The Domesticated Dentist

University of Iowa College of Dentistry Class of 2018. Wife. Dog Lover. Wino. Lift Heavy & Run Far. Twitter: MegaMind92 IG: MTimm13 MFP: MTDDS18 I answer all questions publicly unless specifically asked otherwise

[greysgifs]

[studyevenharder]

How to survive the first year of dental school

or at least how I did (kind of)…..

1. Adjust the way you study

I think this one is a given. Many people have some kind of adjustment when going from undergrad/taking a year off/a career change/not being in school for a while to dental school. One of my professors describes the first semester curriculum as taking a sip of water from a fire hydrant. The transition from 18 credits to 33 credits a semester was a little difficult at first for me, but I stopped trying to review all the ppts before the lectures. What worked for me in undergrad didn’t work for me in dental school. There wasn’t enough time, so I prioritizing studying for whatever upcoming exam was next and glancing at material for the exam after that. So I think it’s what ever you find is the best for you and know that other people are feeling the same way as you.

2. Try different techniques/ways in lab

There are tons of ways to do a class IV whether you like to do it free hand, use a PVS putty stent behind, or use plumbers tape and/or mylar strips. Don’t be afraid to ask upperclassmen about how they get their wax so shiny or how their temps always turn out perfect. There are little tricks they can show you along the way, and you have to try a few different ways to do something and pick which one works the best for you. Everyone has different hand skill levels so if you can work on it and find a way that gives you the best results, then go for it.

3. Don’t be afraid to fail (just don’t let it eat away at you)

Many people have this fear of failing and falling behind the pack because in all honesty, I’ve been there and it sucks. You might fail at something at one point, and I think the most important thing is what you afterwards. You can cry and feel so awful about yourself, but remember that dental school is a lot about endurance. You can’t let your failures eat away at you for too long because there’s probably another midterm in a few days. I think it gets easier to roll with the punches after a while too.

4. Perspective/Attitude

How you view school is one of the most important things in my opinion. Your attitude reflects who you are as a person and how others see you. If you let things/people get to you or you compete to be the best all the time, I don’t think you’re going to have a good time. But if  you remember why you’re here, why you chose this career, and the big picture, it helps with dealing with the stress and social politics/drama of dental school.

[leanstrongsexy]

[the-rain-monster]

Cookbooks

A NYC grad student working on food stamps for her thesis has released a free cookbook for those living on $4/day.

[vastderp]

SIG NAL BOO OO OO OOOST

[roachpatrol]

hello

[isozyme]

oooooh this is so nice!

[ransomdracalis]

I believe it’s important to eat well, even when you’re strapped for cash. It’s good for your health and energy! This cookbook is full of delicious and healthy recipes, the ingredients of which are fairly inexpensive.

[fuckingrecipes]

I ACKNOWLEDGE THIS WOMAN AS A FELLOW WARRIOR AND A FANTASTIC HUMAN BEING. 

[fleetfootfox-deactivated2019011]

Boost so hard. Feeding yourself well is a challenge when you”ve got little income

[vrabia]

I HAVE BEEN USING THIS COOKBOOK FOR MONTHS AND IT’S AMAZING 100/10 RECOMMENDING EVERYWHERE

(just to give you an idea, my food budget is 30 euro/week at most [about $38] and I have to maintain a healthy diet due to weird medication side-effects and yeah, basically this book is a lifesaver if you’re broke but need to watch what you’re eating)

[adramofpoison]

Reblog to save a life. Because it’s easy to find food for $4/day, but most of it tends to be garden variety junkfood

[natashakhan]

(The pdf is free, I repeat, the pdf is free) 

[ericainchoate]

And yeah, even if you’re not going to use 90% of the recipes, it’s always good to have spare recipe reference points. To quote a dear departed Portland television pitchman, “Free is a very good price.”

[run-like-a-zombie]

Working out is NOT a punishment

Do not work out because you feel GUILTY.

Working out is not a punishment.

Do it because it is fun, because you like doing it, because you like who you become when you work out - but never do it out of guilt and shame.

Do it with joy and love. 

If you had a cookie yesterday it does not mean that you have to forcefully add reps to your workout routine because you feel bad. ENJOY THAT COOKIE.

Okay? Okay.

