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Isla77's Dental Journey Journal

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Isla77:

--- Quote from: K888 on February 20, 2019, 10:17:38 am ---This all sounds really exciting! Re: signing up to clubs, etc. they all usually have facebook pages so you can get in contact with them through that if you're interested in joining.

I really agree about uni being great because the stuff you learn is related to what you're going to do and use in the future. It's so much easier to be engaged! Re: keeping up - it can be tricky at times, but don't stress if you fall behind. At one or more stages in the semester, everyone will be behind by some amount - it's the uni way of life ;)

--- End quote ---
Hey! Thanks for your reply. I will try out a few clubs and see which ones I like, and figure out if I have time to be part of them, then I pick. I'm already a part of the BOHDS, which is the dentistry society, so it's fun! It stands for Bendigo Oral Health and Dentistry Society btw.
Yes! I am excited to expand my knowledge on human anatomy, physiology, oral health and healthcare in general. Thanks for your input, that's definitely reassuring!

So the first week's been pretty busy, since I just moved and was trying to buy everything for my room and do the groceries. I guess I'll have to see how demanding the course is, at the moment it is all good.

I also got almost all of my dental instruments I will need for the whole course. It was fun to open them all up and imagine myself using it, but not much fun putting my name on all of them ??? We have about ten instruments that have handles thinner than pencil and it takes time trying to roll tape onto each of them and then write my name with a pen lol but It's all done and that's okay. Also got my uniform, and the dentist's white coat, which finally allows me to clearly imagine myself becoming a dentist.

The support from the older years have already been amazing. They run the BOHDS, the dentistry society, and the other night not only they held a very helpful information night at the campus, but they also shared with us all a file of all the textbooks we will need for the whole five years!

Also, I received a scholarship! Pretty surprised since it was the only scholarship I've submitted the application to so far and only 10 people at La Trobe from all campuses get it. Not that the application consisted of an essay so it doesn't indicate my ability to be persuasive but still it will help a little. (actually now I can't remember maybe I did submit an essay:-\) It's worth $3000, which will cover about 30% of the first year course fee, so I might apply for others and see if I get better ones.

I haven't had much chances to interact with other students so it'll be great to meet more people and develop relationships :D

katie,rinos:
Congrats on your scholarship!!  ;D

Isla77:
Hey guys!!

So today is the first day of the mid-semester break! Having a week long break at this time of the year sounds pretty good and I'll use it as an opportunity to relax a bit, get to know my sweet sweet housemate better (we'll pretty much be the only ones staying on campus since everyone else will go home) and do some revision on the important lectures.

First and foremost, all the subjects are pretty interesting and at the moment they are not too hard to digest and absorb. Pre-readings and revision is highly beneficial, if not mandatory for me to understand what is going on in class, so if that's done weekly the content seems manageable. I am going to go into detail about each of the four subjects in First Year Sem 1.

Introduction to Oral Science
Wait maybe the name is Introduction to Oral Health Science? Introduction to Oral Structures?? Anyway this subject is about various structures and mechanisms surrounding the face and mouth. There is quite a bit to memorise, but otherwise it's alright especially considering the exam will only be worth 10%.

Dental Science A
This is a very content heavy subject where there is a lot to understand and memorise. It consists of anatomy and physiology. I find resemblance to Year 12 Bio, with more focus on head and mouth. We have two lecturers for this, and one is very inspirational, engaging and motivating (who has high expectations from everyone lol) and another who isn't so engaging. Everyone finds difficulty focusing in his class, and a bit hard because the component he teaches is something I don't grasp so easily. Anyway, there's heaps of resources to understand anatomy and physiology on the internet so I will utilise them during this break to have a better understanding of the parts we've covered.

Pre-clinical Oral Health
This subject is about pracs in the simulation labs and simulation clinics, which is fuuuuuun ;D We use manikins with fake gums, teeth, cheeks and use our instruments to learn some of the basic techniques and procedures in dentistry. It's so cool that we get to do real stuff from this early on, each of us with manikin and complete dental setting, like the suction, dental tray, etc. (If I get a good pic I might upload it to show you guys how it looks like!) My favorite so far is a technique for finding any irregularities on the teeth surfaces, using a sharp instrument. I guess my manual dexterity is alright because I get compliments about it almost every lesson, which is a nice reassurance. Especially for this subject though, pre-work is really necessary and I got told off for not completing the online tasks, so should put more effort into that from now on.

Public Health Practice
This is a combined subject where we learn with students from other areas too, like Pharmacy and Paramedicine and it's quite chilled. We do not get any exams for this, although I think it would be super easy to prepare for if there was any, and all we need to do each week is complete a short online task that's pretty straight forward and attend 2 hour workshop. Everyone got quite slack in this subject and two weeks ago there were only 8 of us who attended the workshop, out of 25ish students :o Having a laid back subject like this can be a nice break :)

On non-academic side of things, I joined the running club which I'm really enjoying! I've never been a long distance runner, but surprisingly your body adapts to it pretty quickly. It feels so good to start the day (once a week) with other group members, and now I am part of the run club committee so I'm responsible for organising some events too. We have a movie run coming up, where we will run to the cinema nearby and watch a movie together, so hope that goes well!

Alsooo, I'm really loving living on campus with other people my age. As the only child with a small family, I was unsure how to take it at first but we've gotten closer over the weeks and we get along pretty well. I can't believe how much freedom we have and it's nice to be able to go out if we want to even late at night. The support really helps when all your family and relatives are overseas  ;)

I'll keep you guys updated!!

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