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Explorer.Introducing More IncomingSharokina Eshaghi-Benjamin(DMD 2004)TreasurerLeon Yu (DMD 2006)Alternate DelegateI'm from Edmonton, Alberta,Canada.My home is sunny, friendly,beautiful California! I lived inLA for 10 years and received aBA in Biology from Cal StateUniv Northridge (CSUN). Afterwards, I completed a PostBac at UC, San Francisco. Living in SF was one ofthe best things I ever did. I love SF!My hobbies are reading (not textbooks!!!), going outto dinner & movies, salsa dancing & swing dancing,and traveling to as many new places as possible. Myfavorite show is Will and Grace.Vikas Goel (DMD 2006)Co-Legislative LiaisonMy hometown is West DesMoines, Iowa. I graduatedfrom University of Iowa in2002 with a Biomedical Engineering degree. During myundergrad, I worked in researchranging from cystic fibrosis to stem cells.My hobbies include basketball, kayaking, traveling,and photography.David Blackburn (DMD 2006)Community OutreachChairpersonThe most interesting facts:Upon graduation from UC SanDiego in June 2000 with a BS inBiochemistry, I traveled to Australia and worked at the Olympic Games headquarters in Sydney. After enjoying the games and traveling acrossmuch of Australia, I returned to San Diego andworked in a research lab.My girlfriend, who I had been dating for 3 years,moved to Washington, DC, for a job opportunity. Iquickly followed with two suitcases in hand and aring in my pocket. We were married almost a yearago in Los Angeles. Until our move to Boston, welived in Washington, DC, where I worked at theNIDCR at the National Institutes of Health.I love meeting new friends, sofeel free to introduce yourselfto me anytime and anywhere!Shilpa Mailapur (AS I)Co-EditorComing a long way from thewindy city of Chicago, I firstcompleted my BDS (same as“DMD” in India) from KLEDental College, Bangalore.Apart from being a full timestudent in school, I was the editor of my school magazine KLEDENT and was alsothe literary and cultural student secretary.Being a true Capricorn, I am a compassionate, patientand an ambitious goat. My family and my educationare my biggest assets in life. My hobbies “were”playing ping pong, painting and watching a lot of Indian movies. But now that I am at BU, my only hobbies are sleeping and eating in my free time!Britt Soden (DMD 2006)Social Co-ChairHi! I'm from Columbus, Ohio.I went to Duke University, graduating with a major inPsychology and a minor inChemistry. I took a year off between college & dental school,during which I lived and workedin Sydney, Australia. While there, I picked up surfing, but unfortunately am not that good at it yet!Due to interviews that came up while I was in Australia, I was able to turn a trip back to the USA into anaround-the-world adventure with stops in New Zealand, Spain, England, Thailand, and Singapore.Some of my hobbies are cooking, entertaining, playing golf and tennis, running, and sailing. Oh, andtraveling of course!4

ExplorerOfficers of the ASDA Board.Priti Rana (AS I)International StudentRepresentativeNajib ADI (AS I)Co-EditorI graduated from Damascus University, Syria, in 1995. Soon after, I volunteered with the UnitedNations Relief and WorksAgency. My wife (also a dentist)and I immigrated to beautiful Ontario, Canada, in 2000. Now I’ma student at BU’s Advanced Standing program, ClassPresident, Editor-in-Chief and loving it!My hobbies are messing around with computers andelectronics, playing sports and spending 2 hours a daystuck in Boston’s traffic, trying to get back home!Dear friends,I come from India—a land ofdiverse cultures. After completing high school from New Delhiin 1993, I graduated as a dentistin 1998. I came to the US in 2000. I come from afamily of doctors (my parents and sister).I love traveling and have been to many countries including France, Germany, England, Austria, Turkey,Ethiopia, Yugoslavia, and Bulgaria. I also enjoy debating.Anthony Lieu (DMD 2006)DMD I RepresentativeZeynab Barakat(DMD 2006)Pre-Dental CommitteeChairpersonI was born on the 23rd of November in the Year of the Dragon.Before distinguishing myself asHello! I am a national of Turkeypart of the 30-45% representationand Sudan and was born andfrom California that is now atraised in the UAE. I received mytending the Goldman School ofBachelor of Science in BiologyDental Medicine, I graduated from UC Davis in ‘99,from Boston College.with a B.S. in Environmental Biology and ManageEager to be a member early on, I joined ASDA while a ment.junior at BC. My dental experience includes workingfor pediatric dentists in Brookline, volunteering forAt UCD, I enjoyed playing racquetball as both a com3rd year students at Tufts, and spending one year atpetitor and as the club’s president. These days, youMount Ida College Dental Hygiene program.can find me either at South Block, playing basketballTravel, alumni activities, jazz and coffee are a few ofmy favorite things.Pooja Panwar(DMD 2005)Social Co-ChairJohn Huh (DMD 2006)IT ChairpersonI’ve lived in northern New Jersey for most of my life, but I alsolived in Brooklyn, NY, Philadelphia, PA, and of course, Boston—majoring in Human Physiology at BU.I graduated from the Universityof British Columbia (UBC) with adegree in biology. Following myBS, I did research at UBC with aI enjoy playing basketball, tennis, and baseball. I alsoprofessor in biomechanics andlike outdoor activities such as fishing, camping,, andworked as a lab tech doing phytoembyrogenesis andhiking. I like to travel, and I try to keep up with curtransformations.rent events, although it’s very difficult because wehave so much studying to do. One of my favorite acDuring undergrad, I served as an executive chair mem- tivities, however, is going to the beach and relaxingber in our predental society, setting up social eventsunder the sun!for our members.5

