Monday, August 22, 2005

OCP exam this morning. I spent a good chunk of the weekend looking over the material. As much as I don't enjoy studying for tests, I believe they work. After a test, I understand the material much better than before the test.

After the exam, we met with our GPA (the guy who will be assigning us patients at the end of this year). We went over how to do hard tissue charting. That means we learned how to chart amalgam, composite, crowns, bridges, and other things we find in a patients mouth. Today felt like we were doing dentistry. And that brings up an interesting point, with the exception of Fridays, the rest of the days usually involve dentistry (i.e. operative, restorative, dental anatomy, and OCP). So, in that respect, it's kinda nice at Pacific because the curriculum keeps me excited about dentistry. Fridays are full of biochem and anatomy--absolutely no dentistry.

In the afternoon, we had a one hour perio lecture about measuring pockets, bone loss, and gum recession. We were also introduced to gingivitis and periodontitis. By the end of the lecture, I understood why this area of dentistry is the least loved of all the specialties. It's not very exciting.

We were done by 3pm. Were it not for a big anatomy exam tomorrow, I would have relaxed the rest of the night. Study, study, study. There is never a break.