I am officially done with all my finals and exams for first year. It was an adventure and I have to say I have never really truly felt “down” about any of it. For the summer I will be swimming in reports and conebeam CT scans. I am absolutely excited about the experience, it’s really the best way to learn. At this point I can’t help but become slightly nostalgic about the fact that it seems to have gone by extremely quickly. I will, in a few weeks, officially be a second year resident and a semester away from being half way through my residency. At this point it is time for me to start my masters thesis and get that rolling ASAP. Then everything will simply just fall in place.
Oh Anatomy…
March 31st, 2012 § 12 comments § permalink
In the next couple of weeks I have a head and neck anatomy exam coming up. I have to admit, I am a bit nervous about it. As always I am amazed by the number of different structures that are in the body. I am doubly impressed by how many structures are in the head and neck region as compared with the rest of the body. The next couple of weeks will involve some pure memorization and constantly reviewing material… over and over and over again.
At this point it has been officially one month since I started reading and writing reports. Considering my personality type, this is absolutely the best career path I can imagine for myself. Low key, clean, minimal human contact (if any) and eventually being able to practice on my own time and schedule. I can’t wait.
Such a Better Semester
February 7th, 2012 § 6 comments § permalink
Now that I’m just over a month into this second semester of radiology, I have to say, I am glad I am here. I always was glad, but now things are relevant, interesting, you can place any good adjective you would like here. It really is a great lifestyle and contradictory to what most people might believe, this is way more interesting than any general dentistry ever was to me. Yes I was good at it and yes I made a great living, but I am actually happy here. The cases are interesting, complicated, and all of them are a puzzle to me. Maybe it’s because I’m still new to the whole field, and I’m running across things I have not seen before. Still, I feel right at home being involved in radiology.
I also have to be thankful that I am in the program that I currently am in now. I’m treated with great respect, the faculty is second to none, the clinical experience is excellent and I honestly do not feel I am lacking much here. In fact, I am confident that by the time I graduate I will be proficient enough to pursue private practice. I also realize that I do love to teach. I enjoy the one to one interaction and enjoy being able to explain things to students. I think an academic career might be in the works for me. It really depends on the financial situation but I have always wanted to go back and teach, even if just part time. Several faculty have pointed to my interactions with other students/residents and they have all agreed that I could be an effective instructor.
For those who send me questions and read the blog regularly, I have to say, this is one of the best decisions of my life. I was nervous before starting (leaving a great office, a great staff, a great job and lots of money) but now that I am here, I can’t imagine having done anything else.
New Year New Semester
January 1st, 2012 § 0 comments § permalink
I have had a great two weeks off. I am really excited about what is coming next semester. This is the point where things get interesting. I get to finally start taking CT scans as well as start reading and interpreting. I’m more excited about the reading and interpreting part. One of my weakest points in dentistry was recognizing pathology. It is easy in private practice to simply go, oh this looks weird I have no idea what it is, but let me go ahead and send you to an oral surgeon and let them deal with it. Basically, it is a great avoidance strategy. Instead of investigating things myself, I just didn’t want to deal with the liability because I was never truly properly trained to handle these situations. Unfortunately, I found out very quickly that referring to an oral surgeon is not always a great idea for patients. A lot of them charge quite a bit of money for a consultation. Not only that, but I have also learned that as a dentist I was so concentrated on dentistry that I barely noticed pathology. This is where the role of a radiologist really is.
Rarely does a successful dentist have the time, and likely the knowledge, to go through conebeam CT scans and look for pathology. It really takes about 15 to 20 minutes each. In my last practice there is no way that would happen. I was too busy making a living. So just as in medicine, to reduce the liability and not waste time looking for pathology, dentists are beginning to see that there is a need for radiology consultations. I also believe this will improve quality of care as things that I probably missed while I was practicing, well… hopefully they will be caught by a trained trained radiologist.
Happy New Year! I am very excited.
