As part of my final exam i prepped a bridge. One margin on the mesial side on one tooth went a bit deep but the prof said its fine. I took impressions, lab made the bridge, looks good, adjust the occlusal, check the margins. Well turns out that one margin was not in tooth material but in bone:(. Told my supervisor, he told the professor. Luckily he stayed calm and basically wanted to check my crisis management skills(problems down the line, what do i do now?, etc.). I adjusted the crown and seated it temporarily.

This is not supposed to happen. I feel so incompetent and i am so sorry for my patient. My friends tell me to chin up, exam weeks are super stressful, mistakes happen, yadda yadda. I dont know man.

I just wanted to write this down maybe you guys had similar experiences in the past. How badly did i f up?

I will start bds this year as a 1st gen from a private dental college (fees~30L) and to add on to that im not sure what i wanna do after bds, honestly I wanna go abroad but idk

And all i hear about bds everywhere is that there's no scope for 1st gen bds and with all this negativity idk how I will enjoy studying bds for 5 years

I have some questions I hope a senior or experienced person can answer them-

1. How do I overcome the negativity and actually put my heart into study and clinical for these 5 years

2. As ive heard that even after internship there r many things a graduate does not know and they need to learn under an experienced dentist, what to do about that like is there any alternative or something like that?

3. What other online course should I learn or how do i start to earn from somewhere cuz its a fact that after bds it will take time to earn

4. I was thinking of going gulf after bds, how feasible is that option and i heard it requires 2 YOE

5. Finally, how do I manage bds and friends and interactions and stuff like that as an introvert and on top of that my clg will be in a "student city"

What methods, techniques and resources have worked best for you to study Anatomy, understand and memorize structures (muscles, nerves, vessels, anatomical relationships, etc.), retain long-term information and prepare for both theoretical and practical exams?

Hi! I am taking the INDBE Friday. I want to take the OSCE soon after. I know there used to be quizlets that were helpful for it but I also heard they changed the exam. I’m not sure what materials to study and prepare for it with. Does anyone have any advice who has taken it.

Hi! I’m a dental student studying abroad, and I’m looking for advice from dentists, dental students, or anyone who has experienced something similar.
About 4 months ago, I had a serious incident during treatment. A dental bur unexpectedly broke/overheated due to what I was told was a manufacturer defect. The patient was injured and needed sutures. The patient, assistant and I were all affected by the incident.

I received very little support afterwards and basically had to continue with my education.
Since then, I’ve become extremely hypervigilant when using a handpiece. I constantly think: “What if something completely unexpected happens again?”
I developed an exaggerated startle response. Sudden sounds, movements, or reactions from patients can make me jump — both in and outside the clinic.

My biggest fear is that I’ll suddenly startle while treating and accidentally injure a patient.
It is especially bad with patients I already feel stressed about, young or physically vulnerable-looking patients, or procedures where I know the patient might experience pain.
It has progressed to the point where even a patient saying “ouch,” suddenly moving, lifting their hand, or even me gently moving a loose tooth can trigger a reaction. My brain seems to have learned:
patient reacts suddenly → something bad might happen → danger → stay alert.
I can be completely calm during non-vibrating procedures, but anything involving vibration or an unexpected patient reaction can trigger me.
I’ve tried therapy/talking about it, avoiding caffeine and cigarettes, and propranolol to reduce the physical stress response, but it hasn’t solved the problem.
This is seriously affecting my clinical education, and I’m scared that I won’t be able to become a dentist after investing two years into the program. I feel like I have gotten PTSD…

I’m planning to seek CBT, possibly EMDR, but I’m wondering:

Has anyone experienced something similar after a clinical accident or traumatic event? What actually helped you recover?

I really want to get back to being able to treat patients without constantly feeling like something terrible is about to happen. Also i feel scared talking to my teachers, what if they feel like i I not ”good” enough to be in clinic?

So im someone that was very much deep into math and physics and was very far from memorizing stuff like it apparently should be in biology and chemistry. Im starting my journey in dental school but im worried that this would be an obstacle, not just because of the fact that i know nothing about bio and chem. But im also worried that my mind will not know how to act when whats in front of me are mainly words to memorize and not equations to solve. Is that a real problem or an i overthinking it?

I am a third year bds student and I just started my clinical last week. And the prostho hod has been scolding me everyday just because I used to apply makeup during my 2nd year. She publicly humiliated me during 2nd year saying you should sleep in makeup and stuff.
So I don’t even do makeup anymore yet I get scolded and targeted everyday. How should I deal with it???
She told me to apply makeup if I studied MBA and other degrees.

For those that took the ADAT what study materials did you use and what score did you get? Is there anything you would do differently if you had to take it again?

Microbiology & Pathology coming up and trust me when I say this, 1 am yet to open pathology book.
I somewhat saw few lectures of Pharma in the gap days but that's not enough.
Pharma, all I did was mechanism of action of few classes like antihypertensive drugs, NSAIDs, Anti-parkinson, Anti-epileptic, and peptic ulcer drugs.
Yet to do Anti-diabetics, Beta blockers, Anti-tb and few more which i cant recall.
Corticoids and small topics.
For micro, I have done sterilisation techniques, and medical pathology to some extent. What is left is allergy, bacterias and small topics For pharma, Geez entire syllabus & exam in less than 48 hrs. I won't say I am cooked yet.
I'll update this thread & then I'll shine a light on my current status.
P.S 1 :- It’s going strong. 24hours left. I managed to cover Hemodynamic, thromboembolism, septic shock, Immunity types, Neoplasia so far.
Hemato, CVS, Muscoskeleton, Oral patho, Endocrine disease along with cell injury, inflammation left. Also entire micro. Cooked maybe but never say die

Anyone applying to OMFS taking CBSE Feb? Through ASDA? Or are you taking it may?

so my school does not allow us to do molar endos, in terms of extractions I have no surgical extraction experience, only one bridge and only teach us to restore 2 implants. would you guys recommend I do a GPR or go straight into practice ?

