THE

HANDPIECE
F A L L 2 0 1 8
 THE HANDPIECE
A letter
FROM THE ASDA PRESIDENT
2019 is a big year. It’s the year that my classmates and I
finally add the suffix “DMD” to our names.
As we all finish up interviews, pass licensure and boards,
and finally learn how to do a class II in under 3 hours, I
realize graduation is lurking just around the corner. There
is so much to look forward to in the upcoming semester
but also lots of bittersweet farewells. While dental school
was definitely challenging, there is a sense of safety in
being a student and simply going to school every day. I
will miss having a faculty to rely on whenever I treatment
plan a difficult case. I will miss sitting next to my friends
at our 8 AM courses. But mostly, I will miss all the good
times and celebrations we had whenever we
accomplished a major milestone. So far this year, the D1s
aced their fundamentals exams, D2s learned about the
dangers of dentures, and D3s survived midterms. As we
achieve all of our goals for this semester, we will begin
setting new goals for the upcoming year. UAB School of
Dentistry may be a small, state school, but it is filled with
countless number of motivated and hard-working
students. I spent most of my extracurricular time these
last 3.5 years with ASDA and saw our chapter flourish.
Thanks to the efforts and hours put forth by every officer,
many successful events took place.
Meet the team
PUBLIC RELATIONS COMMITTEE
OLIVIA SORRELL, MEG EASON,
PARKER ALISON, SYDNEY LARSEN,
KELSEY GWIN, AILEEN JONG
FALL 2018
by Lisa Shi
Since January, the Alabama ASDA chapter held several
school-wide social events including the Golf Tournament,
Crawfish Boil, and Trivia Night. So many attended Trivia
Night that we almost created a fire hazard! In September,
we held the annual Miles of Smiles 5K fundraiser, where our
committee raised $11,247 for Cahaba Valley Healthcare.
Additionally, several committees held monthly events
throughout the entire school year, including Practice
Management meetings and Spring and Fall Community
Outreach events, which provided free screenings to
hundreds of people in the community. Nationally, we also
received all three grants from ASDA to support our Wellness,
Legislative, and New Member Outreach initiatives. All of this
was made possible with the help from our Public Relations
Committee (they are the reason you are reading this right
now!) and our Fundraising Committee. Fundraising not only
held our annual Vendor Fair, but also created our first ever
Alabama ASDA Online Store! This small chapter has
accomplished so much, but the year isn’t over yet! We hope
to see you at our next fall social, Casino Night, and also
Legislative week in November. Until then, don’t work too
hard, and we’ll see you around this home that we call dental
school.
This year, our team has taken
on the challenge of increasing
Alabama ASDA's presence
online and on social media.
From a new logo to new weekly
features, we have loved finding
new ways to share all the
wonderful work our chapter is
doing with the world!   
THE HANDPIECE

ASDA EVENTS

WELCOME week
by Kelsey Gwin

A new year means a new batch of

D1s roaming the halls of the SOD
and we are so excited to have
them join our family! For the past
couple of years, ASDA has hosted
Welcome Week, a week of events
aimed at helping the D1s meet the
upper classmen as well as with
the transition into dental school.
This year’s Welcome Week was a
huge success thanks to our New
Member Outreach co-chairs
Danielle Ho and Viviana
Sepulveda.

Day 1 started with a welcome

breakfast, which included coffee
and donuts from none other than
Dunkin Donuts.

Day 2 a social media contest was

held with the hopes of
encouraging the D1s to get to
know students outside of their
own class. According to Danielle
“The challenge was to post a
picture on Instagram with an
ASDA member that was not a D1
and tag our Instagram page. The
winner of the challenge was Alex
Mathews and he won a pair of
tooth socks along with two $5 gift
certificates to Guthrie’s!”

Day 3 was yoga night with Dr.

Galin! Dr. Galin, who teaches us in
our endocrine class, was kind
enough to host a special yoga
class just for dental students. “We
wanted to promote health and
wellness so we thought that
including a night at the gym
would be a great idea!” says
Viviana. 

