Boards...

The last time I posted, I had just finished my spring semester and was gearing up to take boards.  The National Board Dental Examination Part 1 (NBDE 1) tests everything a dental student learns during the didactic portion of their curriculum.  Most dental schools offer the exam during or after the second year, but CU's curriculum is designed so that we take it after the first year.  To study for the test, I spent four weeks intensely studying everything I've learned in the past year.  It was a lonely, exhausting 4 weeks, but I took the exam on June 7th.  After two long weeks of waiting, I finally heard back that my hard work paid off and I PASSED!  I can't wait to put everything from last year behind me, and move on with my summer and the rest of my dental education!

1 down, 3 to go!

This semester has been a whirlwind of crazy, busy, stressful, and fun, but I made it... and my 'made it' I mean that I am DONE.  Done with my first year of dental school!  The last 9 months and two semesters have absolutely flown by.  I can't even believe it!  Unfortunately in dental school, there are no real summer breaks, so it's back to the grind for me on Monday with a whole new semester.

Now for the next big step in my academic journey... the NBDE part 1, or my board exams!  I allowed myself some time for relaxation and celebration the night of my last final, but since then I've started hitting the books hard to prepare for the 1st part of the national dental board examinations that I will be taking in ONE MONTH!  Crazy, crazy.  

The next time you see me, I will probably have wrinkles and frazzled gray hair, but at least come June I will be over the hump, and free to enjoy the rest of my summer... or at least what summer I have in between summer classes.

And now for some pictures of what I've been up to this spring, in school and out of it :)

St. Patty's Day, 2014

Class I amalgam restoration

New Dentist Committee of Denver mixer

Some of my classmates for a birthday celebration

Work hard, play hard!

When I originally committed to CU, I knew I was in for 4 years of serious outdoor fun.  Dental school is a very rigorous and demanding program that requires your full dedication if you intend on surviving.  However, for all the hard work I put in, I also get a lot of fun out of it, too.

As most of you know, Aspen, CO is the host of the winter X Games every year.  In 2014, I was fortunate enough to BE THERE and experience it in all of it's Xtreme glory!  Me and a group of classmates loaded up a truck and headed up for an incredible weekend in one of America's most beautiful cities.  We stayed with a friend's family (Thanks Doug!) and enjoyed all that Aspen had to offer.  Since I haven't yet invested in skis, I stayed in and attempted to study a little while watching the Games while my friends hit the slopes, but we all celebrated with a night out on the town the first night, and went to see Tiësto's concert the second night.  In all, I can't imagine a better weekend!

Following the X Games, I spent a weekend at Breckenridge with CU's other Delta Sigma Delta members on their annual Ski Trip.  Again, I didn't ski, but half of the group stayed in and there was plenty to do at the house.  The weekend went by so quickly, and I'm already excited for next year!  As if the weekend couldn't get any better, it ended with SuperBowl Sunday!  Some friends and I celebrated in downtown Denver, and even though the Broncos lost, it was an incredible end to an unforgettable weekend.

A little bit of Projects...

For starters, I recently updated the look of this blog, including a Projects menu at the top of the page. There I'll try to keep pictures and descriptions of all of my projects for you to check out!

..........

Like I mentioned in my last post, I'm taking two labs this semester: occlusion and direct restorative (simulation).  I'm absolutely ecstatic because I feel like I'm actually doing dentistry, and it's so much fun!  To tell you about it, I'll break it down by class:

Occlusion

Our first session in occlusion was taking impressions on our dentaforms.  Most of my classmates (including myself) have never taken impressions before, so it was completely new territory.  It's quite simple really, but as with all things, it takes some practice to get the hang of it.

I didn't get a picture of the process because my gloves were covered in sticky alginate, but I found this one on the internet.  See link in caption below:

http://www.healthscienceeducation.com/products/health_science/career_pathways/dental_diagnostics.htm

After taking the impressions, we went to the lab and poured them up with stone and trimmed the casts once they hardened.

Last week, after practicing on our dentaforms, we got to go into the clinic and take impressions on each other.  Working as a dental assistant last year, I saw countless impressions be taken, and boy is it harder that it looks!

It seemed like everyone in our class struggled and had to try so many times that we all had rashes and cracked lips for a few days.

Luckily, my partner Natalie is a good friend of mine, so we had a lot of fun throughout the process, even though we were miserable for a few days after...

Direct Restorative:

In sim lab, we finally got to start drilling!  Many of my friends at other schools started last semester, and hearing their stories, I was so excited to hold a handpiece!  Our first assignment was to drill different shapes into a block, practicing different angles and techniques. Once we got the hang of that, we got to practice on our mannequins.  I only got a picture of my first attempt (which is NOT good!) but as an example, you can see what we were doing.

