How Do You Know You Have the Motor Skills?

[repentantslacker]

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I see a lot of threads on how to improve fine motor skills, and what constitutes fine motor skills. But how do you *know* you possess the requisite skill set, as in *exactly* the stuff a dentist does, not pottery, or video games or anything else. Are there dental clinics you can volunteer at where they will allow you to hold tools and practice on a dummy or something (assuming you pay your dues and do some scut work first). For those dental students, how many of you went in "blind" versus actually got to feel what was required of you while shadowing? I suppose this would depend on how patient and nice the dentist you shadow is.

 

[Hannah Banana]

I see a lot of threads on how to improve fine motor skills, and what constitutes fine motor skills. But how do you *know* you possess the requisite skill set, as in *exactly* the stuff a dentist does, not pottery, or video games or anything else. Are there dental clinics you can volunteer at where they will allow you to hold tools and practice on a dummy or something (assuming you pay your dues and do some scut work first). For those dental students, how many of you went in "blind" versus actually got to feel what was required of you while shadowing? I suppose this would depend on how patient and nice the dentist you shadow is.

Don't worry too much, as long as you can hold a pen to write without having a shaking hand, you should be eligible. Of course dentists have better motor skills over years of practicing but they've got to start somewhere right? Many people even start from scratch. Practice will make your skills better.

 

[Soleus715]

I don't think anyone will really have a perfect idea of what's needed or be able to prepare for it. That's what dental school is for 😛.

I work as as dental assistant but the skills I need vs what the dentist needs is completely different.
While I juggle and switch through multiple tools on my hands, the dentist is using a couple of tools at a time (like a drill and a mirror) but he is working with the precision of less than one millimeter. Things like margins, occlusion, removing cavities, root canals, adjusting dentures, placing implants, etc are something I can observe over and over again but I will not get any better at it unless I'm practicing it myself in dental school..

Will cross-stitching, playing violin, or fine penmanship help in any of that? Or even dental assisting? who knows. But I wouldn't worry too much about it.

 

[jshlaferman]

I actually interned my dentist last summer and was able to practice with tools on fake teeth which was really cool.

 

[hellofuturedentists]

Does your current school have a pre-dental club? I am lucky enough to attend one that does and sometimes the officers of the club organize events with current dental students to prepare us for dental school. One of my favorites was a lab where we were allowed to drill and fill a model tooth. We used all the real tools and first year dental students told us what to do. It was awesome, and doing that lab made me realize I have the ability to do actual dental work in the future. See if you have something like that you can get involved in!

 

[I want to go to there]

Something like building a computer and cooking. Basically, things you need to use your fingers to handle small objects.

 

[Bis-GMA111]

my personal opinion: nothing will prepare you for dental school in terms of hand skills. sure, it would be helpful if you like working with your hands because that just shows you'll probably have the patience to spend hours in lab working with your hands doing wax ups or preparations.

at the end of the day, it's all about holding a hand piece properly. you won't know where you stand until you pick one up for yourself.

 

[LaughingGas]

You won't find out until you hold handpieces in dschool.

 

[ajj70]

If you can function through the day and not get stymied by working with anything small, you should be fine. My Dad, for example, can't button the top button on a dress shirt. He has to have my mom do that for him. He has terrible fine motor control. It's pretty obvious when someone doesn't I think. If you are really unsure, take some dry rice, pour a little out on the counter, pick up individual grains of rice and put them in a bowl. If you can do that reasonably well, you are fine. If you are male, try curling your hair with a curling iron in a mirror (doesn't have to be turned on, just the ability to roll hair up in the iron). If you can figure that out, you will be fine.

 

[Incis0r]

If you are really unsure, take some dry rice, pour a little out on the counter, pick up individual grains of rice and put them in a bowl. If you can do that reasonably well, you are fine.

How do you know that this test is a good indicator that you will be fine in dental school?

 

[ajj70]

How do you know that this test is a good indicator that you will be fine in dental school?

Because it is a good test of fine motor skills. If you can do this, you have the dexterity to learn how to use dental tools. It's not THAT hard to use dental tools.