To do or not to do.....

Like always it took me forever to come back again to write few lines. I think one of perils of residency is you get too less time with too much on your mind and man ! my mind and body have been working overtime for past 6 months. Like my Professor said am here to learn who not to treat, they want me to learn diagnosing and treatment planning and I guess thats the most difficult part, after that its just working over. Past few months not only I had good insights in dentistry I had a chance to visit MD Anderson Cancer centre at Houstan Texas. Its one of the premier institute in world for cancer care. Saw a lot of patients and really got motivated for Maxillofacial prosthodontics. Its a whole new world taking dentistry principles and pushing them to extremes. The patient, the process and the final prosthesis all are a challenge in themselves. But then only a lucky few get to do this kinda work. Had a chance to meet many of those people which made me even more sure.

Presently writing this from Las Vegas, after the long weekend. People who go there I suggest definitely to go to Startosphere for the rides and try Ali's Kabab Corner - the hole in the wall for tastiest food.

For guys who are in International dental programs I suggest to plan their PGs carefully because am running into an unusaul problem which we do not anticipate before getting into a program. There is a federal cap on maximum amount of loan for foriegn students for educational purpose and the amount at present is 250,000 dollars. If your DDS is close to this amount then later on in PG you might have to find alternate ways to fund your education. Loan is not going to happen :-( so ponder over carefully PG in paid place- " to do or not to do".
All the best folks...

Priceless....

Patient: People told me my case is complex and I need to go to UCSF because you guys have good instruments and technology here.
Me: Yes.... Kinda....
Patient: Well can you tell me about it? Is it Expensive?
Me: Well you tell ? the instrument is Brain and the technology is Knowledge !

The look on patient face : Priceless :-)

All the best folks...

Random thoughts

Just wanted to write stuff as it wandered through my mind:

1. putting it here to have a date stamp on prediction that we maybe looking at a big problem with newer rough surface implants once the rough surface gets exposed to oral environment its going to be nearly impossible to control the recession and as of now we are going all gaga over these, don't know what future holds.

2. Dr. Pasquinelli described a patient to us jokingly as suffering from Pasquinelli syndrome but i guess gave us a warning to be watchful of these. symptoms of disease are young female, single anterior tooth missing, thin tissue biotype, high smile line, long gingival papillae, lots of questions, wants everything immediately and has limited or I would rather say no money :-P

3. The day I got big big surprise
4. Am seeing some regular visitors to my blog, don't know who for they never left any comment :-)but feels good am still helpful in any way.

All the best folks...

Post graduate life !

Coming back after a long pause again, Friends are settling down with their new jobs at many new places, few of us who decided to push ourselves to extremes :-P joined post graduation.I kinda miss having my old friends around me but happy at finding new ones too. The news of getting in itself was a dream come true.I believe the place where I am now requires dedication and commitment to succeed. First it was countless sleepless nights to get here and now its a forever struggle to not to fall asleep in class. Its like a flood of knowledge, I really sometimes feel I don't know anything and have to work really hard to keep up with my fellow residents and up to the faculty. The other day one of the faculty said if you guys ever wonder why you are here then think of the fact, "you can always learn how to do over the weekend classes and spending money or with long drawn experience over so many years but probably you wont learn what to do and why you are doing it this way, easy". Anyone can do crown preps or restorations but which one to do first and why is what we are going to learn.
Update 2 is an upcoming conference at Orlando something I want to do after my post graduation. Check it out at http://www.maxillofacialprosth.org/Home.html
Interview season for international as well as PG students is going to start really soon, wishing all of you get to where you always want to be.

All the best folks...

The last Call !

A long journey came to end, finally done with DDS, WREBs all my friends done. Am gonna miss all of them. Didnt wanted to miss my last message to all of them, its all here:

The Good, the Awesome and the Phenomenal

We do not remember days; we remember moments. ~Cesare Pavese

Respected faculty, family, friends, fellow graduates and all the people present here: a very good morning.

Usually the ladies of my class have the last word, but today I have the honor and pleasure, to address you all on behalf of my class.

I would first of all like to thank all the parents, spouses, families, and friends whose tremendous encouragement and effort made it possible for us all to come to this day. I would like to thank all of our faculty members, instructors, mentors who bared with us from the class I amalgam to the MODBL+++, until we became an expert at both or the tooth got extracted. My sincere thanks to all those assistants, and staff members who kept track of all our CEs, patient appointments and who always smiled when we tried to bring in six patients in a day.

Two years ago I thought this day would never come, and there were times I was certain about it. I take my memory to the very first day when we all met each other, the very first time at the program interview, wondering who will make it into the class or not, who will be my future classmates. I still remember Dr. Kirkland mentioning the written exam is a piece of cake, which it was, although, I guess he forget to mention that it was sugar free and frozen.

