need better/steadier hands for dentistry or medicine?

[mmapcpro]

I have a strong interest in dentistry, but I also have a strong concern about my hands. I know I can be fidgety at times, and I have trouble keeping my hands rock steady while suspended outward...especially for more than a few minutes at a time.

I also don't do very well with a dremel tool...if I grind or polish a circular object, it will most likely end up being out of round, for instance...or if I'm doing the same thing to a cylindrical object, the outer surface might end up being bevelled unevenly, etc...I just have trouble applying steady, even pressure consistently over a period of time...

I'd hate to spend $70k+ getting to 3rd year of dental school to learn that my hands won't get me through it...

How important are "artists" hands in medicine? I'm still taking prerequisite courses (which are pretty much the same for dental and medical), and my gpa is strong, so I might be able to qualify for medical if i keep up the good work..but it seems that my hands are a weakness for me.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[ckent]

I have an aunt who is a dentist who no longer works as a dentist because her tremor got to be too bad. There are certain medicines that you can take to help control your tremor, and I'm certain that by the time that you have finished your career, these medicines will have improved. You do need pretty steady hands to do dentistry. I have an essential tremor that has significantly worsened since I started drinking a lot of caffeine, you might consider trying to cut caffeine out of your diet and seeing if that helps too. You do not need steady hands to do most specialties in medicine (with the exception being certain surgical subspecialties). You should also ask your parents if they have an essential tremor as many cases seem to be familial.

 

[mmapcpro]

it's not so much of a tremor or shaking of my hands...

I think it's more to do with difficulty keeping my arms outstretched and perfectly still that makes my hands move...

Another issue, like I mentioned, stems from my crappy control of a very small cutting tool, like a dremel. The torque from the rotation causes me problems...if I start grinding something, I can controll the pressure well as I work on one hemisphere of the object, but when I start grinding the opposite hemisphere (so that the other side of the grinding wheel is contacting), I screw it up because the torque effect changes...sometimes it'll "run off" the edge of the object, etc...

Another problem is that I get kind of fidgety sometimes...if I'm sitting in one spot for a while, I'll occasionaly need to scratch an itch, crack my knuckles, etc...

I wish I was able to make this easier to visualize for you...

 

[drdr2010]

oh yes i know exactly what you are talking about! i have extremely unsteady hands, but its not that they are tremoring. i like to say that the muscles are "weak". its when i have to hold or suspend them in one spot for a long time while trying to keep steady then they begin to shake. i do brain/heart surgery on rodents that involves very tiny veins and suturing and drilling and i expected to have a problem because of my hands. however, it hasn't been bad at all. i've found that in most cases that would cause me to shake there is some way that i can position my arms, like something to rest my elbow or wrist on that stops the shakiness (i have yet to find a way to do this with the dremel though....).
so i wouldn't worry about it. i am very fidgety too, but i make sure not to drink caffeine or a lot of sugar before i know i have to sit still for a long time, like during surgery.