Category Archives: Anatomy

Kilgore International Dental Model Teeth

Posted on November 16, 2008 by CheerioKing| Leave a comment

Check them out at the store: Kilgore Dental Model Teeth.

One set of PERMANENT teeth: 16 (8 Upper and 8 Lower – LEFT) anatomically shaped teeth set mounted on a plastic card held in place with wax. Excellent anatomy and ideal for student use. Ideal for use with dental anatomy notes for a great visual aid while memorizing dental anatomy. Take advantage of the student rate found only at www.DMDstudent.com!

Also included is one set of PRIMARY teeth: 10 (5 Upper and 5 Lower – RIGHT) anatomically shaped teeth set mounted on a plastic card held in place with wax. Excellent anatomy and ideal for student use. Great for the memorization of primary teeth found in children and for those studying for pedodontics.

Both come in original box and are labeled on the outside as ‘Primary’ and ‘Perm’ (permanent). These are used items, but are as new as the day they were opened. The boxes show some wear.

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Posted in Anatomy, Dental Store

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Anatomy Acronym: Retroperitoneal Organs

Posted on August 4, 2008 by CheerioKing| Leave a comment

This one is all the abdominal retro peritoneal viscera: Ursula Uses Kids to Deliver All Lemon Pies except Sue’s Tasty Crust

  • Ureters
  • Urinary bladder
  • Kidneys
  • Duodenum (2nd/3rd parts)
  • Adrenal glands
  • Large intestine
  • Pancreas (head and neck of)
  • EXCEPT (not retroperitoneal)
    • Sigmoid
    • Transverse
    • Colon

Others include: esophagus, rectum, bladder, uterus, aorta, inferior vena cava.

Any more?  These will be on boards!

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Posted in Anatomy, National Boards

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Complete Dentures, Restorative Dentistry IV

Posted on March 31, 2008 by CheerioKing| Leave a comment

Not only is this class a beast, the quizzes are very hard to study for and perform well on. We have a quiz in a couple of days on anatomical locations in the mouth. I have attached a couple of sheets you can download and look at if you wish to see what a general quiz looks like for this class. Note that this does not include the book reading or the rest of the notes. Most of this table is from one lecture. It is mainly a review of anatomy. What makes the quizzes so hard is that you can’t get partial credit. It is basically word for word from the notes or you are toast. Getting -5 points here and a -10 points there can do a number on your quiz score. It gets worse when there is a big -30 for one of the questions along with some other marks. We have 6 quizzes total, each worth 5% of your grade. Complete Dentures Quiz

A sample question could be something like:

  1. Name the importance of the retromylohyoid space in relation to a complete denture.

For full credit you would have to write out the following:

The space is in the alveolingual surface and is bordered on 5 sides by: Anteriorally the mylohyoid ridge and lingual tuberosity. Medially by the anterior tonsillar pillar when the tongue is in a relaxed position. Laterally by the mandible and the pterygomandibular raphe. Posteriorally by the retromylohyoid curtain (superior constrictor muscle). Inferiorally by the alveolingual sulcus and mylohyoid muscle. This space is essential for the retention and stability of the complet denture.

Add 50-80 more facts into this ‘quiz’ and you are guaranteed to be busy for a while. What I have found to be helpful is to make charts like the one included in this post. Some other ideas that are useful are to make a chart but keep everything blank, an idea I got from a study budy of mine. The you can make a bunch of copies of this blank chart and either fill in the blanks from memory or make charts from your notes. It might be faster than typing them out. Another good program I have been using is called ‘Genius‘ for the Mac. It is essentially a free flashcard program where you enter in all the information, click on ‘Learn’ or ‘Review’ and it will test your knowledge of the material. You can put in fake questions, definitions, etc. to test yourself and learn the vast amounts of information required of you in dental school.

There might be other programs out there that you like better and I know there are ones that are Windows based. Do a google search for ‘free flashcard program’ etc. to find one that you like. The program I use keeps track of right and wrong answers and will requiz you on the ones you miss more often.

