Hello! Happy St. Patty’s day! Are you wearing green?

Well, it’s spring break. When we get from spring break, we’re gonna hit the preparation for Clinic even harder than we have been!

We’re going to learn about working with special needs, review Endodontics, periodontics, patient assessing, treatment planning, anesthetics, and lots!

I have been assigned my first patient and see that patient on April 1. How exciting is that!? I’m really excited and nervous at the same time.

The first two appointments will be comprehensive exam. I will explore his medical history and determine what his chief complain is. I will then perform an IO/EO exam. Then I will do soft tissue charting, which is where I measure his perio depths. Then I will do hard tissue charting which is where I determine what kind of restorations or treatments he may need. Then I take an impression with alginate (yikes!) and then perform a facebow… I think that’s the jist of it… I might have missed some things… but they’re minor. After all this, I’ll schedule another appointment to discuss his treatment plan. Wow! How cool!

Public health also starts when we come back from spring break. At ASDOH, you are required to complete a certificate of Public Health — which is the first five courses of the MPH (masters in public health) degree. What is cool is you are also offered to complete the MPH degree if you take an additional 8 classes. In reality, an MPH consists of 15 classes; however, part of the certificate is that you are required to complete a DIC (dentistry in the community) project. If you finish your five courses and decide to move on to the MPH- your DIC project will transfer as 2 credits and you only need to complete 8 more classes, not 10! I don’t know about you, but I think it’s a deal I can’t resist. Plus, having an MPH on top of your DMD will only help you! It can open so many doors for you as well as educate you with the tools and knowledge you need to be able to assess public needs. If you are someone who see working with community health in the future- the MPH is definitely a good thing to complete.

Anyways, that’s about it for now. Talk to you later gaters.

-M

Hello everyone!
So…  I should have posted last Thursday because guess what happened?!

Christine and I were injection partners! Last Thursday was also the last “official” day of injections in Clinic Orientation… Christine still had to do 14 more required injections, and I had to do 13 more required injections… so guess what happened on Thursday??

We did them on each other. Christine was such a trooper. I did 13 injections on her in 1.5 hours and she did 14 on me in 1.5 hours! can you say “woah”?!

Anyways- I just wanted to mention to everyone that when you get to dental school and it’s time for injections – you learn the most if you are willing to overcome your fears of giving and getting injections.

The more injections I do, the easier it gets and the better I get at injecting. The more injections I receive, the more experience I get so I can better empathize with my future patients. This is so because you get a feel for what hurts and what doesn’t so that you know what you can do to not hurt your patients.

You make think that 13 or 14 injections must hurt and that you can’t do it… but if you learn anything from this post- learn that in life and especially in school- if you let your fear or anxiety of learning something, you are only cheating yourself of learning AND you’re paying lots of money to cheat yourself!!

I think back to before I took the injections course and I remember how scared and anxious I was – and now I am grateful that I realized early on that if I had not been so open these past couple months to overcoming the fear/anxiety – I would not have learned what I have… and I would not have overcome the fear of injecting someone or the fear of receiving injections.

Anyways — last Friday we took our first pre-clinical competency exam. There are a total of 6 pre-clinical competency. A pre-clinical competency is an exam that confirms that you are competent in the area that you were tested on. For example, my competency exam last Friday was my ability to complete an MCC (metal ceramic crown) prep and provisional in 3.5 hours. AND I PASSED yay. I am now one step closer to entering clinic!!

Next week we enter an entire week of clinic orientation!! Wow – which is another step towards clinic – next week will consist of radiology, anesthesia, facebow recording, oral diagnosis, and lots more fun clinic stuff!!

I’m super excited!

I’ll be sure to write more about the transition into dental clinic!

I’m so ready for March!

Happy Febru-arch!

M

Yesterday we had injections again. Ben was my partner. And we had a fun time anesthesizing each other! I started… nervous!

First Ben and I set up our operatories and before I knew it, Denise was standing behind me and was giving Ben a middle superior alveolar injection (MSA) and an anterior superior alveolar injection (ASA)! wow!!!

