Week 3 in review:

I'm 3 weeks closer to being a dentist, yeah!

~My physiology test went well, but we don't have our grades yet.

~I earned the high score in the class on my first wax-up, a 9.5 out of 10, at least that's what my instructor told me. I may have gotten an even higher grade but the instructor said, "We can't give out perfect scores". I'll take the almost perfect.

~We practiced mirror skills on our typodonts that magnetically attach to a head in the sim lab. My patient, Mr. Man E. Kin, was quite accommodating. This Monday we get to practice our mirror skills on each other. I have a funny feeling that my classmate won't be able to open as wide as Mr. Kin, nor will his cheeks stretch as far!

~Our other new found skill is mixing alginate. The technique is amazingly similar to mixing colored frosting when cake decorating. I knew that talent would come in handy some day, besides on my kid's b-days! We mixed a batch of alginate, took an impression of our finger, then poured a stone cast of our finger. We all felt pretty silly walking around the lab with our finger in a dixie cup waiting for the alginate to set, but we had to do this as a dry run before we take impressions of each others' mouths. That happens in a week or two.

~Anatomy lab has rapidly turned into a grind. It's still interesting, but none of us can wait until we get done with the torso and get to move on to the head. Maybe we won't come home smelling like "dead guy" as badly then. FYI, did you know that digging for lymph nodes in axillary fat is very parallel to isolating pumpkin seeds in pumpkin guts? I'll never look at my jack-o-lanterns the same again.

~This Thursday I have a paper due and another test, this time in BHD class (Biology of the Human Dentition). We'll be shown individual real teeth and have to i.d. them by their morphology. Should be fun.