Pacific Classes Begin...

[JavadiCavity]

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nice posts. Have yet to figure out how they will apply to the schools other than Uop but good job.

I assume you are talking about science courses. If so, then every dental school requires students to take these basic science courses in preparation for NBDE Part I. So, it would behoove pre-dents to take these courses. The more exposure you get, the better prepared you'll be.

 

[JavadiCavity]

Monday, August 22, 2005

OCP exam this morning. I spent a good chunk of the weekend looking over the material. As much as I don't enjoy studying for tests, I believe they work. After a test, I understand the material much better than before the test.

After the exam, we met with our GPA (the guy who will be assigning us patients at the end of this year). We went over how to do hard tissue charting. That means we learned how to chart amalgam, composite, crowns, bridges, and other things we find in a patients mouth. Today felt like we were doing dentistry. And that brings up an interesting point, with the exception of Fridays, the rest of the days usually involve dentistry (i.e. operative, restorative, dental anatomy, and OCP). So, in that respect, it's kinda nice at Pacific because the curriculum keeps me excited about dentistry. Fridays are full of biochem and anatomy--absolutely no dentistry.

In the afternoon, we had a one hour perio lecture about measuring pockets, bone loss, and gum recession. We were also introduced to gingivitis and periodontitis. By the end of the lecture, I understood why this area of dentistry is the least loved of all the specialties. It's not very exciting.

We were done by 3pm. Were it not for a big anatomy exam tomorrow, I would have relaxed the rest of the night. Study, study, study. There is never a break.

 

[JavadiCavity]

Wednesday, August 24, 2005

My kids started school today, so I missed the first hour of my restorative lecture so I could take them tp school and meet the teacher. It was an emotional moment for my kindergartener, and I'm glad I didn't miss it.

For restorative, we had an exercise introducing us to casting crowns. However, instead of casting crowns, we took wax and created anything we wanted with it. Some students made rings for significant others, some made key chain trinkets, etc. I made a creature that looked like a punk-rock pac-man. We took our creations, attached them to a sprue, encircled them with stone, and we are letting them set for a week. Next week, we will melt all of the wax out of them, and then shoot hot silver into the negative impression of our creation. When it's all done, we should have a silver trinket or whatever we created. It was a fun class. There were no real requirements except that we have something finished and turned in by the end of the day.

After lunch, we had a biochem lecture on the mechanics of making a protein at the ribosome. Following biochem, we had an anatomy lecture on the endocrine system. The nice thing about Pacific's anatomy/histology course is that it isn't as comprehensive as it could be. The nasty thing about the course is how fast we cover the material, as well as, the sheer amount of additional work from other classes we have to juggle.

Last night, I forgot to post. I was too tired. I came home, soaked in the tub, and went to bed. So, I'll briefly recap yesterday. We had a dental anatomy quiz, we nearly finsihed a wax-up of a premolar, and we had our huge anatomy exam. After school, I spent a few hours working on my temporary crown. The friggin' thing keeps shrinking on me, so my margins get gaps. It can be frustrating. Some days you wonder if you'll ever learn this stuff or if you'll end up graduating as a half-@$$ dentist that could never figure it out in dental school.

 

[TimR]

is there a specific day to day dress code for classes/clinic etc?

 

[JavadiCavity]

is there a specific day to day dress code for classes/clinic etc?

Hi Tim. The dress code for all three years is the same. Guys wear a button-up shirt or polo shirt, slacks, and dress shoes. Some guys wear a tie. On days when we are dissecting in the cadaver lab, we can wear jeans and a decent shirt.

 

[JavadiCavity]

Thursday, August 25, 2005

We had another operative quiz today. I did well. After the quiz, we had a lecture on cutting a class II prep on a premolar. Almost identical to a molar, but since it's a smaller tooth, we had to modify some of our measurments.

We finally got down to cutting the preps. My touch was a little rusty. It had been nearly a week since I did any kind of cavity prep. It took me until after lunch to finally establish a nice soft touch with the handpiece.

We cut preps on a mandibular tooth and a maxillary tooth. Oddly enough, my prep on the maxillary tooth was much better than the prep on the mandibular. In fact, I'm seeing a trend. You'd think that using indirect vision with the mirror would create uglier preps, but it doesn't. I'm starting to like the upper arch more than the lower arch.

