Horizon Health dentist Dr. Alaina Oberembt, DDS, learned the essential information needed to practice her profession during her classes at Penn State University. But it was her student rotation at Horizon Health that unveiled a calling toward community dentistry.
Dr. Alaina Stiles, DDS, found a dental career serving rural communities after a student rotation at Horizon.
Oberembt spent a month at Horizon Health Wessington Springs Dental learning from practicing dentists and seeing patients on a regular basis for the first time.
“I feel like when you come into Horizon, they don’t treat you like you’re a student and you don’ t know anything,” Oberembt said. “They are there to facilitate and really help you learn. I knew when I came in, I wasn’t confident in some aspects (of dentistry) but having a mentor you leave a completely different dental student.”
Chief Dental Officer Dr. Michelle Scholtz, DDS, said having students who complete rotations at community health centers like Horizon can open their eyes to new opportunities.
“When you’re in dental school, you have the experiences that are provided within the school setting,” she said. “You’re not maybe aware of different real-world connections out there unless you have a connection with a family friend or a family member who is a dentist so you may not know the different opportunities that may present for your future career.”
Dr. Oberembt was introduced to the real world of dentistry and said she evolved as a provider in more than just a clinical sense. She was introduced to the community of Wessington Springs and the joys of a small-town lifestyle.
“At Horizon, you get to be part of the community,” she said. “As I was interning, I wasn’t just in the clinic all day working and going home by myself.”
Community events like football games and shopping at the local grocery store enhanced her student rotation and sparked a love for small-town life.
“You kind of get the whole experience,” Oberembt said. “When I got back to school, I could not rave enough about how great my experience was at Horizon.”
Dr. Scholtz remembers her student rotations fondly as an opportunity to discover new horizons. She said students she mentors now get to discover the benefits of living in rural South Dakota.
“You get to actually provide care in a timely manner and get to meet new people,” she said. “I think our rotations for our dental students are important because it exposes a lot of people to rural South Dakota, rural America. Getting to know your patients on a more personal level because they’re from the community and everyone knows everyone in a small community.”
Inviting students to spend time at Horizon has benefited recruitment, Scholtz said. Many of those students, like Oberembt, return after graduation to work in those small communities they discovered during their rotations.
“Obviously, I really liked it. I ended up coming back here where I interned,” Oberembt said. “I’d say it helped me grow as not only a person but as a provider. You really get to learn the more emotional part of dentistry you have more empathy, more sympathy.”
Since joining the staff as a full-time employee, Oberembt has relocated to a new clinic home at Horizon Health Plankinton Dental. She’s working in a newly refurbished clinic and has since married someone local to the area. Horizon has become a home, and her patients have become friends.
“You see people and you’re thinking that’s like my grandma coming here that would be like my family,” she said.