Our first assignment was a Class I composite prep on #29. 

Semester #2!

After a long and much needed winter break, I'm back at school for my second semester.  I can't believe how ridiculously fast time is passing... I've already been in dental school for over 5 months!  After a semester of waxing, I'm also really excited to be taking new dental classes.  Here's a run-down of the classes I'm taking this semester:

Didactic:
Human Physiology
General Pathology
Microbiology
Immunology
Interprofessional Education
Infection Control

Dental:
Occlusion (tech lab)
Direct Restoration (sim lab)

Last week we started drilling and taking impressions, and for the first time, it actually felt like I was in dental school!  Pictures to come :)

DONE!

As of last Thursday, I am DONE with my first semester of dental school!  The second half brought on a load of new challenges in the form of human anatomy and the second half of dental morphology, but I made it through with my self-esteem and my will-to-go-on intact!  I won't gross you out with the details of my dissection lab, but I can say that I have a whole new appreciation for the human body.

I'm home for the holidays now, and I can say that it feels SO GOOD to be back in Michigan.

Anatomy

Sorry about my lack of posting lately... we've started our Anatomy block and it's kicking my butt.  I've never been a good memorizer - I'm more of a conceptual person - so this class is taking up all of my time.  We also have a full cadaver dissection lab, which is awesome!  The sight of a cadaver and a dissection always made me queasy in my undergrad anatomy class, so I was really worried about actually doing the dissection instead of watching, but once we got started, I realized that the human body isn't gross or morbid, but it's actually fascinating.  I really appreciate the person who donated their body for the sake of me learning about it on my way to becoming a doctor... Thank you, thank you!

In other news, Halloween just passed and I was able to go to the delta sig party last weekend.  Camille and I dressed up as Robin Thicke (me) and Miley Cyrus (Camille) from the VMAs and had so much fun.  I wish we could've gone out downtown another night, but with Anatomy just starting, it just wasn't in the cards.  Guess we'll have to save our second costumes for next year :)

HOMEcoming

This past weekend I returned to Ann Arbor for Homecoming weekend.  I spent the entire weekend watching football (back at the Big House!) and seeing my friends that I've missed so much.  It was just the break that I needed and now I feel refreshed for the second half of the semester.

Colorado Flooding

Thank you everyone for your well-wishes!  The flooding here was the worst I've ever seen in my life, but luckily the area I'm in was spared from the worst of it.  School was closed early on the worst day, when the dental school started flooding, but the rain let up shortly after and the water was able to be cleared.

The lawn in front of the dental school flooded with 2+ feet of water, which eventually led to clinics closing, and eventually the whole dental school closing.  Some of my classmates brought pool floaties... hey, when life gives you lemons!

Many of the roads were closed in the area around the school and my apartment, and the ones that were open had up to 2ft of water on them.  Many cars were submerged on the sides of the roads because they couldn't clear the water.  I'm so glad it was Camille's week to drive, since she has a truck and there's no way my car would've made it.

 Much of the flooding was caused by rivers and lakes overflowing, which caused a lot of the dams on the front range to break.  Luckily, Aurora is about an hour's drive from Boulder, which was the most heavily damaged area.  While it might've been fun getting out of school early and playing in the streets, everyone is praying for the displaced families and those who lost loved ones in the floods.

Midterms

I'm officially halfway through my whirlwind of midterms and I feel well.. exhausted.  So far I've managed to keep up and my exam scores have gone up since recovering from my surgery, which is relieving.  Also, I got my cast off last week and have been walking unassisted with a boot!  Thank God.

Here are some pictures of the teeth we've been waxing in dental morphology lab.  Lab is definitely my favorite class, and our practical is the only exam I'm not absolutely dreading...

Tooth #8 (right maxillary central incisor) was my first wax-up.

 Tooth #26 (right mandibular lateral incisor).  My first 'A' in lab!

My teeth together in the articulator.  I've also worked on #6 (right maxillary canine), but I don't have a picture of it.  I have to wax up #7 (right maxillary lateral incisor) for my practical tomorrow, and since I did well on my mandibular lateral incisor, I'm not too worried about the test.

Surgery, exams, and a little bit of family time

My surgery last Thursday was successful!  I got in a 20 minute argument with my anesthesiologist over local anesthesia vs. general anesthesia (I insisted on GA because I'm a baby and the thought of being awake while being sliced and diced freaks me out), but everything went well as far as I can tell.  I have a plate and a couple screws in my foot now, and will need another surgery in the future to have the removed, but I'm happy that I'll hopefully recover more quickly now.

