You Know You’re a Dental Student When…

Posted by: bkksoul on: January 16, 2009

• In: School
• 7 Comments

• Your idea of a nightmare involves your teeth falling out.  Dreams about ghosts or getting shot are soo overrated.
• You can’t help it when your gaze inadvertently drops about 3 inches south of a person’s eyes when you speak to them, even though you know it makes people feel uncomfortable, like how talking to a totally random person who just happens to be a psychologist makes you paranoid that they’re psychoanalyzing you.
• It’s even worse if said person has chipped/crooked/crowded/stained/restored teeth because all you can think about is how much nicer they’d look if they got a nice set of veneers.
• You’ve gotten really good at applying liquid eyeliner and eye makeup in general because hours upon hours of drilling teeth has taught you how to have a super steady hand.
• You used to freak out whenever your clinical instructor would tell you to drill 0.5 mm deeper.  Now you’ve gotten so used to itty-bitty measurements that 1 mm might as well be a kilometer long in your book.
• You pass the time at boring dinner parties and social functions by analyzing what type of occlusion everyone has…and how best to fix it.

• 24/7 has taken on a whole new meaning now, because with your 7-day schedule you find yourself spending more time at the university clinic than you do at your own home.
• You get a serious guilt-trip if you go to bed without brushing your teeth.
• Which is why, no matter how tired you are, you’ve gotta run that brush over those teeth at least a few times.
• You used to think you had a pretty nice set of teeth, until you learned about malocclusion in orthodontics II and discovered the crossbite on your left upper second premolar.
• Dental school has stressed you out so much that you’ve developed nocturnal bruxism.  (Bye-bye cusps, hello attrition.)
• You have tiny cuts, scabs, and burns scattered all over your fingers from all the little accidents you’ve had in the lab.
• You don’t flinch at the sight of gingival hyperplasia anymore, although once upon a time it used to make you want to hurl.
• You wouldn’t touch sodas or sugary drinks with a 10-foot pole.
• (But that doesn’t mean that chocolate is banned.  Chocolate would never be banned in your book, even if you were a raging diabetic.)
• When stuck in traffic, you find yourself glancing over at a neighboring driver’s profile just to analyze what type of Angle Class they are.
• When you see a person with a perfect set of teeth, you can’t help but wonder if it’s natural or the  result of some really flawless crowns.
• To you, teeth is the equivalent of dental porn.

AND THUS CONCLUDES THE NERDIEST POST IN ALL OF BLOGGING HISTORY.

The End.

~*~

Currently Playing: My Delirium by Ladyhawke, who, mark my words, is the Next Best Thing in the indie pop/new wave scene.  Her anthemic melodies are charged with choruses that just beg to be sung at the top of your lungs.  I absolutely LOVE this girl’s music.  Other songs of note are Magic and Paris is Burning.

Currently Reading: A Poisoned Season by Tasha Alexander, but mostly Contemporary Fixed Prosthodontics, because I’m a nerd, in case this post wasn’t indicative enough.