ExplorerTheArtisticArbitrary FaithBravest of hearts have shriekedStrongest of soles have fledFrom the power of another’s love.The fear of sharing a life and a dreamHolds even the warriors unshieldedFrom breaking the walls that protect us.Embracing the trepidation that is naturally feltWill lead to a greater harmony aheadAnd the envy of your greatest fantasies.It only takes two willing travelersTo stride through the unknown journeyWho’s end remains a mystery of wonders.Ariel Bales-KoganDMD 2003Esther H. KimDMD 2004Loneliness .Alone in the rainAlong the Boston lanesI try to hold the windI am thinking about you Short locks of hairLeft out of placeGone are those daysWhen you would tuck them back Fear in my heartOn a bright starry nightI walk towards homeKnowing you aren’t there .Not having you close to meI lie in bedLonging for youThinking about you .Esther H. KimDMD 2004Shilpa P. MailapurAS I6

ExplorerDentistA Touch So BeautifulA touch so tender to the soulSo soft so gentle so meaningfulLike the waves kissing sand on shoreLike the stars adoring beauty of moonLike the sun spreading peace with dawnOr like a mother feeling the touch of her new bornSo reach out and feel this touchBefore you find this time is goneOpen your heart and feel the lightBecause never will the candle always shineThe light of love will fill your soulPassion will never take its tollDon’t be a sufferer by losing it allBut feel the touch only so beautifulUsman Sibtain FazliAS IA dental education is avery scientific process. Althoughneverending, it does lack thatcertain ability to allow us toexpress ourselves in different andimaginative ways. This section isintended to demonstrate thatdentists, too, have artistic andcreative sides worth exploring.If you wish to contributeto this section, please feel free tosubmit your material to your classrepresentative or by email tomshilpa@bu.edu and/or najib@bu.eduEsther H. KimDMD 2004Where Are You?Looking up the sky wonderingWhere are you?Diving the sea looking for youWhere are you?Wandering the streets aiming to meet youWhere are you?Flying across the globe wishing to reach youWhere are you?Staying alone, staring at the sea; asking the colliding wavesWhere are you?The wave is high; the current is strongAn answer must hide thereWhere are you?Smelling you among the roses; turning around and not seeing youWhere are you?Looking at your childhood pictures; at your smile flowering my faceTurning around and missing youWhere are you?Dreaming of you; of your warm hand holding mineAnd the two small figures at distanceRunning far away; escaping from the TimeRefusing to wake upSearching for you in my dreamsWhere are you?Gliding in my boat yearning to arrive in your landWhere are you?Praying with all my heart to find you at peace and rest,To be blessedAnd to come back safelyWhere are you?Driven past by the painful remembranceShining like the sun you wereTwinkling like the stars you wereGlittering like the moon you wereIn all my life you were my joy and hopeYou were my lifeWhere are you now in my life?Looking in the mirror seeing miserable traces of a humanAsking the lost soul, where are you?Hanan Al-AwadhiCAS 20047

