Surgeon's Log 1

Today is Oral Maxillofacial Surgery day for my group as we spent the whole day at OMFS Dept for both morning & afternoon clinical sessions.

Morning

Had extraction clinics. Did extraction on a osteoporotic & hypertensive old lady with history of cardiac enlargement & angina pectoris.

Extracted her retained 13 root & 36 bony spicule (it felt like tooth fragment to me though...).

Retained 23 root was also indicated for extraction but it showed periapical radiopacity (denser than surrounding bone) surrounded by a faint zone of raiolucency. The surgeon in-charge told me that it's sequestrum (radiopaque) surrounded by a zone of inflammatory front, which is the host reaction to contain the sequestrum.

I was very grateful to have come across an article which explained that bis-phosphonate (a drug used to treat osteoporosis) could cause osteochemonecrosis, when i was searching for journals for my Social Behavioural Science project literature review.

My patient took 1 pill of Forsamec once a week, which explained the condition.

During the attempt to extract her badly carious tooth 44, the crown & half of the root was broken, leaving a conical root fragment which was slightly mobile but too stubborn to be elevated out from the socket.

A full thickness mucoperiosteal flap was raised and several unsuccessful attempts were initiated to elevate that stubborn fragment out of the socket. That root was then suspected to be either ankylosed/ hypercementosed.

My patient was ushered into the minor operating theatre and a minor oral surgery was then performed by the surgeon to remove that hypercementosed root fragment.

Did my 1st ever suture on a human being today, thanks to my dedicated supervising surgeon =) I learned a lot today!

Lunch hour

Attended a rescheduled Orthodontics revision session. The orthodontist in-charge was very kind to have brought tidbits & peanuts for us considering it's lunch time.

Afternoon

Had Minor Oral Surgery clinical session.

I'm very grateful to have my clinical partner to be my assistant for the surgery as we've already built up a very good rapport =)

Luckily my hand didn't tremble too much when i was cutting on the mucoperiosteum. First-timers are always nervous & it's always best if the supervisor is an encouraging teacher as we are handling scalpels here which cut! That's the purpose of we going to the dental school, to learn =)

Raising a mucoperiosteal flap is like deboning a chicken, stripping its flesh from the bones. It sounds disgusting, but the feeling when doing it is good =D

Drilling the alveolar bone was the most surprising part to me as never did i know that bone was so much softer than dental enamel! I guess that explained the higher radiodensity of dental enamel =)

Sectioning the tooth was the only time when a dental surgeon can forget about avoiding the pulp when drilling into a tooth! Just drill into it for that tooth is deemed to be extracted :)

I think i need to practise more on suturing :)

Conjoin dentistry

Had a long day at Oral Maxillofacial Surgery Department for both morning & afternoon clinical sessions.

Morning

I love giving injections! :P

Learnt how to utilise the empty extraction socket of the adjacent removed root for removal of the other retained root of the same tooth.

Lesson of the day: never give up trying again on my own before switching on the red light too quickly to ask for help from the supervisor =) Self-confidence is very essential in whatever we do in our life, as long as we know whatever we are doing is correct & ethical :)

My partner had a very interesting case today. We were lucky to have an orthodontist who happened to be at the OMFS department at that time & was very willing to come over to give her opinion & teach us :)

In the end, other Oral Maxfac surgeons, General Dental Practice specialist, Dental Surgical Assistant, etc. also came to our cubicle to have a look at the patient :P

I cannot disclose further details to protect the patient's privacy :)

It's nice to see specialist of various specialties come together to discuss about a case & share their opinions. It's really an eye-opener to me :)

Stood for more than 3 hours :'(

Afternoon

Had minor oral surgery session. Stood for another 2 hours, hardly see a thing due to the small oral cavity of Homo sapiens >.<

Rushing! Hot!

Had a busy day today. Time management is really important!

