Weak Stomach?

[EasternMer]

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Hi,

I'm a Pre-Medical student, but I was having lunch with a friend who is currently in her cycle for Dental School (no luck...pray for her!). And as we were talking she said her main fear of D-School was that she had a weak stomach. And when I thought of it, I'd imagine I'd be afraid of doing that as well.

Are there any students that went into Dental having weak or queasy stomachs regarding dental issues? How'd you deal with it?

I just thought it was super interesting. My friend said she got over it a bit after she started working in a dental clinic. I'd imagine with time things would get better. But as far as seeing blood...I think you see far more blood as a DMD than a family practice MD/DO any day.

 

[Hannah Banana]

I think being "slightly" weirded out when seeing someone bleeding is totally normal since nobody (normal) enjoys seeing other people bleed right? But if it made your friend feeling nauseous then that can hinder her opportunity. However with more exposure, I think she can overcome it.

 

[doc toothache]

A "weak stomach" is sometimes observed in gross anatomy.

 

[syap]

Cadavers have a unique smell. And appearance. Which you'll probably spend at least 6 weeks with.

 

[Greyangel6]

Well... She could and should get used to it because one of the D1's curriculum courses is gross anatomy and cadaver lab (at least at UFCD it is).

 

[EasternMer]

Well... She could and should get used to it because one of the D1's curriculum courses is gross anatomy and cadaver lab (at least at UFCD it is).

We both took anatomy together, and even though it was a pig fetus she's not freaked out about it. And, we've seen surgeries together through our pre-health club and...nothing na-dah.

What freaks her out is like taking out teeth, causing pain to the patients, and drilling. I think those are probably all big parts of dentistry, but I wondered if many pre-dents had problems with that in the beginning.

 

[spazway]

Some people are really good at just grinning and bearing it, and others aren't. She may become desensitized after enough exposure to different things, but if drilling freaks you out... that's kind of in the job description, isn't it??

When I was shadowing, I never really had a problem with seeing blood in a patient's mouth. Extractions are awesome, and that's something I really look forward to! I was fine with watching all sorts of bloody procedures with yellowed, chipped elderly-person teeth and gross tongues and bad breath and stuff, and when people would flinch the dentist would apologize, so I thought I could also handle patients in pain as well.

What got to me was when children scream bloody murder because they're scared to death of the unknown man working with sharp metal tools inside their mouth. It's a different experience dealing with children because you can't reason with them like you can with adults. They're just scared and need their parents and sometimes they just scream as loudly as they can because they don't know how else to deal. The first time that happened the kid would just not stop screaming and crying at the top of his lungs even when his mom was right there holding him and the dentist had left the room to help other patients. I think I turned as white as a ghost. I'm probably not going to do pedodontics.

 

[irishmom]

Anatomy is my problem. Hate hate hate hate the cadaver smell. Don't like touching them either. Still got A's in undergrad Anatomy.
As a hygienist I deal in blood all day. It's a toothbrusah and floss people...use them...I don't tell you this and demonstrate proper technique just to nag! SMH!

 

[ajj70]

I have a friend that was going pre-med, until he had to give blood for a medical test and fainted. He decided that wasn't for him. I can tolerate a lot, but that one avatar of the mouth with the really bad teeth kind of grosses me out LOL!

 

[irishmom]

but that one avatar of the mouth with the really bad teeth kind of grosses me out LOL!

Then do not practice in an area with a large meth problem...meth mouth is terrible...it's even worse than mountain dew mouth.