ExplorerIn-Profile: Leila J. RosenthalRohini Badlani (DMD 2006)simply cannot do unless they trulylove: “It takes a huge amount ofLeila Joy Rosenthaleffort, a huge amount of concentraBFA, MFA, CDT,tion. It takes an ability to communicate, an ability to make people picBoston Universityture things so they can understandGoldman School offrom a vantage point other thandental. Dentistry is actually comDental Medicinemon sense and most people cannotsee it .”She also mentioned thatond. Her “liaison” with the dentalHave you ever wonderedDr. Jean Emerling, professor of Rewhose melodious voice that is sere- school is one she refers to as amovable Prosthodontics, with whom“happy accident.”nading you about not wearing yourshe has been working with sinceAfter having two molarssafety glasses? It is the voice of1981 embodies all of these characBoston University’s esteemed Leila consecutively break within twoteristics as a teacher who is conweeks, she was referred to a graduRosenthal, one of the Dentalstantly challenging her students.School’s treasured Certified Dental ate student at the dental school. ItWhen asked what it was likewas this visit whichTechnicians. Leila is somewhat ofworking with Dr. Emerling,sparked an insatiable cua fixture on the sixth floor in Reriosity for dentistry.movable Prosthodontics as well as“Dentistry is in one word “Fabulous!”Leila’s teachingLeila then enin the SLC, helping students andactually career beganwith her teachfaculty through their most grueling, rolled in the Dental Techcommon ing Dental Anatomy for thenician program at Bostonfrustrating lab work.Dental Tech program in 1978University. There was noLeila is currently in hersense,and while working in theseparate faculty at thattwenty-fifth year of teaching atand most Fixed Prosthodontics laboratime, so in actuality, sheBoston University, although hertory, came to a realization:received an educationtalents are by no means limited topeopleshe wanted to be a ceramist.very similar to the dentalthe field of dentistry. Her familycannotShe then startedbackground offers insight as to how students themselves assee it.” teaching the Fixed Prosthothey had joint classes andLeila’s career path was molded.dontics classes as well, andlab projects. Leila proHer mother was a pianistby 1981 became head of theand her father a teacher of sculpture pelled herself to academicRemovable Prosthodontics lab.excellence to the point that sheat the Museum of Fine Arts, it isThus, in a very short period, Leila’sbegan teaching in the spring ofapparent where her love of art anddedication and diligence had openedteaching stemmed from. She seems 1978, even prior to graduation.three doors into three aspects ofIn her final year of certifito encompass a fine amalgamationdentistry. Gradually, with the concation, after much successof the sciences and finetinuing increase in class sizes, shein the program, she wasarts. In fact, her originalfocused on Removable Prosthodoninvited to begin a newcareer path incorporatedtics, where she continues to have ancareer overseeing a lab ofher love of art and art eduindelible presence for students anda respected Prosthodontistcation as she received afaculty.in sunny Florida. ConBachelors and Masters ofWith Leila’s extensivevinced she did not want toArt and Art Educationtraining and vast knowledge, oneleave Boston and give upfrom Boston University.would question why she does nother new role as a teacher,She has intejust become a dentist herself; ironishe declined. Thus, ingrated this love of art andcally, one of her most loathed thingsaddition to her enthusiasmteaching into her lifeto do, especially in terms of a cafor art and dentistry, it seemed shealongside dentistry and is in herreer, would be to work inside someacquired a third passion: teaching.forty-third year of teaching classesone’s mouth. She prefers to be inLeila truly enjoys workat the Museum of Fine Arts in Bosvolved in the behind-the-scenesing with students, describing teachton. Leila explains that art is hering as a type of profession that onefirst love and dentistry is her sec(Continued on page 9)8

