So I have had the craziest weekend ever- straight out of Jerry Springer. I've wanted to move out of the craigslist place I have been in for a month because of these 2 cats- I hate cats and everything about them, mostly their hair. I lived with a single mother and her daughter in a 5 bedroom house in South Bethesda in a really nice neighborhood. Turns out this lady was just renting and it seems like she needed extra cash flow so she was renting out the extra room. Anyways, it was in a posh neighborhood and easy to get to the metro and grocery store, etc. So even though the 18yr old daughter always had her techno music too loud and the mother didn't clean any part of the house ever... I thought I would suck it up for 23 days unless I found something super better.
I did notice when I moved in that the mother had a black eye, but I didn't want to be rude and ask about it. One night she comes home and is screaming at some man on speaker phone like "you piece of crap, why don't you just go back to your wife" - no, seriously. So like an hour later I am on the phone with my dad and the man that she was talking to (I suspect) comes over in the house and is like screaming cussing her out for like 15 mins. (Yes, the daughter was there too). I just stayed in my room and was thinking that I was in a crazy house. My dad was like, 'just mind your buisiness you don't know the situation.' BUT, I've watched a lot of TV in my little life and I KNOW this situation!!
Well the daughter goes away on Friday to go live with her dad in Colorado for the summer. That night (last Friday), this man comes over to the house and ends up spending the night; well that sucks because the bathroom doesn't have a lock on it and I refuse to shower when a strange man could come get me... so I don't (eww, I know). In the morning I was introduced to her 'friend Bob.' I had plans with my little brother and so I was like 'hi and bye'. So after spending the day out at the Air and Space Museum at the Dulles Airport in VA (which is incredible) and going on a hike along the Potomac, Brian and I go back to my place for dinner. Then I take him to the metro so he can go back to his school.
When I get back to my place homeboy Bob and momma-lady are smoking mary jane and drinking some wine. They are very polite and offer me some, but needless to say I was sketched out. I was like - I have to get out of this place. So I pack all my stuff and want to go, but I don't want to make a scene so I decided I would leave either super early in the morning or when they left. Naturally, I couldn't shower again that night and got no sleep bc they were super loud and obnoxious right next door to me. Well they wake up at 4 and are chatting super loud and then go to the kitchen at 6 something. I am like scared to leave bc I don't want to make a scene, plus this man is at least verbally abusive, so I am just watching TV hoping they would leave- even though I can hear guitar playing. Sooooo, a cell phone alarm is going off in their bedroom for like 15 mins and it is making me mad bc I can't listen to my TV show- so I decide to go tell them. But when I go to the kitchen, they weren't there- they were in the basement. So I gathered my stuff (took 4 trips to the car) put the key on the desk and left. My heart rate was 500000BPM :)
But then I was homeless... so I went to go stay at my brothers dorm and spent all day calling people to move- but no one wanted me. I called 11 convents even! I didn't want to rent from another stranger and so I was calling friends of friends. I am now safe with a friend's family, praise the Lord. It is pretty far from my work (took an hour and 30 mins to get here by public transportation today!!), but all is well.
Moral: Don't get a room off craigslist... it's like a box of chocolates- you never know what you're gunna get
In other news, I got 0 results from my week long experiment and so I hung out in the dental clinic for a while and I had just missed a 25yr old girl with metastatic breast cancer who needed 4 hopeless teeth extracted who had been on bisphosphonates for 3 years currently going through chemo therapy... treatment plan?
I say nothing, but one doc said cut off the crown and bury the roots (with out root canals bc that is too risky). What do you think?
Kelly
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
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
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:
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
Last week in NoVA
Whoa, I mean, who can top an inside-out face and a giraffe chase, Josiah!?!? Awesome. Or a pedophile. Wait.
She had a blast.
My rotation in Virginia has been fun over the long weekend because Drew came up to visit from NC. We went to the 'famous' Georgetown Cupcake in D.C. (of DC cupcakes on TLC). They really were as amazing as people say and true to the hype.
The icing is so light and deliciously fluffy, and the cupcakes are super moist. OMG so GOOOOOD!
