Anatomy in Dental School

[organichemistry]

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I was just curious of anatomy in dental school was primarily restricted to the teeth, mouth, gums, jaws, etc... or if it included the whole body.

doesn't seem too important for a dentist to know about the structure of the hip...but i've heard that some dental schools (namely harvard) combine the first 2 years of dents with meds and they take the same classes.


other than that... i had a question... what class do think would be more beneficial for an undergrad to take as a dental prep class... Histology or Comparative Anatomy?

 

[phremius]

I was just curious of anatomy in dental school was primarily restricted to the teeth, mouth, gums, jaws, etc... or if it included the whole body.

doesn't seem too important for a dentist to know about the structure of the hip...but i've heard that some dental schools (namely harvard) combine the first 2 years of dents with meds and they take the same classes.


other than that... i had a question... what class do think would be more beneficial for an undergrad to take as a dental prep class... Histology or Comparative Anatomy?

1) doesn't matter what you think is important. the school tells you to jump, you ask how high and shut the **** up! (that should be the number 1 rule in dental school: if you're not sure about anything, shut the **** up!)

2) most schools have gross anatomy. you spend much extra time on head and neck.

3) Helpful classes? Latin and Greek.

 

[captaintripps]

Gross anatomy requiring participation in dissecting cadavers from head to toe. pretty fun once you get over the sight of it.

I think histology is good preparation considering all the tissues/slides to get familiar with. I don't think an undergrad anatomy can do much.

 

[rocknightmare]

you have to remember you aren't becoming a techican after 4 years.. you are becoming a doctor. if you wanted to become a tech then you dont' need anatomy ... simple

 

[organichemistry]

you have to remember you aren't becoming a techican after 4 years.. you are becoming a doctor. if you wanted to become a tech then you dont' need anatomy ... simple

a doctor, yes. a physician, no. which is why i wonder why we'd have to learn about everything in rest of the body. i doubt a professor of history (a doctor) had to learn about all that

 

[angeeeeee]

back to the original post...we took gross anatomy with the med students and also are currently taking histology with them as well. we spent half the class on thorax/abdomen/perineum and the other half on head and neck.

 

[Extraction]

My gross anatomy class covered the whole body minus the legs, which I easily learned for the USMLE.

 

[DrJeff]

a doctor, yes. a physician, no. which is why i wonder why we'd have to learn about everything in rest of the body. i doubt a professor of history (a doctor) had to learn about all that

Last time I checked the mouth is connected to the rest of the body, and more importantly all of those medications/systemic diseases that your patients take/have can and often do have links back to the mouth. Also as a dentist, in many cases you'll be seeing your patients more often (atleast 2x/year) than their medical doctors do, and if you develop a good listening skill, you can pick up on medical condtions earlier than their yearly visit to their medical doctor.

Hence, that's why you get to do a full body dissection in dental school. IMHO, that was the best/most interesting course I took in dental school.

 

[drhobie7]

a doctor, yes. a physician, no. which is why i wonder why we'd have to learn about everything in rest of the body. i doubt a professor of history (a doctor) had to learn about all that

A history professor is not a clinician so that analogy doesn't work. At UCLA we dissect everything but the legs. And knowing the anatomy of the hip is pretty important when you're an oral surgeon (dentist) taking a corticocancellous graft from the posterior iliac crest (hip). Anatomy was my favorite class. Beats the hell out of dental materials.

 

[rocknightmare]

i guess he just wants to be a tech then.. quit whinning and do it!

 

[toofache32]

My gross anatomy class covered the whole body minus the legs, which I easily learned for the USMLE.

Ditto here.

 

[jk5177]

1) doesn't matter what you think is important. the school tells you to jump, you ask how high and shut the **** up! (that should be the number 1 rule in dental school: if you're not sure about anything, shut the **** up!)

Can't agree mroe. And you know what? I think that is key to success in dental school. I encounter too many classmates who question... "Why do we really need Evidenced Based Dental Practice? Why do we have to do this and that? Couldn't they just make it into 3 days? Could we get this on the web?"

 

[jk5177]

I was just curious of anatomy in dental school was primarily restricted to the teeth, mouth, gums, jaws, etc... or if it included the whole body.

The anatomy in our program is composed of two halves. Before the first midterm, we look at the whole body. After the first midterm and till the final, we examine the head and neck. I did ask my professor why it is the way it is (with the intention of knowing the method behind the madness of learning everything). Basically they want the dental doctors to have more knowledge about the rest of the body say a fitness trainer, aerobics instructor, or EMT.

Also, understanding the general anatomical themes, the language, the cadaver, and the cutting is a warm-up to the head and neck.

And lastly, maybe it is like a hazing ritual - paying our dues to be in the profession. Similarly, if we compare it to undergrad, the same question of why are we learning anatomy of the body is equivalent to the question of why are we learning o-chem?

You know what, O-chem has been minimally useful (the only time it came up even remotely is in dental materials and biochem, even then it is just the terms, there's no electron pushing). But doing well in O-chem got me into dental school.

 

[jk5177]

angeeeeee:

I like your signature.

 

[jk5177]

i guess he just wants to be a tech then.. quit whinning and do it!

And to the OP: It's okay to whine (If that's the right word to use). Whinning is relaxing and destressing.

 

[organichemistry]

nah... i'm not whining at all. i've never been one to shy away from work... i was just curious to see what the anatomy in dental school is all about.

