Name: Paula Schlemmer
Dental school you attended/year you graduated: University of Florida College of Dentistry, 2017
Residency/fellowship at UNMC: Periodontics
Program director: Matthew Byarlay, DDS, MS
How long is your training program and how long have you been at UNMC? 3 years, 5 months
What do you like the most about your training program? My co-residents! We’re a small but very tight-knit group. If you have a tough case, there’s always someone to help you work through it and improve your surgical skills.
What challenges do you foresee in graduate dental education in the future? The insane amount of student debt. Even if you want to specialize, many graduates are pushing half a million in debt, and add application costs, flights, relocation fees, etc., with no guarantee of a livable stipend at most programs. It forces many fourth-year students to go straight into the workforce instead of pursuing a general practice residency or specialty.
List some accomplishments that you are proud of:
- Matching at UNMC!
- Running 100 5Ks in a year.
Tell us three things about you that others may not know:
- I’m partially deaf in my right ear.
- I’m allergic to mint, which is really unfortunate as a dentist.
- In my free time I like to make homemade cards.