And these cupcakes totally have to do with dentistry because.... they are filled with sugar that causes tooth decay. And I am ridding the world of about a dozen of them, with the help of my husband. We are superheroes. Sugar-fighting superheroes.
I also went out canoeing at the local lake with my brother and his friends (and Scout) searching for turtles to put in my brother's new aquarium. No turtles, but Scout had fun getting dunked in the water because it was like 100 degrees).
She had a blast.Hope everyone else had a lovely Memorial Day Weekend! Many thanks to those who serve and who have family members who serve in the military! I know I'm proud of my Air Force poppa!
XOX
Tay
Tay
Monday, May 30, 2011
Small Talk with the Inmates
As part of my orientation to the prison system, they told me to not develop relationships with the inmates, not ask them personal questions and not divulge any personal information about myself to them. So completely opposite of my appointments at the dental school, there is little to no conversing that takes place. And when it does, it's awkward small talk at best - from last week:
Inmate: This is better than Obama-care, I've been getting free dental care for 16 years
Me: Well that's one way to look at the positive side
Inmate: Yeah, tell your friends to stay away from marijuana, that mess landed me 30 years in here...actually, I could go for a joint right now
Needless to say, the past three weeks have been very interesting. I've done a bunch of fillings, some extractions, dentures for an 80 year old murderer who held a police officer hostage in 1951, finished up some partials for a pedophile, a root canal on a drug dealer who caught a baseball with his mandibular incisors, and an admissions exam on a 78 year old MD who was just arrested for insurance fraud.
4 more days in the big house, and I'm not planning on ever going back!
Melissa
Inmate: This is better than Obama-care, I've been getting free dental care for 16 years
Me: Well that's one way to look at the positive side
Inmate: Yeah, tell your friends to stay away from marijuana, that mess landed me 30 years in here...actually, I could go for a joint right now
Needless to say, the past three weeks have been very interesting. I've done a bunch of fillings, some extractions, dentures for an 80 year old murderer who held a police officer hostage in 1951, finished up some partials for a pedophile, a root canal on a drug dealer who caught a baseball with his mandibular incisors, and an admissions exam on a 78 year old MD who was just arrested for insurance fraud.
4 more days in the big house, and I'm not planning on ever going back!
Melissa
Africa
No crazy stories to report from the other side of the globe (Melissa, yours was the best). Lots of people need their teeth fixed. I have 3 chairs to cover. On our busiest day so far I saw 19 patients. Assistants are amazing; I want to bring one back with me to school.
Free fibula surgery today. Kinda blew my mind…. 11 hours later my mind was tried, but still amazed.
I've been riding my dirt bike on the plains every chance I get, always chasing/terrorizing the wildlife. :)
Not looking forward to going back to the USA (or dental school). Maybe Mumford would just let me stay here the second rotation too? HA!
Friday, May 27, 2011
Water, water everywhere!
Steven and Tim - flood survivors.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Northern Virginia Dental Clinic + Taylor Mac
hello peeps,
I hope those of you who were able to make it to the Myrtle NCDS meeting had as much fun as I did. Whoop! I am not much of a shag dancer, though, that's for sure.
I'm now back in Virginia at the Northern Virginia Dental Clinic which is in Falls Church, VA.
I'm staying in Springfield, VA with my parents, which so far has not led me to pulling all of my hair out... not yet anyway. I brought my chihuahua, Scout, with me - she is having fun, too. But anyway, back to bizness - the clinic is about 15 miles from my parents' house, but it takes me 45 minutes to get to the clinic (boo - D.C. area traffic)! I haven't gotten in a major traffic jam (i.e. no motion) yet, and I hope it doesn't happen.
The clinic is a bit sketch (see above) I mean it IS a one stop shop - you can get a filling, deposit a check, make sure your life insurance policy is up to date, and then get your hair did. Niiiiice.
It's not quite a free clinic - the way it works is various agencies in certain Virginia counties refer patients to the clinic; then, to schedule appointments the patients pay $40 per appointment (so the pts don't pay for the work itself, but for the appointments... needless to say if that was how the dental school worked they'd be RICH)! It works well to prevent patients from just not showing up, though, which is a problem at a lot of free clinics... so that's good.
