Dentistry similar to art?

[GravityxZero35]

As I learn more about dental school, it seems like a huge component of dental school is lab work, meaning you are always sculpting or shaping teeth. Personally I am into dentistry because of the science rather than the "art" component. So do dentists really spend a lot of time designing teeth? thanks

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[mid]

Depending on what school you go to you may or may not do a lot of your own lab work. You'll be waxing teeth no matter where you go. Once you're working, you will generally spend all day sculpting teeth (crown/bridge preps, fillings, etc).

Dentists are surgeons, surgery means "hand work." It's art and science.

 

[Electrophilic]

As I learn more about dental school, it seems like a huge component of dental school is lab work, meaning you are always sculpting or shaping teeth. Personally I am into dentistry because of the science rather than the "art" component. So do dentists really spend a lot of time designing teeth? thanks

You could always do research if you aren't into sculpting or aesthetics.

 

[twh019]

You've got to like the art enough to get through school, since that's a lot of your grade.
Sounds like you could have a dental career in academia.

 

[gryffindor]

If you want the "pure science" in dentistry, you will have to pursue Oral Pathology, Oral Radiology, or pure scientific research after dental school. All the other areas in clinical dentistry are hands on and therefore have some art or philosophical component to it.

 

[GravityxZero35]

well its not that I dont like hands-on work, its more because I am afraid I will be terrible at it. For instance, i did an impression a few weeks and ago and it took me like 4 tries to get it down and thats with the help from a dental hygienist...

 

[Daurang]

well its not that I dont like hands-on work, its more because I am afraid I will be terrible at it. For instance, i did an impression a few weeks and ago and it took me like 4 tries to get it down and thats with the help from a dental hygienist...

Unless you have some neuromuscular disease, that's the least of your concern. Students fail out academically, not from poor hands-on.

 

[Koalafied]

There's plenty of 'dental art' at your local dental lab. Make sure to develop/establish a good relationship with these people, especially when it counts.

 

[canine89]

well its not that I dont like hands-on work, its more because I am afraid I will be terrible at it. For instance, i did an impression a few weeks and ago and it took me like 4 tries to get it down and thats with the help from a dental hygienist...

Don't worry about impressions.. most people don't get them on their first few tries. It comes with practice 🙂

Even if you're not the best with hand skills, you'll learn them. It comes more naturally to some, but don't let it completely deter you from dental.

 

[KenKim]

dentistry = artistry. i realize this more and more everyday. preparing and restoring a tooth is like creating a functional sculpture piece that restore quality of one's healthy life. There are no piece of art work that could be more rewarding than that

 

[Koalafied]

dentistry = artistry. i realize this more and more everyday. preparing and restoring a tooth is like creating a functional sculpture piece that restore quality of one's healthy life. There are no piece of art work that could be more rewarding than that

That's quite a sweeping generalization there.

 

[KenKim]

That's quite a sweeping generalization there.

not really. nature of being an artist makes you a selfish being. you paint sculpt perform only for yourself. There are no pieces of work that's created for the purpose of changing someone's life. artists create things for recognition and his or her own spiritual enlightenment. yes you can be rewarded with millions of dollars with your painting but that is different kind of reward than the reward i was talking about

 

[Koalafied]

not really. nature of being an artist makes you a selfish being. you paint sculpt perform only for yourself. There are no pieces of work that's created for the purpose of changing someone's life. artists create things for recognition and his or her own spiritual enlightenment. yes you can be rewarded with millions of dollars with your painting but that is different kind of reward than the reward i was talking about

So by your logic:
Nature of artist = selfish
Artwork from selfish artist = selfish artwork

So what this really means is that all artwork prior to the advent of dentistry and health care, in general, was therefore predicated on selfishness?

My goodness. So I’ve been taught wrong my entire life?😕

 

[Screwtape]

not really. nature of being an artist makes you a selfish being. you paint sculpt perform only for yourself. There are no pieces of work that's created for the purpose of changing someone's life. artists create things for recognition and his or her own spiritual enlightenment. yes you can be rewarded with millions of dollars with your painting but that is different kind of reward than the reward i was talking about

That is nonsense. Nothing more to say.

 

[KenKim]

So by your logic:
Nature of artist = selfish
Artwork from selfish artist = selfish artwork

So what this really means is that all artwork prior to the advent of dentistry and health care, in general, was therefore predicated on selfishness?