 

[UConn_SDM]

nah... i'm not whining at all. i've never been one to shy away from work... i was just curious to see what the anatomy in dental school is all about.

I use my knowledge of peronius longus and brevis on an almost daily basis as a dentist dam it! - not to mention the cuneiforms, navicular and cuboid bones.
Sartorius, not so much.

It's actually fun to know about pyriformis and the gremellus muscles. Someone some day may want to know the external rotators of this hip and you may have the answer. In all seriousness I don't use this information much but it it fun to know. Besides it may come in handy to know about everything - I never had to look up the azygous and hemiazygous veins when I was studying for boards. All the questions on the thorax and legs were basically give me without any extra studying 🙂

 

[dinesh]

Where I go, we do same medical courses for the first 1.5 years ...
Gross anatomy, everything else...except we do far more head/neck anatomy than the med students.

 

[12YearOldKid]

At my school we just have to know the numbers of the permanent teeth and differentiate between maxilla and mandible.

 

[toofache32]

Where I go, we do same medical courses for the first 1.5 years ...
Gross anatomy, everything else...except we do far more head/neck anatomy than the med students.

In my first year of OMFS residency, I got a job as a TA for the med student gross anatomy. I was surprised at how they spent much less time on the head & neck than I did in dental school.

 

[toofache32]

... and differentiate between maxilla and mandible.

That can be confusing when you're sitting behind the patient and they're upside-down when you look at them.

 

[12YearOldKid]

That can be confusing when you're sitting behind the patient and they're upside-down when you look at them.

...and in a mirror. 😱

 

[dinesh]

My right or yours?

 

[Rube]

I was just curious of anatomy in dental school was primarily restricted to the teeth, mouth, gums, jaws, etc... or if it included the whole body.

doesn't seem too important for a dentist to know about the structure of the hip...but i've heard that some dental schools (namely harvard) combine the first 2 years of dents with meds and they take the same classes.


other than that... i had a question... what class do think would be more beneficial for an undergrad to take as a dental prep class... Histology or Comparative Anatomy?

Anatomy is easy in dental school. You've only got 32 teeth and 16 are mirror images of the others so you only really need to know 4 teeth each year. Its so easy... Just know which ones are back teeth and which are front teeth. My first anatomy class was an entire semester on only 4 teeth.

 

[Affinity]

True dental anatomy is very easy.. harder for some.. but if you want to save yourself time and a lot of headaches in the long run, take the prep course, or a few of them.. its money in your pocket when youre not wasting chairtime trying to fit laminates or crowns that dont fit because you dont know how to prep a tooth.. not to mention how foolish youll seem to the patient, although they may care more if you know what a triangular ridge is... remember, you have to deal with patients all day AND crown and bridge is where youll make your $

Anatomy is easy in dental school. You've only got 32 teeth and 16 are mirror images of the others so you only really need to know 4 teeth each year. Its so easy... Just know which ones are back teeth and which are front teeth. My first anatomy class was an entire semester on only 4 teeth.

 

[Doggie]

Anatomy is easy in dental school. You've only got 32 teeth and 16 are mirror images of the others so you only really need to know 4 teeth each year. Its so easy... Just know which ones are back teeth and which are front teeth. My first anatomy class was an entire semester on only 4 teeth.

I am a current TA for one of the med school anatomy courses. There was this one question that just made me burst out laughing when i saw it.
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A patient walks into the emergency room complaining of a broken lower jaw. Upon xray diagnosis, you discover that there was a fracture between the 4th and 5th teeth counting from the midline. What teeth are these?

 

[toofache32]

A patient walks into the emergency room complaining of a broken lower jaw. Upon xray diagnosis, you discover that there was a fracture between the 4th and 5th teeth counting from the midline. What teeth are these?

That's the funniest part to me. I've never seen that chief complaint before. It's usually "mah jaw got all swolled up when Juan beat mah a$$."

 

[toofache32]

...you discover that there was a fracture between the 4th and 5th teeth counting from the midline. What teeth are these?

You mean they actually have that many teeth?!?

Now that I think about it, this question doesn't let you account for any previously lost/missing teeth. The 4th tooth back is the 3rd molar on many of my patients. And was the patient in the mixed-dentition stage?

 

[Tzips]

You mean they actually have that many teeth?!?

Now that I think about it, this question doesn't let you account for any previously lost/missing teeth. The 4th tooth back is the 3rd molar on many of my patients. And was the patient in the mixed-dentition stage?

No kidding. I'm guessing you're also in a suitably urban area, where there seem to be a whole lot of random dudes whose sole job is to go around performing extractions with with the aid of a fist, bat or tire iron... Gotta love the 'hood. 🙄

 

[Woodsy]

Gross Anatomy is important because you need to know it in order to understand systemic pathology and drug response (so you know how to treat people with certain diseases or on certain medications). HOnestly though, even dentists say, most of the stuff you learn in dental school you won't use, but you still need to have some sort of background in it just so you understand certain fundamentals about how the body can work. Biochemistry is also a waste of time, but again important for pharmacology.

It really sucks, I can relate. I feel that half the time we don't need to know most of that nonsense. But it's just to get your feet wet. HIstology, another waste of time, but you gotta understand some concepts and features so you will know about the histological structures (usually cancer from a biopsy) in the oral cavity when the lab report returns. Honestly, as a dentist you can get away with not knowing any of that, but it is always better to have some sort of understanding so that you won't get sued.