Morning

Due to somebody with poor time management, i went to Polyclinic A (2nd floor) late this morning, only to find out groups having Conservative Dentistry sessions were relocated to Polyclinic C (ground floor) because the aircon of the whole polyclinic broke down (cooling pipe leaking, need a month to get repaired!!!) & the suction system of the whole polyclinic has not been functioning since yesterday morning (fuse burnt). So i grabbed everything required and brought my patient down the stairs.

It's already 10.30am when we finally settled down to start the treatment. Halfway doing my working length determination of root canal treatment, my group's supervisor informed us that she has a meeting at 12.30pm, so we've to finish work by then *o*

Luckily i managed to complete my cleaning & shaping and discharged the patient at 12.25pm *phew*

Not forgetting to mention that my patient bought me & my partner a mooncake each :D

I really need to build up my stamina, was nearly out of breath after taking 4 flights of stairs from ground floor to 2nd floor >.<

My groupmate Aini brought us kuih raya today, yeah! =)

Afternoon

My patient for orthodontic clinic came late at 3pm, she took time off from work.

Lucky me as i got to take her as Upper Removable Appliance (URA) case patient. Didn't prepare much for URA case as i had thought that she'd only fit to be my orthodontic diagnosis case patient for her age. Hmm... Lesson of the day: never underestimate anything & be well prepared at all times!

Room temperature was quite high due to the malfunctioning aircon. Poor patient, she had to be tortured by me as i tried many times in taking a good impression of her teeth. It's not wholly my fault! The impression material sets faster under higher temperature :'(

Luckily my group's supervisor was patient enough to wait for me to finish work despite working in the "sauna room" :P

4.55pm, i rushed to Imaging Department with my patient to take dental pantomogram & lateral cephalogram. Luckily the staffs there were lenient & hardworking enough to let us take those radiographs as the department closes at 5pm.

Discharged my patient at 5.05pm.

Went back to Polyclinic A to clean up, only to realise that i'd not given my patient her time-slip! Ran to the parking entrance beside Lecture Hall 3 to give her >.<

Poured impressions at the lab.

Reached hostel at 6pm to have dinner, hungry!

Life is full of challenges, doing dentistry is even more challenging;

challenges colours our life,

and the colour depends on how we perceive the challenges,

and how we colour it =)

Super tiring week

Super duper tired today. It's no fun assisting in the clinic for both morning and afternoon sessions, especially when your cubicle is at the very far end of the polyclinic where you've to walk/ run to the other end to get instruments, materials, etc. Although some may agree that being an assistant will not be mentally stressed and tired as being an operator, it's physically tiring!

How i miss my mum's Osim iSqueez & uPapa at home...

I'm a good massager, but when i need a good massage, who's there for me? :'(

4th Academic Year

i foresee an extremely busy year ahead.

I've only finished the very 1st week, yet i'm feeling very exhausted.

I've to learn to like 'some' people around me, although they can be very sickening sometimes.

People are selfish, i've to learn to act selfish sometimes from now onwards; i don't want to be used by mean people.

Too many commitments... I want to be more low profile. Let me finish my tasks first before giving me more, please!

Sickening people, selfish people, get out of my way!

Final Exams coming soon >.<

sigh, haven't been enjoying my life at faculty lately... why does all work suddenly appear at th same time?! I can't divide myself into 2 halves, i'm exhausted! Thus i seek for calmness & joy on Facebook, i'm addicted! I've to kick this habit A.S.A.P.!!!

Chatted with my buddy Daniel this morning. Hmm... i know i really have to buck up =)

Life in dentistry is not easy. I'll make sure i can still stay sane until the end of my studies...

Life is short.

Forgive quickly,

kiss passionately,

love truly,

laugh constantly,

and never stop smiling no matter how strange life is.

Life is not always the party we expected it to be

but as long as we are here,

we should smile and be grateful!

Busy

haven't updated my blog for such a long time.

haven't been having enough time and mood to write a nice post.

my recent posts have all been the "what i've done" type, so monotonous and boring >.<

sigh, i missed my post-SPM and post-matriculation days when i wrote longer, more meaningful posts...

