Crybaby's Lair: September 2018

Group A mini reunion @ Nau's

(This is so overdue)

I’m not going to apologized AGAIN for not updating as frequently as I used to in the past. Not that I was busy, it was more of laziness and the lack of motivation to write. These days I noticed I have somehow developed a pessimistic outlook in my clinical judgement and execution, often expecting the worst outcome. The dental graduate that used to be so optimistic and confident in her work has overtime wither away. Sometimes I questioned why did I chose this field previously. I still in the midst of sorting out this confusion within me.

Ok, enough rant on my emotion rollercoaster, this blog entrée is about the events I attended earlier this year.

MDA SCATE Jan 2018
(WhatsApp msg)

Finally on some magnification!

Rach

Jom Pergi Conference MDA? - Syasya

I replied “Ok”. And hence I paid a few hundred ringgits to renew my MDA membership and signed up for the conference.

“Going to conference again? Why you dentists always have to attend so many conferences?” asked my mum.

I pretty much looked forward to SCATE ever since joining the private sector. Coop up in the clinics 6 days a week doing intricate meticulous work and meeting the demands of patients can lead to isolation and professional burnt out. For me, dental conference is not only one of the means for continuous professional development but also a good opportunity to take a break from the clinic. It is where active learning for dentist happens post-graduation. There will be brewing conversation about the trends and advances in dentistry, exchanging clinical experiences and ideas, trying the latest gizmos and getting a good discount to restock clinical supplies. Some also view this as a good opportunity reunite with friends and batchmates.

Photo credits: Syasya

There are two major annual dental conferences held by the MDA; SCATE in the beginning of the year and MIDEC around mid-year. As compared to MIDEC, I noticed that the lecture topics in SCATE usually are tailored for the junior dentists.

There were two to three lecture sessions lined up every hour. We had to choose between the mundane and the remarkable. I took interest in the full mouth rehab presentations. I was amazed and humbled by the treatment plans and clinical work presented. One good take home message was advances like the Digital Smile Design and Chairside CEREC technology still rely on basics taught in prostho, cons and perio. Fundamentals are still important. Besides that, I found the lecture on Managing Dentinal hypersentivity most useful. The sensitive toothpastes in the market all contains different active ingredients and its effectiveness may varies for each individual. Patient should be encourage to try out different sensitive toothpaste to find the one that works the best for them and stick to that particular one.

I wasn’t only attending lectures but also went around scouting for materials and instrument I needed in the trade exhibition. The exhibition hall was filled with set up booths, some with tall kiosks with banners advertising cool new instruments, appliances and materials that you had never heard of with impressive multimedia presentations. And of course drs are not oblivious to the ‘bribery’ each booth has to offer. It’s common to see lines forming while drs giving away their personal contact info in exchanged for the latest merchandise (often toothbrushes and toothpaste). You can hear some murmur that this year givings weren’t as good as previous year. Others were simply handing out souvenirs (like an innocent pen or tote bags) stenciled with their brand logos together with paper brochures or catalogues. I felt somehow the exhibition hall was strategically placed as we have to navigate ourselves to dining area through the maze of sales booth. Probably they hope that on your way to teatime or lunch your attention will get caught with the big fancy ads or by a smooth tongue salesperson. Some companies prepared hands on kiosk for the drs to try out the various products. Also, some booth had a crowd swarming around a projection screen with a man dressed in suit and headset microphone giving a short lecture and demo.

As Joe and I were strolling down each alley, we were lucky enough to stumbled upon a supplier who was giving a demo on BioLase laser. We signed up for the hands-on session on the second day. Together with 3 other drs, we were introduced to a transparent glass high tech looking device in front of us. The sales rep gave a 10 mins PowerPoint presentation and have us all put on the yellow bug eye looking safety googles before the demo. Next thing we know, we were happily carbonizing away tomatoes and sausages. Gingivectomy would have been such a straight forward procedure instead of using traditional blade. One of the participating dr had a traumatic ulcer and offered for us to use the laser on him. We were lucky enough witness the effects of the laser on a real traumatic ulcer without any LA and the results were instant. All 5 of us were sold that afternoon.

By the third day the meeting rooms were no more than half filled and the crowd was inside the exhibition hall instead of the lecture halls. You could sense the enthusiasms for actual learning have tapered down. Among those attendees, a large chunk either dozed off or left early to stroll the trade show. For me, I left the conference early to get some rest before the start of another new week.

Dr Ashwin's Rubberdamology Feb 2018

A few weeks after SCATE, I was lucky enough to book a spot for Dr Ashwin’s Rubberdamology hands on session @ The Dental Academy. We all know that the usage of rubber dam is the gold standard for isolation for any restorative work but many just brush off the idea in the name of inconvenience. Those who are reluctant often claimed that patient disliked it and it takes too much effort and time to isolate a tooth for just a simple filling. Personally, I find that the dam actually gave me a piece of mind to work especially in the lower posterior regions. Instantly, you do not need to worry about the cheeks, tongue and the pooling saliva. It makes clinical dentistry more awarding and stress-free.

I had a bad experience back in final year of dental school when I had to place a dam on a 12 y/o patient with the lingual wall of tooth 36 at equigingival level. The clamp kept popping out and the interdental gingiva were so traumatized. I put off the idea of using the dam after that. Ever since then, the last time I ever placed a rubber dam was on the typodont model during our final exams. However, I always wanted to be comfortable in placing the dam on patients and this course really gave me that confidence. The confusions on to use wing or wingless clamps; heavy or medium dam sheets; to dam first, clamp first or the dam and clamp together technique were answered. According to Dr Ashwin, is best to give Local Anaesthesia prior to placing the rubber dam as it can ensure a comfortable experience for you and your patients. Also, you would not be able to clamp the tooth if significant buccal or lingual wall is missing so build up that wall first before placing the dam. He also showed some crown cases done with Vertical Tooth Prep and introduced the Thermacut bur used in DME cases; both were new concepts to me. We all were also given a set of his famous rubber dam clamps kit to bring home. I think by far that was the best hands on course I ever attended and those who are struggling with the dam should really sign up if there is a next one.