FALL 2018
THE HANDPIECE

Students attend Yoga Night taught by Dr. Galin

Day 4 On the last day, the D1s had

the chance to attend a lunch and
learn presented by our district
trustee, Kai Huang and the New
Member Outreach co-chairs. “It was
the most successful part of the
week as we had 100% attendance!”
says Danielle. “It was great to be
able to share our experiences with
ASDA and how becoming involved
with ASDA early on can really add a
lot to your dental school
experience. We also presented the
D1s with a welcome gift, a UAB
School of Dentistry coffee mug with
coupons to different restaurants in
the area.” Danielle and Viviana
agree that putting together the
welcome gifts was their favorite
part of preparing for the week.

D1s attend a lunch and learn seminar about ASDA

and organized dentistry

FALL 2018
THE HANDPIECE

Planning a weeklong event takes a lot successful mentor-mentee programs so

of diligence and organizing, two things
Danielle and Viviana learned early on.
“We’ve been very excited for Welcome
Week since last semester,” says Viviana,
“so we’ve been planning and
brainstorming ideas for welcome week
since the spring semester and
throughout the summer!” Another
reason for their success was the
recipient of a national ASDA grant that
Danielle and Viviana rightfully earned
as a result of their dedication and hard
work. “Receiving the national ASDA
new member grant allowed us to fully
carry out all our ideas without being
limited by a budget,” says Danielle. The
new member outreach committee has
big shoes to fill after this year’s
welcome week and the current chairs
hope their enthusiasm will encourage
the new members to follow their
example.
Long before planning for welcome
week, Danielle and Viviana took things
up a notch by setting up the first ASDA
Mentor-Mentee program at UAB. Both
Danielle and Viviana were very invovled
with their ASDA chapters at their
undergraduate institutions and had 
they thought it would be a good idea
to start one at UAB. Viviana explains,
“our pre-dental clubs had phenomenal
mentor-mentee programs that really
helped guide us through the
application process, studying for the
DAT etc. Because of our experiences,
we wanted to bring that to UAB. We
matched D1’s with an upperclassman
before they started dental school so
that they could begin receiving
mentorship early on and be able to
fully immerse into the dental school
life and catch some ‘ASDA fever’ along
the way!” While UAB dental students
have always been paired with an
upperclassman from each class (D2-
D4), they do not receive notification
about these mentors until after they
have started dental school. Thanks to
the new ASDA mentorship program,
incoming D1s were matched with a
current ASDA member months before
the first day of school so that they
could have someone to ask the many
questions one has before starting
dental school.

" IT WAS GREAT TO BE ABLE

TO SHARE OUR EXPERIENCES
WITH ASDA AND HOW
BECOMING INVOLVED WITH
ASDA EARLY ON CAN REALLY
ADD A LOT TO YOUR DENTAL
SCHOOL EXPERIENCE. "

New Member Outreach co-chairs, Danielle Ho and Viviana Sepulveda

FALL 2018
THE HANDPIECE
ASDA EVENTS
it's
TRIVIA
TIME
Welcome Week is a great ASDA
program full of events with the
initiative of introducing the first-year
students to the school and making
their transition into dental school as
seamless as possible. Trivia Night has
always been an exciting part of ASDA
Welcome Week, not only for D1’s, but
for all four classes. This year, the
event was sponsored by Aspen Dental,
Henry Schein, Patterson Dental,
Sarrell Dental, and Gendus, and
Mellow Mushroom hosted the event
for the second year in a row. The
event concluded with raffle prizes
from local businesses including Taco
Mama, Farmburger, and Lucy’s Coffee.
An estimated attendance of 180
students made this event one of the
most highly attended Alabama ASDA
events ever! This strong attendance
greatly contributed to the success of
Trivia Night and allowed all four
classes to interact with one another.  and all other ASDA events this
by Mary Elizabeth Massey
Since it was the first week back to
school, everyone was excited to see
their classmates after being apart for
summer break. One of the best parts
of trivia night was seeing the new D1’s
bond with their class for the first
time and get to know some of the
older students. The great part about
having the event during Welcome
Week is that we are able to expose
the D1’s to ASDA at the beginning of
their dental school experience.
As ASDA’s fall social chairs, Emily and
I really enjoyed planning Trivia Night
and are currently looking into
possible events for later this fall. We
are considering either a UAB Football
tailgate or a Halloween party. The
ideas were brought up by last year’s
social chairs, and we thought they
could both make for really fun ASDA
events. We hope to see continued
high attendance rates at these events
coming year!
 asda events
Miles for smiles 2018 by Elisabeth Cantrell

