Next 4 weeks

For the next 4 weeks the eight RIDE students will be in clinics throughout Eastern Washington. We have created a new blog for these 4 weeks. All of the students will be able to post their reflections to the blog. We are hoping that this blog will capture the emotions and events we experience during this time. So check it out, the link is on the right.

Bittersweet

This year is finally over. When it began I was full of excitement and energy. Nine months later I feel exhausted and beaten. But like we learned in Dental Materials class, it is the process of working and beating metals that ultimately give them their strength.

All year I have wondered "if I knew what I know now, would i still have done the RIDE program?". To be honest, the answer to that question has flip flopped many times this year. But now that this year is finally over, I would without a doubt do it again.

It is kind of funny that I can look back on this year with so much fondness even though it was full of so much frustration, stress, and anxiety. I think that negativity is over shadowed by the relationships that have been built and the personal character that has been gained during this year.

It has been an amazing year.

The Final Stretch

Two more weeks until we are officially done with our first year. I'm stressed out and running on empty. The end is finally in sight!

6 finals in 6 days starting on Wednesday.

Injections........Yikes!

Today was Injection Day. I had it highlighted on my calendar and knew of its existence for the past 7 weeks and it finally arrived. Last night I went to sleep smiling and giddy with excitement (and some anxiety). There are certain rights of passage in dentistry - the cadaver lab, the creation of our first gold crown, and the IA (inferior alveolar) nerve block. Among this list for first year accomplishments, the IA nerve block tops the cake.

Burying my nose in books and power point slides leaves me forgetting that I'm actually going to be a dentist someday. However, it is these experiences that wake me up, like a cold splash of water to the face, and I remember that someday I'm actually going to be practicing dentistry. This is good stuff.

I should also note that this is an exclusive RIDE first year elective. A really cool bonus to being in RIDE if you ask me.

I partnered up with Camille. First round - Camille was Docter, and I was patient. I had a bit of anxiety, but we were both fairly relaxed and excited to get started. Humor can go a long way in these situations.

Camille and I trying to find the location of the maxillary infiltration........ this is a pretty scientific approach.


Camille started with the IA block. In the picture below, she is getting some guidance from Dr. DiMarco. Dr. DiMarco is such a great person to have teaching this class. He knows the ins and outs of Local Anesthesia - so much so that he is the author of the book we use for this class. It gave me a lot of confidence and peace of mind knowing he was there for every step of the way.


I had a little anxiety but Camille did Great.... she's a natural.


Next it was my turn. The worst was over and I was getting excited to wield the syringe.

Waiting for the professor -
Applying the topical anesthetic for the maxillary infiltration.


Talking it over with Dr. DiMarco


Going for it.



Here are some other pics from the day -


Waiting to begin:
Practice loading the syringe and aspirating red fluid


Working with Dr. McCoy.

Dr. McCoy is teaching another elective about placement of rubber dams. I got so frustrated with my rubber dam today. They are really hard for me to place right now, but I'm hoping with time they will get easier.

This is Liza with her rubber dam on - looking awesome.

Dental Camp

We had the chance to volunteer at the Dental Camp at the EWU Hygiene clinic last week. It is an opportunity for high school kids to come spend a few hours in the clinic and learn what dentists do. The students get to do a lot of hands on activities - We helped them make impressions on dentiforms (a fake set of teeth) and pour cast models of the impressions. They also got the opportunity to practice their waxing skills and fill a cavity preparation with composite filling material.

One of the groups that we mentored was part of a program called GEAR-UP. It is a federally funded program that helps first generation bound college students get ready for college and expose them to many different career options. I think it is a pretty cool program and I'm glad they chose the dental profession to be part of the experience.

I really enjoyed talking to the students about dentistry. I enjoyed encouraging them in their projects and encouraging them in pursing dentistry related careers. I know that at their age, this experience isn't going to determine the outcome of their course of study or the career path they will choose. But hopefully, sometime in the future, they will remember that they were really good at waxing teeth, or that they poured up a flawless study cast and those memories will lead to a more thorough investigation to what dentistry is all about.

Here are some pics -




This is Dr. Gandara. She is the organizer and coordinator of the event. I have been very impressed with Dr. Gandara. She is a very genuine person and really cares about helping others. That kind of attitude toward dentistry is very contagious.

Final Crown

My final gold crown. Far from perfect, but worth remembering.

Only 5 more weeks left!

Gold Crowns

We have been spending countless hours in our Dental Materials class learning about the properties of various alloys, the chemical make up of investment materials, and the differences between hygroscopic, thermal, and setting expansions. Quite boring actually, but all very related to the process of making gold crowns.

On Monday we all drove up to a local dental lab on the South Hill of Spokane to cast our very own gold crown. These are the basic steps...... I think it is a pretty cool process.

1. Impressions of the mouth are taken and casts are made.
2. We wax up a crown that has proper occlusal and proximal contacts i.e. the crown functions properly in the mouth and of course it has superb anatomy.
3. We then attach a wax sprue - it is a piece of wax (like a funnel) that attaches to our waxed up tooth.

4. We put our wax up w/ sprue into a metal ring and then fill the ring with an investment material that can withstand high temperatures and let it set.

- A cool side note here: The investment materials has been engineered to expand 1.7% during this process. This is important, because when the hot gold cools it will shrink 1.7% - leaving the crown at the exact proportions it should be. Pretty cool.

5. Bake the ring in an oven - This melts out all the wax, leaving a negative copy of our crown in the investment material with a tunnel (from the sprue) leading into the empty cavity.

6. Next you take the hot investment filled ring and place it on a massive centrifuge.

7. Place your $300 worth of gold penny weights (yes, we pay for this) down and torch them until they are super melted, shiny, and liquid.

8. When everything is ready to go, the stop pin on the centrifuge is released and everything spins super fast.

Notice in the picture above our instructor's hand carefully holding the gas hose away from the centrifuge. A good friend of mine accidentally let his hose drop into the centrifuge while it was spinning - a horrible noise and smell ensued...... The Dental Tech who was in the other room, without even seeing what happened, yelled "you drop the hose in the centrifuge?" as if she knew those sounds all to well ....... Ahhh it was a classic and priceless moment. My friend's face was bright red with embarrassment and I had a massive smile strung across my face while I soaked it all in. Finally, I'm not alone in the massive (but hilarious) mistake category - I'm referring to my infamous flame ball incident from fall quarter.


9. The centrifugal force of the centrifuge forces the hot liquid gold into the crown cavity. Let it cool and then do a lot of refining and polishing to make it pretty and viola.... you have a gold crown.

Here is most of the gang at the dental lab-


Camille sporting her sweet safety shades and getting ready to throw down her $300 dollars worth of gold.... All the while singing "Gold Digger " by Kanye........ okay that last part is false, but c'mon.... with those shades, its gotsta be true.

Picture of the final product - Kind of a blurry but you get the idea




My "good friend" moments before the incident...... :)


This year has produced some fantastically great times.