UDM Dental Blog

4/22/2013

Well last month brought me a gift from God. Namely a wonderful and dedicated patient that decided to come down to our dental clinic after his former hygienist told him that he was a good learning case for a dental student. Come to find out he has great dental insurance to boot. So instead of a removable partial denture over a removable partial denture, I treatment planned six single implants to be restored with abutments and PFM Crowns. Today I finished fabricating two surgical stents working in conjunction with a Prosthodontist and Oral Surgeon. The whole process has been a great learning experience and I look forward to placing 3 implants myself after watching him place the first 3. But first, I must read up on implant surgery, particularly bone graft placement, and raising papilla sparing full thickness surgical gingival flaps. Until next time.

4-8-2013

Well another week begins here in early April. The fourth year dental students are getting excited to finish up their requirements, the third year dental students (at least myself) are itching to move up another rung on “the ladder”, and the second years are anxiously awaiting their time in the clinic. My wife and I have been “nesting” all weekend getting our house ready for my son, still due April 30. In the meantime, I have enjoyed my alma mater, the University of Michigan, basketball team making the final game of the NCAA tournament, the Detroit Tigers beating the NY Yankees on the home opener, and a University of Detroit Mercy basketball player winning the dunk contest. All this on top of the usual tasks of finishing up a semester in dental school including papers, exams, and clinical requirements.

Well Spring is officially here. Spring break is officially over. The snow was blowing hard this morning and the cars were driving slow. After a great week hanging out with my 18 month old daughter, it is now time to hit classes and clinic hard to finish up exams and 3rd year requirements before summer semester hits and we become 4th years! The week before break, the current 4th years took their NERB exams with Class II and III restorations and scaling and root planing. I am happy to say that I provided 3 of my patients that the 4th years used for their exam. I can now only hope that a little old fashioned karma will send some patients my way for my NERB exam next year.

Mid March is feeling good with Spring Break starting on the Ides of March. Tomorrow begins my first complete denture over removable partial denture case. It is nice to fabricate a set of dentures for someone who has actually been wearing her dentures for 30 years. The faculty has been great assisting and guiding me in the design of partial dentures for multiple patients. I am excited to get a few dentures under my belt as I have heard more dentures will come our way this summer when we begin treating patients at the University Health Center in the Detroit Medical Center. I will be delivering my second occlusal bite guard to my last patient before break this Thursday. He is a 79 year old man that is interested in getting implants…but that will be another blog.

February 23, 2013

It is hard to believe that Winter semester is half way over. This last week was challenging with 2 midterm exams and our mock NERB typodont endo and prosth competencies. It was rewarding to notice how much improvement there was in a year since my last 3 unit bridge prep. I did get blisters on my right thumb and index fingers from the rock hard #8 endo typodont tooth. Even though, everything turned out alright and I am pretty sure I passed, only time will tell. This month I am working with University of Michigan dental students on a research a project to ask pediatric patient’s parents why they did not bring their children in for recommended follow up treatment. Over Spring Break, I will shadow a cousin for a half day in the ER at Providence Park Hospital in Novi, MI as part of our Oral Medicine course. Until next time.
Eric

January 31, 2013

Well, I am technically not in root canal heaven, not yet at least. I did however recently finish up my first root canal on a permanent mandibular right first molar (aka Tooth #30). Thanks to the patient for sticking with me after 3 appointments. Now the patient is scheduled for crown lengthening on that tooth that we will eventually finish treatment with a core and porcelain fused to metal crown. It is exciting to start taking patients from an initial oral diagnosis appointment with treatment planning through periodontal cleanings and simple restorations, to finally getting through the Phase I dentistry. Most of the lectures we have now in the mornings focus on treatment planning for more complex patients and it is exciting to actually be implementing these concepts in the clinics. Well I am off to go assist the DS4′s as they are treating patients today for their mock NERB exams.

Until February,

Go Ravens!

Eric Harrison

January 12, 2013

Well, I am 4 weeks into my oral surgery rotation and I am loving it. On only the second day back from break, I delivered a presentation of malignant hyperthermia to the delight of the oral surgeons. They are trying to arrange it that I can present it to the second year dental students in their Pain and Anxiety course. This Wednesday, I extracted 19 teeth from 2 different patients. It really has made me feel more like a dentist as I have been suturing patients after surgical extractions, maxillary tuberosity reductions, etc. Using the Hall drill to section teeth during complex extractions has been a great experience along with learning to use the peculiar Physics forceps. All the professors, nurses, and assistants have been great, Thank You!

December 22, 2012

It feels good to have finished another semester as a DS3. Only 4 more semesters to go! December brought my first 3 weeks of a 5 week Oral Surgery Rotation and I loved it. With the oral surgery consults and treatment planning done by other students, the patients come to the oral and maxillofacial surgery clinic as ready as they are going to be for their chosen procedure. You really feel like a dentist performing simple and surgical extractions with flaps, sutures and all. You also get to see some extraordinary procedures performed by oral surgeons such as block veneer autografts of the anterior mandibular ridge with bone transplanted from the patient’s own mandible and marsupialization of an odontogenic keratocyst. Over the Christmas break I am getting together my Oral Surgery presentation on Malignant Hyperthermia as well as painting my little boy’s room so it will be ready when he is scheduled to arrive on April 30, 2013. In the meantime, I am planning on enjoying my family and friends during the holiday and New Years celebrations before another exciting semester.

The good news was that there were no exams in November. The bad news is Final Exams start December 5 and run for a couple of weeks. However, the end of the 3rd year semester is on the horizon and I feel much more comfortable and relaxed in the clinic. It is nice to have a good patient pool that I enjoy seeing and having appointments booked up for weeks in advance. I have had a steady supply of a variety of restorative procedures of  Class I, II, III, IV, and V composites and amalgams. Next semester, I already have treatment planned for Complete Dentures, Removable Partial Dentures, single crowns, surveyed crowns, onlays, inlays, implant/abutment/crown, and root canals. I look forward to finishing the semester strong and then enjoying Christmas break with my family and friends.

Hello, thanks for stopping by our blog site. My name is Eric Harrison and I am a third year dental student at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Dentistry. In May 2012 the DS3′s tarted treating our own patients in clinic. It was a challenge getting settled into clinic after learning how to deal with patients, supervising faculty, Axium, paperwork, etc. That being said, this semester has been the best yet at the UDM SOD. Last Monday, I had my first emergency rotation at University Health Center in the Detroit Medical Center. I worked with a 4th year classmate to remove a 28 year old 4-unit bridge and fabricate a 4-unit temporary bridge for the patient to wear while the lab fabricated the new bridge. I now see about 8 patients per week on average including my own patients of record on Tuesday, Thursdays and every other Fridays, and then patients I treat during my pediatric, emergency, oral surgery, radiology, perio, and assist rotations. It has also been nice to visit Periodontal and Pediatric offices as well as the Olson Dental Laboratory to get experienced with more aspects of dentistry. My third year of dental school has not been any easier, but it has been more rewarding and more enjoyable and the time seems to fly by much faster than during second year with about 24 credits a semester. I look forward to treating more patients and learning practical things about dentistry as I become more comfortable caring for my patient family every day.