Nostalgic look at first year dental school.

(Pretty makers are almost guaranteed to make me smarter, right?)

What is the first year of dental school like? Is it hard? Like how hard? Similar to undergrad? I had all these questions and many more when I was getting ready to apply/start dental school. Now, I have been asked all these questions and many more. I am ready to give some answers… probably a very long one.

I would like to say that this is solely based on my opinion…if you are also in dental school you may have had a different experience. I am not saying this is how all schools are or how everyones first year will go. This was my year… the good, the bad, and the ugly :)

My curriculum is set up in block classes. For those that are unfamiliar with that, it means we take only one science class at a time. For example, during the first 7 weeks I was only in gross anatomy. No other sciences. We would have cadaver lab in the morning (8-noon) and then at 1:00pm we had lecture/quiz. Some days lecture only lasted 1 hour, somedays it was 2 or 3. It just depended what needed to be covered that day.

The order of science classes I took went something like this.

Gross Anatomy: ~7 weeks

Head and Neck Anatomy: ~3 weeks

MCBM (Basically a micro/biochem course): ~ 7 weeks

(End of first Semester)

IDIT (immunology course): ~6 weeks

Blood and Lymph: ~2 weeks

Neuro: ~7 weeks

Musculoskeletal: ~3 weeks

Those are the sciences that we covered my first year. We had the option of going to class. (only gross anatomy had quizzes and cadaver lab).

SIDE NOTE: One of the hardest thing about being a D1 is figuring out how to study and absorb the massive amounts of information being slung at you. I thought I knew how to study from undergrad (BHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA…yeah right.) After a harsh reality check, I quickly realized I need to re-vamp my study style. I switched from group study to studying alone until right before a test. This worked for me. Won't work for everyone. I wish I could tell you a quick way to figure out your study style, but honestly it is trial and error.

So anyway, we had the option of going to class. I am not a morning person. 9am class is manageable (im not excited about it but I can do it), but 8am class is hell. I do not function at that hour. So I quit going to 8 am class (after gross and head and neck) and started staying home or going to the library and going over lectures on my own. It ended up working pretty well. I got to sleep in a bit more, and was much more productive when I started because I wasn't bitter about being up so early.

My typical day:

9am: wake up get ready

10:00: be at study spot ready to study

10:01-1:00: learn lectures from that day

1:00-1:17: facebook :)

1:18-1:30: Eat

1:31-6:00: Learn more lectures from that day

6:00-6:30: facebook and eat more

6:31-11:00pm (or later): learn more lectures/review previous material

Now this might seem intense to some people or exaggerated. I am being completely honest. I needed that much time to understand all the information. I am very type "A", and I wanted to know all the little details. Did other people study less then this? Totally. But this is what I did. I can't say I would do it all the same if i started over, but it was a learning process and I did what I thought was best at the time.

So that was the science courses I took in my first year… but I am in DENTAL school so where is all the dentistry?!

Throughout the entire first year we took ECD (Essentials of Clinical Dentistry). It was every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon for 4 hours (and some weeks they added afternoons or morning sessions). ECD consisted of lecture for an hour-ish and the working on our hand skills. I starting drilling within the first couple weeks I was in school. I didn't say it looked good, but I tried. In ECD we covered Class 1,2,3,5,6 composite and amalgam preps and restorations on adult teeth and Class 1 and 2 on pediatric teeth. We learned dental anatomy and spent a lot of time learning about the materials we were using. Additionally, we learned about common oral lesions and gave intra/extra oral exams. We had a few community service projects worked in too. (elementary school presentations on oral health, Give Kids a Smile, etc.)

All in all, that was my first year of dental school. Was it hard? HECK YES. Were there things they (faculty) could have done better? TOTALLY. Were there things I could have done better? FOR SURE. Do I think I am getting a great education? ABSOLUTELY.

No dental program is perfect. This is a look at how mine is run. Changes are being made constantly to the program. If a D1 at my school read this, they would probably say they are having a different experience.

Hopefully this is just a glimpse into someone else's experience. I am not preaching or predicting what your experience will be. Now I need to study. I had a slow start this morning. Didn't wake up till after 10:00am. It felt so good. apparently I needed some sleep…oh and did I mention that I went to bed last night 9:00pm?!

I am enjoying a cup of coffee and catching up on some celebrity news, and as fun as that is I do need to hit the books. The NBDE I books to be exact.

Cheers to me being productive today!