My goodness. So I've been taught wrong my entire life?😕

yea seems like u have trouble understanding what im saying. world of art is very abstract in nature. i spent most of my education trying to define what art is.and yes artists exist for their own good for the most part. youre struggling to define art and artists but its not going to work

 

[Koalafied]

yea seems like u have trouble understanding what im saying. world of art is very abstract in nature. i spent most of my education trying to define what art is.and yes artists exist for their own good for the most part. youre struggling to define art and artists but its not going to work

As a matter of fact, I do have trouble understanding what you are trying to say and more specifically what you are trying to assert. Just as the common proverbs has it, "a picture is worth a thousand words." So yes the world of art is indeed abstract.

Now the statement:

and yes artists exist for their own good for the most part.

is yet another reaffirmation of your initial assertion that I was merely reiterating in the same format you had announced earlier.

dentistry = artistry.

Ad hominem is not going to defend your assertion as my own understanding of what art is is completely irrelevant to your assertion of what art is.

Perhaps you can enlighten me/us/everyone with unbiased and factual evidence concerning your assertion of what art is/is so far.(e.g. Great Pyramid of Giza, Leonardo da Vinci, Auguste Rodin, Renaissance period, Baroque period, and etc.)

 

[yappy]

This is my impression of the field....

What you do must be functional, healthy, and visually appealing. None of those things are mutually exclusive.

The more I learn about dental anatomy, and disease, I'm reminded of the most basic biology truism that "form follows function".

EDIT: Just to clear it up the discussion above; why don't we agree on the actual definition of the world "art" as understood by the English language rather than get into a philosophical debate? lol.

Noun
The expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture,...: "the art of the Renaissance"
Works produced by such skill and imagination.

It doesn't need to be selfish or abstract.

 

[Koalafied]

This is my impression of the field....

What you do must be functional, healthy, and visually appealing. None of those things are mutually exclusive.

The more I learn about dental anatomy, and disease, I'm reminded of the most basic biology truism that "form follows function".

EDIT: Just to clear it up the discussion above; why don't we agree on the actual definition of the world "art" as understood by the English language rather than get into a philosophical debate? lol.

Noun
The expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture,...: "the art of the Renaissance"
Works produced by such skill and imagination.

It doesn't need to be selfish or abstract.

Perhaps.

However, I had neither disagree nor agree with KenKim's assertion of what art is. Also, what is wrong with a philosophical debate? The fundamental principles of health care and society, at large, was initiated through such philosophical debates. (e.g. Hippocrates, Aristotle, The Founding Fathers of the U.S., and etc.) And finally, to only understand the word "art" under the English language is rather highly ethnocentric, xenocentric, and/or chronocentric; and would, nonetheless, incur more bias.

Since KenKim is currently a dental student as implied through his/her other posts, he/she may have garnered a deeper, possibly even esoteric, understanding of what art really is and its relation to dentistry.

 

[AlbinoPolarBear]

Perhaps.

However, I had neither disagree nor agree with KenKim's assertion of what art is. Also, what is wrong with a philosophical debate? The fundamental principles of health care and society, at large, was initiated through such philosophical debates. (e.g. Hippocrates, Aristotle, The Founding Fathers of the U.S., and etc.) And finally, to only understand the word "art" under the English language is rather highly ethnocentric, xenocentric, and/or chronocentric; and would, nonetheless, incur more bias.

Since KenKim is currently a dental student as implied through his/her other posts, he/she may have garnered a deeper, possibly even esoteric, understanding of what art really is and its relation to dentistry.

Perhaps.

I am not disagreeing or agreeing with you. But the rest of us don't care.

Thanks for arguing with yourself.

 

[AlbinoPolarBear]

OP: When looking at the general outline of a tooth, it will look like a daunting task to completely replicate it. But in general, the primary anatomy of the tooth such as the main cusps, ridges and fossas are what we are aiming to get. There are occlusion points, where the mandibular teeth comes in contact with the maxillary teeth, and these points are the ones that you should try to aim for. Everything else, like the smaller lines that have no function (called secondary anatomy), are there to just touch up, but they do not participate in the function of the tooth. It will look nicer to put them on, but it is not necessary. In dental school, you would learn which part of the tooth is necessary and which aren't.

I've been taught the correct method to do amalgam and composite restorations, and when I looked at my own amalgam restorations from 10+ years ago, it looked really bad. It did not have any secondary anatomy, and the primary anatomy is very hastily done. But hey, it functions well, so I'm not complaining.

 

[yappy]

Perhaps.

However, I had neither disagree nor agree with KenKim's assertion of what art is. Also, what is wrong with a philosophical debate? The fundamental principles of health care and society, at large, was initiated through such philosophical debates. (e.g. Hippocrates, Aristotle, The Founding Fathers of the U.S., and etc.) And finally, to only understand the word "art" under the English language is rather highly ethnocentric, xenocentric, and/or chronocentric; and would, nonetheless, incur more bias.