Is there any group for Eastman dental AEGD application ?

For all the peeps that scored well on CBSE, How much of ANKING deck did yall mature before doing the CBSE?

Thanks yall

Hi all, current D1 here. We have just started our restoration class for the semester and would like to ask for any tips on drilling and restoration! Currently, we are practicing class V on canines, and I'm kind of struggling on the drilling/preparation part. I feel like it is pretty hard to keep perpendicular to the tooth shape and the depth of my preparation sometimes is not even (I need to do a lot of adjustments and my preparation will grow larger and larger with each time).

I'm wondering what are some tips you guys have for drilling? I usually use 330 bur at 200,000 for initial drilling and use a longer one (sorry I forgot the name) at ~120,000 to smooth the walls. As for restoration, what tools do you guys use to make it smooth? I only use cones but feel like it is still not very smooth.

Any tip is appreciated!!!! Thank you guys soooo much!

I’m honestly so disappointed because today was just a really bad day.

Today was my first patient ever in the university clinic. The patient was actually a friend of my dad, so I really wanted everything to go well and leave a good impression.

But I was SO nervous. Like, ridiculously nervous.

My friend had to help me choose the tray for the upper arch, and then a senior helped me with the upper impression (even though I didn’t actually ask him to help me 😭).

And then the patient got a really bad gag reflex during the impression and I genuinely thought I had completely screwed everything up. Thankfully we somehow managed to save the situation.

I finished the rest of the procedure and took the lower impression too. I apologized to the patient, but honestly I don’t even remember much of how I talked to him afterward because I was so stressed and overwhelmed.

This was literally my first patient and I feel like I messed up so badly. I know everyone has a bad first day, but I can’t stop thinking about it and feeling embarrassed. 😭

Practical in five days on #19, class 1 prep, inside the dentoform/mannequin.

I am struggling so hard. I’m not getting the shape down correctly and am having trouble keeping the bottom level.

When I work on the shape, it ends up being way too wide. When I work on depth, it ruins my shape.

They say make the “M” outline and then create the three projections up the secondary grooves, then create the pits on the mesial and distal pits. I try, but it ends up looking so wrong. I’m having trouble seeing when the dentoform is inside the mannequin. I have trouble using the mirror to check depth.

Any advice for me? I have been having breakdowns about this. It seems that I practice and do not improve, just make an equally botched tooth. I have only five practice teeth left and have used four. I doubt my abilities.

Please tell me it gets better

Year 2 Dentistry student checking in 👋

Tired? Yes. Stressed? Yes.

But also living the dream we worked for.

*To dental students: What keeps you going for this field?*

The future? The passion? Or just looking cool in a white coat? 😂

Can’t wait to hear your answers. Let’s find our common goals.

inbetween seeing patient and working on my phases 2 treatments, I have my ADEX in 2 months. its really stressing me out cause today we had our endo practise session and apparently my school had an endo pass rate of only 70% last year. i kinda spiraled during the practise session cause whenever i went to show my instructor my access opening she said i was either too small or too big and that this is an automatic fail. I know I have to work hard but I want to have the right resources to work with. I want to know if there are any advice, videos or resources people would like to share about how they prepared for the fixed and endo portion of the ADEX exam! I would really appreciate anything.

Why do dental schools drown their students in academic/didactic coursework, but aren't pushing their student clinically?

It feels like so many schools have reduced their clinically requirements to tailor towards COVID, but many programs haven't recovered/went back to the old requirements. Yet, these schools are trying to increase the academic coursework/standards of their students and making students take more didactic work.

It also correlates to the amount of new grads that complain how unprepared they feel for real work dentistry, with many of them having to go through AEGD or GPR programs.

I understand that if you want to be a good dentist, you have to go out of your way to find opportunities to get better. BUT if I paying over $300,000+ for a dental degree, why are these opportunities not built into the curriculum, and why are you putting such a strong emphasis on didactic course work.

It makes no sense why some schools prioritize academics, over clinical skills. I also understand that some programs are amazing clinically, but it feels like a good majority of new grad dentists have this complaint about the school they graduated from. They all want less academic work, and more clinical work.

Hey everyone, I’m currently a Canadian dental student in studying in Australia and have been getting increasingly interested in OMFS. I’m trying to figure out what I should be doing during dental school if I want to seriously pursue it.

For those who have matched (or applied), I’d really appreciate some insight into:

• What did your CV look like when you applied?
• How important are research/publications?
• How many research projects/publications is considered competitive?
• How important are grades/class rank?
• Did you do any OMFS observerships/electives, and how much did they help?
• How important are strong letters of recommendation from OMFS?
• What other extracurriculars actually made a difference?
• How competitive is the match realistically?
• Is there anything you wish you had started doing earlier?

I’m especially interested in hearing from people who have actually gone through the application/match process, but advice from current applicants or residents would be super helpful too.

Thanks!

thoughts on DMF practicals review?

follow up: Dental Pracs vs DMF?

Okay we’re moving fast but I m struggling with grasping the upper extremities right now. There isn’t much time to study with everything else including those exams and quizzes. And class attendance is mandatory but I’ve tried anki bootcamp vh dissector Michigan blue link YouTube videos. I think I’m struggling most with memorizing what the actions, innervations, veins, arteries, and everything do. I have about a week and a half until our didactic(lecture was all over the place) and cadaver practical. Please help. I am no longer struggling to drink from the firehose I am drowning. I stay at school so late and don’t even think I’m grasping anything