Mehek is a General Dentistry Resident studying in New York, and she has a unique perspective on the role her mentors and colleagues in the dentistry field have played in the fight against the coronavirus.

“The whole world has been expressing gratitude to most of the frontline workers in one way or another ever since this devil in the form of coronavirus attacked our beautiful planet. All the delivery persons who deliver us food, the cleaners, first responders, nurses, doctors are working very hard to keep us going. But what keeps them going is when we encourage them by showing gratitude to them. This is what gives them strength to keep working fearlessly and tirelessly.

I am a General Dentistry Resident…I have seen my professors and some of my co-residents working for dental emergencies like severe pain, infection, swelling and difficulty in eating and swallowing. Some of my co-residents were deployed to work in the ICU with COVID-19 patients. Even they have been putting their lives at risk.”

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The whole world has been expressing gratitude to most of the frontline workers in one way or another ever since this devil in the form of coronavirus attacked our beautiful planet. All the delivery persons who deliver us food, the cleaners, first responders, nurses, doctors are working very hard to keep us going. But what keeps them going is when we encourage them by showing gratitude to them. This is what gives them strength to keep working fearlessly and tirelessly. However, I personally feel there is one category of frontline workers that is not talked about. I am a General Dentistry Resident. Since I am in the category of an international student, I was not called in to the hospital as frequently. However, I have seen my professors and some of my co-residents working for dental emergencies like severe pain, infection, swelling and difficulty in eating and swallowing. Some of my co-residents were deployed to work in the ICU with COVID-19 patients. Even they have been putting their lives at risk. According to one article in The New York Times titled “The Workers Who Face the Greatest Coronavirus Risk”, dentists face the greatest occupational hazard of contracting the corona virus among all professions due to aerosol generation and close proximity to the patient’s mouth and throat. There are two main issues that I want to focus on through this post. The first, is that due to the lack of funding and potential budget cuts, the front line workers face a lot of problems. We, as dentists require a lot of PPE and we will suffer a lot if our community experiences budget cuts. And the second is towards the protests that are happening in the US right now. I just want to create awareness through this post that it is of utmost importance that all of us should protest peacefully and by maintaining appropriate SOCIAL DISTANCING measures, so that we don’t reverse all the efforts of the frontline workers have put forth thus far. Paid for by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees #PaidforbytheAmericanFederationofStateCounty&MunicipalEmployees, #Front-line

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