[running-equals-happy]

[whatshouldwecallgradschool]

WHEN SOMEONE SUGGESTS I SHOULD WORK THROUGH LUNCH

[the--domesticated-dentist]

I have 999 followers! Holy crap.

Thanks for sticking with me even when I don’t do shit!

[the--domesticated-dentist]

Thanks @liquid-daydreams for making it 1,000!!

[the--domesticated-dentist]

So I'm going into junior year of highschool and I'm interested in being an orthodontist. Is there anything you can think of that I should do to prepare me or that would help? Thank you so much!

When I was a junior in high school I wanted to be an agriculture teacher. Senior year I wanted to be a nurse. Sophomore year of college I wanted to become a dentist.

Moral of the story, keep an open mind. Things change. Go to a college that you love. Because IF you change your mind about what you want to do, you’re not totally screwed. I know a lot of people that go to XYZ college because it’s got a great ABC program, but then if they change their major, they find that they had no other reason to go to that college other than that particular program.y

The best you can do now is work hard and carry that work ethic into college. Shadow a general dentist and an orthodontist and see if this is something you can see yourself doing for the next 40+ years

[the--domesticated-dentist]

I have 999 followers! Holy crap.

Thanks for sticking with me even when I don’t do shit!

[the--domesticated-dentist]

Sometimes I think I'm annoyingly paranoid

[the--domesticated-dentist]

Unpopular Opinion

I hate watermelon. I try and try and try to like it, but I’m currently choking it down atm

[the--domesticated-dentist]

I was wondering, do you (or other married people at your school) wear your engagement/wedding rings under your gloves in the clinic? Thanks :) 💎

Some girls do and some girls don’t. 

I have to wear the extra small gloves, so there isn’t much room in the gloves for a ring. I tried wearing my engagement ring + wedding ring, but found myself ripping gloves all the time, so I limit myself to wearing a band.

Other girls who have lower set diamonds or have more room in their gloves wear their rings with no issue.

[the--domesticated-dentist]

First day of D3 year! Now on to feeling kinda like a real dentist and seeing patients all day, everyday. I can't say that I'm going to miss our didactic years 😷💉😜

[calmwitch-deactivated20170102]

*lifts weights so i can carry bigger dogs*

[the--domesticated-dentist]

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where. I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride; so I love you because I know no other way ❤️

[the--domesticated-dentist]

I start my clerkship rotations next Monday and it had me thinking, how do other schools handle it?

Our school has every specialty, so we basically rotate through all the specialities for a certain amount of time during our 3rd year and have to meet certain requirements in each the clerkships.

I start in Radiology/Oral Diagnosis then go to Pros/Perio/Endo from August-Feb and then have a operative/peds rotation and an oral surgery rotation.

How does it all work with my other dentblrs? 

@nomnipresent @sealerpuff @dentistcrentist16 @theblondedent @mustang-musings @phantomofthesalle @samanthagray529 @shays17

Sorry for all the others I missed! Anyone else want chime in?

[sealerpuff]

in UOP, we had rotations in our 2nd and 3rd years. We had three pedo rotations, each about a week long. We didn’t have any specific requirements to fulfill in peds. We basically just had to do whatever was assigned to us. So whatever experience you got in peds was just based on chance. They’d give us a grade for the rotation based on our general performance and attendance. 

Oral surgery also had it’s own rotation (3 weeks in the oral surgery clinic and another week in a hospital in Oakland where we worked with the school’s OS residents). We also had two weeks of radiology, but that was only in our second year. At the end of it, we had to have a certain number of extractions done and one simple ext and one surgical ext “test case.” The test cases for OS weren’t a huge deal. Basically, if you did the ext with minimal help from instructors, they would swipe you as passed on the computer. They usually didn’t give a shit. It also depended on the instructor, but we learned quickly which ones to get swipes from. 

There was also a week of special care dentistry (working with special needs patients). Again, no real requirements. We just did whatever was assigned to us and our instructor would give us a grade at the end of the day. 

We didn’t have rotations for the other specialties though. So our endo/prosth/perio requirements had to be taken care of in the main clinic. 

There were also some offsite rotations. For example there were two hospital dentistry rotations. And some students would get assigned to different clinics to do regular dentistry.