Second-Year AS Students Practice Pain Control

Students from the Advanced Standing Class of 2011 at the Boston University Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine (GSDM) participated in a pain control exercise on May 21. The exercise took place in the 6th floor treatment center as part of a series of requirements before their clinic rotation begins.

Clinical Associate Professor and Director of the Predoctoral Oral Surgery Clinic Dr. Richard D’Innocenzo organized and oversaw the entire exercise. The exercise required each student to act as both patient and dentist as they practiced administering local anesthesia on one another. Faculty members were on hand, organized by Assistant Dean for Predoctoral Clinical Education Dr. John Guarente, to demonstrate and then guide the students through the process on their own.

This exercise was added to the clinical orientation in 2008 to expose students to the process earlier than they had been in previous years, so they would be more comfortable when they began treating patients.

Photos from the exercise are available on GSDM’s flickr account and also on the Facebook page.