NBDE Part I

-->Test questions with solutions/explanations: [dentalarticles.com/nbde] <--
edit: apparently the link above no longer works. I looked around and found this site (not too sure how great it is): [http://quiz.dentalebooks.com/tag/part-i/]

National Board Dental Examination Part I

Books and link above were my main go to study resources. And wikipedia of course--love you wiki. 

Below is an utterly long summery of my time studying for boards. I'll start off with my summer schedule last year and then tell you what a lot of my classmates did. 

Actually, let's start off with how to sign up! Remember your dentpin number for the DAT exam? We're going to revisit those digits to sign up for the NBDE. You're applying to be eligible to sign up for the exam (making sure you meet the requirements such as not having had taken the exam within so and so prior months etc). It took me about a week for ADA to email me my eligibility (for some reason, it's in my head that they review & qualify these eligibility applications on a Tuesday of each week ... if you care and need to know). So it was a blissful week of not feeling guilty for not signing up for a test date yet ;). So you apply here for eligibility: here. If you attend a non-accredited dental school, you will need to fill out another form here. And from here on out I think it's self explanatory / I don't remember what happened after. And I did not do anything for the "Dean's Certification." I'm pretty sure your school will be automatically told when you sign up/pass/fail. Anyway, I believe you might have to pay during this process--non-refundable ($345 for me during summer of 2012).

Once you receive the eligibility email you have to wait 24 hours before scheduling (yay 24 more hours to procrastinate signing up!). The email will contain the code you will enter when signing up at prometric. At the prometric website, you want to schedule for an exam with ADA as your test sponsor.  There are 3-4 choices for the NBDE Part I (nbde part 1, nbde part 1: 2 hrs, nbde part 1: 6.5 hrs, etc). I chose: NATIONAL BOARD DENTAL EXAMINATION PART 1 (exam code NB1). 

Oli's Friday Favorites

Oli's Friday Favorites

I have so many pictures/events to post. So here's a preview of a few from quite long long ago. Don't mind the random and inconsistent Photoshop...I'm playing around with some curves. 

1. CURTIS & HIS FIANCE. We had a Delts faculty and senior dinner at some French restaurante. He is one of the fourth years. I think he's going to be doing ortho specialty here at UCSF. Not too sure actually. 

This was one of the last pictures I took of the night. 

2. GABE & ALEXA. Alexa & I went to the Kina Grannis concert at the Filmore. This made me cry (from hearing her story): Make it Go. The cellist at the concert was really good. To me, he made the songs really amazing. 

3. KELLEY & I. Snap snap. We're at the Delts D1 hosted Game Night. Of course I'm always caught nibbling on some yummy yummy. 

4. TWISTER. It was humorous seeing people try to fit and maneuver around on the small twister mat. 

5. BLEE. I love this picture of Brian here. 

6. MOCHA COOKIE CRUMBLE FRAP. Yes. I have to include this. I've overdosed on this while studying for our neuro test yesterday. I think I have gained a lot of happy weight from this cookieee crumble consumption this past week. It's so good!

xox,
Oli

Nicki Minaj - Whip It by At-oni

D1 Spring 2012 Quarter

Here is a way over due post. This is my schedule for this quarter. It's actually very random this quarter (in terms of what time morning classes start). Some weeks will start at 8am everyday, others 10am (wheee). So here are the classes: bio med's organ systems and human pathophysiology, dent sci's etiologies and risk factors in dental diseases, preventative restoration dentistry's biomaterial science & cast restorations in dentistry, patient clinical care's introduction to comprehensive care III, and scientific methods' professional and community oral health issues. I'm taking two electives this quarter: 1) an integrative medicine forum networking event and 2) a Vietnamese class to hone my (lack of) linguistic skills. I don't think this quarter I took many pictures of things I did in lab. So los sientos, I probably won't be able to share any then. This quarter seems easier, yet harder at the same time if that makes sense at all. But for sure each week has been draining. There's an exam about every other week and projects that were due around last week and will be due this week that makes time go by much faster. Having so many exams makes it feel tiring and intense, but at least it's physiology because that's what I enjoy the most.

adios,

oli

Indirect Vision

1. Armamentarium: Paper, pen, and mirror

2. Draw various dots

3. Use the mirror as your pseudo dental mirror hand piece. Adjust the mirror so that you can comfortably see the dots via the mirror. 

 4. Now, connect the dots--use your mirror only as your indirect vision.

 5. Slow and steady...

Since many people have iPhones --> use the self camera setting as the "mirror"!

And lastly, put on lotion so you don't have scaly and dry skin :)

Many people have asked us what they should do to prepare for school in the dental aspect. So here it is! I can't think of anything else you could really do since you don't have drills, burs, or amalgam. Fall Quarter an upperclassman told me to practice indirect vision by using the mirror hand piece and connecting dots to get used to moving in the opposite direction you're trying to achieve. I didn't really do that though--maybe twice for a few seconds. But hope you enjoy it and do it when you're bored. Otherwise enjoy your several months left before school starts.

