Power Couple

Introducing Doctor and Doctor Schneider!

Ok yes, I realize that may sound all kinds of obnoxious. I don't mean for it to be, I'm just proud because the only thing more difficult than earning a doctorate degree is...earning a doctorate degree while your spouse is ALSO earning a doctorate degree-hundreds of miles away in another state. 

grad school grad!

 I am so incredibly grateful for the overwhelming support from my family and friends throughout this long journey of achieving my childhood dream. I'm also grateful for the amazing teachers and dentists and staff and mentors and patients that encouraged me along the way. And believe it or not, I'm also grateful to all of you. Yes, you, the person reading this post right now.

I struggled and stumbled along this path more than once, but always found the resilience to keep going, and that is in major part thanks to everyone who supported me, including this online community. It sounds silly, but over the years of blogging, I have made some true friends that are also complete strangers. So to anyone who has been kind enough to read my rants, leave encouraging comments, and even reach out to me directly, thank you for your support. 

Doctorate of Dental Medicine

Let's just take a moment and talk about this for a second because you guys, I have a doctorate degree! 

friday favorites: 01.11.19 dental edition

Did you ever have a really good work week? Like a great perfect wonderful week. Yea, me either. But this one was pretty darn close. I've been feeling so overwhelmed with life lately so I needed this.

 Being 4 hours away from home makes it pretty difficult to organize my life and my time right now. And checking off all the boxes to get all the things done before graduation in May is terrifying. I can't even. While I've been behind on my favorite hobby, who am I kidding, my only hobby of blogging, I'm making some time to share this incredible week I've had. I still have lots to share from December + the holidays + life, oh and that time we went to Morocco. But for now, here are my favorites from the week. 

a day in the life of a dental student: 1st rotation

I am settled right on into my second set of dental rotations, but tomorrow I'm headed back to my first rotation clinic to finish up a case. So can I just talk about my very 1st dental rotation for a minute? Because it was an amazing milestone in this crazy process that is dental school? 

part two, round two

Here we go with part 2, round 2 of my dental school boards. Hooray for standardized tests. When I took the entrance exam for dental school, I postponed my exam over and over and over again...until I couldn't anymore. When I finally did take the darn test, I aced it and got multiple offers to dental school. A few years into dental school, when it came time to take the first part of the National Board Dental Exam, I was terrified all over again and certain that I would do horribly. But of course I passed. So when it was time to sit for yet another standardized exam for dental school, I finally convinced myself that it would be fine this time around. I've done this before.  

starting rotations

How can it be that it's actually here? I finally rode off into the sunset to start my dental rotations. In order to understand how phenomenal this is, I have to explain how they work.

my last month at the dental school

I returned to the dental school yesterday to deliver a few last cases and it felt like a different world. It's hard to believe that I've only been on my away rotations for a little over a week. It got me reminiscing about my crazy hectic productive busy last month at the dental school. 

At a glance, I completed my graduation exam requirements on patients for root canals, emergency dentistry, dentures, assessing outcomes of care, and periodontal (gum) disease. It was a busy busy busy month. To top things off, I finally got to sell off all of my practice models because I only drill on real teeth these days. It was seriously the best feeling E-V-E-R to know that I am capable enough to leave the protection of the dental school and spend the next 7 months rotating through various clinics across the state to gain as much experience as possible with so many different patient populations. Graduation is so close, I can feel it. 

"Dear DXTTR"

Only 1 more day! 

One day until I leave the dental school and embark on 7 months of away rotations. It is beyond gratifying to be at this stage and closing this chapter of dental school. 

that time I wished dental school wasn't cancelled

Dental school is a beast. Truly. I think the hardest part about it is that there never seems to be an end. School from 8AM to 5PM and then you get to spend your evening studying and doing lab-work. Breaks are far and few in between at my dental school, so I’m always thankful for a minute to myself. 

drowning in dentures

Be careful what you wish for. For months, I was feeling upset that I hadn't yet had the opportunity to fabricate any dentures for patients. I was really starting to get worried about it because at my dental school, dentures are one of those procedures that slows people down with being able to graduate. 

PASSED!

I’ve been waiting and hoping to share this post for months. 

medical dental mission trip

Nothing fuels the heart or feeds the soul quite like helping others, which is why I couldn't be more excited to announce that I'm headed off on a medical dental mission trip to the Dominican Republic! 

tooth be told...I love my patients

Last week, I didn't have a single lunch break. With being on an emergency dental rotation, I ended up seeing patients straight through. The cranky hungry side of me wanted to do nothing but complain. And I won't lie, I may have whined a little. But at the end of it all, I'll skip lunch any day because I love what I do, I love why I do it, and I love my patients. It's the only way that I am able be at dental school right now, making so many sacrifices---far beyond missing a few lunches. 

studying for boards...by the numbers

For the weeks leading up to my dental school boards, I spent as much of my time as possible sitting here...at this very desk. There was so much material to cover and so little time to do it in. Honestly, this was a really rough time for me with being constantly overwhelmed. 

I love sharing the good sides of dental school here and with all the procedures and work that I get to do. But studying for this exam wasn't exciting and it wasn't easy. It was just constant stress and exhaustion. But I think it's important to share this side as well with all the real work that goes into pursuing this crazy career. Here's a glimpse of what studying for boards part 2...by the numbers was like. 

a day in the life of a dental student: boards study

The hardest part about prepping for boards wasn't the content, it was time management. My dental school runs on a very unique schedule where we get more clinical hours than anyone else in the country. But an unfortunate side effect of that is that we also get significantly less time off. 

So while most dental schools give their students anywhere from a few weeks to a month of uninterrupted study time-I got 3 days. As you might imagine, that doesn't even begin to make a dent in preparing for a 12 hour exam. So the name of the game became squeezing as much time as possible out of each day to make time for studying. Here's a glimpse of what my average day has looked like these past couple of months. 

a year of treating patients

And just like that, it’s June, which made me realize that I’ve been treating patients for a little over a year now. Some days I feel like an actual dentist, like yesterday when I did a perfectly filled root canal. Then there are days like today where my pediatric patient has a total meltdown to the point where I have to delay treatment. 

the pharmacy museum

I love museums because I'll never turn down a chance to learn something new. While we were in New Orleans, I realized that it was home to The Pharmacy Museum and I knew that we had to go. 

Having spent so many hours of my life agonizing over learning and understanding the many pharmaceutical agents we use today, it was nice to see this side of medicine from a fun historical side. I assumed that this little one room museum would be a quick visit, but we ended up spending almost 4 hours here. We loved the tour-it's a must. And it was so interesting to learn about all the medications and techniques that have been used over the years. If you have a chance to visit this museum, DO. It's filled with medical history that ranges from the mundane to the truly bizarre. But the best part is that everyone can appreciate this museum, whether you're in the medical field or not. 

this week of dental school

Orange 🍊you glad that it's finally the weekend? And a 3 day weekend at that. Honestly, I don't know what I'm soooo excited about, seeing as my plans for this weekend involve catching up on lab-work at the dental school. Ha! 

After this crazy busy week of dental school, I'm just happy to have a little more dominion over my schedule. Here's a peak at this crazy week I've had. 

dental school lately: vol. 5

One of the (many) reasons that I chose dentistry as a career is the flexibility. What other medical career offers such great hours? Even as a student, I've managed to make time to travel and see the world and really enjoy life on my schedule.