Hey Glimmer! Been so long! I was wondering what apps on the Mac you found useful with studying/note-taking? I have barely used Macs, but will be getting one for school. Also, how long did it take you to adjust to pre-clinics, since I've read you said it was very fast paced? Do you recommend any specific loupes? My school is having vendors which include orascoptic, design for vision, and surgitel. I also regularly go to the gym, so is it possible to still be able to if I even give up social time?
I HIGHLY recommend GrowlyNotes ($5 bucks in the app store). It's like a beefed-up version of OneNote, where you can do useful things like highlight WITHIN PDFs and whatnot. Frankly, OneNote for Mac isn't very robust and pretty much sucks, IMO.
I was pretty much good at waxing from day 1, which was unexpected. (I had worried that my hand skills wouldn't be "up to par," since that's something you can't really prepare too much for, haha!) It took me a little while to get adjusted to actually using the high speed hand piece in the clinic during second semester, but I improved within a few weeks. It was always hard to see my progress because we QUICKLY moved from one difficult task to
even-more-difficult tasks as we progressed from one lab period to the next, but hey, it all worked out. It is just kind of
awkward when you start out because some of the teeth are hard to see, you aren't sure where to sit relative to the patient to get the best vantage point, you don't know where to hold the mirror so you can see what the heck you're doing in the mouth, you aren't sure where to finger rest, it's kind of hard to hold the drill steady and get a consistent drilling depth, etc. And then, there's using
indirect vision--which basically means working on the upper teeth while looking solely in your mirror. This is SO DIFFICULT (at least for me) at first. Our professor told us it takes a few weeks for our brain to form the neural pathways to be able to work like that (which is kind of like working with mirrored motions of what you would normally do), and I found that to be very true. I struggled and struggled, but one random day, I went into lab and it's like things had legitimately just "clicked." I could suddenly use indirect vision. But then, when I was done, I pulled up a PDF on my computer and realized I was scrolling "upside down" because I was using the same motions I had to use in lab... LOL! But yeah, I'm pretty good at it now, though it was stressful at first.
My loupes are the 2.5x from DFV. I bought a LumaDent light. I went with these after doing LOTS of research on SDN and DentalDown. Overall, I don't have any complaints.
That being said, I started with the 3.5xEF from DFV. They were great loupes, and I liked the mag... BUT, I am a small person, and they were just incredibly heavy for me. They hurt my head, and because of their weight, they always wanted to slide down my nose. I ended up exchanging them. If I ever want a higher mag, I might look into different loupe brands and see what is out there to offer.
A lot of my classmates bought Heine 2.5x loupes and seem happy with them, but they are a bit bulky. I'd give them a look too, though!
Gym can definitely be worked in!
