School of Dentistry Blog

Well I’m finally back to school after being away for the past 3 weeks. The first week was our school spring break, and then I spent the next 2 weeks in Kalamazoo, Michigan working at the Family Health Center. While in Kalamazoo a classmate and I worked with assistants and were able to get a better feel for practice in the real world. While at school we generally see 3 patients in an entire day, we set up and clean up everything for ourselves. Having assistants helping was a huge help, they would set up the bay, bring the patient back and prepare the patient. All we had to do was introduce ourselves, then sit down and start whatever procedure we were doing. While there we did a lot of fillings on children and adults as well as extractions. I was glad to have this rotation near the end of my schooling because it gave me confidence to know what I can manage when I leave school. There was still an overseeing dentist who checked our work, but the feeling of independence was still much better than at school. Anyways, my patient should be here any time now. We will be placing a space maintainer on an 8 year old to make sure there is enough room for their permanent teeth when they erupt.

Oh almost forgot to mention! I passed my patient NERB exam back on March15th! So as of now I have completed all of the major exams required to get my dental license, all that is left to do is graduate!

Thanks for reading,

Chris

Hi everyone, well I just found out yesterday that I passed both the NERB written exam and the National Part II written exam so I can finally breathe a little easier.  However, I’m not out of the woods yet… Tomorrow we have the patient portion of NERB. At 7am I will be seating my first patient and filling out paper work and dotting all my I’s. My first patient is my periodontal patient, we are required to clean 12 surfaces of calculus off of teeth that is below the gum line. Calculus is formed from bacteria and your own saliva, if left on the teeth it contributes to gingival inflammation and bone loss around the teeth. Next I have to do a filling on a front tooth with composite, after that I have to do a filling on a back tooth. Overall, these are not hard things to do, however the stress of the exam and the strict guidelines for patient selection contribute to its difficulty. I did have a perfect patient who had no health problems and needed both fillings. The ideal cavities need to be big enough to need filling, yet small enough that you can perform the ideal preparation.  I was saving this patient to do their fillings since November, they agreed to be my patient and everything was good to go. However, last week they called and said due to a family emergency they would no longer be able to come… so I have had a very panicked week finding new perfect patients. Anyways, I think I finally have the patients I need, wish me luck!

Thanks,

Chris

Hello everyone, well last week was a fun filled time of exams. I took the written NERB (North Eastern Regional Board) on Tuesday which was 3 sections consisting of 317 total questions. I then took Wednesday off to relax my brain. Thursday and Friday I took the National Dental Board Part II exam, Thursday was 2 sections consisting of 200 questions each, Friday was 100 questions on 7-8 different cases. It was a great feeling to get those exams completed, however…. I am also Canadian. If I want to work in Canada I need to complete their 2 day exam as well. So I took the weekend off, but am back at the grind stone reviewing material for this coming weekend. My fellow Canadian classmates and I will be traveling to different Canadian dental schools to take the exam. The smart ones, (myself included) booked a hotel with a hot tub so we can decompress after the first day of written exams. The second day of the Canadian exam is an “OSCE” type exam, 5 minutes per station. I have a feeling it’s going to be very painful to have to sit and wait around between questions; I like to take my exams fairly quickly. Oh well, in the end I will be able to work in both Canada and the United States. Anyways, thanks for checking in.

Chris

Hi everyone, I am currently sitting in a coffee shop in Royal Oak Michigan, which is a local suburb of Detroit. It tends to be a popular place where the majority of out of town students end up living. I have been studying the last few weeks preparing for all of the written board exams coming up that I talked about last blog. There are a variety of materials available to study from including: Mosby’s, First Aid, and Dental Board Busters.  These are all roughly 400 page books outlining all the topics covered on the National and Regional written examinations. There are also the Dental Decks available which do the same as the books but are in a flash card format. So far I have skimmed every page of the Board Busters and gone through nearly the entire Dental Deck cards. Studying this way allows me to see what I remember from my first reading, each card has a question which I attempt to answer in my head. On the back of the card there is an answer as well as an explanation and other related topics. All-in-all I am starting to feel like I am prepared, however I do have a full week before I take the exams… so I should probably keep studying. Have a good day!

