A super lousy day

Alright,

I had a bad day.

1.Patient decided not to come for dental treatment today. She's most probably never going to come back. And i am like halfway to finishing up her master impression to start the wax block to do her denture.

2. Had to call in another patient at the very last minute. And that includes checking my denture design, mounting up my primary casts and getting them checked.

3. Got a grade 2 for all my denture assignments (4 is the best, 3 is the usual grade). I got 2. and many of them. shitty.

4. Tried to take impressions for my patient. Only for one jaw. Tok me AN HOUR and i still couldn't get it. My assessor took for me. Oh well, It sat there for a while ( most prob have some distortion by then when i poured the stone.) Had a hard time from the assessor. Wasn't scolded, but i am sure she thinks i'm the lousiest student she's ever seen.

5. When i was pouring the stone, it set prematurely. I had to wash out the stone and guess what, it has hardened. SO bo bian, need to remove carefully under running water. Impression material most probably absorbed water by then. DISTORTION

6. Placed it on the bench top and went to get the stone powder. Partner walks in and knocks it onto the floor accidentally. Impression = 100% distortion and confirm gone by now. I don't blame her actually, cos inside my heart i knew it's gonna distort no matter what, and what she did most probably makes no big difference. She's my lab partner and i still think she's the most fabulous person in the class. without her i bet i'll be worse than shit in lab and clinics.

The worse of it all, it's my master impresson aka, working impression which i'm working on. so it needs to be accurate or else the denture made using it will not fit the patient well.

And guess what, i didn't take the facebow record due to lack of time and am told to go straight to fitting stage.

So it only means something.

a. everything goes well, trial wax denture fits well, everything is fine. tooth shade, tooth mould is well. all ok. sui sui.

b. after i've set the teeth up in wax ( which involves many other tedious steps that take eons to complete), it is unstable and rocks. GG. Scrape everything, retake impression, start all over again from 0.

And it's 90% the latter. I'll just pray hard.

7. Tried to trim some metal pins on ym pindex cast. Carborundrum ( carbon like disc which is as coarse as sand paper, but harder) disc slips while i'm stepping on the drill. Zap, and it cut my nail cum a bit of my nail bed.

Ouch. But heck. continue to do lab work.

How bad can my day be man. i seriously wonder. But sometimes, in dental school, we always believe that we have our good and our bad days. Good days are when everything goes SUPER smoothly and bad days are when what ever can go wrong, goes wrong.

Worse of it all, i feel so bad towards my patient, cos it's not comfortable for her to go through so many retakes. And it's definitely not her fault that the impression distorted. It is my fault and yet she has to bear the costs.

What a lousy day. hai.

Nvm, i'll make sure tomorrow's better.

My life now.

I think being a dental student has got no life.

Lessons from 8 to 1. Lunch from 1 to 2. Lessons from 2 to 5.

And not forgetting,

we need to stay back to finish up our technique work,

our lab work for our patients.

There is no time allocated for us to do our labwork for our patients,

Thus it only means that either we come early( which is not really possible cos they lock up the doors),

or we stay back in school.

Even when fridays end at 1pm.

But the sad thing is,

Lectures are so short, they don't cover much.

And we need to know stuff from year 1 to year 4.

But we don't have superb memory,

Thus,

we need to revise at our own time.

That is, when we reach home, during our weekends and whenever we have the time.

But sometimes,

We have lunchtime talks, lunchtime lectures.

And that means...

Lessons non-stop form 8 to 5pm,

Then lab work till 730 or 8.

I seriously think they assume that we feed on wires, acrylic resin, monomer, stone, plaster of paris, waxes and what not.

Yes,

that includes building a crown from drops of waxes, making dentures and bridges, ortho retainers etc etc.

Back home,

we need to read our patient files,

read up about our procedures, and revise stuff relevant about that patient.

Sometimes due to time constraint,

we bring our lab work home.

That's why we all have bunsen burners, waxes and what not at home.

And we need to look for our patients,

Call them up,settle their admin work.

And not forgetting the FYP research project due next march.

And sometimes patients do go MIA, or they just tell you last min they can't make it.

So there goes a precious clinical session and that = delay in work.

On top of that,

the multiple learning issues from assessors,

the tests,

the tutorials,

the attitude the staff give you.

Hai..

I'm not feeling sore about this.

Just that i need more understanding from people,

cos i always say that i'm not free etc.

I know certain people casts doubts whenever i say i'm busy.

But this is the truth.

And i'm starting to feel sore about it as i talk somemore.

Cos right now...

I need to read up on

Diabetes,
Hypertension
Lorsartan,
Metformin,
Glibenclamide,
Atenolol,
Nerve blocks.

For my patients tomorrow.

And before my week ends,

I better get my impression for denture ready, if not i won't be able to finish my stuf on time this year.

There's so much more to do..

So much so much..


I need MORE TIME.