Since KenKim is currently a dental student as implied through his/her other posts, he/she may have garnered a deeper, possibly even esoteric, understanding of what art really is and its relation to dentistry.

It's a broad definition that has a lot of utility. It's no more xencentric, chronocentric, or biased than someones individuals interpenetration of the already defined "art". This whole conversation is laughable lol. Pseudo-intellectualism at its finest.

"I had neither disagree nor agree with KenKim's assertion of what art is" Thanks for the reminder of why I hated non-science/non-math UG courses so much.

 

[SpecterGT260]

Oddly enough, I was asked to weigh in on this so let's keep the complaints of staying in one's own sandbox to a minimum

but anyways....
The following 2 statements seem to be directly contradicting each other... but there also appears to be a language issue. I dont think KenKim is a native english speaker based on some other posts, so maybe that's at play here too...

dentistry = artistry. i realize this more and more everyday. preparing and restoring a tooth is like creating a functional sculpture piece that restore quality of one's healthy life. There are no piece of art work that could be more rewarding than that

not really. nature of being an artist makes you a selfish being. you paint sculpt perform only for yourself. There are no pieces of work that's created for the purpose of changing someone's life. artists create things for recognition and his or her own spiritual enlightenment. yes you can be rewarded with millions of dollars with your painting but that is different kind of reward than the reward i was talking about

😕

That doesn't make sense. But to get down to it.....

not really. nature of being an artist makes you a selfish being.

I agree. Every person is a selfish being. All of them without exception. Even those who are exceptionally altruistic are still selfish beings (and this was actually proven by a mathematician some time ago... although his name and publication are currently escaping me).

You don't do anything that doesn't suit you. You cut someone off in traffic? You have deemed that your few seconds spared is more valuable than that other person's. You volunteer by bathing in-patients in a hospice ward, you have decided that the feeling of reward you get is of greater value than the time and energy expended. You are forced at swordpoint to jump off of a plank into Davy Jones's locker? You have decided that practicing your dolphin swim technique is better than a sword to the kidney. Everything you do, you do so because you perceive a net benefit. Everything. Without exception. Period. It's time to outgrow the connotates of the word "selfish", guys 👍

you paint sculpt perform only for yourself. There are no pieces of work that's created for the purpose of changing someone's life.

This is false. There are plenty of things that are created for this purpose. Depending on how nebulous you want to get here, you could say that everything that is made is made for this purpose. If you're suggesting that things aren't made for the sole purpose of changing someone's life I would agree. That pesky idea of personal gain (be it monetary, emotional, or anti-sword kidney sparing) applies here as well.

artists create things for recognition and his or her own spiritual enlightenment. yes you can be rewarded with millions of dollars with your painting but that is different kind of reward than the reward i was talking about

You can also be rewarded by hitting personal goals. You can be rewarded based on meaning you yourself apply to something (this is usually how people who volunteer receive their "reward"). I suppose personal recognition tends to be a sweeter reward for most people. But that doesn't mean that is all that is out there.

This is all kind of beside the point, however. The OP was asking about the "art" of dentistry vs the "science". This hasn't been well defined here... Some would argue that the bench work has plenty of science in it. There is technique involved, and therefore technical skill (as opposed to knowledge base). The reality is that the non-academic and non-cerebral aspects of schooling are a part of any healthcare profession. It's how we get paid. I'd get used to it.

 

[RLIII]

You don't do anything that doesn't suit you. You cut someone off in traffic? You have deemed that your few seconds spared is more valuable than that other person's. You volunteer by bathing in-patients in a hospice ward, you have decided that the feeling of reward you get is of greater value than the time and energy expended. You are forced at swordpoint to jump off of a plank into Davy Jones's locker? You have decided that practicing your dolphin swim technique is better than a sword to the kidney. Everything you do, you do so because you perceive a net benefit. Everything. Without exception. Period. It's time to outgrow the connotates of the word "selfish", guys

what about the 19 year old kid who smothers a grenade to save his platoon?

 

[SpecterGT260]

You don't do anything that doesn't suit you. You cut someone off in traffic? You have deemed that your few seconds spared is more valuable than that other person's. You volunteer by bathing in-patients in a hospice ward, you have decided that the feeling of reward you get is of greater value than the time and energy expended. You are forced at swordpoint to jump off of a plank into Davy Jones's locker? You have decided that practicing your dolphin swim technique is better than a sword to the kidney. Everything you do, you do so because you perceive a net benefit. Everything. Without exception. Period. It's time to outgrow the connotates of the word "selfish", guys

what about the 19 year old kid who smothers a grenade to save his platoon?

