I started blogging about my life as a dental student in the 1st part and stopped when I felt like the post was getting too long. I was supposed to post the 2nd part within a week or so but got swamped with all the workload of last year that I simply forgot, and whenever I remembered I was too tired to sit & reminisce what I've been through.
Today I felt like going down that lane again, so here it goes.
Fourth Year:
It seems like it happened a very long time ago, and I have to say it may have been one of the best years of my life. I wish it lasted longer than a year.
In it I got my first dental clinic ever, it was located on the 1st floor, right wing, clinic #133. It had a strategic position, not so far away from the door, not so close to the supervisor’s gathering point and if I stood up I could see almost all the clinics around me. I had my friends around me and our dental assistant was unusually nice & helpful.
The day I examined my 1st patient ever is a day I think I’ll never forget. It was a Monday, morning session. My original patient whom I called didn’t show up. The session started at 9 am & I waited until 10:15 and she still didn’t show up no was answering her phone. I panicked, yes on my first day as a training dentist-to-be I panicked. Our supervisor said I should go look for another patient in the ER or the Screening clinics. I went down to find me one & the assistant gave me a random chart from her list. I called the patient from the waiting room & headed with her to my clinic. I know so much for the dentist act who waits for the patient to show up no go hunting for him/her.
I sat her down and examined the lady. Took her medical history and recorded her vitals. Then came the real challenge, Examining her mouth. To be perfectly honest, I read every single lecture about what I was looking for during my examination, but coming face to face with those 32 teeth was like going into an unknown dark cave. I did my best, recorded what I found, then moved on to the x-ray. I don’t know why I was so lucky, but what I saw in that x-ray made the three supervisors come into my clinic & have a long debate on what it was and they wanted me to participate in it. Hello? I’m new here? 1st timer ? I felt truly blessed with my lovely luck. I started the examination at around 10:40 and finished signing all those papers halfway through my break. It was such a nice beginning but somehow I was very optimistic that things will be better the next time.
Weeks later was the day I gave my 1st anesthetic injection to a patient. That went smoothly and successfully that I was proud of myself.
The days did take a better turn and everything went as smoothly as they could for our lovely college. And I think that almost all my first time experiences were in that year. There were a lot of bad moments and sad ones but never too much for me or maybe because I was emotionally stable & had the best support system from my friends and family. I don’t know. But being a newbie was nice.
In that year I also got my first A since I enrolled into the college and that A was a real challenge to me because at the beginning of the year I was told that no one ever gets an A in that course & by the end of the year I got it. Al7amdillah. That made me know that if I put my brains to use and was determined to get something I can, inshaAllah.
Fifth Year:
Moving on to the next. This is the year where we were supposed to do everything and anything. We worked from 9 am to 12 noon then from 2 pm to 4 pm and sometimes 5 pm. Some days we didn’t have any breaks and had to eat during our 1 o’clock lecture. I worked every single dental specialty there was. All 9 of them throughout the week. I had to be the know it all dentist, that could switch interests and skills between sessions. And to top it all I had to look for, no let me phrase it correctly, I had to hunt for patients whenever I found myself not working. I didn’t only have to worry about the session and work at hand, I had to worry about the upcoming one too. And of coarse I was a student too, so I had assignments, deadlines, quizzes & presentations to make happen perfectly.
It was the year I cried for the first time in my life because of a goddamn child. Yes a child made me cry, my pediatric patient was screaming and kicking and I was so exhausted I couldn’t take it anymore so I left the clinic and cried my eyes out. For a person who does cry easily, this broke me. And I vowed that once I graduate and I’m done with my internship I shall never ever lay hands on a child unless he/she is under general anesthesia, perfectly sedated halfway dead.
It was the year where I had a clinical exam case I would never forget, She was an 19 year old girl that I was supposed to make her a 3-unit fixed bridge as a final clinical exam for fixed prosthodontics. Our clinics started at 9 am and we had a deadline to present our completed case to be graded or else any delay will lead to deduction in our final grade. I had two examiners on me for that case, let's just say they both weren't the nicest ones in the department, but as I've always had the best luck throughout my studies this wasn't surprising to me. The case was supposed to take 5 visits. 5 visits that should go by smoothly with me, the patient, the lab work, both supervisors all available during the 3-hour session. Now THAT was impossible. The patient was, and I say this with all due respect, spoiled and a pain in the ass. I don't what I ever did to deserve her as an exam case, but I had to deal with it. Every monday morning I used to call her before entering my 8 am class just to make sure she woke up & will show up to the appointment on time. Yes I used to wake up my patient, how nice of me. Then I'd go and check the lab delivery box for my stuff, which usually weren't there so I had to call the lab delivery guy and demand it being delivered before 9 am or I won't pay him his money or if that approach didn't work I'd almost beg him to bring it on time by saying " allah y5aleek" or "allah yir9'a 3aleak". Then the patient would show up, the lab work would be there and the examiners would be no where to be found! God that was hell ! I'm glad it's all in the past now and I did finish the case only it took 8 visits instead of 5 since the lab messed up & I had to redo the steps all over again & since I passed the deadline I was grades less even though it wasn't my fault. But who am I to question fairness.
I've always said that in our profession our outcome is graded and measured according the compliance of another human being aka the patient. And people are never equally reliable specially when it come to caring for their health or teeth. So once the patient entered through the door, Fairness exited through the window.
I admit fifth year was the year I felt lost, very lost. But it ended and now it's just a memory.
I'm leaving the 6th and final year to be posted in the next post. It was a very emotional year and I won't give it justice here. So stay tuned !
To be Continued..
