Rubber Dam-age.

Yesterday we were back in the clinic giving more injections and putting rubber dams on each other. We did an IA block on the right and then placed a dam on that same quadrant while our partner was numb. I must say… putting a rubber dam on a real patient is much more difficult than putting one on my typodont! I was pretty sure that my partner was going to be sore today from the clamp and brutal flossing I did, but he claims he is fine. These pictures are a bit anti-climatic, as yesterday I had pictures of huge needles and today all you can see is me being clumsy with a piece of purple rubber. Oh well! Not everyday here is super exciting… so you are getting the real deal. Enjoy!

Shots! shots! shots!

Ooooo yah baby! Local anesthetic! This is the event that has been talked about since day #1… "When do we get to numb each other?"…has been asked about a jillion times. Well April 26th, 2011 is apparently the answer to that question. After a Long morning of pharmacology lectures and a crash course on head and neck anatomy (a refresher might be a better descriptor), we ventured to the D.C.C. (Dental Care Center) to shoot each other up! (not like that… the legal kind.) I must say, I am pretty lucky. I have the most awesome partner in clinic. Not only is he laid back and a talented clinician, but he also lets me take pictures of him… bonus! The afternoon went off without a hitch, and I successfully gave 4 injections (Local infiltration on #12, Left P.S.A, Left Inf. Alveolar Block, and Long buccal injection). All in all, good day. I felt like a Dentist today. A real live Dentist… about damn time :)

The setup: Operation get numb ^

Left IA block ^

Right PSA ^

Left PSA? Left IA? ^

Eggs!

I took Friday night off to dye eggs with friends. This is the result of our hours of work…haha. Im pretty sure my eggs were the best, but you can check a few of them out for yourself and be sure to let me know what one is your favorite :) Happy Easter Weekend!

Natural Teeth

We had the morning off of lecture to work on some natural teeth, as we will be entering the patient care center very soon and many of us needed a refresher. I will be the first to admit I was a bit rusty. We haven't drilled very much this semester b/c we have been working on endo, dentures, perio, and anesthesia. It felt great to hold a handpiece again. Here a few pics… Enjoy. 

Oh you know it… Dentures!

It's that time again… Dentures! I am getting ubber close to being done with this little bugger. yay! I added the posterior teeth today and worked on the occlusion. If you need to get caught up on this wonderful project click here, here, and here! With out further adieu… the dentures!

The tools^

Carving out wax to make room for the posterior teeth. ^

Mandible filled in, not quite cleaned up though. ^

Oo La La! The mandible all filled in! ^

Checking to make sure everything is level. ^

Checking occlusion from alternative view. ^

Maxilla also filled in and placed in articulator.  ^

Looking spiffy! ^

Big smile! ^

Fast Forward

Oh man, another week bites the dust…and now another one begins! I swear every week closer to the end of the term gets a million times more crazy and intense. 

On deck this week:

1. Pediatrics final Monday morning
2. Patient encounter Monday afternoon
3. 16 hrs of Geriatrics lecture
4. Natural tooth competency
5. More endo and dentures
6. 2 Lunch lectures/meetings
7. Clinical service Learning for 4 hours
8. A few random ECD IV lectures
9. Study Boards 
10. Shower, eat, sleep, and have a social interaction (if time permits)

Dang. I honestly thought that writing it all out would make it seem more manageable, but it actually just makes me tired. At least the weather is freakin gorgeous! Happy Sunday!

TGIF

Yep. Lots of lecture today. A pretty uneventful week here. I have a Peds test on Monday and we are taking the Medical School test for it :( I haven't had to study for a med school test since last year! 
BACKGROUND INFO: All of my first year we took our science tests with the Medical students, however, since the beginning of this year our dental faculty have been writing our tests… they are much better.
This is an inconvenient time to have to study for a med school test as boards are ever creeping closer and the "spring dump" of projects is occurring. Oh well. I guess this is what I signed up for, right?! 
Hope your weekend is more fun than mine will be… shouldn't be too hard for you to top it :)

More Dentures!

Since I know you all have fallen in love with my denture case, I figured you would love another post about it! Yay! I am getting very close to being done with it and I am excited to see it finally coming together. If you need a refresher on what has all been done in this never ending process… click here and here. Enjoy the Pics.

The tools ^

Measuring the teeth for placement ^

Adding the Maxillary Anteriors ^

Smoothing out the gum line^

And now for the other side ^

Maxilla almost done ^

Maxillary with gum line smoothed out and all the anterior teeth in ^ 

Removing excess wax from the lingual ^

Apical pathology?! Nah. Just adding wax to  the mandibular teeth ^

Mandible almost done ^ 

Nature is Nice

Why can't boards studying be this wonderful everyday?! Sigh. Oh well, I will take what I can get. 

Tooth Toast?

It is Saturday. I am having an extremely unproductive and relaxing day. I <3 it. Things I should be doing today…

1. Cleaning my apartment
2. Typing up notes for Pediatrics
3. Sending emails
4. Running Errands
5. Studying Dental Anatomy for the boards

Thats where the tooth toast comes in. Muli-tasking at its best… eating and studying Dental Anatomy. It made me feel slightly productive so I will count it. Happy Saturday! Cheers.
P.S. Points for whoever knows what tooth number that is. I have no idea, so if you could tell me it will help with my boards studying :)

Cause she's a smooth obturator..

I have had the "Smooth operator (obturator… when you are doing endo)" song stuck in my head for far too long… hence the title of this post. (Thanks to Brady for inventing that song and getting it stuck in my head after singing it for 4 hrs in sim clinic.) Anyway, here are some pictures showing the obturation of my plastic endo tooth. (Click here to see how I cleaned this tooth out a few weeks ago.) I know I said I was going to show pictures of endo on real teeth, but to be honest it would be so boring. I don't have an x-ray camera so all of the pictures would look like the same. So, I showed my plastic tooth instead. A little less cool, but it does a much better job of showing the process of obturation…smooth obturation that is. Alright! Enjoy!

Remember this cute little guy?! time to fill it back up ^

Finding my Master Apical Cone ^

File coated in sealer. Ready to place in the canal ^

Cone with sealer^

Cone in the canal and using the spreader to make room for accessory cones and to spread the sealer ^

Burning off the excess ^

With the excess removed. ^

Endo procedure complete. ^

All filled up with Cavit. I have no idea why my fingers look like I stirred red Kool-aid with them. Weird.