Happy Wednesday my friends. It’s CHILLY here in San Francisco. Winter finally hit us hard. I had to bust out my scarves, coats, and gloves!
I haven’t really talked about dental school lately. On the one hand, I have to protect patient confidentiality. But mostly, I’ve been incredibly stressed about school lately and haven’t been feeling up to talking about it.
My third year of dental school has been quite the roller coaster. At this point, the dentistry is the easiest part {which is something I never thought that I’d say when I was a first or second year}. My stress stems from everything else. I worry about scheduling, requirements, production, paperwork, administrative things, rotations, and patient management. To top it off, I am concerned about the time I will take off in the Spring after my little one is born.
I have been feeling very overwhelmed and, of course, my hormones do not help with my mood or ability to handle stress. Thankfully, I have had some great experiences lately which restore my dental school enthusiasm.
// I extracted my first tooth yesterday! It was exceptionally cool. A little wiggle and BAM!
// I observed a jaw surgery in the OR on Monday. I had never seen a dental surgery in a hospital setting before and it was amazing. If oral surgery residency was not an additional SIX years after dental school, I would consider it.
// I rotated through the Oroacial Pain clinic today. If you’ve been reading for a while, you know that this is a fascinating field to me and I definitely want to incorporate this branch of dentistry into my future practice. I love the idea of treating patients with chronic pain issues.
// I’ve had some great conversations with practicing dentists. It is great to get outside perspective and remember that dental school is NOTHING like private practice. Perspective, Samantha.
// I have especially enjoyed the patients who express sincere gratitude, it really alleviates the stress at times.
I am stressed, but I am blessed. Dental school is just plain hard and I’m in a bit of a funk, but I know it will pass. I am SO looking forward to Christmas break.
P.S. I am 20 weeks pregnant! I’ll do an update post soon.