The End of My First Semester
December 18th, 2011 § 1 comment § permalink
It has been an incredible ride this first semester. I finished my last day yesterday and I am glad to report that everything went smoothly. The last few weeks were crunch time as far as I’m concerned. It is interesting going from private practice to having to study for finals again. You can’t help but question why you decided to leave your successful practice to go back to school. I do have to say though, that now that I am past “the difficult semester”, I feel great. I really enjoyed just about every bit of it and this is simply the beginning. From now on I concentrate almost entirely on radiology and imaging. For that I really could not be more excited.
I am also humbled by the amount of knowledge that I simply didn’t know when I was practicing. It’s a good feeling to be surrounded by a bunch of people who know way more than you do who are willing to help you at every turn. You can also never forget about your great co-residents, nice to have a team winning mentality rather than cut throat competition like dental school was. I believe it made us all more successful.
Right now I get a couple of weeks off to relax and recharge for next semester. I am excited for what is to come ahead.
AAOMR Sessions and Healthy Radiation
December 8th, 2011 § 4 comments § permalink
So far I have learned some very interesting information at the AAOMR conference in Chicago. I am absolutely enjoying my time here, even though I should be studying for some finals that I have coming up next week. A couple of very interesting things I have learned. First, I love Chicago as much as I loved Chicago the last time I came here. About a decade ago. Second, the most interesting study that I have heard today comes from Dr Preece who states that low dose radiation (such as used by dental x-ray machines) might actually prevent cancer than cause it.
Obviously this was mind boggling. According to Dr Preece, low dose radiation causes the activation of what he called low dose radiation activated natural protection. Essentially the body’s own protection mechanisms are activated which help suppress cancer. In any case, it goes against everything I have ever learned about radiation. For that reason, I find it to be the most exciting new research that came out.
Almost There
November 18th, 2011 § 1 comment § permalink
Done with my statistics class, now just a few more exams and I am done with this semester. Very excited about next semester. We will be starting to write reports and actually being involved in the field. Currently I am learning a ton of stuff and making the best of it. Soon I will be moving into my new apartment and attempting to keep up with the rent. If anything, this is probably the most stressful part of it all.
Past Midterms
October 28th, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink
It has been a stressful couple of weeks, but I’m finally past the midterms. Finals will be here sooner than later since there isn’t that much of the semester left. This weekend will be strictly relaxation (with some casual material review of course). The way I feel about it right now, I’m a couple of months away from truly being involved in what would be the oral radiology practice. So far I have learned about theory and concepts. Some pathology, soon everything will be pathology and diagnosis. Even though I am horrible at pathology, I find this to be a more involved thinking process than I was doing while in private practice. This is the reason I wanted to do radiology.
Gaining Traction
October 5th, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink
Classes are quickly starting to build up over each other. The momentum of the semester is gaining, and as any physicist would tell you, the momentum is accelerating. Multiply that out and you have Force, which is measured in Newtons.
Anyway, the semester is essentially jumping from one class to the next and all of a sudden I have a ton of work to do. Between take home exams, homework assignments, regular exams and midterms coming up, this is shaping up to be a very busy semester. Much more difficult than I expected. Overall though, very interesting. I wish I had taken the time to learn more stuff while I was in dental school. That being said, nothing overly new in the world of OMFR to report. Just busy chugging away at this residency and all the involved classes. On a quick note, whoever invented biostatistics has a sick mind.
Pathology, Physics, Biostatistics and What?… There’s more?
September 9th, 2011 § 9 comments § permalink
This semester is quickly starting to gain traction. Between all of these classes I have a feeling I will start pulling out my own hair. That being said, I am truly enjoying the residency and the learning experience.
Honestly, there is so much involvement in radiology I am surprised that the dental model hasn’t been using radiologists much much longer. The amount of information that I probably missed while practicing as a dentist is baffling. So much science and even diagnosis behind it that really just wasn’t taught very well in dental school. If it was, I sure as hell missed it. Bottom line, if you plan on having a cone beam CT machine (and trust me you do), you better be referring to an oral and maxillofacial radiologist.