MSA mostly anesthesizes your premolars (and maybe the mesial root of your first molar) — ASA mostly anesthesizes your front teeth (k9s and incisors)…

and after doing three of those kinds of injections. I did another PSA on Ben’s right side – a review from last week. And then I did TWO – count them TWO- greater palatine injections! OMG! that was actually fun injection. Denise taught us a really neat way of tricking the nerves in the palate so that when u insert the needle it doesnt hurt (…as much). Ben was like “I prefer the needle over that!” The trick is using the end of the one-sided Q-tip – and putting high direct pressure against the point of penetration – that causes a lot of pain/uncomfort, so when the needle penetrates – u hardly feel the needle!

Today we’re in pharmacology… it’s all about cardiovascular drugs.. and my oh my are there a lot of cardiovascular drugs! And Dr. Spolarich is awesome and very entertaining. She makes pharm fun. There’s a lot of information and drugs to know, and I wish I had her brain and ability to keep all the drug names straight…. but nonetheless she makes something very difficult fun and interesting!

Next week, we’ll be finishing RPD – removable partial dentures…. and more Pharmocology!

Dental Prom is coming up at the end of February – I’m excited for that.

And now it is time for me to put a plugin for the awesome ASDOH Chapter of ASDA website!!! www.asdohasda.org

I have been working on this website since last March! I love web design… and I just uploaded pictures from the latest ASDA-related events from our ASDOH chapter– check it out!!!

I gotta go but have a great weekend- I’ll write again soon!

Yesterday was our very first injections lab! Dana and I were partners. I was so nervous on Wednesday night. Luckily a classmate found this really great chapter in the Head & Neck book about the PSA injection. So I read it over and over again so I could be as prepared as i could be. I even practiced stretching out m boyfriend’s cheeks and using a q-tip to find the injection site.  It may sound funny- but you don’t want to hurt people by stretching their cheeks too much trying to open it big so you can insert the needle. Therefore, I need to know how far I could stretch someone’s cheeks before it caused pain.

PSA means posterior superior alveolar –

The PSA injection is used when you are going to do dental work on the upper back molars.

Anyways- Dana let me go first- how nice… hehe. Well, we set up our operatory and I got the syringe ready with a cartridge of mepivicane. Then Denise, the hygienist, came and showed us what to do.

I thought I would practice on Dana with a q-tip first, but then before I knew I was injecting Dana!!!!!

I held my syringe parallel to her occlusal plane of her maxillary teeth- then when I was close to the injection site, I went 45 degrees down and 45 degrees out, approached the injection site which is superior and distal to the second molar. I asked for approval to inject and proceeded. I went in about 3/4 of the needle or 15 mm of the needle. Then aspirated to make sure I wasn’t in a blood vessel. It was negative. so I rotated slightly and aspirated again to verify I was not in a blood vessel. Then I deposited!!! But I only deposited 1-2 ml of anesthetic. Then I withdrew the needle…. before I knew it I had completed my first injection- WOW!!!

I practice on Dana two more times. Total, I injected into Dana’s right side twice and once on the left. The left side was a lot harder… that’s because I’m right-hand dominant. So I’ll have to work on injecting on the left side more.

Anyways- after I injected Dana. We switched roles. She injected me three times. She did awesome. She was nervous- just like I was when I was injecting her.

Injections is a very important course towards your clinical skills. If you can not properly anesthesize your patients, you might not have those patients for very long. Therefore you must learn how to properly inject your patients so you cause them the least pain and least harm. I understand that it’s very scary to inject others and sometimes you are more scared of others injecting you. However, I think a few of the most important things a dental student should possess is empathy, a willingness to help others, and understanding.

You have to understand that others trust you enough to allow you to go near their mouths with a needle; therefore, you must give that same trust to your classmates. We are all here to learn to be the best dental professionals possible. If you can’t trust others to practice on you, why should others trust you to practice on them?

We are all learning, which means we all have an equal chance at making mistakes. Therefore, when someone makes a mistake, you need to be understanding and know that they are not trying to hurt you on purpose. Our class had about 4 hematomas this week. I watched the reactions of these individuals and I am very proud of how my classmates acted and reacted in these types of situations. I can only imagine how painful a hematoma is, but i can also imagine how horrible I would feel if I was the one who caused someone a hematoma. Therefore, I appreciate how understanding and empathetic my class has been.

I think overall my class had a fun time this week. I had fun too!

Next week, we’re going to go over MSA field and ASA injections. I’m starting to get the jitters again! hehe. but I’m excited.