We have one quiz this week and then finals start next week and go for two weeks. We will have Periodontology, Pharmacology (yuck), Radiology, Endodontics, Pedodontics lecture, Pedodontics lab, Oral Pathology, and Anesthesiology. All of them are comprehensive except for Periodontology. Also in the week we will have some more lectures, an Endo take home practical (access and obturate a molar), another endo practical (access and obturate plastic teeth – as done in the NERB exam – great for someone like me who is going to take the Western Regional Boards…). So it will be busy to say the least but three more weeks and the hardest didactic year is over with. After that it is getting ready for NBDE Part I, transitioning into the clinics, and taking some more classes.

Pictures to come, along with more class reviews, and my methods for studying for the boards (fee free to share your ideas as well). In the meantime please feel free to comment on your finals for any of your classes. Writing things down is therapuetic.

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Posted in Anatomy, Restorative Dentistry, Sophomore Year

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CN Review | Cranial Nerve One – Olfactory Nerve

Posted on March 21, 2007 by CheerioKing| Leave a comment

Welcome to the first cranial nerve review out of a 12 part series of all 12 cranial nerves. These reviews will attempt to overview the cranial nerves by following their pathways and branches and innervations throughout the head and body.

OLFACTORY NERVE – CN #1

Function: Detection of chemicals using olfactory epithelium receptors for odor, receptors for taste found on taste buds in oral mucosa, and somatosensory receptors in oral mucosa. All three are neededfor full taste.

Steps from chemical reception to smell:

odor molecule -> lands in serous fluid from serous glands -> bipolar cell ‘cilia’ in serous fluid detect molecule -> bipolar cell turns chemical signal into electrical signal -> axon of bipolar cell courses through cribriform plate of the ethmoid bone -> after axon passes cribriform plate it is called the primary sensory neuron -> synapses in the olfactory bulb (glomerulus and secondary sensory neuron) -> olfactory tract -> primary olfactory cortex on uncus and medial temporal lobe and amygdala for emotional response to smell.

Points: Sensory input to cortex with out thalamic relay.

Her is a very crude picture I drew to illustrate how the nerves attach to the bulb and the bulb connects to the brain.

olfactorynerve

I am sure you can find a better image through google. This is meant as a small review and not to be mistaken for a textbook explanation. If you have anything useful to add like acronyms, fun facts, or a correction, leave a comment!

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Posted in Anatomy, Cranial Nerves

Dental Head and Neck Anatomy

Posted on March 13, 2007 by CheerioKing| Leave a comment

One of the most feared subjects in dental school could arguably be the head and neck anatomy portion of gross anatomy. With close to an infinite number :) of terms this class can be physically and mentally challenging. Having suffered and lived through this section and midterm I can hopefully add some insight that will help those that follow.

TIP 1:

Don’t become overwhelmed! This will only lead to stress and anxiety and soon you will be thrown into the depths of despair! Well, this may be more dramatic than it has to be, but there is some seriousness to it. Chances are many of your classmates are feeling the same way. The key is to work hard at learning and memorizing all the new terms, names and functions as well as you can. So even though you will feel overwhelmed, the trick is to fight that stressful uneasiness with some good old fashioned work. Nothing beats stress more than going to bed at night knowing that you learned a lot (or at least tried to learn a lot). Remember that there is a lot of information being dumped onto you in a short amount of time, which leads to the next tip.

TIP 2:

Don’t fall behind. We were given two packets of material at the beginning of the unit and at first glance they didn’t look like much. After taking a second look though, they are crammed with information. Every page is condensed with muscles, nerves, vessels and glands and their intricate functions. A goal should be set to study anatomy everyday, even if sometimes it is learning only one concept or term. Take advantage of your dissection days and learn as much as possible, because while you are there you might as well memorize something. Some days you will be swamped with other classes, or a test the next day. Even so, you should at least memorize something. Maybe one term. Just make sure you keep your head above water.

