Student Section by Kishan Sheth, DentaltownUK Honorary Associate Editor

Fellow colleagues, friends, ladies and gentlemen: I was deeply and truly honoured when I was appointed as the student honorary associate editor for DentalTownUK, back in January 2017.

The entire concept of Dentaltown in the USA has empowered dentists all around the world and has been an extremely beneficial learning tool for students, including myself, and I was very excited to hear that the movement was being brought to the UK.

It is indeed a chance and an opportunity to discuss important matters and trends in dentistry and share ideas, which lead to the spreading of knowledge and generation of discussion and debate.

The primary goal of the student section is to empower undergraduate dental students to write about topics they are passionate about, and share their experiences with all their fellow dental students in the UK.

Is there an area within dentistry that you have been reading about? Would you like to put together a brief article summarizing your findings? Have you read a book recently that you think has changed the way you view something? Would like to write up a book review?

Whatever empowers the profession and begins discussion should be shared for all to benefit from, and we all encourage the discussion of ideas which will help us to raise our standards and become more effective providers of patient-centred, evidence-based, minimally invasive and holistic dentistry.

It has been exciting to witness the great explosion in discussion which DentaltownUK has sparked, and it has been empowering to see that students all around the UK have so much positive feedback, and that so many wish to get involved. In this edition we take a look at a day in the life of Dr Amit Patel, Periodontal Specialist and Clinical Lecturer at the University of Birmingham Dental School.

We also take a closer look at some of the tips and tricks to use when seeing your first patient as a dental student by Sagar Patel, BDS5 dental student at King’s College London. I must congratulate both the authors of these articles for doing such a fantastic job. I also write a short article on my journey through public speaking as a dental student, and offer some advise on students wanting to get into the craft.

I am confident that DentaltownUK will continue to deliver an unrivalled service to the profession, and will continuously play a pivotal role in the way in which students and professionals come together. Enjoy this edition of DentaltownUK!