Professional and personal enhancement: a pragmatic approach in dental education / 한국의학교육

PURPOSE: Students of health education are often offended by the transitions and challenges they face while encountering diverse people, ideas and academic workloads. They may be offended because of reasons not only related to their societal background but also to their basic competence in managing transitions. In the Asian scenario, students enter the first year of professional education in their late teen age along with the definition of self which was created by their parents. There are different issues that arise in this age group that may positively shape or negatively affect the personalities of students. They need to achieve a sense of balance between personal and professional traits on their own. Several students are often unable to cultivate the expected required qualities, which leads to an abject state of mind and hinder their progress. We identified the most common personal and professional hurdles in the lives of dental students and we provided experiential solutions to overcome the hurdles by using a sociable approach through an integrated, continuing education program. METHODS: Designing and implementing a cohesive, amalgamated and inspiring personal and professional enhancement action program for dental students. RESULTS: Feedback from students reflected that the needs and expectations of students vary with academic phase. In addition students expressed that this program series inculcated some positive skills, and overall, they are satisfied with the utility of the program. CONCLUSION: Personal and professional enhancement of students in accordance with individual needs as well as with expected requirements needs a committed administrative action plan. Our results in this context are encouraging and can be considered for application in dental institutions.

Alveolar soft-part sarcoma of tongue.

Alveolar soft-part sarcoma is a clinically and morphologically distinct soft-tissue sarcoma of adolescent and young adult patients. Though immunohistochemical stains implicate a myogenic origin, the histogenesis of this tumor has not yet been established. Its high vascular nature leads to dissemination of the tumor cells into the bloodstream and metastasis. It comprises less than 1% of all soft-tissue sarcomas and less than 0.1% of sarcomas of the head and neck, preferably involving the orbit (48%) and tongue (25%). Lingual involvement is very rare and only about 31 cases have been reported in English literature. Their deceivingly indolent clinical courses often lead to misdiagnosis and delayed treatment. The reported case indicates its asymptomatic nature and microscopic similarity to granular cell tumor, which is the common benign tumor of the tongue.