TIP 3:

Remember the three R’s. Review, Review, Review. When it comes to within a week of the test, you will thank me or this advice. What I tried to do was pull out my notes from the day before and review it for ten minutes. Start on page one and just soak up the previously studied material. Then after ten minutes I would mark my spot and return to it the next day. Every couple of days I would catch up to where I was currently studying in my notes and then start over again. By the time it came to within a week of the midterm I would have reviewed the material 4 or 5 times and it made it that much easier to remember.

TIP 4:

Draw on a chalkboard. Find a room with a chalkboard and draw out pathways, arterial flow, dural venous sinus flow, charts, diagrams, etc. You will find that this change of pace and different technique will help you to remember the material in a different way. It has also been said, and I am not sure if this is true, that writing on a rough surface (chalkboard is slightly rough) can help you to remember things better. Also while you are at the chalkboard, get your friends attention and teach them the facts you are writing on the board. This helps to get the concepts down and if you are wrong, or don’t quite have a grasp on the concept, your friends (or you) can explain your case better. It has happened on multiple occasions in a test I was able to recall the diagram or words I wrote on a chalkboard and figure out the right answer that way.

TIP 5:

Simplify your notes. Have you ever read three long paragraphs and found out that there is only one concept those three paragraphs are trying to convey? Write down that one concept in a summarized sentence or two. Do this for all the notes and some of the reading (I would argue it is impossible to do it for EVERYTHING in dental school) and when it comes time to take the test all your notes are condensed in a small stack of papers instead of 5 chapters in a book and 15 power point lectures. This will also boost your confidence because page for page you have less to study than before, even though all the material is the same. I did this for a couple of the pathways of blood in the brain and the cranial nerves. Instead of looking at a complicated paragraph of what each cranial nerve did, I would simply draw a small diagram of the cranial nerve and its various branches and what each one innervated. During the test I could then mentally visualize this picture in my mind and see all the branches and which structure(s) they innervated.

If you do these things you will be fine. Whether you want the A or the C depends on how much time you spend doing each of these tips (and the ones you like). After the class is all said and done, and you learned as much as possible you will be on your way to becoming a proficient dentist (work on those hand skills), and you will realize that anatomy wasn’t as bad as you thought…right?

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Posted in Anatomy, Classes

Directional Terms to Memorize

Posted on January 31, 2007 by CheerioKing| 2 Comments

Starting dental school with a little bit of knowledge can help to decrease the new stress of having to learn a large amount of new material. I hope that this new section called ‘education’ will provide a good overview of concepts and terminology you can use before or after you start dental school. I figured I would start on something simple and increase the knowledge bank from here.

These terms are basically beat into you the first semester (at least at Temple) of dental school and if not, then you should know them by the end of the first year. They are pretty basic and knowing them ‘cold’ will help in all aspects of dentistry. In fact they should be second nature after your first semester of dental school.

Facial – towards the face. The facial surface of a tooth is the side next to the cheeks or lips. The side you see in a normal smile.

Buccal – another term for facial usually denoted for posterior teeth, or teeth located next to the cheek. Do not use this term for incisors or canines. Bucca is Latin for cheek.

Labial – the term used for the facial aspect of anterior teeth, or incisors and canines. Do not use this word for posterior teeth (premolars or molars). Labia is Latin for lips.

Anterior – nearer to the front. A canine is more anterior than a premolar or molar. Anterior teeth include the incisors and canines.

Posterior – in the back. A molar is more posterior than an incisor. Posterior teeth include premolars and molars.

Occlusal – the chewing surface of posterior teeth. The top ‘flat’ part of the tooth. Anterior teeth have an edge and are designated differently.

Incisal – The edge of anterior teeth, used to cut food.

Lingual – The tongue side of the tooth.

Palatal – Only used for the teeth in the maxillary arch (upper teeth) and also refers to the tongue side of the teeth. This term can also be used because these teeth are adjacent to the palate.

