4th year Quarter Time Out

My first block of 4^th year is coming to an end and I just start posting up the first write-up for the year. Next week will be the block I exams and I’m just getting started with the books. I assure you, I have MANY good excuses for neglecting to pop in here as I often before.

Today, I just delivered my first complete denture. That took me around a month and a half to complete; with many lunches and breaks sacrificed just to rush the work. The patient was less cooperative than my previous prostho case. However, I learnt and grew a lot from this one patient. She reminded and taught me a lot about dealing with demanding patient: to what extend should an operator listen to their patient, how much should we go the miles to fulfill their wishes and always take into consideration our own limitations instead of promising them the whole world. Besides that, I finally can visualize and completely understand what is border moulding and jaw relation. Those methods we read off the textbooks now make sense. I’m really thankful for the guidance from Dr. Kiran and Abang Zul through the whole process. All in all, I’m very satisfied with my arrangement and how it turned out on the patient. Will need to review whether the denture can function well in a week time.

Besides prostho work, there were many other things that were going on since the start of the year. As planned, I took up a new responsibility. I pondered on trying it out since 2nd year and so I thought it’s time to put myself in there and see how well I can perform. And well, I can tell you, it’s been a very bumpy ride. There is no one day where you can rest. Being organized and having things plan for the next day is very crucial. Even the rides back home for the weekend are always filled with calls from here and there; often leaving your blood pressure shooting higher and higher. I really do miss Miss Divya. There seem to be no one I can seek to get things sort out. Everything seems out of order and I have to be the office boy running errands.  I have to link and tie things back on track and trust me, it’s not one or two matters, it’s an everyday thing which I think the management can consider hiring an admin staff to try coordinating our schedule nicely. It’s not something nice to write about openly, but hey, this is my blog and my opinion on things matter only in here no?

Also, our batch planned a welcoming party for our BDS 3 juniors. The aim was more on getting the seniors (BDS 1) to know the juniors instead of the welcoming part. As time for preparation was constrained, we held it on the 9^th floor of the dental building with just some simple refreshment served. We could not afford a lavish party as our pockets are really tight. The event was not really a success but I know there were many limitations and we really tried our best to make it happen. I know things won’t get hot overnight, but at least the seniors and juniors have seen each other and said hello.

A few weeks back, I just finished the obturation for my first RCT case. I’m happy how it looks on the radiograph. For me now, access opening is the most difficult and least confident thing for an RCT procedure. Just 2 weeks back, we had an endo CPD programme by Dr. Alex Chan from University of Hong Kong. It was really good lecture and there were many tips on clinical endo. Sadly, I have yet to look back on my notes I jot down then. Starting from next obturation, I will try to use rubber dam. Don’t ask me why, but I truly understand the need of it, especially after something occurred during my first obturation. Now currently learning RCT for lower molar on an extracted tooth, trying to get the confident so that I can treat one of my patients who is waiting for a molar endo.

Last Saturday also, we had a video making and puppet making workshop for our Community Dentistry DHE puppet house project. We spent the morning learning to sew and get our video making skills sharpen. The lecturers were quite impressed with our work. Now we just left with the stage decoration and we are done with the project.

I just attended the walkathon in conjunction with the National Oral Cancer Awareness Week 2013 yesterday at Taman Bukit Jalil. About 2 weeks before, there was a competition within the Malaysia dental school to submit the best electronic campaign to increase oral cancer awareness in Malaysia. I prepared a PowerPoint presentation while another team from my batch prepared a video. As I was thinking of making a presentation that suits the population here, I went with the idea of making a bilingual presentation. The information were projected both in Malay and English. Myra helped me out big time on the translation and Chen Wei on drawing the regions of the mouth. Really thank them both for making it happened. Honestly, I’m proud of my slides. The experience was a good one. Presenting in front of dental students and lecturers from other school was a little nerve-wrecking but I think I didn’t do that bad. And oh, my topic? Mengenali Kanser Mulut: Knowing Oral Cancer

I’m still contemplating whether to submit my name for the upcoming IDEM-APDSA Student Leadership Programme. I still not sure what is holding me back from going for it but will really think about it after the block I exams. Honestly, I really want to see our batch mates moving out of our cocoon and try to gain more exposure to other things beyond our dental school. It seem like we are so passive and only restricting ourselves to classes and clinics. Having said that, congratulation to both Chen Wei and Naurah on being elected as the subcommittees of MDSA. I’m proud of both of you, secretly envious.

Interbatch Cultural competitions have just started, and as usual, I’m really greedy to try stamping my feet in everything. Well, not really everything just that I will try my hands on painting and talentime in addition to my usual singing and dancing routine. Thinking of it, I just have another 2 more years and I’m leaving my undergrad life for good. (That is if everything goes according to plan.)So, if it isn’t now, then when?!

There will be more things to come ahead. As I wrote before, baby steps RC, one thing at a time. Till after block I exams, bye!  

