Why is Dental School 4 years?

"Why is Dental school 4 years? I'm pretty sure I could learn everything my dentists does in _______ (enter any absurdly short amount of time, like 3 to 6 months, a year, ect)".

I have heard it twice since starting school, my classmate Eric has heard it at least once, and I'm sure I will hear it again. To be honest, when I first heard this statement I was a brand new dental student and I wasn't sure of the correct answer. However, as this year has progressed I've slowly started to learn the answer. Actually, now I get a little overwhelmed thinking about how much I have to learn in the next 3 1/2 years.

I thought some of you might like to see what we are actually doing with the laboratory time in our Occlusion class. Occlusion is a cool class and a good example of how there is so much more to our teeth and our mouths than I ever knew.

Disclaimer: Pre-dents may find this fascinating, while everyone else may find it extremely boring. :)

Meet my $1,000 dollar articulator - A little required expenditure.



This bad boy helps us imitate the movements of the mandible in relation to a person's occlusion (how their teeth fit together).

So what do we do with it in class? We wax anatomically correct teeth just like last quarter, but this time they have to fit and work properly in the mouth.

Each tooth must contact the teeth to the sides and the teeth opposing it, all in very specific locations.

Here are the side by side contacts (proximal contacts) - these contacts are responsible for that snapping when you floss your teeth - if you don't know what I'm talking about then you should probably start flossing :)




Then we have to worry about the teeth opposing our waxed up tooth. There are specific points on the opposing teeth, on the tips of cusps and in the bottoms of fossas. Each contact should be no bigger than .5 mm. It can be quite the challenge to get the right sized contact in the right place.

Here are some contact points:



Then of course we are graded on the anatomy. Contours and Embrasures are a big emphasis. Embrasures are the space outlined in blue. You would think these small spaces would be pretty easy to get correct, but that just isn't so..... I can post my grades to prove it if you don't believe me.




Then you use the articulator and move the "mandible" to the left, then to the right, then forward and backwards to make sure none of your anatomy scrapes on any of the surrounding teeth.

WOW... I'm boring myself just writing this. You are just going to have to trust me that it is fascinating stuff.... I promise.

Lots more to learn. I'm glad Dental school takes 4 years instead of 6 months to complete..... You should all be happy for that also. :)