This year ASDA hosted its 15th annual Miles for Smiles
5k and 1-mile Fun Run benefitting Cahaba Valley
Health Care (CVHC). CVHC is a nonprofit organization
providing access to dental and vision services for
underserved communities in Jefferson and Shelby
Counties. They are one of the only free dental clinics in
Birmingham and surrounding areas, thus playing a
critical role in providing dental care to patients in
financial need. Miles for Smiles is the largest
fundraiser for CVHC, responsible for donating over one
third of the yearly operating costs for the CVHC dental
clinic.

This year’s Miles for Smiles committee members

included Hamilton Behlen, Ayah Alkhatib, Kathryn
Riley, and Elisabeth Cantrell. This committee was
extremely excited and honored to be able to plan and
host this year’s fundraiser. From the very beginning
we set out on a mission to raise more money than
previous years and set a goal that many believed was
unachievable, or at the least would be challenging.
After many months of planning, hard work, and
persistence we were able to see the fruits of our labor
and somehow managed to surpass our “unachievable”
goal. This year’s race was an incredible success
allowing us to donate a total of $11,247 to CVHC.

Last year’s committee began to shift the focus of the

event away from an official runner’s race toward a
more family friendly, community centered event. We
decided to continue this trend in the hopes of
attracting more participants in the coming years by
appealing to the masses, providing both a family
friendly community environment as well as an official
timed race for all of the runners out there. We had a
record number of participants this year so hopefully
the trend continues in the coming years!

A very big thank you to our Annual and Platinum This year’s committee would like to extend a huge
Level Sponsors! thank you to all of our sponsors, this event would not
Henry Schein be possible without your generous sponsorships. We
Ray & Poynor Properties
Gendus Dental Partners would also like to thank all of the local businesses that
Magic City Dentistry
Patterson Dental donated raffle prizes. The raffle prizes were incredible
Brian Kelleher Real Estate
Sarrell Dental and were complemented for being the “best raffle
Oral Arts Dental Laboratories
Aspen Dental
First South Farm Credit prizes ever!” We would also like to thank all of the
Lisa Miller Oral Facial Surgery
participants who came out to support Cahaba Valley
Health Care!
asda events
Miles for smiles 2018

Congratulations to our winners!

Overall Winner: Matt Cathey
Overall Female: Natalie Voss
Overall Male: Matt Cathey
 THE HANDPIECE

ASDA EVENTS

COMMUNITY
OUTREACH
by Olivia Sorrell

Just two weeks into the semester, the Alabama ASDA Community Outreach Committee
was busy with two great service projects. On Saturday July 21st, the Avondale Church
of Christ in Birmingham sponsored a back to school health fair for children. On Sunday
July 22nd, Homewood Church of Christ hosted their annual Back to School Block Party
for children. These two events provided backpacks, school supplies, and health
screenings for school aged children in the surrounding communities.