Thanks,

Chris

Hi everyone, well since my last entry we had Christmas break and started school again January 4^th. It’s finally here, 2012! Which is my long awaited graduation year.  So far this semester I have been trying to finish all of my requirements which are mostly dentures. I have been taking impressions and setting teeth for 2 patients both receiving complete dentures. From what I hear from other friends at other schools, here at Detroit Mercy we do get the chance to perform a lot more clinical dentistry, due to our patient populations and different insurance programs available in Michigan. Our school has electronic patient charting which also has the ability to show each student every procedure they have completed while in clinic. Looking at my procedure list it is incredible to see how much I have done in the last year and a half of clinic. I am feeling more and more confident about the dentistry I am able to perform and will be able to do upon graduation. However, before I graduate I do have to take three days of written exams, one day for NERB (North Eastern Regional Boards) and two days for National Dental Boards. So on that note I am going to go study, only 3 weeks left before I take them…! Wish me luck!

Thanks,

Chris

Well over the last few weeks our dental school has been getting very hairy. For those of you who don’t know it is “No Shave November”. Most of the men in first and second year classes as well as others in the school including yours truly have been growing mustaches since the first of the month in support of Men’s Health month. The mustaches have allowed the dental students to raise over $3000 so far for prostate cancer research and they were even featured in the Detroit Free Press. Unfortunately, this week all the graduating seniors had our grad photos so as of Nov. 22 I had to shave my mustache. Other than Movember, I have still been hitting clinic hard, working on survey crowns and partial dentures. These crowns are designed to have extra undercuts for a partial denture to clasp on to. Well heading home have a happy Thanksgiving!

Chris

Hello everyone,

Well as always I’ve been very busy with school, last weekend the 4^th year students took the first part of the NERB (North Eastern Regional Boards). Like I mentioned before, this part of the boards was performed on plastic teeth. We have to do essentially 2 root canals, one on an incisor, one on a molar. Then we have to do a single unit crown prep on another incisor and a bridge prep from molar to premolar.  I feel like I did a good job, but I’ll wait until the results come back before I get too excited. This Saturday we have to come and do a mock written board, which is designed to help us prepare for both National written boards and the NERB written portion. My plan is to go in cold turkey and see how I do on the mock without studying. That way I know how far I need to go to pass the real boards. Well aside from the boards, I’m just trying to get things done in clinic. I have dentures to finish, crowns and bridges on the go and I’m doing my first root canal this afternoon! On that note Im going to go review some materials on the root canal, have a good day!

Thanks,

Chris

Alright, well it’s been a while but so there is a lot to talk about. School ended the last week of July, thus beginning our summer break! I talked about going on the Honduras mission trip in my last blog, we headed out to Honduras for the first week of August. We arrived and were bused 7 hours into the mountains to a small town called Gracias Lempira. We stayed in one place every night, then every day we traveled to a different village, setting up about 5 operative chairs, 3 cleaning chairs and 10-12 oral surgery chairs. We were able to provide fillings, cleaning, extractions and even root canals while in the remote mountains of Honduras. This was an amazing experience that I would recommend to anyone attending dental school! I learned a ton about doing extractions and was able to really increase my speed doing preps and fillings. After the first week another 4^th year classmate and I sent everyone off at the airport and we stayed to backpack around Honduras. We spoke very little Spanish but were able to make it up to the coast, go white water rafting, zip lining through the jungle, scuba diving on the island of Roatan and multiple other activities.

Since returning to school it has been very busy. The last 2 semesters of fourth year are filled with board exams, as well as trying to finish all of your requirements to graduate. Yesterday I was able to send out 2 more dentures and also attend a board review for the endodontic portion of the boards. The first part is fast approaching on September 23^rd we have to perform our crown preparation, bridge preparation, a root canal on a central incisor and a root canal access preparation on a maxillary first molar. It is generally pretty stressful, so on that note I’m going to go prepare. Have a good day!

Thanks,

Chris

Well it’s finally here! Our summer break! This is the longest break of the year, with 3 weeks of freedom starting Friday July 29^th. However, like approximately 30 other dental students I will be spending the first week of my break treating patients in Honduras. There are two humanitarian locations where trips are organized throughout the year. The Christian Dental Association (CDA) has the longest running trip which sends around 15 students and 2-3 Dentists to Honduras every August and December. The other newly organized trip is run by American Student Dental Association (ASDA), this trip runs twice a year also but sends students to Guatemala in May and August. Both trips allow underprivileged people of these countries to receive much needed dental care. The trip lead by the CDA will also have a spiritual component which will be the missionary portion of this trip spreading the Christian faith to those who haven’t heard. If this is not your cup of tea, the ASDA trip offers a trip that is solely to provide dental treatment to those in need. Well I’m very excited to be able to go on this trip and I need to go pack! Talk to you after the summer break!

Chris,