Dental Clinic

During my internship I have had the opportunity to shadow two of the three doctors at the dental clinic in the hospital. It has been extremely interesting and I have enjoyed seeing the differences and similarities in protocol, procedure, and treatment between what I have seen here and back home. Conversation with one of the doctors led me to discover that up until the 1970's there were no dental schools in Portugal, only medical schools that graduated students specialized in oral care and dental surgery. Now that there are dental schools there are two different health care professionals that specialize in oral care. You have medical doctors who go to what I understood to be six years of medical school and then specialize to provide oral surgery and care. Then there are dentists graduated from dental schools both in Portugal and other countries. I've enjoyed reaping the benefits of my improving Portuguese and have been fascinated in the differences in health care. With the health care system being such a prominent issue in the states I believe that everyone, even if you don't plan on pursuing a profession in the health system, should be aware of all the possibilities that could be the future of our health care system.