dental kit?

Started by JoshBerkeley
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JoshBerkeley

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does anyone know if there is a beginning dental kit on the market with some intruments and wax and fake teeth to practice working on before you get into dental school? Just wanted to introduce myself to that kinda stuff before I head into Dschool. Dont want to spend too much money on it... anyone have any ideas? thanks
 
I have no idea. Our current kit for our D1 year was $4600, but that included all the handpieces and everything.
 
you can go to your local dental school (if you have 1), and ask for some blue wax, a carver, pkt1, and pkt2, and occlusal wax up #12 (the maxillary left first premolar). Then buy a blowtorch from home depot. Then find a picture of #12 from all sides and try to build it up

🙂
 
JoshBerkeley said:
does anyone know if there is a beginning dental kit on the market with some intruments and wax and fake teeth to practice working on before you get into dental school? Just wanted to introduce myself to that kinda stuff before I head into Dschool. Dont want to spend too much money on it... anyone have any ideas? thanks
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Nah.. Enjoy your break. Wax up is not that hard at all. You will learn the technique after couple hrs of practice. 😀 😀
 
Don't worry. (I'm assuming) the professors at all the schools are willing to dedicate extra time to help people who want to get better handskills.

We have 4 hours of waxing every week with projects to be completed over a week's span. If someone needed help, they could always come in for more practice (~3 hours) after our classes.

Don't get too anxious about school, and enjoy the rest of your time off/undergraduate year.
 
How would you know what to do? Practicing wrong techniques will only lead to bad habits that you will need to break in year one. Practicing early may do you more harm than good.
 
i just thought it would be fun to carve and use the tools of the trade to get used to them... nothing i would take a lot of time doing, but these are good points, I dont want to develope the wrong technique. Thanks for your input...
 
JoshBerkeley said:
i just thought it would be fun to carve and use the tools of the trade to get used to them... nothing i would take a lot of time doing, but these are good points, I dont want to develope the wrong technique. Thanks for your input...
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Good point about the technique thing. One area where I think it would be beneficial to practice, without the risk of developing habits which would need to be broken later on, is working with a mirror. Either your sense of it is developed or it isn't; being able to control your fine motor functions that way is a very generalized and (I think?) "safe" thing to practice on. For example, try writing letters or simple words in a mirror (without looking at the paper, just looking in the mirror), or draw yourself a simple maze and then try to follow it using the mirror. That's the kind of thing I'd like to do when my work load lightens up a little bit. Current dentists and dent students, does that sound like a reasonable approach for those of us pre-dents who would rather do stuff than just relax? (PLEASE no snooty put-down remarks)
 
trypmo said:
Good point about the technique thing. One area where I think it would be beneficial to practice, without the risk of developing habits which would need to be broken later on, is working with a mirror. Either your sense of it is developed or it isn't; being able to control your fine motor functions that way is a very generalized and (I think?) "safe" thing to practice on. For example, try writing letters or simple words in a mirror (without looking at the paper, just looking in the mirror), or draw yourself a simple maze and then try to follow it using the mirror. That's the kind of thing I'd like to do when my work load lightens up a little bit. Current dentists and dent students, does that sound like a reasonable approach for those of us pre-dents who would rather do stuff than just relax? (PLEASE no snooty put-down remarks)
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I remember gavin saying he worked on indirect vision every so often when he had a chance by manipulating matchsticks. I think I will practice this in addition to your suggestion trympo 🙂
 
DrTacoElf said:
I remember gavin saying he worked on indirect vision every so often when he had a chance by manipulating matchsticks. I think I will practice this in addition to your suggestion trympo 🙂
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Ahh, I'd forgotten about the matchsticks; that's a good one too. Plus, then when you've gotten frustrated with your initial lack of coordination, you can watch that evil matchstick burn! 😀
 
Definitely don't start waxing; it's no fun unless you have professors there breathing over your shoulder and telling you to adjust the mesiofacial line angle by a 20th of a millimeter. 🙄 😀

If you're wanting to get a heads up on your hand skills go buy a Dremel kit from Walmart or Home Depot and learn to carve with it. Shouldn't run you more than $50 or so and there are tons of guides on line. My little brother makes a lot of cool things with his and the flexible extension is just like a handpiece.

As for the mirror thing, you are wise to start now. I am a D2 and still find myself leaning into patients' mouths because I just don't trust my hands in the mirror when the going gets tight.
 
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