1st year student - nervous about hand skills

[LinhN]

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Hi,

I'm in my 1st year of Dental school and a little nervous. I never had natural dexterity, i.e. I played instruments but I was never great at them, never was really artistic and I have messy handwriting when I write fast. Sometimes I feel I'm a little clumsy with my hands when i'm not paying attention.

I did work in a lab bench for two years before and was quick and pretty good with my experiments but I was always initially awkward at first. Its also the same way with video games, I'm never good at first, but with practice and determination I do get better.

I have been doing wax-up and carvings in lab, and I guess they are ok. At first as usual, they were not good, but the last two that I was graded I got the adequate grade. So I guess that is an improvement.

Do you guys feel that most of the techniques and dexterity required in dental school can be learned by practice and what you learn in lab the next few years, or does it require a lot of raw talent that I don't have compared to some of my peers.

Thanks!

 

[Daurang]

Honestly, you have nothing to worry about. You'll see your classmates' works that you wouldn't put in your dog's mouth; yet they too will graduate and do dentistry just fine.

 

[Jake8]

Nothing to it but to do it

Each time we move onto a new prep I start off pretty atrocious and after a couple lab sessions they start to look fairly decent. Do it enough and you are bound to get better.

 

[KinKs]

chill out bud, really

 

[eternalxdemon]

you can learn by practice. 🙂 i sure did. i look back at the preps i did at the beginning of the year n now... i feel so much more confident... and my preps look better too!!!! just practice practice practice!!!! i promise you'll get better. 🙂

 

[beannaithe]

You practice until you get good and then you continue practice until you get better. So people just hit good earlier then others.

With enough practice and muscle repetition, you do get a lot better. So just don't stress out about it now, you're way too early in dental school to get worried about that kind of stuff. 🙂

 

[lemoncurry]

very few people get the projects just right the first time. Your overall dexterity will improve over time through waxing, carving, drilling, etc.

I keep my first learn-a-prep plates around just so I can see how far I have come in my drilling skills. They were atrocious at first, but so were everyone else's.

 

[Decan]

I'm just like you...this stuff doesn't come naturally to me and I have to do the preps over and over until I get it. I was nervous my first year too but I soon realized that if I spend extra time practicing I can do just as well as others in my class. Its been serving me well through second year so my advice would be to relax, and keep in mind that it may take you longer but you'll get there. Good luck!