While most people in colleges and public schools around the country had their first day of school today, Jeffrey and I have both been in school now for over a month. Over the past month, I've been thinking about the differences between last year and this year of school.
My best explanation is that last year of dental school was like a marathon. Page after page of book after book felt like the monotonous footfalls of a runner--each step was difficult, but with each one I became more familiar with the motions of the exercise, and more able to take one more step.
This year of dental school seems to be less about endurance and more about multi-tasking. The second year of dental school is like juggling. We have daily reading quizzes in almost every one of our classes, and more practicals and tests than we ever dreamed of last year. The object of the game is just to make sure you don't "drop the ball" and completely forget about one of your assignments until it's too late.
Unfortunately last week I dropped the ball. I had computer issues with a comprehensive review document for my test on Friday. My document kept shutting down so often that I couldn't even highlight something without the program crashing. My only choice of study materials in lieu of the comprehensive review document was the gargantuan manual our professors gave us.
I started reading this manual at 10 pm on Thursday night--less than 24 hours before the test.
I did not finish.
Luckily, I read enough, I think. The test seemed to be fairly straightforward and I felt good about it when I left. (Although I still haven't gotten my grade back, so keep those fingers and toes crossed!)
In more exciting news, I found out that it is illegal to repossess dentures even if the patient refuses to pay. Shouldn't that count as shoplifting? Or denturelifting?
Can you imagine if we could, though? There would be dentists all over America, armed with their explorers, hunting down delinquint denture-wearers and wrestling their contraband away. Messy business.
Also, while I was doing some of my reading for school, I came across the most interesting sentence I've ever read in a dental textbook. The material was talking about taking impressions of the teeth--which can be a messy and unpredictable procedure. The impression material is goopy and hardens in the mouth to create an image of the teeth. Once it hardens, it can be difficult to remove. Most textbooks recommend that the dentist remove impressions "with a snap" in order to maintain the proper image of the teeth on the material. The only problem is that removing an impression tray with a snap is vitually impossible. What does my manual say? "Only a silverback highland gorilla could remove a polyvinylsiloxane impression with a snap!"
Colorful language for a dry dental textbook, don't you think?
P. S. My sweet husband brought lillies home to me this weekend for no reason. They're just about to bloom! I love that man.
i am loving those flowers! and I like the little peek into your living room w/ that orange couch and fun painting above it. hang in there w/ dental school--it will all pay off eventually! miss you guys!
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