Up for Grabs: DAT Materials

Whew! It seems every year it gets more and more competitive to get into Dental School (possibly any other professional school for that matter). My inbox is flooded with emails asking for little tips, advice, personal statement help, DAT testing strategies, application guidelines, etc. You guys are on point! and I'm happy to help, as always.

I was going through some books the other day and came across my DAT preparation materials (yes, I still have them) and decided that it would be nice to give them away to people who actually need and have use for them. So here you go, all my DAT prep. materials are up for grabs.

{Kaplan DAT Lesson Book}

{Kaplan DAT Review Notes with Study sheets and dry erase paper}

{Kaplan DAT Study guide- in color}

{The infamous DAT Destroyer! April 2008 version}

Just send an email to: Patrice@stu-dentdiaries.com (you can use the "Contact Me" tab above) with your preference. For the most part I'll give them away on a first come first served basis. If more than one person wants the same book I'll have to put your names in a hat and choose randomly, or something to that effect.
PS You will have to cover shipping, I'm not ballin' yet! lol

Act Quickly!

My First Set of Wax-Ups

Just a couple more days before the end of my first semester in Dental School and I must say Occlusion has been one of the more fun, stress free classes. If you recall I had my "Initiation" into Dentistry through this class when I carved my first tooth out of wax. As the semester went on and we learned more and more about each tooth's anatomy and intricate details we had to do a little bit more than just carve teeth. We had to do what is called a wax-up/wax drop.

Waxing up teeth involves wax, a colored marking pencil, a tooth peg, dentoform/typodont, bunsen burner, specialized instruments, knowledge of dental anatomy, a good eye for detail and nylon :) for the sparkle. The actual waxing skills are developed on the way.




Essentials


 Waxing up is in essence building a tooth from wax. Now this may sound easy but keep in mind that this has to look like an actual tooth and actually be functional, i.e the aim is to reproducibly relate the maxillary (upper) and mandubular (lower) teeth; they must contact each other (not too long, short, thick or thin). This ordeal includes placing and removing wax, making marginal ridges, sealing margins, shaping the tooth, establishing occlusal contacts, and evaluating the final wax-up.

 

Facial View:
Maxillary Right Central Incisor - #8. Also photographed:
Maxillary Right Canine#6 and Left Canine #11

 Lingual/Palatal View:
Maxillary Right Central #8 and Canine #6

Facial/Buccal View:
Maxillary Right Canine #6. also photographed:
Mandibular Right 2nd Premolar #29 and Mandibular 1st Molar #30

Occlusal View:
Mandibular Right 2nd Premolar #29 and 1st Molar #30

BONUS!!

Facial View:
Maxillary Left Canine #11. This is a wax-up of my Final Exam.

  Now if I should say so myself, the pictures do not give these wax-ups justice. They look a lot better in person. Now that this phase of Occlusion is over, I'm looking forward to the next phase which brings more fun and more challenge. Bring it on Second Semester!

**On another note, it's Mental Monday! Go here for today's trivia and to see last week's answer and winner**

Got my own...

**Winner of the Digital Camera Giveaway posted within**

A couple weeks ago after coming to the realization that Starbucks coffee was costing me way too much money, I decided, why not make my own darn coffee? See, I have coffee twice per day - one in the morning to take me through my 9 hr school day and another at night to take me through my countless hours of studying thereafter. If coffee costs on average $1.85 it means it'll cost me $3.70 per day which is $25.90 per week, $103.60 per month and a whopping $1243.20 per year! RI-DI-CU-LOUS!

So being the poor student I am, I took a trip to my local grocery store and picked up a bottle of Maxwell House breakfast blend (medium) roast coffee, mmm! After that it was time to search for a portable coffee cup, so I made my way to Target and after about 30 mins of picking and choosing I finally settled on an aladdin brand cup. I was all set and ready to start my new make-my-own-coffee regimen. The next morning came and I was excited to make my coffee. I put  one tbsp. of coffee in my cup, added sugar, a little milk and water. I was almost ready to go and beaming about the $3.70 I would be saving that day when I realized that I had been mixing for a while but my coffee wouldn't dissolve. Hmm, what is up with this coffee? Figuring I must have made it wrong I poured that away and started to make my coffee again from scratch. 1 tbsp coffee, sugar, milk, water -- mix. Coffee still won't dissolve. I finally decided to check the label on the coffee to see if it was expired...it wasn't. What I did realize however that with my inexperienced coffee buying self I had actually bought brewed coffee instead of instant coffee. Crap! I don't own a coffee maker. So feeling defeated I left the house and went on my way to school, stopping by the local starbucks to spend yet another $3.70. 

I did however go back to the grocery store in the evening and made certain to get Instant coffee - man was I happy. So the next day up until today I've been having my Maxwell House Breakfast blend (medium) roast Instant coffee everyday. I have plenty of servings left (90 servings/bottle) and it only cost me $6.11.

Maxwell House Instant Coffee and my aladdin coffee cup

So in summary:
Price of Starbucks per year = $1243.20
Price of Instant Coffee per year =  $24.44
Feeling you get when you realize you just saved  $1218.76 = Priceless!
for everything else there's....common sense?

