Friday, November 17, 2006

Dear Abby....

...Hey, I just discovered the Yahoo interactive answer pages....
People ask all sorts of questions and those (hopefully) knowledgeable reply - and quickly! Very impressive. So I'm going nuts giving my (solicited!) opinion.

***If you are visiting my blog and were referred by the Yahoo site, let me know, leave a message! let me know what other topics interest you in terms of blogging and dental!


Anyway, and Yahoos referred here from there - Welcome!.

Others, go check out:
Yahoo Dental Questions

Later, kids!

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dr Nate...Im a dental assisting student in Michigan and after reading your blog I have to say that I hope to God I get to work with a dentist with a personality like yours. I like to go through the yahoo answers dental section myself as a way to study a bit. Its insane, some of the questions yahooligans ask on there isn't it?

So now I have a question of my own for you...how in the world can I help myself to remember the difference between the instruments that generally look the same, and how can I remember which instruments are set up for which procedure?
I've done fairly well in maintaing a good average grade but I'm afraid instrument setup may be my downfall.

Any advice from the Dr would be unbelievably appreciated
Amanda

arae8419@yahoo.com

Dr Nate said...

Hmmm. First of all, most dentists tend to be somewhat introverted. Those that aren't are manic. So tread carefully! LOL It's funny tho', as a lot of people don't like my personality - I'm told a pre-teen girl complained to her mom that I was "sarcastic and condescending." Mighty big words for an 11-year-old, leading me to believe if she also knew "impudent," "vexacious" or "histrionic," all of which described her behavior.

Nevertheless, no matter how a person behaves, one can't model our professional behavior after Dr. House, so watch out.

To answer your question. As far as which instruments are set up for which procedure, most offices have set-ups pre-arranged and color-coded with bands. this keeps them straight in the autoclave, tho' many are already boxed before going in. FURTHER, every dr is different - some use like 4 instruments for each procedure. For an amalgam, I probably use 20! Hard to say.

If you send me a list of the instruments that look the same that confuse you, I can give you some fun mnemonic devices to help you remember. The biggest thing, however, is to know the PROCEDURE. If you know what's being done, the instrument you use will be more intuitive. If you just try to remember a seemingly random sequence of weird-looking dealy-boppers, you'll be more easily confused.

Hope this helps!

Unknown said...

lol- new fav site!

Josi said...

Hi Dr. Nate!
I'm new to blogger. I have created a page, but I have a problem. My e-mail address is displayed on the top right of the page. I noticed that your's is not. Do you by chance remember if there was something you marked to not have your's displayed?? If you can help, I'd appreciate it.
Thanks so much!

Anonymous said...

Hi
I reached your blog thru yahoo answers.
That's the 1st. time I know that these grills are done by dentists(I didn't know they r grills anyway).
But to your surprise add this:I'm studying Dentistry!!
You made me eager to create my blog,and I did it,here's the link:
dentiveto.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

Hi ,I didn't know that these things r done by a dentist,but aren't they hazardous?
Believe it or not:I'm studying dentistry!
Oh,by the way you made me a great favor.
If you wanna know what it is, visit my brand new blog:
http://dentiveto.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

sorry for unintended replication

Anonymous said...

Hello Dr. Nate,
I came accross your blog through yahoo as I was trying to find out information on jobs as a DH temp. here in New Hampshire. I am currently a student hygienist at the University of New England in ME and will be graduating in May(less than 5 months to go!!!). I was wondering since we live in the same area what your opinion is on offices in the Rochester, Dover, Ports. area and if you think its best to start as a temp. to become familiar with dentists. Any information will help especially if you know of anyone who is hiring!

Thanks a bunch
Cassie
cass9684@yahoo.com