RCT Minion? 

Photo credits: Ping, Chen Wei, Naurah

My 3rd Year Honest Reviews

My 3^rd year of dental school has come to an end. It ended so abrupt; everything happened so fast. It didn’t even hit me that it’s over even after I reached home. My mind still doesn’t want to accept the fact that I’m already going into 4^th year. Here, I’m gonna be honest on how I felt through the 3^rd year.

Looking back, I really wasted a lot of time. I could have been more active and go all out to get some things done. Too much time wasted on settling in clinical work, trying to figure out petty stuff (which partly I blame the system). I may sound very negative and unhappy, but that’s how it was for me. There were much sighs here and there, especially in the beginning. Yes, rules and regulation have to meet by the students but if they stand in the way to improve our system & clinic, I think maybe they should reconsider and overlook certain things. And that only happen when the situation became desperate, which we kind of predicted in the beginning. Much ego should also be set aside when listening to our feedbacks. We don’t voice out just to mess up the system, but we very much want it to improve because the ones that suffer will only be the students. Back in Manipal, feedbacks are very much appreciated and I can feel the team back there really have a big heart to accept criticisms. I get very annoyed when we get this phrase “Why you don’t know? Because you don’t ask.” blaming us being not inquisitive to ask when we are fresh from India and we are not aware of many things going around. If we are not being oriented, how are we to know such thing exist? *face palm* Mind you, I’m not complaining, I’m just channeling out my frustration.

As we venture out into clinical years, the initial days were a little scary. We were like freshly hatched turtle going into the sea. We were constantly bombarded with all oral hygiene instruction and history taking in the beginning, though it was poorly tailored. I remembered there where much confusion here and there. We spent much time trying to figure out what is right and the ethical thing to do. Then after much rejected phone calls, finally we get our first patient. Mine was a pregnant lady. She was nice but is a demanding type of patient. And soon, our rotation for various departments begins. Sometimes we are just jobless but there are rare occasion when the clinic is overflowed with patients (especially the school holidays) And when we are jobless, we can only look upon others with patients, feeling envious; reverting back to our textbook in clinic while waiting for the time to pass. I do appreciate the efforts of certain lecturers who take short discussion during the clinical hours, rather than us sitting there with the books. And there were times when we spend all our free period available to finish up our prostho cases in the lab. Our minds will be filled with questions like: “When can I put the next appointment? Can I make it in time? Did I call the patient for the next appointment? Where is Madam Prashanti?! (joking)” As we want to show our work, especially for a cons case, you will see a swarm of student next to the endodontist, all trying to get him to their bay. The poor lecturer never rest. From babes, we became an army of yellow half grown dentist wanabe.          

Academic wise, on the paper, it states that we will be sitting exams for only 2 subjects, but in reality, there are all the other dental subjects running parallel with the 2 main subjects. It was a nightmare during the Block 3 exams where we have back to back, 2 subjects per day type of examination. That really tested us mentally, physically and emotionally. Still remember the horror of sitting in one of the OSCE station for oral surgery, not knowing anything placed in front of me. And there were also times were we tried to pour our brains out on the paper for one question, often leaving the next questions unattempted. How much to write, how much they want us to know, till now, is a mystery.   

Though I love general pathology in 2^nd year, I have less liking towards oral pathology. I don’t know what it is, maybe it’s the way the lectures were taken or I’m just not interested in memorizing facts. Trust me, I tried my best to like it, I just couldn’t. The only time when I actually find it interesting was when Dr. Sumanth conducted the CBL on odontogenic cyst and tumor. That was the only time I actually applied the facts that I try so hard to memorize. It will be good if they practice CBL more often in the future.  

Maybe I should have work a little harder on Human Disease subject. I got to love it as I prepared for the sessional examination. While most felt that it’s not really relevant to us, future dentist, I beg to differ. It actually gives us a broader picture of various common conditions which might come along with the patients that walk into our clinic and the precaution we have to take while treating them. It also serves as a reminder that we should not just treat the patient’s oral health alone but to treat the individual as a whole.

The two conferences I attended was indeed an eye opener; in a good way and a bad way. It shows the reality of dentistry in the real world out there. It really set me thinking of the life after BDS, where I would want to end up in the future.

On the bright side, I was glad that we got to join Batch 23 seniors as a dance team. It was a dream of Jewel and mine since 1^st year. Had a really great time during those late night rehearsals despite having muscle ache and bruises all over the body the next day. I don’t think I will ever get to dance so extensive and energy-draining choreography anymore. I will miss the seniors.

For the first time, trying to lead a singing team wasn’t easy. Was actually doubting myself whether I could get the harmonies right without Esther this time. I couldn’t say the songs selection was the best but it was worth a shot. There were some parts here and there which sounded awkward, but we sailed through the competition. I don’t think I’ll be wrong to say, we defended our title. And also singing a duet with Naurah and the band was kinda cool, a new experience despite all the nerves on stage.