And now, the moment we've all been waiting for, the winner of the Red Digital Camera courtesy of the sharper Image is.....

Camille Knox!!

When contacted and told she was the winner of this giveaway, Camille had this to say:

" Oh my god! thank you soo much! I've never won anything before, I still can't believe it. Thank you so much and your blogs really help in preparing me for Dental school. I've been following you privately for a while and I like how you make it so fun to read. I've applied for next year and I have you to thank for providing information on how to go about applying. Thank you again! I love your blog even more now :)..."

Congratulations Camille! and you're very welcome. Thank you as well for visiting my blog and for your kind words.. I'm very happy that I was able to help you through the process. Good luck with your applications.

Fall! and catch up

As I sit at my study desk this afternoon getting ready to douse myself into some rigorous studying, I am quickly reminded that I must make time for the things that are important to me. I like to think of Dental School, or any professional school for that matter, as a virus, one that once you're exposed to it quickly invades, gorges through your system  making it's way to every crevice of your being and takes over your life to the point that all you can think, breathe, eat or sleep is Dental School. That's about to change starting...now.

Today marks the first day of Fall. That totally caught me off guard since in my opinion I haven't even had a summer yet. Where did the time go? I don't usually get excited at this time of the year because it means that it will soon be winter, which means I'll have to deal with temperatures below 50 degrees (F), which probably means I hate fall too since I'm grumpy at any temperature below 70 degrees (F) - but that may just be the Caribbean girl in me talking. One thing I do like about Fall though is all the cute sweaters, coats and boots! So in celebration of the season and in my effort to add a little diversity to my life, I think I'm going shopping this weekend, fall shopping! Who wants to come with? Hopefully that will steer me in a different direction albeit for a few hours and perhaps ease some tension as well. Tension? yeah tension from an Anatomy exam/grade that almost gave me an aneurysm yesterday. There I go again....

Anyway, that's as far off course my Dental School entrenched mind will take me for now. I gotta go study some head and neck anatomy, some Biochem, prepare for a test tomorrow and read 3 chapters of a novel called "The Pact." 

PS Remember how I said I'd have less time to blog because I'd be so busy with school? Well, I figured I'd MAKE time for my little corner on the www. My blog gives me such joy, and I spent a lot of time putting it together. So as I reflect on where I am thus far, I had to remind myself that my journey is not a Sprint but a marathon and hence the race is not for the swift but for those who can endure to the end. You are welcome to take that advice as well.

** Enter the digital camera giveaway here**

Does the word FREE mean anything to you?

FYI and just in case you were wondering,  my Biochemistry exam went well for the most part yesterday -good riddance! Preparing for that exam required harnessing a few extra brain cells which were quickly filled to maximum capacity and to the point where by Monday morning at around 2:32am I caved and just simply could.not.go.on.any.more (a little exaggeration never hurts). I intentionally took a few hours off from studying last night to recoup and revamp for my next major exam coming up soon, Anatomy. Even though that's a couple days away, I also have a few small tests and quizzes for other classes to get through before then.

Anycrazyexams, I jump at the word FREE! Don't you? yes? no? YES? good! because the deadline for the digital camera giveaway is today and so far I have only 12 applicants. But, because I care for my fellow bloggers and readers so much and because I'm choosing to give you the benefit of the doubt - just in case you missed the offer announcement, and partly because I've been slacking on my blogging duties, I've decided to extend my offer.
You have between now and the end of the month (09/30/10) to enter the sweepstakes to win a red digital camera - donated to me but specially for YOU by The Sharper Image.

 <3.0MP, 4x digital zoom, 16MB memory expandable to 4GB or 10,000 photos>

All you have to do is:
1. Send an email to patrice@stu-dentdiaries.com with the word: CAM (1 entry)
2. Follow this blog through google friend connect (1 entry)
3. Invite a friend to follow this blog ( 1 entry)
4. Follow Stu-DENT Diaries on facebook (1 entry)
5. Tweet this giveaway on twitter (1 entry). You will need to follow me so I can keep track @MzPTrice
**BONUS: Mention me and/or this offer in a blog post with a link to my site. Send that link/post to me so I can see the wonderful things you wrote :)

See here for additional eligibility rules and guidelines. 

Win a sleek, compact digital camera!!

Haven't I always said that I love giving things away?! This time around I'm giving away an oh so cute, red digital camera!

 < ain't it cute?!>

 It has such great features too! 

4x digital zoom, maximum photo resolution 3.0MP (2048x1536), built-in 16MB memory, expands to 4GB (or 10,000 photos). 1.1" LCD color display screen, JPEG photo file format. 

Uses 2AAA batteries (not included). 3 3/4"L x 2 1/4"H x 1 1/8" W. 

To enter:

*Send an email to patrice@stu-dentdiaries.com with the word: CAM (1 entry)

*Follow this blog through google friend connect (1 entry)

*Invite a friend to follow this blog ( 1 entry)

*Follow Stu-DENT Diaries on facebook (1 entry)

*Tweet this giveaway on twitter (1 entry). You will need to follow me so I can keep track @MzPTrice

**Remember, the more entries, the greater your chance to win!

Go here for additional details and eligibility rules.

winner will be randomly chosen on 09/14/2010 09/30/10. SPREAD THE WORD!