Hope everyone has an awesome weekend. I’ll write again soon! Feel free to comment with questions even if it has nothing to do with my posts!

Today we started RPD! Removable Partial Dentures! Exciting stuff!

School has been good. It’s our third week of school after the winter break. I definitely feel burned out. Last week we had an exam every single day – it was brutal. However, we all made it….

We just finished the didactic part of Anesthesia and injections – next week we will be partnering up and will begin practicing injections on each other – eek!

Last week we were also in the Sim lab doing Pediatric preps… it was a lot of fun. A lot faster and not very rigid on measurements of prep elements. I really am interested in specializing in Pediatric dentistry- however I do like working with people of all ages, so I might stay as a general dentist… who knows?!

Today in RPD- we learned about the Kennedy classifications – it’s kind of fun to see cases of arches and determine which classification it is… it can a tricky one!!!

Anyways- we have a quiz on classifications tomorrow, so I shall bid you farewell.

Hello all!!!

It’s December 18th and the first semester of second year is officially over! It feels so good. This semester was definitely a busy one; however it was jam packed full of the classes every dental student who goes to dental school wants — classes on how to be a dentist! I can officially say that I know how to do fillings (class I, II, III, IV, V, VI restorations) – both amalgam AND composite. I even know how to do gold onlays or inlays too! I know about periodontics and how to diagnose if you have periodontitis. I also know how to do root canal therapy, core and post build-up, and make you a complete set of dentures!!! And as of yesterday we finished our fixed prosthodontics course and I passed all my exams which means I am competent in single crown preps and 3-unit fixed partial dentures (bridges)… wow – to see it all listed out makes me really excited.

It was a lot of work and every single student in my class deserves a big pat on the back- we have definitely gone through a lot in a short amount of time, but we did it! We have gone thru it together: the long lectures, the intense studying, the late nights, the never-ending amount of coffee or caffiene, and…. now we have succeeded together

Now we can have the next two weeks to relax and breathe.

Next semester will also be another wild, but fun roller coaster…. by the end of next semester – we’ll be in clinic- wow! how scary and awesome is that!

Anyways- I will end my post with a BIG HAPPY HOLIDAYS to you and your family/friends.

Take care, eat too much food, drink too much eggnog, sleep too much, laugh until you cry, and cherish the time you have with loved ones.

Complete dentures was all last week. Oh my goodness. First of all, let me just say that it’s a lot of fun… if you’re the artistic type. However there is so much information you need to know in order to fabricate complete dentures.

So my advice: Pay attention to Dr. El-Gendy- my oh my that man has a lot of information so that you can make your older patient very happy and confident

However it is an intense module. We had a quiz on Tuesday, Wednesday and then a midterm on Thursday- and the second course for public health started this week so – so on top of studying for complete dentures every night- you had to read for public health, participate in online discussion AND write 2 papers…. I was so exhausted on Friday!

Anyways- lab assignments for dentures is super fun. I love waxing… It may be tedious or impossible to some people… but for me, i could totally spend my days waxing up denture occlusal rims! haha

Anyways- i must say that you need to be patient when fabricating dentures.

Now tomorrow is our second week of complete dentures- I am going to attempt placing teeth into my occlusal rims… and this is VERY critical – so make sure you know your anatomy and alignment for teeth.

For example, the maxillary central incisors should line up with the midline of the face, the cervical part (the part closest to the root) of the tooth should be tilted lingual (towards your palate) and the facial surface (front part of the tooth) should be aligned with the facial part of your occlusal rim as well as 5-7mm from your incisive papilla… and that’s just one tooth! imagine all the criteria for all the other teeth…

Let’s just say – it’s an art! an exciting art though!!! And your drive –> how happy your patient will be when they can smile and eat all daily things that we teethers easily take for granted

Anyways – I’m super excited for this second week… maybe I can upload a picture of final dentures at the end of the week! I’ll see what I can do!

Anyways- have an awesome Sunday night and I’ll talk again real soon!

Hello everyone!

Ah… yesterday I did my first comprehensive exam on a classmate. How nerve-wrecking!!! If you don’t know what a complete comprehensive dental exam is- it includes:

1. a review of the patient’s medical history about past surgeries, systemic problems, medications, allergies, and so on.

