My last
post was on the 16th of September, it’s almost a month since I wrote
anything. I don’t really have any specific things I want to share in this post;
maybe just update readers on my life now. It will be all jumble and mumble
up but please bear with me.
As you all
know, I have just started my phase II in Melaka campus. Registration and shifting
in the hostel was on my birthday itself, what a way to celebrate right? The whole
process was actually not as simple as I thought. There wasn’t any proper
instruction given where we should go and what to do first. A formal hostel
briefing was only held after we have moved in for 5 days. Imagine the chaos on that day. We have orientation for a week with the MBBS students.
All these details I will write in another post later. Surprisingly, it was quite
tiring to sit in a lecturer hall listening to talks from 8am-5pm. I felt so
exhausted every day.
For the dental students, we have one more week
of subjects and clinic orientation from the dental faculty. All our classes and
clinics are held in the new dental block (Academic Block II). It’s a nine floored
building, fully air-conditioned. The interior is very spacious which sometimes
gives me the chills to walk alone through the corridors. We are divided
into pairs and each pair owns a dental unit. We are stationed in Bay 1 and
2 of Polyclinic A on the 3rd floor. The clinic is open to public, so
do come and make your appointment with us. All you need to bring is your myKad and of
course some cash. Sadly to say, we are currently running out of patient. This is very crucial to us as, the lesser patient we have, the lesser chance we
get to practice our hand work. The charges are cheaper if you are treated under
a dental student, maybe it’s something you may want to consider. All in all,
PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT THE CLINIC TO YOUR FRIENDS AND RELATIVES. THANK
YOU a thousand times.
Classes have
started. Most lectures are on Monday. We have our general dental clinics on the
Thursday afternoons (2pm-5pm). Currently, we are just practicing doing E &
D (examination and diagnosis) on each other. To learn up the basics like
general examination, taking radiographs, scaling, moisture control techniques,
giving oral hygiene instructions etc., we are divided into 6 groups and posted
in different specialties. I discovered that clinical years are the time we have to apply
all our 1st and 2nd year knowledge in real scenarios. Far
often we end up dumb when the lecturers ask a simple question regarding the
stuff we have learnt. They would sarcastically reply “you left everything back in
Manipal?” I felt quite embarrassed. I just hope the lecturers will be patience with us.
We are also
having hospital posting at Melaka General Hospital on every Thursday morning. We
had our first surgery posting last Thursday and I was quite lucky to get 2
co-operative patients. Hospital posting is quite fun as we can get to interact
with real patients but the bad side is we dental students don’t know much beside
the head and neck region. It quite a challenge to come out with a diagnosis for
conditions relating to other parts of the body.
The dental
materials and the lab culture here is so different than in India. We are
started to do our Class II teeth arrangement. From the cold-mol-seal to the
cold cure, they all just seemed so foreign to me. What more shocking was that
Madam Chua told us “We don’t use porcelain jar anymore to mix the cold cure. Those
were the days last time when I was studying, we use it. Now got this silicon
type, your porcelain jar OUTDATED already.” Imagine the horror look on our
faces. Each of us bought at least 4-6 of it and we can’t use it. So much for
wrapping layers of bubble wraps to cushion them in the boxes. I will try to think
of something to use them. Sigh. One thing good about the lab here is that the lab
assistant will not chase you out when the clock hits 5. They will patiently wait
for you and also guide you to make your work perfect. No more demonstrations
from the lecturers, only from the lab assistants.
That’s all
from me now. It’s running late and I have morning lectures tomorrow. Update
next time.
