2nd Year Rock!!!

[Yah-E]

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Ladies & Gents:

With almost two weeks into my 2nd year's curriculum, so far I LOVE IT!

This first semester we have:

Dental courses:

Fixed Prosthodontics
Removable Prosthodontics
Endodontics I
Radiology I
Anesthesia I
Periodontics III
Dental Biomaterials II
Pedodontics I
Oral Medicine Rotation

Non-Dental Courses:

Pathology
Pharmacology

We spend much more time in the simulation lab and much much less time listening in the lecture halls. All day ( from 8 AM to 5 PM) Tuesdays and Thursdays, we're in the sim lab working on Removable and Fixed respectively. If you finish your assignment of the day early, then you can leave and have the rest of the afternoon off.

I'm sure in another 4 weeks or so, this thread will come back and bit me in the ass and everything will be more hectic and challenging, but in comparison to the 1st year curriculum, I'm having a lot more fun and learning much more about dentistry.

So for all you D-IIs out there, if you have already started your second year, do you feel the same? If you haven't started your second year yet, then be prepared for a ton of lab work and fun stuff!!

Fun things to look forward to this semester:

1) Using our new Dell laptops for Endo (which we started this past week)

2) receiving my NBDE Part 1 scores in roughly two weeks

3) meet my very own first patient for Periodontics (prophies)

4) inject local anesthetics into my classmates (local infiltrates and mandibular blocks)

5) to have complete knowledge and confidence to make a RPD for my family at the end of this semester!

6) Oral Sugrery I courses starts next semester!

7) to get to know all 10 of my new Advance Standing/International classmates better

I give 2nd year two thumbs up so far!

 

[ItsGavinC]

I'm so glad to hear you are enjoying yourself. I, on the other hand, am in the very pits of hell and don't see any sign of it letting up.

Cheers to the second year, which I hope I reach.

 

[larryt]

what is RPD stand for ? Removeable Prosthodontics Denture ?

Exciting today for me ! I just did 2 amalgams on my dentist's friend today...hehe he said I passed O amalgam on tooth 30, but I failed the DO on tooth 19. My dentist had to crave more to smooth the edge out. well I am looking for more volunteers to practice on composite and amalgams. hehe Anybody's interested ?

 

[UBTom]

RPD = Removable Partial Denture.

All I can say is in dental school you will get to do tons of operative-- Some of it frighteningly complex.

Today was operative day for me. Did a #30 MOD which none of my classmates wanted to touch because 1) the decay was near the pulp chamber and 2) the existing filling had an overhang on a very deep distal proximal box that caused a nasty periodontal defect there, which bled whenever touched and made field isolation a PITA. Drilling out the old amalgam was like tippytoeing through a mine field.

The procedure took four hours. 😛

The payoff? The patient spent $33 for the filling rather than $180 for RCT #30. And referred his wife to me for dental treatment.

 

[DrRob]

I think that someone who doesn't know what RPD stands for should be drilling on somebodies tooth.

UBTom - Just remember - you did not put the decay in that patients mouth. A pulpal exposure is not the end of the world - although in dental school they make it seem like it. I am still cautious and often have to convince myself that I am the one trying to help - and not the one who let the tooth reach this stage!

 

[DrJeff]

Originally posted by UBTom

Today was operative day for me. Did a #30 MOD which none of my classmates wanted to touch because 1) the decay was near the pulp chamber and 2) the existing filling had an overhang on a very deep distal proximal box that caused a nasty periodontal defect there, which bled whenever touched and made field isolation very difficult. Drilling out the old amalgam was like stepping through a mine field.

The procedure took four hours. 😛

The payoff? The patient spent $33 for the filling rather than $180 for RCT #30. And referred his wife to me for dental treatment. [/B]

Congrats, just remember to always tell the patient that when you place a deep restoration that the 'ol root canal MAY be in their future, that way, if nerve decides that its outlived its usefullness, you'll be able to say "remember how I told you about this chance when we did that filling a while back...." This way you'll look like a genious, and the patient will feel that you did your absolute best to avoid them needing a root canal.

Also, fast forward a few years from now, and you'll look at a deep #30 MOD with an overhang and a perio defect as a 45 minute procedure for which you'll bill between $100 to $150 (depending on your geographic region). You can alsoapply a localized subgingival antibiotic (i.e. Arestin) or break out your soft tissue laser to treat that perio defect for another $150 or so, and in the back of your mind you'll likely view this tooth as "future business" with an endo and a crown in the next 5 years, and then you'll get to bill well into 4 figures for a couple of hours of work!😀

The best bit of advice I can give you to work on in your 4th year is to master your explanation skills to your patients of the basic things you see every day in dentistry (i.e. caries, perio disease, endo lesions, fractured cusps, etc). If you can explain them in a concise clear manor so that your patients can understand things, you'll be suprised at how much dentistry( and I'm talking the high end stuff) you'll end up doing!

 

[UBTom]

Dr. Rob and Dr. Jeff:

Your hints and tips, as always, are greatly appreciated by this fledgling practitioner-- And hopefully I will be able to put them into practice 10 months from now.

Just my luck that my class would be the very last to take the Northeast Regional Boards with live patients.. Hopefully my board patient won't have a lesion like that (!). 🙄

 

[DrRob]

UBTom,

Are you taking the NERBS split up throughout the year? If so remember to take the computer test early enough so that if you have a problem it can be taken again before you graduate.

My friend (a procrastinator from NYU) passed both clinical portions with nearly perfect scores (and with that bridge provisional I think that's quite an accomplishement), but decided to wait to the last minute to take the computer test and failed. He did not have time to retake the test before graduating and now has to re do the whole test!

Good luck - I remember how Painful CRDTS was.