An encounter with gutta percha

I can't believe our first rotation is almost over; these 4 weeks have flown by and I feel like I've been in this other dimension this whole time. Anyways it'll be back to reality on Monday!
My rotation at St. Luke's-Roosevelt hospital has been interesting and eye-opening. Today I did my first root canal procedure outside of the dental school and... gasp! away from the comforts/confines of the Endo department.
Examples: They only take 1 radiograph here, and it's the master cone radiograph.
They only have stainless steel files and rotary instruments, so you twiddle and ream with the same files.
No accessory cones... the sealer fills the extra space.
And this was my first time using gutta percha, which feels different than Resilon and doesn't sear as easily.

On another note, guess what this is:

On Thursdays I spend the day at another St. Luke's hospital, where the OMFS department is located. They have the oldest xray machines I've ever seen. To expose the radiographs you press that red square in the upper right corner. Umm yeah.

Here's another interesting picture I came across and had to share with everybody! There's also an Amalgamated Bank.

See you all soon!

sabine