More than 75 Alabama ASDA students
volunteered over the weekend at these
events. Alongside faculty members Dr.
Edward Bradford and Dr. Merrie Ramp,
students were able to perform dental
screenings, provide oral hygiene instructions,
and offer dietary counseling. There were
several interactive stations set up to engage
children in fun oral health activities during
the fair, such as choosing the healthy food or
demonstrating how to brush teeth with a
stuffed animal. These children were also
provided free toothbrushes and toothpaste
to continue good oral hygiene habits.
Community Outreach Committee Chairs
Bhakti Desai, Athena Kenny, and Ally
Pritchett had to work closely together to
organize these events, making plans months
in advance. 
However, all of the planning and hard work
is certainly worth all of the effort. The
Committee Chairs believe it is extremely
rewarding to see all of their plans and ideas
come to life with the children. Bhakti
elaborates “I think service is important to us
because it reminds us of the bigger picture.
We’re taking the time to actually apply
what we’ve been learning in the hope of
positively impacting those in our
communities. These service events
targeted to kids are especially important
because not only do we get to reinforce
good oral hygiene habits, but we also get
to teach kids why oral healthcare is
important. These are habits they can carry
on for their entire life and one day instill in
their own kids.”

FALL 2018
 ASDA EVENTS

COMMUNITY
OUTREACH

AVONDALE CHURCH OF CHRIST

BACK TO SCHOOL HEALTH FAIR

Avondale Church of Christ sponsored a back to school

event to provide backpacks and school supplies to
children of the surrounding community. Several
students volunteered to perform dental screenings
and provide oral hygiene instructions and dietary
counseling for the children. Free toothbrushes and
toothpaste were also provided. Interactive stations to
demonstrate how to floss, how to brush, and healthy
versus unhealthy foods were also used to engage the
children. Over 75 children were screened, given oral
hygiene instructions, and provided free toothbrushes
and toothpaste. 

HOMEWOOD CHURCH OF CHRIST

BACK TO SCHOOL BLOCK PARTY

Homewood Church of Christ hosted their annual Back

to School Block Party to provide health screenings,
backpacks, and school supplies to children of the
surrounding community. Several dental students
volunteered to perform dental screenings, provide
oral hygiene instructions, and pass out toothbrushes
and toothpaste. Roughly 100 children and adults were
screened, given oral hygiene instructions, and
provided free toothbrushes and toothpaste.

FALL 2018
 ASDA EVENTS

WHAT SERVICE MEANS TO US

WITH BHAKTI DESAI

COMMUNITY
OUTREACH
I think service is important to us because it
reminds us of the bigger picture. We’re taking the
time to actually apply what we’ve been learning in
the hope of positively impacting those in our
communities. These service events targeted to
kids are especially important because not only do
we get to reinforce good oral hygiene habits, but
we also get to teach kids why oral healthcare is
important, which they would carry on for their
lifetime and instill those same values in their kids.

I loved getting to plan what interactive stations

we would have with the kids at the Avondale
Church of Christ. It was fun to see our ideas come
to life at the events and to see how the kids
responded to the stations.

Planning these events required a team effort. We

had to work together to break down the tasks
based on what needed to be done and when, so
we had to start meeting a few months in advance
of the events to make sure everything was in
order. 

W E ' R E T A K I N G T H E T I M E T O A C T U A L L Y A P P L Y W H A T W E ' V E B E E N

L E A R N I N G I N T H E H O P E O F P O S I T I V E L Y I M P A C T I N G T H O S E I N O U R

C O M M U N I T I E S .

FALL 2018
 new &
improved. UAB SOD'S NEW CLINIC
by Olivia Sorrell

We spoke with Dr. Broome about the extensive renovations that have taken place in
the second floor clinic throughout the course of the last year. 

The new clinic looks amazing! What How long ago was the last
made the comprehensive care clinic renovation?
renovation possible? The last full renovation took place in the
1970’s.  You have to be of a certain age to
Dean Reddy made it a priority to improve
recognize the dominant color in the pre-
the patient experience.  A big part of that
renovation clinic as “Harvest Gold”.  When I
was providing a more esthetic and
was a kid everyone’s refrigerator was that
functional space for the comprehensive care
color.  We were way overdue.
program.  He was able to generate
excitement for the renovation among the
alumni that led to some very generous What are the new aspects of the
contributions.  However, money was only
the first step – a lot of SOD people worked
renovated clinic?
together to design the new space and to
Where to start?  The most striking feature is
execute the plan.  It was a very complex
the use of the translucent panels in the
undertaking – we had to maintain clinic
operatories.  They allow flow while still
function throughout the renovation.  We
providing a bit of privacy for the patients.
were seeing patients on one side of the
 The equipment is state-of-the-art.  The new
plastic screen while we were gutting the
chairs are equipped with electric
space on the other side.
handpieces and piezo scalers.  And…striking
in its absence – the floor is quieter and is no
longer a trip hazard.
The new reception area brings a welcoming and fresh feel to the second floor clinic. 