Participating in the dental community work brought back much joy to me. Many think why the hassle, but for me it’s an opportunity to reach out. And then again, it really depend on why did you take up dentistry in the first place.

I’m looking forward to 4^th year with much enthusiasm and determination. There will be research work starting this year and I’m very much interested in it. No more procrastination, will try to set aims and goals for myself. New expectations await. I have many plans and ideas that I want to fulfill. Even if it’s not beneficial to my own batch, at least it can help improve the following batches. After all, we will graduate as students from MMMC. We should maintain a good standard and uphold professionalism. With this, we can proudly say “Yes, I’m from Melaka Manipal”.

And yes, the world is watching us.

Regrets are only for 3^rd year, and no more after that.

(Photo credits to respective sites off the net. )

Fresh from Manipal?

Yes, it’s the exam period once again. Loyal reader would know that urge to blog of mine would always come around this time.

Books are piling up everywhere in my room. I haven’t been able to sleep well since sessional, kept having all random disconnected dreams and sometimes just wake up in the middle of the night, telling myself, “it’s not time to get up yet, you need your sleep Rachel!” Honestly, I’m not feeling stressed out nor scare for the coming final exams. I’m rather more relax than the past two study breaks back in Manipal. Somehow the feel is different.

This all will soon finish in 2 weeks’ time. Yes, 2 weeks’ time and I am officially off to 4^th year. I am seriously anticipating for it to come because, there will be more clinical hours and I aim to try link many things up that I have learn so far. I want to get more serious with my techniques, especially giving injections, avoiding cone cuts for IOPA etc. I’m still a babe in clinical work, still need to work to that confidence level. Sad to say, I have yet started any amalgam restoration on real patients, the cases I got were all indicated for tooth coloured restoration. But like what Dr. Alok once said,” you cannot just force in amalgam when the tooth itself is not fit to retained it in. Do what’s best for the patient.” And yes, Prostho, I will start to get real serious with that subject, been trying to avoid it for 3 years now. (Not that I purposely doing it, but I hardly understand the language in the prostho textbooks. Literally, an hour spent just to understand one page.)

Soon, we will be seeing this sign below placed up again.

Yes, the 3^rd batch would be starting real soon, and since I will not be back again to show them around, I thought why not give them an early introduction. (Forgot to thank them here for the warm wishes in this pack below from a year ago. I'm terrible!)

I will start off with the hostel room for ladies. There are 2 blocks for the ladies hostel. The guard will ensure that you tap your ID cards before entering each time. (The ID card will be issue by the end of 1^st week I guess) Each room has an attached bathroom. The problem is that there is no fan in the room, only AC. You will have to bring you own curtains too. It will be smaller than rooms in NIH, maybe half the size?

There is a pantry area on each floor and a common room where you can hang out or study.

The dental faculty is located in the Academic Block II; commonly refer as the dental building. The theme of the clinic will be yellow, hence the yellow chair, yellow operating gown and yellow inferior designs. The dental stuffs will be in uniforms of oranges and our lecturers usually will have their white coats on during clinical hours.

This is the main entrance to the building.

You will see the reception desk once you enter. Patients normally register themselves here first, get screen at the Out Patient Department (OPD) which is on the same floor before going to the students.

On the same floor is the Oral Radiology department where the extra-oral imagings are normally done there. Sadly, I don’t have a photo of it. And oh, the notice board for all announcements will be along the corridor next to the radiology department.

The classrooms and lecture halls are all at the 2^nd, 8^th and 9^th floors. The staff rooms are located at the 8^th floor where as the Dean’s office is on the ground floor.

Moving on, the students clinics will be on 3^rd and 4^th floor. For batch 3, the clinic will be in 4^th floor, called Polyclinic B. Here is some photo of how it will be like. There will be many cubicles, one radiology room for intra-oral imaging, sterilization rooms, one surgical room, one computer room and the patients' waiting area. 

There is a DHE room right outside of Poly B where you will give oral hygiene advice to your future patients.

The dental labs will be in the 7^th floor. There is a prostho lab, phantom head lab and the oral patho lab. You are always allowed to use the prostho lab anytime between 8am-6pm, provided you are free. There will be dental lab assistants available to help you out with your work. They are like you clinical lab teachers. No more going to lecturers for small petite doubts.  

There will also be monthly assembly in the hall on the first Monday of the first week of every month. Attendance will be taken too. Announcements and awards will be given during that time.

As of the protocol, the faculty will require that you check the Ab titre for Hep B virus prior to touching any patients. They will send the pathLab people over to draw blood from you, so don’t freak out. 

Last of it, here is a photo of the people you will meet up soon.

Hope they will handle your campus tour properly.

Back to salivary gland tumors….

(Photo credits: Chen Wei, Chien Ying, Nabilah)