I attended
the 5TH National Dental Students’ Scientific Conference, held in
International Medical University (IMU). It was my second dental conference ever
since I came back from Manipal. I couldn’t manage to join the preconference
events held on Friday because of the Block III examination. I was there with
half of my batchmates. We were just silent observers throughout the whole
event. We were there to gain some exposure to how things work at the conference
as we will be participating in the future. We were kinda early that day as we
got the notice that the registration will start at 8am to 8.30am. I think it
got rescheduled to 9am after further discussion by the organizing committee.
Almost all dental schools, both government and private sent their team to
participate in the oral and poster presentations. The only one who was left out
was USM I think. I heard they had their major exam coming up. The participants
were all final year students. I forgot to mention that this event is more of a
competition which based on research work done the students. It was initially
thought to give the students a chance to bring their research work to the
limelight and give some form of motivation, encouragement and appreciation to
their work. It was hoped that the student won’t take research as merely a task
to do to complete their basic degree course.
Well now,
first we got ourselves registered (which after that, most of us rushed to the
toilet due to the long bus journey and no toilet break in between) and were
given a goodie bag. It’s a basic thing you will get from conferences. After
some light breakfast at their library’s cafeteria, we settle in the hall,
waiting for others to arrive. My batchmates were actually excited about the
balloons in a net found at all 6 corners of the hall. It was part of the prop
for the opening ceremony.
The day
started off with a recital of prayers for the Muslims followed by a welcome
speech by the dean of the FOD of IMU. After which there was the opening
ceremony where all the VIP were guided to release the nets of balloons. I think
that was the highlight for the first hour.
There was a
talk by Prof. Dr Mak Joon Wah on “Secrets to Building a Stellar Career in
Research”. He shared his experiences and gave some tips on what it takes to go
into research in the field of health science. It was a good talk by him, though
he was having a cold that day.
There was
tea served after that. We got to talk to 2 presenters from UIAM that day. I was
actually looking forward to talk to students from other dental school, to know
the condition of their schools and clinics, just to give a gross check where
the standard of our school stands.
After tea,
the oral and poster presentation started. The poster event was a close event
where only the judges were allowed to sit through the presentation. The oral
presentation was opened to all. There were some really good research topics
being presented that day. To be honest, I was amazed at the level of research
they were doing. They make our mentor mentee project in 1st year look
insignificant. I felt intimidated there as a third year dental student, knowing
practically nothing about research and told that I need to produce a research
work which starts next year. I felt like I was living in my own shell, never
exposed to any of this stuff for the past two and a half years. While other
universities are championing on research work, MMMC is? (Don’t even ask me to
answer that)
There were three rows of dental supplier
outside of the hall. We got to talk to a few of them during lunch time. Got to
try on the surgical loops and enquire some information about the new sonic
toothbrush by Colgate.
After lunch,
there was a talk by Dr. Khairiyah from the ministry of oral health on “Dental
Career Opportunities in Malaysia: Issues and Challenges”. She presented the route
for fresh dental graduates and gave some figures on the growing number of
dental officers in Malaysia. It was a very important talk to me as it answers
many of my questions regarding the life after dental school.
The
presentations then resume till 5pm that day. I did manage to jot down some
comments made by the judges. Hopefully I will be able to produce something
which is on par with the works of the students from other universities.
In all,
this was a good exposure for me and the rest of my classmates. It really opened
our eyes and minds about dentistry beyond attending classes, sitting for exams
and working in the clinics. There is a world out there which we (MMMC dental students)
are yet to explore and I hope that we will be eager and excited when the opportunity
comes our way.