In the afternoon, we placed our first amalgam filling. Up to this point, we were only cutting the holes. So, today we got to mix the amalgam and cram (condense) it into the hole. I recreated all of the surface anatomy, and when I was done I had a pretty good looking filling. Our professor told us that we had just earned at least $150 for about 40 minutes worth of work. But she reminded us that at her level, she would have earne $150 for about 10 minutes worth of work. Not bad, not bad at all!

 

[JavadiCavity]

Friday, August 26, 2005

I spent a couple of hours before biochem this morning reviewing notes for the day's classes. Things went smoothly. We had a biochem lecture on protein synthesis. I think we are about done with that section. All we have left to cover is gene mutations, etc. The next test will be a biggie. It'll cover around 15 lectures. The good news is that the final is a week later, so there won't be that much new material to study.

At 11am, we had a one hour lecture on Addison's disease. After lunch, we met again for Anatomy and reviewed the anatomy found in the mediastinum (the cavity that carries the heart, the great vessels, the trachea, and the esophagus to name a few). In the lab following lecture, we were able to identify and dissect out most of the structures. My group did a fantastic job of exposing the three arteries branching off the aortic arch.

Anyway, that brings week 8 or 9 to an end. The days are going by so quickly it's hard to keep track. In 3 more weeks, we'll have one quarter in the bag and 2 more to go until the toughest part of Pacific's program is history.

 

[AUG2UAG]

Wednesday, August 24, 2005

It was an emotional moment for my kindergartener, and I'm glad I didn't miss it.

😎

 

[juggamynugga]

Hey Cyrus, didn't realize you were doing this, i just read through most of it and all this stuff you have been writing makes me laugh cuz its so true, it's nice to see that other people in our class are having many of the same experiences. have a good week

nick

 

[gryffindor]

Our professor told us that we had just earned at least $150 for about 40 minutes worth of work. But she reminded us that at her level, she would have earne $150 for about 10 minutes worth of work. Not bad, not bad at all!

That's pretty cool that your professor gave you a realistic financial picture, and it's only weeks into your first year. Four years of dental school and I don't recall a single professor ever mentioning how much procedures went for in the real world.

 

[JavadiCavity]

Hey Cyrus, didn't realize you were doing this, i just read through most of it and all this stuff you have been writing makes me laugh cuz its so true, it's nice to see that other people in our class are having many of the same experiences. have a good week

nick

Thanks! I'm just doing whatever I can to help out future classmates. I hope your enjoying class. It was nice having an easy weekend.

 

[JavadiCavity]

That's pretty cool that your professor gave you a realistic financial picture, and it's only weeks into your first year. Four years of dental school and I don't recall a single professor ever mentioning how much procedures went for in the real world.

I appreciate little gems like that from teachers. It helps to keep school real.

 

[JavadiCavity]

Monday, August 29, 2005

I have been slacking on keeping my operative skills sharp. With the easy weekend, I finally felt like I had some time to spend in the lab to work on cutting cavity preps. Unfortunately, I couldn't get my hands to work. It seemed like if I wanted to go in a certain direction with the handpiece, my hands would go in the opposite direction. Very frustrating. So, tomorrow I'll go in early and practice some more.

At 8am, we had a computers in dentistry midterm. Pathetic. The midterm required us to save a file to our network drives that was sent via email to us. After saving the file, we had to open up the file, enter the date in bold, and enter our name in italics. Once finished with that difficult task, we had to reply to the original email and include the updated document. How sad, and what a waste of time.

After the exam, some of us had a two hour break before our next class. At 11am, we had intro to perio probing (aka gum gardening). Perio probing is a long and tedious process that involves inserting a perio probe (imagine that) into the gum tissue surrounding each tooth and checking for large holes and bone loss. Large holes and bone loss mean surgery that will help the gums to regrow and the bone to regrow. The surgery part piqued my interest but the diagnosis process nearly put me to sleep.

 

[JavadiCavity]

Tuesday, August 30, 2005

I used my time before class this morning to work on cutting another class II prep on #19. I'm getting better. I need to make my box more conservative in every dimension, and then I think I'll be 90% of the there. I need to get good at it because we have a practical on it in a couple of weeks.

