Yup, currently back in Manipal, now in my 2nd week of block 3. Got my results and am quite satisfied. Anyway, I am now in the mood to blog, thought I would give you an inside about the subjects we are doing in 1st year. Been seeing many forums asking for our opinions on our course, so here it is~
Anatomy
Personally, I was quite scared after hearing stories about the subject from many people. Apparently many failed this subject. Well, it turn out the other way round. It's one of the subject I favour. It's very well organised and constructed. For example: (probably you won't understand) Whenever we discuss about a muscle, we always have to list it's origin, insertion, action and nerve supply. If it's a ganglion, we then have to talk about the nerve passing through it, the types of fibers present in the ganglion. It's all very logical and simple to understand. For BDS, we are only dealing with the head and neck region. Here in Manipal, we learn anatomy through both lecture classes and dissection demonstration. We will first be taught about the structures in lecture and the same structures will be shown in the subsequent dissection class, in/on the actual human body. The university have many cadever ( dead bodies)/ specimens which are properly dissected (by our anatomy lecturers) and preserved. For us, we normally just get the head, yes headless body specimens. Nothing to be surprise of, you will get use to it. I find anatomy easier with dissection demonstration as it helps to reinforce the things taught in lecture. Seriously, without dissection, I would fail this subject. If you're worried about the funky terms, relax! The lecturers will explain the reason behind the names given the sturcuture in the body. Respect the dead, man!
Biochemistry
This was the subject that I worried the most, in block 1. From block 2 onward only I grasped how things work in biochem. As the name suggest, it's about studying chemical reactions that takes place inside the body. We learnt a lot of pathways, biosynthesis and deficiency symptoms. Memorizing the names in biochem is quite hard though. Block 1 was full of basic concept, mainly organic chemistry; something that I didn't really like. Having said that, biochem is one of the subject that is easiest to score. You just have to understand and memorize. Half the time you will be writing out pathways and reactions in the exams, nothing much to explain. For BDS, our syllabus is lesser than MBBS. We just learn whatever is needed.
Physiology
Er... my least favourite subject? We learn physio according to the different system in our body. We first started of with blood then muscle etc. It's the subject with the most explaination, graphs and values. Again, our syllabus is cut short than MBBS. (You should see the textbook for MBBS) To be honest, some of the concepts for physio wasn't clear to us because we skipped some points that were covered in MBBS lecture. Well, all I can say is that it's not a spoon-feeding subject. (You have to read from a few books) Understanding the facts is most important because you will seriously be clueless in class, especially when the lecturer move on to something else in the same system. In short, procrastination is a NO NO in physio.
Dental Anatomy & Dental Histology (Oral Biology)
*faint* It's an interesting subject. We learn in detail about structures in the oral cavity and the shape of every single tooth. IN DETAIL, meaning there is lots to memorize. Our lecturers always encourage us to draw diagrams of everything. You will be amazed at the stuff we learn in this subject, that is if you join dentistry. We are also taught to carve actual human size tooth on wax blocks. Every single tooth a human have (yes, all 32 of them) we have to carve. Firstly, it helps the student to learn better about the shape and surface of each tooth and secondly, it perpare us for restorative dentistry in year 2. By the end of the year, we will be pro's in recognising each and every tooth.
Preclinical Prosthodontics
For year 1, we are currently learning the steps of making edentulous dentures. From making an impression to beading and boxing to making cast etc. There is an hour lecture for this subject every week and 3 hours practical period for us to practice our handwork. The theory part of prosthodontics is cover in lecture and demonstration will be given in the practical classes. It's best to make mistakes now, in 1st year so that you can understand and develop your preference to a certain technique or material. Each step, we are given at least 2 classes to complete our work and so student are allow to work at their own pace. So far we are at making custom tray.
Dental Materials
This is acutally our year 2 subject. One hour lecture is given per week. We learn about the properties of each dental material we use, their merits and demerits and a little bit on the history. Practical classes will only be provided for the first 2 block of year 1. We get to practice and get a hang of working with different types of materials. Whatever materials we learnt will be use in our prostho work. They go hand in hand together.
Well, hopefully I gave a clearer picture of the 1st year subjects. These are all my honest opinion of the subjects. Nothing is hard, just that practice makes perfect! :)
