Ceremony symbolizes ethical standards
The College of Dental Medicine celebrated its first to-become-annual
white coat ceremony June 9 in St. Luke’s Chapel on the MUSC campus. For
58 dentists in the making —all members of the class of 2007—the
ceremony marked a transition from classroom academics to the clinical
phase of their training.Congratulating the students, college Dean John J. Sanders, DDS, said that the white coat symbolizes the ethical and professional standards of the practice of dental medicine.
Dr. Stephen Malley,
assistant professor, Department of Prosthodontics and faculty advisor
for the colleges chapter of the American Student Dental Association,
helps Chermaine Ruth, College of Dental Medicine Class of
2007, with her white coat June 9. The White Coat Ceremony, held
in St. Luke's Chapel, marks a transition from classroom academics to
the clinical phase of a students training. “Whenever you put on the white coat, remember to treat patients the way you would want to be treated.,” said white coat ceremony speaker David F. Watson Jr., DMD, past president of the South Carolina Dental Association and member of the college’s class of 1974. “Most live by that advice, while for some it just runs off their back,” he said. “I’m talking to the group in the middle.”
He reminded them that unlike some other professions, dentists still own the profession of dentistry, and that it’s still a profession that exists at the will of the public.
“You are going to make mistakes. No one is perfect, but your faculty is here to make you the best practitioners you can be. Learn from your mistakes.”
Finally, Watson exhorted them to always tell the truth to their patients, “even when things don’t go the way you want them to.”
Friday, June 24, 2005
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