What is your favorite feature? What has been the biggest impact
Although we have the same number of
of the renovations?
chairs and people as before, the new clinic
The quality of the space finally reflects the
has a much more open and spacious feel –
quality of our care.  It sends a message to
particularly in the reception area.
our patients – and gives UAB Dentistry yet
another pride point.
THE HANDPIECE
ASDA
DISTRICT
MEETING
Back in September, I attended the first
annual District 5 Leadership Retreat in
Gulf Shores, Alabama with 10 other
Alabama ASDA officers. Planned by the
District 5 Trustee and our very own
Alabama ASDA Vice President Elect, Kai
Huang, the goal of the meeting was to
foster friendships and collaborations
between all the leaders of District 5.
Representatives from UAB, UF, LSU,
Mississippi, Puerto Rico, and LECOM
were all present to share what their
chapters have accomplished and what
they still need work on.
The day began with presentations from
each chapter with an emphasis on
describing their strengths and
weaknesses. It was extremely
informative! It was amazing to see all
the neat things each chapter was doing
and exciting to think about bringing
ideas back to make our chapter even
better. Mississippi was very proud of
their golf tournament and the
successful turnout of faculty and
students.
FALL 2018
5
by Kelsey Gwin
To increase numbers, they host the
event the day before the first day of
school, on a Monday, which is a
designated “School’s Out” day so that
all students are available to attend. The
tournament acts as great introduction
to the school for the D1s. UF talked
about the success of their business
symposium where students are able to
learn about the business side of
dentistry, something we do not have
the chance to learn a lot about in our
normal classes. RJ Gonzalez, the
President of UF ASDA, explained this
was one of his favorite events of the
year because UF’s students are able to
listen to awesome speakers talk about a
side of dentistry that is not put at the
forefront of most dental school
curriculums. I would love to see us put
on a business symposium similar to the
one UF does in the future!
Kai then gave us a short presentation
on what we can expect at the District 5
Meeting in Puerto Rico.
THE HANDPIECE

All I can say is there is a lot of fun in

store for this conference! The hotel and
location are beautiful, and Puerto

ASDA
Rico’s dental school is very excited to
be hosting the meeting this year.

5
The advocacy council came prepared
with several trivia questions to get us DISTRICT
all thinking about advocacy and the
major issues that dental students are MEETING
fighting for. We learned about mid-level
providers and licensure reform and
practiced our elevator pitches for these
topics. It is important for students to be
well-informed about these issues so
that they can hold educated
conversations with faculty members,
legislators, private practitioners, and
other members of our profession.

The best part of the trip was getting to

spend time on the beach! We split up
into teams and had to complete several
tasks as part of a bigger competition.
One of the tasks included building a
tooth sandcastle. Each group got to
decide which tooth they would mold
out of sand but every group ended up
picking the same tooth; a mandibular
first molar. Great minds do think alike,
especially when it comes to dental
students and competition. We had
some very talented sand castle builders,
so the competition was fierce. The next
task was trying to build towers out of
dry pasta and marshmallows as tall as
we could make them. Unfortunately, my
group did not have any people that
were architecturally-inclined so our
tower ended up toppling over. Everyone
had a blast, so we were all winners in
my book.

We ended the night the best way we

know how in the South: grilling burgers
and watching football! Overall, the
weekend was a great success. We were
able to make new friends, learn a lot,
and grow stronger as a district. I cannot
wait to see everyone again at the next
conference!

FALL 2018