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An
Abridged Chronicle of A Filipino
Dentist
By
Johnah C. Galicia, DMD
Everything came like a fleeting shadow. Before I knew it, my nine-month
stint in the land of wine and cheese was over. It wasn't facile
at all living in a foreign land especially in a country like France where very
few people actually communicate in English. This posed the biggest problem to
me. I had a six-month intensive French language classes before I left, but it
was a 360 degree turn the moment I set my feet at the Roissy-Charles de Gaulle
Airport in Paris. It was an enormous struggle for me to understand what the
Immigration Officer was asking and in the end, I felt like a melting low-heat
wax having realized that I gave the officer a really bizarre answer. It must
have been the long and tiring trip from Manila to Paris that took a toll on my
logic, much more on my physical strength that was rapidly dwindling due to
fatigue and jet lag. I also had to endure the morning chill that was like a
thousand pins piercing through my stomach. I also knew that my 50 kilograms
baggage was a horror but I had to bring everything that would cut my future
expenses there. Life is expensive in France.
I stayed in an International Residence Hall that was around 10 kilometers
from the Faculty Of Dentistry so I had to take the bus going to school. My room
was big enough to sustain a restless individual like me but the void of living
away from family and friends still lingered. Good thing, my window was
overlooking a vast colorful scenery that would ease my cares away.
It was autumn so the trees displayed an array of lovely colors that
seemed to be an artist's mix of wonderful masterpieces. The first week was a
period of adjustments to the climate, the people and the place. I had so many
funny experiences that were typical of a new-kid-in-town kind of thing like
getting lost or going inside the wrong room. I was so thankful that my neighbors
were nice to me, in fact I made some really good friends who maintain
correspondence with me up to now. It was indeed difficult to have an abrupt
shift from your own culture to another especially in a small city like Rennes
where Filipino culture is limited only to five foreign dental students: Gay,
Kristine, Mabel, Celina and I. The five of us would cook and eat together to
relish the Filipino taste of life that is totally a novelty item there.
After a few days, it was time to fulfill the task that we were supposed
to finish. The College of Dentistry occupied a former shelter that was built on
the late 1800’s for the homeless people. It was an old building with a modern
technology and a future group of French dentists within its artistic walls.
Today, it is nestled in its new home in a more inspiring set-up. Student
selectivity for dental faculties in France is among the highest in Europe if not
in the world. To qualify as a dental student or to any courses of similar
caliber, a candidate must belong to the top 10 percent of the regional examinees
and must pass a series of crucibles. The number of slots is also limited to
around 30 dental students per dental faculty per year. Now, that is really
tough.
The
first year of the successful dental students is spent in General Science
subjects with the students from the Colleges of Pharmacy and Medicine. On the
second year, the students formally enter the Faculty of Dentistry where they
start learning Basic Medical and Dental courses for two years. On the next year,
clinical observation and apprentice works start and finally on the fifth and
sixth years, clinical dentistry becomes the bulk of the curriculum. Their
clinical requirements are evaluated on the basis of the nature of the case and
not on the type of procedure to be performed (as in the case here). They are not
required to perform ten Class II amalgam restorations or four complete denture
cases. Every procedure counts but of course, the more complicated the case, the
higher the points earned. Like for example, an apicoectomy case gets seven
points while a simple extraction work gets one point. A certain number of
cumulated points per department (like 30 or 40) is required per semester. The
same evaluative methods applies to each and every department. I consider this as
a highly innovative approach in teaching students the holistic approach in
patient treatment. Here in the Philippines, we do not give credit to replacement
of old, worn-out restorations or in rebasing or relining old dentures that is
why students do not include them in treatment planning. In other words, they
only do what the requirement calls for at the expense of the patient’s
welfare. We tend to overlook the patient as a whole.
The
students do not have to purchase their own expensive dental armamentaria and
medicaments because they are provided by the faculty. Every department has
impressive supplies and equipment and the all they have to do is to ask for what
they need from the personnel of their respective department and voila!
they have them in a jiffy. They are
also spared from the hassle of sterilizing their own instruments so that they
concentrate fully on their noble role of treating patients. Most of all, the
faculty has stable ties with the hospital so patients are coming in
continuously. They do not have to fish around for different cases like we do
here. What a luck, hein!
The
clinical departments that really left an impression on me are the departments of
Periodontology, Conservative Dentistry ( resto-endo integration) and
Orthodontics. Students assigned on these departments are already working
hands-on on cases that are only done by a postgraduate student here. Like in
Perio, periodontal surgery is just another thing to do there. What is special
case to us in the undergraduate clinical dentistry is just a
regular requirement for them. On the average, a dental student in France
finishes schooling at the age of 24 years.
I
worked in the Departments of Prosthodontics, Conservative Dentistry, Pediatric
Dentistry and in the university hospital where the children and the disabled are
treated under general anesthesia. I also finished a research in Perio-Implant
and a course in Periodontics and in Pedodontics. I also attended many
seminar-workshops that were very useful and confidence-boosting.
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I
was 25 when I studied there and it was three years since I finished dentistry.
Three of my compatriots there: Celina, Kristine and Mabel were younger than I
was and Gay was few years my senior. All of us were the first Filipino dentists
to take a postgraduate diploma in France and I think we held our banners up. It
is true that the we lack technology here but it is just the icing on the cake.
What matters most is the fullness and the completeness of the inside.
Before
we left France, our generous professors took us for a wonderful voyage on the
French countryside and for a breathtaking trip to the great castles of France. I
was totally awed by the splendid culture of the country and I was hoping of
bringing my family there in the future. France is a small country but the
diversity of its culture and its landscape is totally magnificent. But if there
is one thing that I must never forget about my sojourn there, that would be the
people. I was treated there with respect and amity and that meant a lot to me.
I
had a wonderful learning experience there. I profited both personally and
professionally and I hope that another group of Filipino dentists will share the
same experience as I had. Ciao!
Last Updated September 11, 2004
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