Proximal – the sides of the teeth that usually are in contact with one another. The side in between adjacent teeth.

Mesial – The proximal aspect of the tooth closer to the midline of the face.

Distal – The proximal aspect of the tooth further from the midline of the face.

These are the general terms and during your first semester learning these will not be difficult. What gets difficult is putting everything together. All those terms come together at line and point angles of every tooth. For example, where the distal and lingual aspects meet, they will form a line angle called the distolingual line angle. This line angle will ascend and meet with the occlusal surface to create a corner or point called the distolinguoocclusal point angle. Add varying anatomy to each of the 32 teeth in the human mouth and your brain starts doing tricks. Also add that every cusp on the teeth also get a designated directional term along with the anatomy in that tooth. Triangular ridge of mesiolingual cusp for example, or mesial cusp ridge of distobuccal cusp.

It is difficult at first and hopefully a list like this can give you a head start on learning the language of dentistry. One day it will click and by second semester you should be using these terms and associating them with the anatomy of the teeth like it was tying a shoe. When was the last time you had to think while tying your shoe? Exactly. :)

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Posted in Anatomy, Classes, Education, Restorative Dentistry

First Gross Anatomy Test in Dental School

Posted on January 25, 2007 by CheerioKing| Leave a comment

Hit the ground running for this class. The first day of school we were given a few small packets of information and a syllabus with the required reading. It didn’t seem like very much material considering we were given a whole trees worth of paper for biochemistry the previous semester. Our first test covered the back, shoulder and upper limb. If you have never taken anatomy then you would think to yourself, ‘How hard could it be?’

I stopped counting the amount of terms we had to memorize after 1000. That was the first packet out of three. Not all of it is plain memorization, monkeys can be taught to memorize. Half of our test was identifying the structure in a cadaver that a fellow classmate had dissected and the other half was multiple choice. You had to be familiar enough with the structure (nerve, muscle, and its function) to be able to identify it in a cadaver that you had not dissected and then be able to figure out the right answer on a seperate paper test.
Every muscle in the back, shoulder, and arm had to be known along with its origin and insertion (where it connects to on the body <– for those who haven’t taken anatomy) and what the muscle is innervated by. For example, the pectoralis major muscle. It originates on the medial clavicle, sternum and some costal cartilage and inserts on the greater tubercle of the humerus. It is innervated by the medial and lateral pectoral nerves which are C5-T1 coming off the lateral and medial cords of the brachial plexus. It has a couple of actions too, like inner rotation of the humerus among others. (I hope I got all that right…going off of memory) During the test they could put a string around any one of those structures just mentioned (pec major, lateral pec nerve, medial pec nerve, lateral cord, medial cord of brachial plexus, and say identify (and then you would identify the structure) or they would say, what is its action, or what does this innervate, etc. Then on the paper test they would test you on how well you knew the information.
After about 10 muscles you can see that there is a lot of stuff you have to know about the back and upper extremity. Add the spinal cord to that and part of it’s function (we learn a lot more about the spinal cord in the next anatomy section of head and neck and in neuroanatomy) and you have yourself a pretty daunting test. If you are thinking to yourself that that is easy (there are a few who will walk through classes like these without batting an eye [jerks...j/k :) ]) then wait until the head and neck. The next test covers three times the amount of material and covers 4-5 weeks of lectures and dissection on even more complicated things like cranial nerves and facial muscles.

This next stuff IS more pertinent to what dentistry is all about and should be more interesting to study as opposed to one of the muscles in the hand like the abductor pollicis brevis muscle. I took anatomy before I came to Temple and would highly recommend it. Not the anatomy for grasshoppers though (anatomy + physiology combined) but a general gross anatomy class with real human cadavers and a hard teacher. I know that most people want the high GPA to get into dental school, but it does help to work hard in a class before dental school and come somehwhat prepared. Either way anatomy at Temple is passable, but I think it is easier if you have some background. Now I have to go do some reading…

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Posted in Anatomy, Classes, Temple Dental