This week I had exams in both microanatomy and craniofacial bio exams and they both went better than I expected.  It was definitely a struggle to study while on painkillers that affected my cognition and made me want to sleep all day, but I had a whole weekend beforehand to study.  I have some room for improvement, but I'm so happy that I did as well as I did given my circumstances.

My dad and his girlfriend, Chau were also in Denver this weekend to visit on their way to California for a vacation.  It was so nice to have them here and see some familiar faces.  They took care of me after my surgery and cooked me a ton of food that would be easy for me to reheat.  I only get to see my dad one or two times a year since he lives in Virginia, so it was so nice to have him here!

the difference between dental school and medical school is...

I overheard someone say this today when asked the difference between dental and medical school:

"Dental school and medical school are about the same right now.  Except dental students are more fun and exceptionally better looking."

I don't know, but it made me laugh.

Anyways, I spent a lot of this week in the wax lab finishing my wax card for dental morphology.  Since I'm missing lab this week for surgery, I spent a few hours at the end of my day today getting started on our first "real" project... waxing #8 (for anyone non-dental, it's the upper front tooth on the right side of your mouth)!  While the wax cards were good practice on how to work with our waxing instruments, building up an actual tooth is MUCH more fun than making shapes and letters.  I'll post some pictures when I've finished, but I need to bring my camera since I'm irresponsible and smashed my phone on a rock, scratching the lens.  Whoops...

Survived Week One as a DS1!

It was long and crazy but I made it through my first week of dental school!  I'm very fortunate to have such great professors with so much energy and passion for helping their students!  This semester I'm taking microanatomy, craniofacial biology, dental materials, intro to dentistry, and dental morphology.  Human gross anatomy will also be added to our schedule in a couple of months.  So far microanatomy and craniofacial biology are a little overwhelming, since we're covering about a semester's worth of undergrad biochemistry or molecular biology in every lecture.  We started in the tech lab this week with dental morphology and I'm excited to see what's to come.  This week's assignment is a wax card, on which we'll practice working with wax by molding it into various different shapes using our dental instruments.  Once we've mastered wax, we'll be moving into the sim clinics to start drill-n-filling on our mannequins!

I also saw an orthopedic doctor about my foot this week.  We looked at my x-rays, and due to the severity of the break he told me I'll have to have surgery in order to guarantee full function of my foot after it heals.  Not exactly the news I was hoping for, considering I'll have to miss lab and lecture for the surgery and recovery.  However, I know I'll be better off in the long run, and surgery will likely get me back on my feet sooner than going without.  In the meantime, I was given a weight-bearing boot to try and I bought a knee scooter on amazon to help me get around.  The boot is too painful on my sprained ankle/ligaments on top of my foot, so I'll have to wait on that, but I'm really looking forward to getting my scooter and actually being able to do things myself.

All Moved in and Orientation!

I can't believe I've been in Colorado now for two weeks!  I finally finished moving in, and I'm obsessed with my apartment!  We're not finished decorating the living room and dining room, but I have my bedroom finished, which is such a relief!  My bedroom has always been the one place I can go to have peace and relax when things get crazy, so getting it together was my main priority.

 This last week was orientation and totally not as much fun as undergraduate orientation.  However, we all went out and had fun afterwards to celebrate our last few days of freedom before school starts.  I love all of my classmates and I know for sure that we're going to have an incredible 4 years together!

Unfortunately last night, while out in downtown Denver causing a ruckus on the bar scene, I managed to break my foot.  Of course this would happen to me of all people.  I'd like to make a shout out to my friends who took care of me (Tim for carrying me to the cab, super nice cab driver to took me to the hospital, Billy/Doug for picking me up from the hospital and getting me home/carrying me up the flight of stairs to my apartment, and my awesome roommate Camille for doing pretty much everything else!)  You all rock, and I'm so grateful to have you as friends.

Colorful Colorado

Two long days of driving and I finally made it to "Colorful Colorado!"  My roommate, Camille, and I are in the process of moving in and getting settled [insert frustrated remark about building Ikea furniture], and the reality of being in Colorado is finally starting to sink in.

To break in my sea-level lungs at altitude, I spent yesterday hiking my first 14er, Grays Peak, with about 15 of my future classmates.  (In case you don't know, "14er" is the nickname for the 14,000+ ft. mountains in the Colorado Rockies.)  The hike was definitely more challenging than I expected, and I slipped and busted my bum a few times on the way down, but I made it to the summit in 2 hours and 40 minutes!  On the way up I became a little dizzy and delusional, and much to the amusement of my classmates, said some strange things, like "sea-lander" as opposed to "sea-leveler"... thus creating my new nickname, "Sealander."  Despite my comical struggles, I can say that I'm definitely proud myself and can't wait to hike another one soon... although next time I'll wear hiking boots :)