationship begins with respect, from yourself, and to others. For example, when a person introduces himself, he has respect for the man because this person has given him no reason to be disrespected by him. Many people don’t want to hang around a person that is rude, disrespectful, or ungrateful. In addition, while friends could have a relationship for 20 plus years, once the moment either of them lose respect, the friendship would end and communication would be gone forever. The friendship down the drain, unable to be visible ever again. For many of us, making a friend and building a relation begins with respect from within ourselves.

Much like Ana yelling at her mother, respect in both, our family life, and in our real world life, respect is important because it allows us to treat each other equally, and help build lasting relationships.

How Phones Affect our World

Written on February 10, 2015

Ten years ago, families sat together, telling each other about their day, but now children and adults talk, text, tweet, snap, on their iPhones while they eat their food at all meals of the day. Will this ever stop? When did teenagers and adults stop the world’s tradition of talking to each other face to face? Have cell phones changed mankind forever? Cell phones have affected people’s lives greatly by having quick information to everything at a touch of a screen, and poorly by being a distraction from others.

51% of people living in the United states have a smartphone of some kind to use for just about anything, like to watch the news, celebrity information, and most often used for social media. For example, before I jump out of bed to start my day, I reply to all my good morning text, I check my social media accounts, and plan out my day, all before I’m even out of bed. With smartphones, I am able to do all of these things in less than ten minutes. In addition, people now use apps to learn the latest updates of disastrous weather, world denomination, and even to know what is occurring on the other side of the globe. Fifty years ago, people couldn’t have done this, people once looked at the clouds to know the weather, and read the local newspaper to discover what was happening in Vietnam. Therefore, cell phones now given us the information we need at anytime of the day for all our needs.

 Cell phones are great, and have affected our lives dramatically, yet these simple devices can be a large distraction. For example, when my dad is cruising down highway 80 on his way to take me to school, he likes to think that he always needs to check his phone when he hears the “ding” that iPhones make. When he does check his phone, he is risking not only his life, but the people in the car and their lives also. In addition, cell phones are also a distraction from from friends and family. For example, while mom, dad, Alex, and Lexi are bowling, having a great time with each other, Stephenie is over in corner sitting alone with her phone six inches away from her face. They’re having a great time without her, while the most important thing in her life in Twitter and Instagram. Therefore, cell phones are a huge distraction from the people we have in our lives and can sometimes cause a great catastrophe.

In conclusion, since 2002, the elevation of cell phones have been changed dramatically. People still don’t even talk to each other at the table while eating, and nobody knows if that will ever change. People now receive notifications, emails, and much more, yet cell phones are a distraction and may even distant people from others.

Extreme Emotion Changes our World

Written on February 15, 2015

Imagine a man raging in the center of the mall because he discovered that his favorite pair of jeans were not on sale anymore. “Man I hate this place. I just wanted to buy one more pair.” Why is this man acting this way? others may say. Where has his anger came from? How could he do such a thing in a public place where people are watching? Isn’t he embarrassed? The two most important characteristics of dealing with extreme emotions are realising that everybody is a role model when least expected, whether they like it or not, and everybody has control of their emotions even if they think they don’t.

To think of extreme emotions raging out of any person at any given time, remember that people are role models to other people. Mother to daughter, father to son, older brother to younger sister. For example, in our homes, most of us have a father that we look up to. If he goes on a rampage of anger and frustration, his children are watching close by and learning by his mistakes, good and bad. Our fathers are great role models compared to other people because he gives us a special feeling that is indescribable, a feeling mom can’t even give us. One day his son will be a dad just like him, and his daughter is his little princess that she trusts even in the darkest moments. In addition, the importance of dealing with extreme emotion as a student can be difficult. High school students have up to eight classes a day plus all of the homework each teacher gives them and ends up going to bed stressed, overwhelmed,  if they even get to bed at all because of how so many assignments they have due the next day. High school can be hard at times, but the importance of dealing with that extreme emotion of stress can be brutal and our little brothers and sisters wonder why their big brother is always tired and rude to them in the mornings at the breakfast table. Regardless, it is very important to remember that everybody is a role model and that everybody has extreme emotions that are being watched.

From emotions to everyday activities, we all need control in our life. For example, I was at my old school and this kid named Jacob just wouldn’t leave me alone. So one day he tripped me when I was walking down the hall and I just yelled at him because I was simply tired of him in my presence and him always messing with me, always rude to me, I didn’t need that. I needed self-control. Self-control is something that everybody has, but always can’t seem to find when it’s needed most. In addition, the teachers of a high school see 15 to 25 kids in each class, several times a day. These teachers deal with complaints about too much homework, the temptation of wanting to slap a kid in the face because he asked a question that has already  been answered, and the frustration of having to teach the same topic at least all day. Regardless, teachers, like normal people, have self-control that can prevent the extreme emotions some people have.

In conclusion, whether there is a man raging in the middle of the mall, a father filled with frustration, or teacher at school, we are all role models to other people and we all have self-control.

Rain Poem

Written on April 23, 2015

You might think I’m just

a skinny fifteen-year-old boy

with medium brown hair

and ocean blue eyes

but I think I am more

no, I know I am more

Not a shark or crocodile that kills

not a sloth or mammoth that seems unnoticed

I am RAIN

a slow drizzle that some may not want

when my clouds begin to cry

I fall to the ground

when I do my best to help

people take me for granted

I am RAIN, afraid

pouring out

sinking into the ground

But there is a greatness to why I am here

my thoughts begin to fade away

where people are happy I am gone

I move on

free roaming the sky looking for happiness

I soon find where I belong

where I am accepted

I fall down

down

down

to the ground where I am needed

this skinny, blue eyed, brown hair boy

is RAIN, I am RAIN

a fast, wet, unpredictable substance.

Poem of the Day

To an Athlete Dying Young
BY A. E. HOUSMAN
The time you won your town the race
We chaired you through the market-place;
Man and boy stood cheering by,
And home we brought you shoulder-high.

Today, the road all runners come,
Shoulder-high we bring you home,
And set you at your threshold down,
Townsman of a stiller town.

Smart lad, to slip betimes away
From fields where glory does not stay,
And early though the laurel grows
It withers quicker than the rose.

Eyes the shady night has shut
Cannot see the record cut,
And silence sounds no worse than cheers
After earth has stopped the ears.

Now you will not swell the rout
Of lads that wore their honours out,
Runners whom renown outran
And the name died before the man.

So set, before its echoes fade,
The fleet foot on the sill of shade,
And hold to the low lintel up
The still-defended challenge-cup.

And round that early-laurelled head
Will flock to gaze the strengthless dead,
And find unwithered on its curls
The garland briefer than a girl’s.

Response:
A theme for “To an Athlete Dying Young” is just because you have glory here, does not mean you will have anywhere else. People know you at school and stuff, but when you go to college, you and your friends have spread out and gone different directions. The rhyme scheme for this poem is (i.e.) aabb ccdd.
I thought this poem is sad. This boy has a the glory in the town. Everybody loved him, but one day he just died. The poem doesn’t tells us how. Maybe somebody disliked him and used something to kill him that wouldn’t leave a mark.