I have my own operatory (with a sign - "NCU" haha, see below) that contains a chair very much like the ones we have at school. It's nice, the people are really sweet - only a couple are regulars (the overseeing doctor, and a lead assistant). The rest are volunteers. I see about four patients a day, two in the morning, two in the afternoon - for 1.5 hours each. I do about 2-3 fillings per appt which is cool and way faster than at school, at least for me. One day I got to extract 11 teeth in an hour (it sounds awesome when you say it like that)... but they were seriously "woodsen teeth," i.e. I did not use elevators or forceps... they came out when I used the woodsen periosteal elevator. Just "plop." I'm not a huge fan of my preceptor - she's kind of quiet and not very personable, and isn't interested in "teaching" really... but otherwise, it's alright.
On a funny note, for the first week my signs read "Tyler" and then "Teylor" and finally "Taylor." For some reason despite the fact that I called them and spoke with them on the phone, they thought I was going to be a boy, and that my name was Tyler. Sorry to disappoint, NVDC.
And what time at a free clinic would be complete without the poor patient, who couldn't afford the $40 to schedule her next appointment, checking her schedule on an iPhone 4? Not mine! Also - gotta love that old-school scheduling method, the gigantic paperbound notebook. Shout out to Mary - best front desk person evAAaaar!
Looking forward to seeing you guys again soon (except Kevin). ;) It's lonely up here in VA! I will say UNC is quite well known and the dental school is definitely well respected. I just hate that every other person I tell I'm from UNC smiles and is like "oh, I LOVE the Tarheels!" and I have to smile back halfheartedly and be like "Thanks..."
:-D GO DUKE!
Love,
Tay
P.S. I hope you all didn't get an e-mail every time I edited this sucker and re-posted... it's been like, eight thousand times b/c clearly, I can't shpell.
I'm now back in Virginia at the Northern Virginia Dental Clinic which is in Falls Church, VA.
I'm staying in Springfield, VA with my parents, which so far has not led me to pulling all of my hair out... not yet anyway. I brought my chihuahua, Scout, with me - she is having fun, too. But anyway, back to bizness - the clinic is about 15 miles from my parents' house, but it takes me 45 minutes to get to the clinic (boo - D.C. area traffic)! I haven't gotten in a major traffic jam (i.e. no motion) yet, and I hope it doesn't happen.
It's not quite a free clinic - the way it works is various agencies in certain Virginia counties refer patients to the clinic; then, to schedule appointments the patients pay $40 per appointment (so the pts don't pay for the work itself, but for the appointments... needless to say if that was how the dental school worked they'd be RICH)! It works well to prevent patients from just not showing up, though, which is a problem at a lot of free clinics... so that's good.
I have my own operatory (with a sign - "NCU" haha, see below) that contains a chair very much like the ones we have at school. It's nice, the people are really sweet - only a couple are regulars (the overseeing doctor, and a lead assistant). The rest are volunteers. I see about four patients a day, two in the morning, two in the afternoon - for 1.5 hours each. I do about 2-3 fillings per appt which is cool and way faster than at school, at least for me. One day I got to extract 11 teeth in an hour (it sounds awesome when you say it like that)... but they were seriously "woodsen teeth," i.e. I did not use elevators or forceps... they came out when I used the woodsen periosteal elevator. Just "plop." I'm not a huge fan of my preceptor - she's kind of quiet and not very personable, and isn't interested in "teaching" really... but otherwise, it's alright.
Looking forward to seeing you guys again soon (except Kevin). ;) It's lonely up here in VA! I will say UNC is quite well known and the dental school is definitely well respected. I just hate that every other person I tell I'm from UNC smiles and is like "oh, I LOVE the Tarheels!" and I have to smile back halfheartedly and be like "Thanks..."
:-D GO DUKE!
Love,
Tay
P.S. I hope you all didn't get an e-mail every time I edited this sucker and re-posted... it's been like, eight thousand times b/c clearly, I can't shpell.
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