He either did so out of shame for not knowing how to use the quote function or was motivated to do so based on his personal beliefs and values, in which case it still suited him to perform that action. We all die eventually. Defining personal benefit by longevity alone is absurdly naive.

 

[Mr. Thirsty]

Oddly enough, I was asked to weigh in on this so let's keep the complaints of staying in one's own sandbox to a minimum

but anyways....
The following 2 statements seem to be directly contradicting each other... but there also appears to be a language issue. I dont think KenKim is a native english speaker based on some other posts, so maybe that's at play here too...



😕

That doesn't make sense. But to get down to it.....


I agree. Every person is a selfish being. All of them without exception. Even those who are exceptionally altruistic are still selfish beings (and this was actually proven by a mathematician some time ago... although his name and publication are currently escaping me).

You don't do anything that doesn't suit you. You cut someone off in traffic? You have deemed that your few seconds spared is more valuable than that other person's. You volunteer by bathing in-patients in a hospice ward, you have decided that the feeling of reward you get is of greater value than the time and energy expended. You are forced at swordpoint to jump off of a plank into Davy Jones's locker? You have decided that practicing your dolphin swim technique is better than a sword to the kidney. Everything you do, you do so because you perceive a net benefit. Everything. Without exception. Period. It's time to outgrow the connotates of the word "selfish", guys 👍


This is false. There are plenty of things that are created for this purpose. Depending on how nebulous you want to get here, you could say that everything that is made is made for this purpose. If you're suggesting that things aren't made for the sole purpose of changing someone's life I would agree. That pesky idea of personal gain (be it monetary, emotional, or anti-sword kidney sparing) applies here as well.


You can also be rewarded by hitting personal goals. You can be rewarded based on meaning you yourself apply to something (this is usually how people who volunteer receive their "reward"). I suppose personal recognition tends to be a sweeter reward for most people. But that doesn't mean that is all that is out there.

This is all kind of beside the point, however. The OP was asking about the "art" of dentistry vs the "science". This hasn't been well defined here... Some would argue that the bench work has plenty of science in it. There is technique involved, and therefore technical skill (as opposed to knowledge base). The reality is that the non-academic and non-cerebral aspects of schooling are a part of any healthcare profession. It's how we get paid. I'd get used to it.

What you are describing is reciprocal altruism. I agree that this is the most common applicable description for why individuals do certain things such as volunteering abroad, donating money or helping friends out for a feeling of well being or expectation of something done in return in the future. I do think however that true altruism exists when it comes to family and loved ones, or the example stated above about a comrade diving on a grenade to save the rest. The definition of altruism is lowering ones fitness to increase that of others. Sacrificing ones self by death via a grenade is pretty extreme, and there is no intrinsic value to death. The only time for intrinsic value is the 8 seconds before the grenade explodes. Death is the ultimate example of "lowering one's fitness". People argue that there is no such thing as true altruism since good deeds often give an intrinsic reward, even if their act was not seen or recognized. This is highly debatable though and probably situational depending on the person....

 

[SicEm]

not really. nature of being an artist makes you a selfish being. you paint sculpt perform only for yourself. There are no pieces of work that's created for the purpose of changing someone's life. artists create things for recognition and his or her own spiritual enlightenment. yes you can be rewarded with millions of dollars with your painting but that is different kind of reward than the reward i was talking about

I was a practicing artist before I decided to switch career paths. A few times, I was asked to create some artwork for several benefit auctions. The proceeds from those auctions went toward helping people through various organizations. How was that not creating work for the purpose of changing someone's life?

 

[SpecterGT260]

What you are describing is reciprocal altruism. I agree that this is the most common applicable description for why individuals do certain things such as volunteering abroad, donating money or helping friends out for a feeling of well being or expectation of something done in return in the future. I do think however that true altruism exists when it comes to family and loved ones, or the example stated above about a comrade diving on a grenade to save the rest. The definition of altruism is lowering ones fitness to increase that of others. Sacrificing ones self by death via a grenade is pretty extreme, and there is no intrinsic value to death. The only time for intrinsic value is the 8 seconds before the grenade explodes. Death is the ultimate example of "lowering one's fitness". People argue that there is no such thing as true altruism since good deeds often give an intrinsic reward, even if their act was not seen or recognized. This is highly debatable though and probably situational depending on the person....

That's just a matter of semantics. Given the way you defined it, all altruism is true altruism. I think what you're trying to get at is the claim that "no good acts are truly selfless". I don't think there are. I also don't think that cheapens the act at all.