During dental anatomy, we finished our wax up of a premolar. We had 2 hours before we needed to be done and have it turned in for grading. For a few minutes, I thought I wasn't going to finish in time. But, I did, and I scored well on the grading. Following the lab portion, we had a brief lecture on the anatomy of teeth in the arch.

After lunch, we had a lecture on the GI tract. In lab, we focused our dissection on the liver, gall bladder, and branches of arteries coming off the aorta. Our table was worried that we were going to cut into large intestine and expose all of the fecal matter. The lab stinks bad enough, and we didn't want to deal with the additional foul smell.

 

[juggamynugga]

Monday, August 29, 2005

I have been slacking on keeping my operative skills sharp. With the easy weekend, I finally felt like I had some time to spend in the lab to work on cutting cavity preps. Unfortunately, I couldn't get my hands to work. It seemed like if I wanted to go in a certain direction with the handpiece, my hands would go in the opposite direction. Very frustrating. So, tomorrow I'll go in early and practice some more.

At 8am, we had a computers in dentistry midterm. Pathetic. The midterm required us to save a file to our network drives that was sent via email to us. After saving the file, we had to open up the file, enter the date in bold, and enter our name in italics. Once finished with that difficult task, we had to reply to the original email and include the updated document. How sad, and what a waste of time.

After the exam, some of us had a two hour break before our next class. At 11am, we had intro to perio probing (aka gum gardening). Perio probing is a long and tedious process that involves inserting a perio probe (imagine that) into the gum tissue surrounding each tooth and checking for large holes and bone loss. Large holes and bone loss mean surgery that will help the gums to regrow and the bone to regrow. The surgery part piqued my interest but the diagnosis process nearly put me to sleep.

Hopefully for any of you guys who end up coming here next year you will not have to experience this computer "class" as we are working very hard to remove it from the curriculum. Trust us you don't want to do it. The good thing is that our faculty really takes student input to heart.

 

[JavadiCavity]

Hopefully for any of you guys who end up coming here next year you will not have to experience this computer "class" as we are working very hard to remove it from the curriculum. Trust us you don't want to do it. The good thing is that our faculty really takes student input to heart.

Nice work Nick!

 

[JavadiCavity]

Wednesday, August 31, 2005
I spent most of my free time in the lab working on class II preps again. I learned from my row instructor that if all of our preps are not turned in by the end of the quarter (3 weeks from now), we get an incomplete. Not a good thing. So, I'm busting my chops to get some decent preps done. I've got 4 left that need to be checked off, and they are all class II preps.

During our restorative class in the morning, we worked on polishing our castings. It was just a fun few hours of making our little trinkets shine. My little punk-rocker pac-man turned out pretty neat. I'll take a picture and post him when he is all polished up.

In the afternoon, I nearly didn't make it through biochem. I was exhausted. I did a little better in anatomy, but I was still distracted. Our lecture in anatomy was on the histology of the GI tract.

After school, it was back to the lab. I gotta get cracking or else I'm going to end up in remedial!

 

[JavadiCavity]

Thursday, September 1, 2005

Going into school early paid off today. I was able to cut a MO on #19 that good enough to get checked off. Thank goodness for that. In some students mailboxes today, invitations were placed to attend remedial operative every Saturday from 9am to 12pm. While I'm glad I avoided the invitation, I'm also impressed. The faculty are willing to give up their Saturday mornings to make sure students can master these skills.

In lecture, we learned the specifics of how to cut a DO (distal occlusal) prep on #12 (a premolar) and how to place a rubberdam. They made it seem like both would be difficult, but I found the opposite to be true. Both tasks were fun. I need more practice placing the rubberdam, but it was easier than the powerpoint presentation made it sound.

I spent the entire day cutting class II preps on teeth. I also found some time to practice condensing amalgam in to class I preps. In the afternoon, we had a brief demo on condensing class II preps with amalgam. The only difference is that we have to place a metal matrix band to support the amalgam between the teeth in that box that I've been trying to learn to cut for the last couple of weeks.

My handskills are coming along nicely. Our row instructor demands perfection, and although we aren't turning out perfect preps, I'm impressed with the work that is being done in our row. I'm glad it's as tough as it is.

