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Manual dexterity or artistry?
- Thread starter mmapcpro
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hey mmapcpro,
i am a dentist from india.Yes carving a tooth from a wax block is a part of the curriculum.it is easy if u r an artistic person.but it is not impossible for someone who is not arstistic.i am not at all artistic.and i clearly remember my first ever carved tooth was thrown out of the lab..(it was pathetic)but then i practiced and excelled.by the end of the year i was assigned to teach ather classmates tooth carving.
ditto with operative,carving an amalgam filling is not easy but once u get a hang of it..it will be a childs play for u.
bottom line is."u need not be artistic to excel in dentistry"
u want t join dentistry go for it.nothing is impossible.only thing u might have to work a little harder than the rest.u will need to cultivate skills
good luck
i am a dentist from india.Yes carving a tooth from a wax block is a part of the curriculum.it is easy if u r an artistic person.but it is not impossible for someone who is not arstistic.i am not at all artistic.and i clearly remember my first ever carved tooth was thrown out of the lab..(it was pathetic)but then i practiced and excelled.by the end of the year i was assigned to teach ather classmates tooth carving.
ditto with operative,carving an amalgam filling is not easy but once u get a hang of it..it will be a childs play for u.
bottom line is."u need not be artistic to excel in dentistry"
u want t join dentistry go for it.nothing is impossible.only thing u might have to work a little harder than the rest.u will need to cultivate skills
good luck
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A lot of pre-meds use dental schools as their back up, simply because they consider it to be the next-best-thing. If they have high grades and don't make it into med school, they usually have a shot at dental. This doesn't work the other way around, though.
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Using dental school as a backup might not be a good idea, especially when applying to both schools at the same time.
Knowing how my friends are stressed out about med sch secondaries and even I m stressed out from my dental secondaries. I m not sure if it is possible to do them both. Just focus on the one that you know you can do and you enjoy.
Knowing how my friends are stressed out about med sch secondaries and even I m stressed out from my dental secondaries. I m not sure if it is possible to do them both. Just focus on the one that you know you can do and you enjoy.
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I've done a little bit of this at a class at BYU. Basically I sucked the first time I carved out of wax and wax-ups were even harder because the wax melts so fast. We didn't get too much practice, but it's one of those things that I was terrible at the first time, then really bad, then bad, and finally had a clue as to what was going on.
I am not artistic at all, but you learn to see things and understand how they work on the tooth (maybe some PAT skills coming into play). Then you start to understand how to recreate these things with your instruments. It can be fairly mechanical, but our instructor said you can be mechanical (not artistic) and still be very good. I imagine however, over time a little artistic flair creeps in and you start appreciating the beauty of good work and things become more natural and organic and less analytical.
I am not artistic at all, but you learn to see things and understand how they work on the tooth (maybe some PAT skills coming into play). Then you start to understand how to recreate these things with your instruments. It can be fairly mechanical, but our instructor said you can be mechanical (not artistic) and still be very good. I imagine however, over time a little artistic flair creeps in and you start appreciating the beauty of good work and things become more natural and organic and less analytical.
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I am currently taking my second semester of sculpting at my local CC. I have had the opportunity to practice both the subtractive and additive processes. I recommend taking scuplting to help prepare for dental school. You can really start developing your artistic skills.
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Of course not 😀 Finger rests and fulcrum points make for MUCH steadier hands, and thus much better preps.
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Hmm, it must be taught different in different schools because here we are taught to only use the ring finger as our fulcrum. The pinky finger is left out of the way in a neutral position.
darn.. after 7 wks playing with dental mirror, explorer, probe, scaler, and curretes (3 kinds), I think I'm ready. Don't worry too much about your manual dexterity skills, you can achieve your hand skills in just 4 wks. Trust me.
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to mmapcpro:
Well, I was only half-joking.
The reason why I suggested it was because I feel the best thing for a new freshman dental student to do before school starts is to relax! Pick up a nice hobby, enjoy a nice summer.
But yes, doing detailed work in a confined space too popped into my head when you mentioned model-building. 😀
The kit I would get: USS Constitution. (Go Navy!)
Well, I was only half-joking.
The reason why I suggested it was because I feel the best thing for a new freshman dental student to do before school starts is to relax! Pick up a nice hobby, enjoy a nice summer.
But yes, doing detailed work in a confined space too popped into my head when you mentioned model-building. 😀
The kit I would get: USS Constitution. (Go Navy!)