Final exams in a month's time... Can't believe it that i've almost completed my 1st clinical year...

Facebook is fun but i hate it when they keep changing the layout >.<

On holidays

Till Dec14
finally i've completed half of my 5-year studies ;)

Going home soon..

Hari Raya Aidilfitri hols: Sept 27 - Oct 4

have been very busy with clinical tasks. I've to manage my studies, attend lectures, manage patients, call patients to come, do labwork, thinking what food to eat and finding food constantly to feel my forever hungry stomach... wonder when can i finally gain some weight :'(

i wanna eat good food!

Laten we gaan eten en lekker voedsel :)

Busy clinical student life

have been busy lately. will get busier in another few weeks when i've to treat patients from all specialties.
i've seen one patient under Prosthetic Dentistry who requires dentures. Her mouth's so small, spent quite some time in trying to insert my impression stock tray into her mouth. Sigh... i don't really like Prosthetics. Which specialty i like the most? Still waiting for inspiration :) (Haha quoting Meredith Grey in Grey's Anatomy :P) So far, i prefer Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery the most as this is the only specialty that doesn't has any fixed schedules/ requirements to fulfill. So it's kinda less stressful compared to the other 11 specialties (yeah, dentistry does have that many specialties!). However, OS is mostly about destroying rather than conservating as compared to Conservative Dentistry. So i've to be extra careful as i might kill the patient! Haha... now i've the licence to kill & to heal :P
i'll talk about each & every specialty in detail during my holidays.
Raya holidays: Sept 27 - Oct 3
Happy Fasting to all my Muslim friends :)

Goedendag :)
Pas op jezelf!

Busy

went to Indonesia 2 weeks ago to attend APDSA Congress
busy with clinical work
anybody interested in getting free dental treatment please contact me
will go home during Raya holidays

Clinical years, here i come!!!

going back to uni in a few hours time. sigh... there goes my holidays :(
will start my 1st clinical year tomorrow.
i'll be staying at F24, the room next to F22 in which i stayed in my 1st year. Gosh... rooms on that side of the block is very hot in the afternoons, small, somemore my room is the last room, located beside the toilet. Sigh, gotta put up with the heat for another year. All dental students in 6th residential college are assigned to rooms on that floor. The good thing is, i get back my roommate in my 1st year, Huai Lin :D
hmm... i think i will miss home, my sis especially... wonder when will be the next time i hug her *sob sob*

sigh...

due to fuel price hike, the project of demolishing some of the lecture halls of Dental Faculty at University Hospital was delayed. Clinical students will continue attending lectures there, but not at Balai Ungku Aziz as planned.

Advantages
i don't have to rush from BUA to UH after lectures for my clinical sessions, as the walking distance takes 30mins. The walking distance from 6th Residential College to UH is 15mins, sheltered (within the hospital building) & not hilly.

Disadvantages
I purposely bought a scooter & got an L-licence! I know i can leave the motorcycle at home for my dad to ride, as to save fuel by not having to drive a car. But scooter is more expensive than common geared motorcycles a.k.a. kapchai. Had i known earlier that the project has been delayed, we would have bought a kapchai instead! I was to renew my L-licence every 3 months at the post office and that costs RM35 everytime! I was planning to learn riding geared ones before sitting for the exam to get a permanent licence during my next holidays. We had even contacted one of my uncle to send my scooter to my campus next week.
Argh! My dad has spent a few thousands on me during this holiday. Feel so bad >.<

Random

attended a lecture for motorcyclists-to-be last Sunday. Will get my motorcyclist learning licence (L-licence) tomorrow.

viewed all my friends' profiles on Facebook & Friendster accounts to keep myself updated on my friends' latest news. Spent a few days doing that :P I guess the next time when i'll have the time to do so will be during my next end of academic year holidays :)

my next holidays will be in August. I'm going to Indonesia to attend APDSA. Not very excited to go as so far it is not exciting to me at all. Going there to promote Malaysia for a project which is sooo not involving & seems so "detatched", so far.