Explorer(Continued from page 8)benchwork of the operatory.When asked what fuels herdrive for teaching and remaining atan institution such as Boston University as opposed to working in aprivate practice, she simply proclaimed: “Challenge.The challenge to makethings understandable, tosee the light dawn insomebody’s eyes whenthey really understandwhat you’re trying to do,to create and problemsolve cases that are unusual andpeculiar with a creative solution.”She says it is a great feeling to“engender in students the love of thediscipline, the love of passing oninformation to other people, and tobe able to give back even in smallmeasures; to see your students excel, past you.”With years of knowledge,experience, and simply a talent foranything involving manual dexterity,Leila has achieved a stature of excellence and respect in her field. Furthermore, having never missed asingle 8am class in school is anachievement on its own and inspiration enough to ask for anypieces of advice for the students (whom she considersas her own children): “Never fall behind. Beforeyou do something clinically,understand not only whatyou’re doing, but why youare doing it.”The other suggestion Leila mentioned is a request thatif students are working on a patientand engaging in dental-related discussions to please relate all dentalmatter in English, so that she or anyone other faculty member may intervene if assistance is required or forpossible alternate suggestions thatmay have gone unnoticed.Of course, at the end of theday, Leila goes home to her otherlove: the arts. In her free time, sheteaches both children and adults atthe Museum of Fine Arts and spendsher time performing with the ZamirChorale of Boston (a semiprofessional chorus), which has allowed her to travel to exciting citiesworldwide and receive a PBS broadcast of their performances.With a lot under her belt,Leila exemplifies achievement in allaspects of her life and is a trulymulti-faceted individual who trulyinvests her all in all of her endeavors. She describes her hectic andjam-packed life from the perspectivethat she has been exceedingly lucky,with no regrets and no changes.Leila Rosenthal has been an asset toBoston University for over twentyyears and her zeal and enthusiasm ismotivation for everyone.The ElectricToothbrush ForumShilpa Mailapur (AS I)“The only good is knowledge,and the only evil is ignorance.-Laertius, DiogenesTo seek out knowledge(and also to “brush off” some unwanted ignorance!) was the majorreason why most of the AS I classattended the forum on October 25 atthe Sheraton Hotel in the PrudentialCenter.I remember,from the first day I entered the clinic floor, mypatients persistentlyasked me about the besttoothpaste, the best toothbrush, etc.Now with the change in trends, patients instead ask: “Hey, Doc, whatdo you think about the electric toothbrush?” Ignorance, however, neverlet me answer them.Fortunately, after attendingthe forum, I don’t feel like “a deerhit by lights” anymore. And forthat, I would like to extend my regards to BUGSDM’s Department ofContinuing Education.As I sat through the forumwith all the gates of my brainopen, I learned many thingslike: there is good plaque(formed in a fluoride environment) vs. bad plaque and theelectric “power flosser” is asefficient as manual flossing.The dynamic slides onlymade the lectures more interesting.The mystery of the virtual indifference between the powered, sonic andoscillating/rotating varieties wasfinally solved. Researchers had donea lot of clinical trials to prove thatthe efficiency of the powered toothbrushes in plaque removal is superior or equal to manual toothbrushes,and that stain removal power is moreenhanced in the electric brushescompared to the manual toothbrush.If you are wondering “Butwhat about abrasion?”, don’t worry.Most powered brushes come withextra soft bristles and have a safetyfeature that prevents excessive pressure on the toothbrush.At the presentation, major companies like Philips, Conair,9Crest and Oral-B did not justmarket their products. Rather,they encouraged dentists to relyon “evidence- based decisions.”It was, of course, very difficult tojudge the electric tooth brushesbased on their efficiency or evenesthetics, however.Briefly about esthetics, Iparticularly have a soft spot for theCrest Pediatric powered toothbrushes. The little mermaid, cellular phone, robot, and other adorabledesigns brought out that little childin me. Lucky are those who finallygot their hands on them.About clinical efficiency,I have yet to come to my evidencebased decision. I have a lot of data,and now I need to apply them. Butthe next time a patient asks meabout a powered toothbrush, I amready to give a lengthy lecture.All in all, the electrictoothbrush forum was a wonderfuleducational opportunity. We allwalked out with a bit more knowledge and a bag full of samples.

ExplorerPredental UpdateCaroline Pronesti, CAS 2003For those college seniors involvedwith the dental schooladmissions process, thefirst falling leaves alsosignify omnipresentapplications and eventually, interviews.Our shorteneddays are filled with lists of acronyms (AADSAS, DAT, AAEDAS);supplemental applications; and“why you want to be a dentist in 2paragraphs or less” essays. All ofwhich seem impossible to avoid.But for members of theBoston University Pre-dentalASDA Chapter, the dental schoolapplication process has becomemuch easier. For this we givethanks to the dedicated faculty fromGoldman and University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey,Newark (UMDNJ).This September, the Pre-dents hosted the Dean of UMDNJ,Dr. Linfante. Dr. Linfante presentedus with UMDNJ's admissions information, program requirements, aswell as other relevant facts related tothe dental school curriculum. Members embraced Dr. Linfante's candorand were interested and enthusiasticabout UMDNJ's offerings.On October 15, 2002, Dr.Polins and Ms. Catherine Frankladvised predental students how totackle the application, interview,and school selection processes.Rather th

tology, orthodontics, implantology, esthetics, biomate-rials, endodontics, gene therapy, bioengineering (with regard to (Continued on page 3) Issue 9 December 2002 BU ASDA executive board: Co-Editors Esther H. Kim (DMD 2004) Najib ADI (AS I) Shilpa Mailapur (AS I) 1st Delegate Ariel Bales-Kogan (DMD 2003) 2nd Delegate Amelia Grabe (DMD 2005)