Somehow I made it in….

Being an IDP student is a blessing, though far away from home, I found a new family, people I knew nothing about, yet it never felt like being a stranger, of going through the entire dental program all over again

How can I forget the pre-clinical lab which was our home for three months. Those awfully long lab sessions working on typodonts wondering when will I ever get to wet my hands in patients saliva. The 4^th floor lab was where I came to know all of you, learning from your experience and I hope, you guys also learned from my mistakes. Those early morning lectures where we were wondering what happened we just came after sleeping 8 hours, those sessions where it was nearly impossible to get that perfect ideal class II or the temporaries for Dr. Mendoza and those nights polishing temp crowns wondering when will I get to see my bed again. How can I forget all those exams which were probably meant to scare me more rather than to test my knowledge, those awfully long Friday classes where I would sit and contemplate a career change. But we survived it and made it through.

As the gladiator enters the ring so we were into the clinics all excited and ready to go, Life comes at you hard and fast and so does clinics. Soon we realized its just not dental treatment it’s more than that. It reminds me of Russell Peters who once said “You know when you are in a situation, and you know it is your situation, but somehow you hope that it’s not your situation”. Like looking up in my axium to realize you don’t have the chair with a faculty with whom you started the COE with; or maybe, not with the faculty who you started the crown prep with and now the patient is ready for an impression. Regardless it was a great experience working with awesome faculty and our D4 buddies, who were always there to show us the way around. I thank you all for all the support, help, and fun times we shared together to make this a good lifetime experience.

Why UCSF? I think it is the best thing that happened to us. The only dental school I guess where the Dean would come and teach you about dental caries and the associate dean about oral cancer and ways to prevent it. It was here one of my professors said; a good functional prosthesis needs to have good support, stability and retention for the best outcome and that goes for student life too.

Retention, i.e. prevention of dislodgment in the vertical direction was the, faculty, who gave us all the expertise, knowledge and ethics of this profession. I came in as nobody, some came in as good, some as awesome, but I congratulate you today, because now as you leave these gates, you all are phenomenal, well processed and finished, marked and filled with confidence, knowledge, sincerity and work ethics by all the hard work you have put all these years in the dental school to be successful. I would here quote Ralph Waldo Emerson who said about: Success: To laugh often and much, to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children, to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends, to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded! And this is what I wish and pray for all of you here.

Stability is the prevention of displacement in the horizontal direction. As I said, There were times I was certain I’m never getting out of this school, the journey seemed awfully long, never ending, All the friends and people around who taught me what perfection, determination, hard work, diligence and compassion is all about by being an example of it themselves. The excellent mentors and knowledge provided which revoked my idea of career change and gave meaning and purpose to life.

Support is friends and family preventing us from being crushed under the pressures of all the responsibilities and expectations. Its not just putting in your and my attendance in didactic class or all those late night social events where we could get along to pacific catch or Lavaash, to forget all the hardships and get ready for another day. Its coming to understand the importance and true meaning of “tu doste e mani , vah to khare”

Life is all about moving on, from one stage to another, from one place to other, from a good idea to something better. One thing, however, remains a certainty, we might be leaving UCSF but UCSF will forever lives in our hearts!

In the end I would just like to mention: Don’t cry because it is over; smile because it happened. It happened to me....and I am thankful to God for it did strengthen my confidence. I have no fear now for what the future holds...I just think or rather believe its good!

For all the joy, the delight, for all the good times we have shared together, for all the difficulties we have faced through this journey, till we meet again, some time , some place, just hold on to your dreams, just believe that you can., Nothing can hold you back, that’s the story of a man !

Stay awesome as always my friends!

All the best!

Part 2

NBDE part 2 on the way :-) until now studying randomly, time to get a lil more organised , thinking about it gives me the same feeling like before the part 1 but I know it somehow different. The funniest question is your friends are telling you that you don't need to study ( basically you know it all, you will pass if you give exam even now) and you still feel compelled and obliged to study :-P just can't help it.

All the best folks...

Top 10 things am thinking now...

1. Packing and my trip to India, and when will it be possible to go next.

2. What a whole lot of fun with friends I will have in India and what a whole lot I will miss my friends here.

3. NBDe part 2 :-P I know but its there back of my mind.

4. Dr. Susan Hyde's course project.

5. PG Prostho :-)

6. My friends health - u know it and am praying for u.

7. KP, his Bdday and his questions.

8. Shopping I am still left to do.

9. My monday and tuesday patients :-P and meth mouth !

10. why is ........???

All the best folks...