2. an extra-oral exam – this is where we take a look at your physical features and we check all your head and neck lymph nodes – this is a huge part of oral cancer screening — seeing if you have abnormal size lymph nodes

3. we then proceed into an intra-oral exam – where we look at the inside of your oral cavity: are your salivary glands working, do you have any indications of habitually chewing your cheek, grinding your teeth, do you brush your tongue, do you have your tonsils, etc…

4. Then we take a look at your radiographs for bone loss and see the overall status of your teeth

5. Then we measure your periodontal depths of your teeth to see if you have good pockets between your teeth and your gingiva…

and man – that’s a lot!! Well, despite how slow I was and how nervous I was- I did well and now I’m excited to do it again.

Yesterday- the American Student Dental Association ASDOH Chapter did its first all-chapter community service event – we packed shoe boxes with school supplies, oral & general hygiene products, and small toys for underprivileged children. We also made a guide with images on how to properly brush and floss teeth!

And now… we are on Thanksgiving break. This break was very much needed. After break- we will be learning how to make dentures! I’m super excited. In less than 6 months we are going to be in clinic working on patients…. making dentures, doing root canals, restoring teeth, doing cleanings… how exciting!!!

Well, happy thanksgiving everyone!

Hello Everyone,

It’s been a while since my last post. I’m sorry. School has definitely been busy. Hmm… Where to start?

Well, Radiology was a lot of fun. Took my radiology competency exam and did well. Made a couple boo boos. But the important thing is that you are able to identify where/what those boo boos are bc then you can go back and look at how you are placing the films in a patient’s mouth to identify how you can do it next time to achieve the ideal radiographs.

Endodontics has been the module of interest in the past 2 weeks. Some people may think root canals are boring, but for me – it was a lot of fun. I started with a molar with 3 canals… it was very exciting when I completed all 3 canals! It was a very relaxing environment. All we did was root canals for 8 days… it was fun. Every tooth I did had a different canal or different set of canals… I even found a fourth canal in a molar!

We started fixed partial dentures earlier this week. It has been a while since we have done any crown preps (this is where we cut/shape a tooth with a handpiece (drill) to the right dimensions so that it can ideally hold a crown without fracturing or falling out. It was fun to do crown preps again.

We started our Lasers module yesterday. It’s amazing how the advancement of technology is benefiting the field of dentistry so rapidly. The purpose of laser dentistry is using lasers to do things such as remove soft tissue in the mouth without bleeding, removal of lesions without bleedings, etc. It’s really cool.

My class social chairs organized a Thxgiving Potluck tonight. I really like how our class spends the holidays together and we have fun together. I’m excited for all the food!!!

This is just a brief overview of what I’ve been up to, but maybe I’ll have some time to write more – especially about our clinic orientation module- now that’s a course with lots of stories! I’ll write more.

Have an awesome day!

Just got back from radiology. I was super proud of myself. I only had trouble with two places in the mouth.

I’m really glad my mentor Nevin let me shadow her in the radiology lab last year. She taught me how to put sensors and instruments together as well as place the instruments in the patient’s mouth. So I felt prepared going into radiology today. To be honest, I was relieved that I wasn’t having as much trouble as I was anticipating. Lately- I’ve been having so much trouble in sim lab with my daily assignments… it gets discouraging, but when I completed radiology today- I felt so relieved…

You know, there are different types of learning curves. For me, I always feel like I’m the only one behind. I feel like I’m the slowest one too. Even though deep down I know I am not alone… I can’t help but feel it. The trick in not letting these feelings and thoughts discourage you from succeeding is perseverance.

We are in fixed prosthodontics right now. We’re learning about provisionals, crowns, etc. And there is such a huge learning curve for me personally. I was still trying to finish day 1 assignments on day 3. So I felt really discouraged. It’s days like those that define your passion for dentistry as well as define your strength. It has a lot to do with your mindset and a lot to do with perseverance.

There will be days… tons of days… where you feel overwhelmed and thoughts of failing or being incompetent flood your mind. It’s okay. It’s okay to feel overwhelmed… you need to find the strength to remember that you are in dental school… that wise people (admissions committee) selected you- they saw potential in you. And you’re in school – you’re learning- you’re not supposed to know everything already. So when you get to dental school and experience these so-called bad days that I described above- just take a breath. look around. and tell yourself that you can do it. tell yourself that it’s going to be okay… maybe even great (i dare you to say THAT to yourself!)