As an aside, if anyone here is from the New Orleans or Mississippi area or attending school down there, I'd like to say I am thinking about you. Pacific's students, faculty and alumni are gathering money to send to the area to help out. I've been tempted to use my airline ticket to fly down and help out however I can. The destruction is awful and my heart sinks when I read the news stories and see the pictures. My family is praying for everyone down there. I hope for the best for eveyone who has been affected by this terrible tragedy.

 

[JavadiCavity]

Friday, September 2, 2005

I cut a couple of class II preps in the morning, and I tried to condense another amalgam prep. One of my class II preps turned out great, but I obliterated the pulpoaxial line angle on my other prep. My condenstation looked alright, but not good enough yet.

We had a biochem lecture on enzymes. Following that, we had an anatomy lecture on the urinary system and on the posterior abdominal wall. In lab we dissected the kidneys and removed the intestines. I like Pacific's curriculum for non-clinic courses. The professors limit the material we are required to master to what is commonly tested on the boards. I say keep it as simple as possible, and that is what they do.

 

[JavadiCavity]

Friday, September 9, 2005

It's been a busy week. The quarter is winding down and I've been trying to get everything wrapped up.

Today we had our last Anatomy quiz. And, after biochem, we were done for the day. I headed down to the CDA convention in the financial district. I was really impressed. I scored a free iPod mini for listening to a presentation on Cerec, and a new Oral B Triumph for listening to their presentation. I didn't sit in on any of the classes this year. I don't know enough about most of the topics being discussed to benefit from attending. So, I moved from booth to booth (there were hundreds) checking out the goods.

On Monday, we have our last biochem exam before finals. I'm looking forward to the one week break we are going to get. I'll be studying all weekend. I won't be making any posts until the new quarter starts, unless something unique happens.

 

[La Miraflorina]

Cyrus,

I was an avid reader of your DDS Diary and REALLY upset to see you stopped writing about a month ago. I figured that juggling dental school and a family became too much to continue your daily posts... I'm so glad you're still posting... and thankful you mentioned something in DDS Diary about your posts here and at your other blog...

Keep up the great work... I only wish more students would blog their experiences at other schools. Your blog has put UOP at the top of my list!

One question: Do you rent instruments at UOP or are they yours to keep once you graduate??

 

[JavadiCavity]

Cyrus,

One question: Do you rent instruments at UOP or are they yours to keep once you graduate??

Some we rent and some we own. Most of the instruments and equipment are ours to keep.

 

[JavadiCavity]

Monday, September 12, 2005

I was up until 2am Monday morning studying for yet another Biochem exam. I was up by 5:30 and I made it to school by 6:30 so I could review my notes one last time before the test. The test went well, and I was glad I studied as much as I did (probably 5 hours or so).

After biochem, my group had "Clinic Coaching Session" down in the clinic. This amounted to the professors breaking us up into groups of 8 and rotating us through 4 stations. We started out in the station requiring us to use an explorer to give a hard tissue exam to a mannequin. Our next stop was oral pathology and vital signs. We were given a picture of a oral lesion and asked to diagnose and to recommend treatment and drugs. It turned out the lesion was a pizza burn--haha! It was pretty dang big! We recommended a some antibiotics and some topical anesthetic. Following that station, we moved over to the other side of the clinic and practiced giving head/neck exams. The professors came around randomly and quizzed us the details of the exam as well as significant oral landmarks. The last station we visited was health history and spray-wipe-spray.

In the afternoon, we had a perio lecture. How can anyone stand perio? It's all I can do to not fall asleep. I'm tempted to refer all of my perio patients to a periodontist. Hopefully, I'll fall in love with it later or at least be able to tolerate it enough to provide it to patients, haha!

 

[JakeMUSC]

In the afternoon, we had a perio lecture. How can anyone stand perio? It's all I can do to not fall asleep. I'm tempted to refer all of my perio patients to a periodontist. Hopefully, I'll fall in love with it later or at least be able to tolerate it enough to provide it to patients, haha!

thats right....seriously..

 

[coolslugs]

What happened to the updates from JavadiCavity? I guess he got too busy as dental school went along. Anyways, good luck with school! We miss your updates from UOP! 👍