Here's a snapshot of the ever changing spring extension schedule courtesy Tricia Hackett-Swanson from class. Physical Assessment is about 2 weeks so that'll be out soon. The class was divided into 4 groups, so that we have our final examinations at different times. I totally lucked out making into the group getting tested last.
I spent most of today practicing putting a rubber dam on my typodont. Since we'll have to use one for every operative procedure in class, and in the clinic I figured this is something I should be pretty efficient with. Those things are much trickier than they appear, and from spending some time in the clinic with upperclassmen, I already knew they were tricky. Although Dr. Sabatini taught us to place the ring around the tooth first, then place the rubbed dam over the ring and tooth, I found it much easier to place the ring through the dam before placing the ring in the patient's mouth. I shadowed an endodontist who I remember placed rubber dams with ease this way. Still need to work on not tearing the dam while placing it through contact areas. A friend suggested using a piece of a spare dam to push the dam through the contact area, which I'll need to try. Floss can also be used but it might cut the rubber. As with many things in dentistry - "whatever works best for you".
All we've got is Nutrition tomorrow, but given the 14 chapters we have to read for Physical Assessment, that time is anything but free. All in all I can see myself spending hours on end in B28 since I'm really loving this stuff so far. Placing and removing a dam for 4 hours was actually pretty fun and I'm sure most everyone's going to love when we start restorations. Here's to second year!