_olivia_

Delts Potluck

Winter Quarter Test Cases

For those interested, this is a look into some hands on work you will be exposed to in the beginning of first year thus far. Fall Quarter we learned basic ergonomics and a few cases just to ease us into dental hands on work. Some stuff we learned were sealants, liners, class I prep, waxing, and composites--I cannot remember what else. Winter Quarter we learned some crown & bridge work as well as diving further into operative work.  For the Crown & Bridge class, we learned to prep for gold crowns, made temps using two different methods (ion temp crowns and acrylic temp crown), worked with an articulator, and continued waxing for the casting. Operative we learned to do class II and V preps and filled them up with amalgam or glass ionomer. We learned to polish a few of the amalgams towards the end of the quarter. We practiced prepping for the amalgam fillings on both typodonts and natural teeth (the teeth I collected during the summer). Here are pictures of some of my test cases/class work from Winter '12 quarter:

The last two pictures are what we worked on for awhile towards the end of the quarter. The articulator (the black device) mimics a person's bite. From there we had to make the mounting and working cast. You mount them both on the blue stone seen. In this case, you wax this up (with the help of a die that's not shown) so that it could be sent to the lab to create a full gold veneer crown. On the actual teeth of the patient (typodont) you make a temp (acrylic temp shown above) to cover the prep until the actual gold crown is complete & ready. I believe we learn how to cast a gold crown Spring Quarter. It was all pretty overwhelming and frustrating at first, but it becomes more exciting once I got the hang of things.

-Oli

Oli's Friday Favorites

Last Saturday, UCSF had an interprofessional formal. It was at the Westin St. Francis Hotel. I invited my friend Jennie to come hang out with me at the event. It was really nice inside with water stations, several bars, and PHOTOBOOTHS! So above are some of the few pictures I took with my friends in the photobooth. After you take a picture, it's shown on the ceiling for everyone to see (as can be seen in the second picture on the ceiling). The second picture reminds me of Club Surrender/XS at night outdoors--haha!My dress was really long (to the point where there was a tail going on). So I draped the right side up with a pin and flower pin and that solved the problem (it even created a slit that made my dress less dull!). 

Next week we have two test cases and an exam. I'll post some pictures of all the test cases I've done.

Have a great weekend! 

-Oli

First Day Back at School

Today's the first day back at school (for Christina, too!), but I do not want school to start (I miss home already)! This quarter seems like it's going to be much more intense than the previous quarter contrary to what everyone has been stating (that first quarter is the hardest). Above is UCSF's Winter 2012 class schedule imported from our webpage to my Google calendar. The classes this quarter are: Infection and Host Response; Cell Physiology, Oral Structure and Development, Introduction to Comprehensive Care II, Morphology, Restorative Techniques & Biomaterial Science II, and Professional and Community Oral Health Issues. On January 24th, that break on Tuesday that I was so happy with will be filled by Scientific Methods class (research based lectures). This weekend there is going to be a Tahoe Trip with the class/fraternities and the week after my sister is coming up for an interview. So yay, some stuff to look forward to!

-Oli

Falling Leaves

 This week is cram week (for me at least). We have around 9+ final exams & projects in due time next week within a period of 4 days! I went home for the holiday break. It was good being with family. All we did was eat--good times. I hit up many Vietnamese restaurants. Two of the pictures above (Nem Nuong & avocado smoothie) were from Brodard Chateau.I got the pho tai bo vien from Pho 79 the morning before I went back to school. The picture of the dog is random and belongs to no one I know, but she was simply cute!!! 

I've been in clinic and sim lab all day today. We had our mock wax test case (tooth #13, maxillary 2nd premolar). So, I'm not the best student currently...I haven't done much waxing of the tooth compared to all my colleagues. So I'm glad this is just a mock test case. But if I fail this case, I will have to do 2 test cases next quarter rather than 1. Go ahead and judge it, I know the outline isn't big enough already! But it was cool, during the test case we were allowed to listen to our music.

So I came to school when it was chilly and dark in the morning and then walked out of the dental clinic to complete darkness (that's so sad!). But, I noticed all these leaves on the ground at the entrance of the clinic. Okay this post is really random and not cohesive. I am getting tired again. I should go back to studying.

Ciao!

-O

Oli's Friday Favorites

1. Happy Halloween from UCSF!

I thought it was funny, the toothy pumpkin.

2. First Sealant!

We had to mount three natural teeth (stained, decayed, and normal). The middle tooth is showing my first sealant! It was so fun to pretend to be a dentist. I probably put too much sealant though, no judgement please--haha ! 

3. Surgitel Loupes

We ordered these during the beginning of the school year. I haven't used it yet. But my vision is already blurring, so I don't know what this will do to my vision.

4. Study Group in the Library

An old picture from the beginning of the school year. This was before the first exam where we tried to be studious and study in the library almost everyday. We skyped with a friend who went back home so that she could be apart of our group discussion 

5. Dash Coffee

I thought this was interesante--a monkey! 

Have a good weekend! I have to go study now while I see people on the streets having a good time partying.

-Oli 

Right Now by John West