Nicargua

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xdianaax

xdianaax

In memory of Riley Jane
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I have been posting this in a different thread, so I figured I would start a seperate thread. I am currently trying to put together a team of pre-dental students (some pre-med as well) to go on a mission trip with GMT to Nicaragua in December (dates are still tentative). The trip is 13 days dong, and costs $1600.00. Now I know this may sound pricey but the life long memories and experiences you walk away with are priceless. Many pre-dental students have gone and have had the time of their lives. It also looks amazing on your dental school app. Almost every person that has gone said that it was brought up at their interview in some way. The feedback from these trips is amazing. Many say that they let you do things that most students will not get to do until their 3rd or 4th year in dental school. Not to mention that you will also be changing someones life in a drastic way. If you are interested please let me know. Feel free to ask any questions or to PM me.
 
I've had some inquiries through PM, please also let me know when your winter break starts, for most people it's after the first week of December. Thanks!
 
xdianaax said:
I've had some inquiries through PM, please also let me know when your winter break starts, for most people it's after the first week of December. Thanks!
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Hey, xdianaax! Thanks for organizing this! My winter starts after the 3rd week of December... hope everything works out!
 
For those interested, considering everyone's break starts on a different date in december the trip has changed. We will now go to Dominican Republic (this is the biggest trip of the year) from January 3-January 15.
 
I would recommend this to anyone. Find a way to go on one of these trips. I have been to Honduras twice on a similar trip and it was a great experience. You will get great exposure to the dental profession and see how great it is to be a dentist and enjoy things like this that are a part of it. I also had someone at all of my interviews ask me about the trips so that's a plus too.
 
Can't go Jan 3rd, I'll be in class. There's no way to set one up for Dec?
 
Well I was trying to set one up for December, but everyones winter break starts at a different time. There was a tentative date of Dec. 8-20 set, There's felixibility to change it though, so if there's enough people that want to go in December we can do Nicaragua. I mean it can be from like December 10-22 or what not, so let me know what you guys think.
 
One more thing, are we close to the beach? Because Nicaragua has some ridiculously good waves 😀
 
could u tone the price down to say, oh i dont know, $10-15 dollars.....that would be a little more in my price range.....ill tell u what, u throw in some free malaria and im all in.
 
xdianaax said:
Many say that they let you do things that most students will not get to do until their 3rd or 4th year in dental school.
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Haha, what a joke that statement is. Look, pre-dentals don't know jack squat about performing clinical dentistry. You're not even in dental school for crying out loud! You don't even know the most basic of procedures like doing simple cleanings with sickle scalers. Go on these VERY pricey mission trips because you want the experience of seeing another country and helping the team logistically (like helping set up the clinic, handing out supplies, taking down patient information, bringing the actual dentists and dental students water when they get thirsty, wiping the sweat from their foreheads every now and then)....don't go because you are under the false impression that they'll allow pre-dentals to actually do any kind of clinical dentistry, you'll only be sadly, and almost laughably, dissapointed. But hey, if you've got $1600 to throw away and want a case of the runs, by all means go. Otherwise, you'd best be served to study your butt off during the winter break and rock the DAT.
 
Originally posted by SDN member DrThizzle:
“i went through the international service learning program to both nicaragua and costa rica. It was very pricy but well worth it. Some of the stuff that they let me do were things that you won't see until you go through clinical at D.S. composites,suturing, extracting, hygiene etc. It's real sad to see that oral health care is not a priority in these countries and that some have never owned a tooth brush their whole lives. it was a very good experience and i feel gained a lot out of it. If you have any specifics feel free to PM me.”

Originally posted by SDN member tjpierce:
“I went with GMT to Nicaragua for 2 weeks last month, and I have to say that it was well worth it. 22 of us were on the trip, and 4 of us were pre-dental. The rest did med stuff all day, but the 4 of us were able to get some really good hands on experience. We had 7 clinic days for about 7 or 8 hours a day in which we each had a large amount of experience cleaning teeth, restoring teeth with amalgam and composite material, giving injections, and extractions. Dr. Wil Johnson and Santiago Mora run a great program that I have nothing but praises for. Dr. Helder Torres, a Nicaraguan dentist and our dentist for the trip ,was a joy to be around. He is also very talented at what he does. If you would like to know more about my experience, i'd be happy to tell more as well as share pictures of what we did.”

Originally posted by SDN member tjpierce in a response to a question I had of what sort of things they had done:
“xdianaax,

Yea, I did probably 8 extractions by myself. I know Dr. Wil will write a LOR if you ask.”
 
Slash said:
Haha, what a joke that statement is. Look, pre-dentals don't know jack squat about performing clinical dentistry. You're not even in dental school for crying out loud! You don't even know the most basic of procedures like doing simple cleanings with sickle scalers. Go on these VERY pricey mission trips because you want the experience of seeing another country and helping the team logistically (like helping set up the clinic, handing out supplies, taking down patient information, bringing the actual dentists and dental students water when they get thirsty, wiping the sweat from their foreheads every now and then)....don't go because you are under the false impression that they'll allow pre-dentals to actually do any kind of clinical dentistry, you'll only be sadly, and almost laughably, dissapointed. But hey, if you've got $1600 to throw away and want a case of the runs, by all means go. Otherwise, you'd best be served to study your butt off during the winter break and rock the DAT.
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Unadventurous much? I'll go out on a limb here and say you haven't traveled very much.....have you?
 
Slash said:
Haha, what a joke that statement is. Look, pre-dentals don't know jack squat about performing clinical dentistry. You're not even in dental school for crying out loud! You don't even know the most basic of procedures like doing simple cleanings with sickle scalers. Go on these VERY pricey mission trips because you want the experience of seeing another country and helping the team logistically (like helping set up the clinic, handing out supplies, taking down patient information, bringing the actual dentists and dental students water when they get thirsty, wiping the sweat from their foreheads every now and then)....don't go because you are under the false impression that they'll allow pre-dentals to actually do any kind of clinical dentistry, you'll only be sadly, and almost laughably, dissapointed. But hey, if you've got $1600 to throw away and want a case of the runs, by all means go. Otherwise, you'd best be served to study your butt off during the winter break and rock the DAT.
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And survey says...You're a douche. If people want to go on a humanitarian trip like this, they should. It's an incredible experience...and depending on who you go with, you may have the chance to do some procedures which you wouldn't get the chance to do here in the US. But don't let that be your motivation for going...go because its an opportunity to make a difference for someone who is really in need. And honestly, it will change the way you see the world, especially if you've never travelled much.

Oh, and don't let little things like Montezuma's revenge scare you off...if you're smart about what you eat/drink, you'll be just fine. Get off your high horse Slash...odds are you don't know nearly as much as you think you know.
 
Trust me, you will get hands on experience. I have a video on google video of me extracting a wisdom tooth. If anybody needs to see it for proof of what you learn to do on these trips let me know and I'll email you the link
 
Montezuma's revenge? you mean that ride at Knott's Berry Farm..yeah its very scary lol
 
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