Happy birthday to my person :) ...like Meredith & Cristina ~ Grey's Anatomy

Back from vacation

just came home yesterday evening.
the first thing i did was exactly the same as what i did last year when i just reached home after traveling from Kedah - check my result slip!
haha this time around, my results are better than what i got last year! Hard work pays it off!

this trip back to Kedah was about eating local delicacies, visiting relatives and family friends, having a 3 days 2 nights trip to Langkawi, and "enjoying" the super hot weather in Northern Malaysia!
The Langkawi trip wasn't interesting, especially not the beaches and sea as we've been to nicer beaches in Tioman, Lang Tengah and Redang Islands. We rented a car to go around the island to visit historical sites such as the Mahsuri Mausoleum, Burnt Rice, etc. The best part of the trip was the cable car ride up a 700m high mountain. The gondolas moved at quite a high speed. The scene on top of the mountain was breathtaking! We saw the whole view of the bay with many yatchs as the International Yatch Society (can't remember the correct name :P ) was located there. I loved the world's longest pedestrian bridge the most! It was hanging around 600m above sea level in the valley! I loved the feeling when clouds were blown onto my face, and with clouds around me, i felt like i was in heaven :P
will upload pictures onto my facebook profile soon :)

learnt to ride a scooter motorbike using my maternal granny's Pasola in Kedah. My dad was my coach ;) Mastered the basic skills within 30 minutes!!! Haha, my cute little sis could also ride a motorbike now!

recently addicted to Kimora Lee Simmons' series Life in the Fab Lane on E! channel. For KLS fans, stay tuned on Astro E! Ch712 for the marathon!

Back at home

Yay!!! Finally i'm back at home after 2 month's of absence :) Dad picked me up from hostel together with my paternal grandma who went with him to visit my uncle. Had lunch at Wong Kok Cafe. It's so "amazing" that my stuffs couldn't fit into dad's 7-seater Innova, luckily my Cheras uncle came, so left 5 items with him.

i got into the lists of Pathology and Dental Materials & Technology distinction viva, meaning i got 2 As already :) went for Pathology viva as it's my second favourite subject. I didn't get Pharmacology distinction viva, a bit disappointed as it's my favourite subject :P Dental Material & Technology viva is going to be held tomorrow, i'm not attending it as i'm already at home. Didn't plan to stay at hostel to wait for it anyway, i stayed back for a week to wait for Pharmacology & Pathology ones which were held last week. I didn't get any for Medical Microbiology as well as i didn't have much interest in that subject :P Anyway, i'm very happy as i got an A for killer subject this year - Pathology!

Things i like at home:

1. Dad, Mum, Sis
2. Home-cooked food
3. Hot-water shower
4. Mum's soup
5. Big TV
6. Doing whatever i like!

i'm seriously addicted to Grey's Anatomy, especially to Isaiah Washington as Dr. Preston Xavier Burke and Sandra Oh as Dr. Cristina Yang!!!

Holidays again!!!

i'm so happy that i've completed my 2nd yr! So i'm now a clinical student! I'm going to be a clinician starting this coming July, hurray!!!

i'm still in uni now, waiting for viva lists to be out.

i'm seriously addicted to Grey's Anatomy series :P Yeah, for those who are very eager to learn medical stuffs, you'd prefer House MD. yeah i watch that too, till season 2 :) GA is more about docs' life, more of romance and... life! i like to watch how the characters handle their problems in life. Be it death, love, marriage, family, relationships, work, internal conflicts, life being interns...just everything! Did i just said i'm addicted? :P

i watched season 1 few months ago, finished season 2 during my 2 weeks of study weeks (oops :P), just finished season 3 half an hour ago. haha... i borrowed Deanna's DVD, her season 3 DVD has all but the last episode! yeah you can imagine how freaked out i was last night after i've finished the 2nd-last episode and realised i wasn't having the last one!!! haha... it's ok, Deanna :) it's not your fault :P and yeah i contacted every single friend whom i knew they're also GA fans for the last episode... i knew what's gonna happen in the season finale, and it's also the last episode of my beloved Dr. Preston Xavier Burke in the series! haha... well... eventually, i was the 1st one to enter the computer lab this morning 5mins before 8.30am and i was planning to download it but eventually i watched it online... Oh my... i'm addicted! Full stop.

went to Bukit Bintang last Saturday with Ching Eng, Chung Nam, Diew Leong & Lai Tzen

went to SS2 Kei Tak Sek last Sunday with Ching Eng, Chung Nam & Diew Leong

went to SS2 night market last Monday with Pei Ling & Kwee Fong

went to Jaya One Old Town White Coffee Cafe after that with Ching Eng, Chung Nam, Diew Leong & Hooi Shan

going to Bukit Bintang later

going home soon :)

busy month

final exams in 2 week's time, so i might be too busy to update my blog.

didn't perform as well as the first test in my 2nd test, partly due to CNY, i'll work harder for the final exams...

enjoyed every single day of the last week in class. very happy that i've completed my 2nd year course, now i've to pass my exams in order to go to 3rd year, so excited to enter clinical years, yeah~ Hui Shan will be my partner for the next 3 years if everything goes according to our plan :)

was so happy when snapping pictures around in optech lab on the last day there. That day was a few of the most relaxing day i'd in optech lab as everyday was a super busy day when we were struggling to complete our projects...like going on war :P Staff nurse Susila was so surprised that i actually asked to take a picture together with her :P I'm not noisy, i'm just a lil bit more daring to hold my principles :P

A Puro Dolor by Son by Four. Those who've been reading my blog since year 2004 will be familiar with this song :) Lost my softcopies of the Italian & English version of the song after reformatting my computer few years ago. Learnt to sing & memorise the Italian version 4 years ago, recently just "recollected" my memory :P Anyone keen to listen to my "not so pure" Italian? :P

a senior of another faculty passed away... hmm... seize every chance you've in your life as opportunity only knocks on your door once! Regrets are useless & meaningless. Grab every chance you've, don't ever let yourself down!!! Carpe Diem ~ sieze the day!

Good luck to all my friends preparing for final exams!!!

Merry X'mas!

Facebook is cool! It can keep you occupied for the whole day! :P

i'm having holidays again! 19-25Dec

didn't touch my pharmacology notes on anaesthesia :(

~Enchanted~
watched this movie with coursemates at Mid Valley 2 weeks ago. Quite a nice movie, minus the a-bit-boring ending :P
i loved the dresses of Princess ??? gosh i forgot her name!!!
was very thrilled to see my sweetheart Patrick Gallen Dempsey @ Robert in Enchanted @ McDreamy @ Dr. Derek Shepherd in Grey's Anatomy!

~National Treasure 2~
another must watch movie!
couldn't remember whether i watched the 1st sequel...
Nicholas Cage was hot 'though he's in his 40's!
loved the story plot & the cool gadgets!


going for a buffet at Katerina Hotel with my family tonight.
actually i've lotsa things to post here, but i don't have the mood right now...

Back to uni...

today is the first day of my 2nd semester... however, it makes not much difference as our course doesn't follow the semester system.
got my Pharmacology result this morning, A! Quite surprised as it was the 1st subject tested during my exam week, i was quite nervous & tensed on that day. The coordinator, Prof. Dr. Debra Sim told us that according to analysis, our batch is the best in these 5 years :)
We were informed that the Ministry of Higer Education has decided that all undergraduates must take a new course - Basic Entrepreneur Skills in order to graduate. At the beginning of this academic year, we were also told that we've to take Soft Skills. So now we've to take so many subjects, and with our packed schedule (this year: 8am-5.30pm, Mon-Fri!!!), i think we'll be extremely exhausted in the end :(
Watched '881' Papaya Sisters for the 2nd time with Xin Jie last night. It's a comedy but quite touching in the end. It's in Mandarin, Hokkien & English. I love the Hokkien songs! :P