Dentistry – The Course itself – The clinical years.

So you’ve got through what seems like a long slog of endless information, and you’ve sat your second year exams (they’re just before Easter), and passed, what’s on the other side? The best term, that’s what! The last term in second year is where you learn the basic clinical skills like drilling cavities and placing fillings. It’s a really fun and fairly laid back term, were you’ll practice on ‘phantom heads’ with fake jaws made up of real extracted (mostly clean) teeth. This is also the first time you’ll really interact with the clinicians, and find out they’re all really approachable and helpful.

The start of third year is when you’ll first start seeing patients, which is absolutely nerve wrecking! You’re thrown straight in at the deep end, getting your own, new patients, off the hospital’s waiting list, and these are then your patients to keep, plan, treat and manage, so you’re also a bit of your own secretary too.

Being thrown into it though is actually really beneficial, you’ll learn more being out of your comfort zone, you’ll adapt, enhance and refine your skills at a rapid pace, and although you may be shaking giving your first injection, (actually, you will be!), there will be a really helpful clinician there guiding you through it, and the patients are actually lovely, extremely grateful, and, excuse the pun, patient, after all, they’ve signed up for it and you’re helping them, which is extremely rewarding for you.

Over years 3, 4 and 5 you’ll continue to enhance and speed up your dentistry and knowledge, by having a mixture of clinical sessions with your own patients, undertaking aspects of dentistry such as dentures, gum disease and decay, as well as completing courses learning how to do root canal treatment and crowns, and even weeks each year on oral surgery extracting teeth, which is so much fun, and hand numbing! You’ll get stuck in in the labs too, learning and understanding how laboratories make dentures and crowns, and even making your own.

There are still lectures, only 3-4 a week, but they’re much more clinical based and seem more relevant, but when you get stuck into the human diseases course, easily the largest, all about medical conditions that patients may have that complicate treatment, you’ll appreciate all the effort you put in in the first 2 years as that was valuable baseline knowledge.

Written by 5th yr Dental student Will Holme.

Communication is Key 

I recently had a seminar on communication and how important it is to be a good communicator in the work place. I of course agree that the work place is where you would want every communication to be excellent, especially with your boss.  However I also think it’s important to think about how you communicate with people every day. For instance, I have been having lectures about signals and how important they are in the animal world. So basically a signal is something that one animal gives and another one receives and it tells both of them animals that they should produce a behaviour. So you can imagine in the human world; a baby is hungry, so it cries and the parent will come and feed the baby. That is a form of a signal, because it communicates some message to the receiver (the parent) from the signaller (baby).

So now think about the different signals you will give off every day. Some of them you might not be aware of, but either way they will normally be someone who is receiving your signal. Hence, based on this I think it is important to think about how you communicate with people. You may walk past someone you have never met before and smile at them, and it turns out next year they are your lecturer or a demonstrator. The little communication you had can then make them form an impression of you, a good impression I assume. Think about the different people you will communicate with in a day, your friends, your family, lecturers, maybe someone who works in a shop. It is normal to change the way you talk to people depending on who they are, but it’s always important to consider your audience.

So this may be a lot of rambling on but what I am trying to say is, be aware of how you communicate yourself to other people. Well, because you never know who the person who you are talking to could turn out to be.

Around December time in first year, you’ll want to start thinking about second year accommodation. The key is, don’t panic. There always seems to be a mass hysteria that all the houses are going to run out, they’re not, and they never do, and you’ll always find nice people to live with.

There are two main places most people chose to live, both with an abundance of houses, Jesmond, seen as hip and happening, modern, close, however, fairly expensive (£70-£90 per week), or Heaton (£60-£75 per week ), which is slightly further away, doesn’t have the bars of Jesmond, but generally, is cheaper. I live in West Jesmond, and cycle in, it takes me less than 10 minutes, to walk, about 25.

You’ll also need to decide who to live with, don’t rush into this decision, obviously if you completely gel with certain people, go for it, if you’re not too certain on some people, wait a bit, as you may actually not like them by the end of the year (it happens). Don’t feel pressured to go house hunting with a group because you’re worried you have nobody else to live with, you actually will do, such as people on your course, in your halls, or in the clubs apart of, do a bit of asking around, and most of all, be selfish, you’ll be there for a whole year!

Finding houses can be stressful, and you don’t always know what to look for. In first year I went to some accommodation talks put on by the university, designed to help you look for danger signs, dodgy landlords and what to look for in your contract. These was extremely helpful and I recommend it to everyone, plus the Uni has services all year round in the King’s gate building to help with this.

When looking around an accommodation, definitely ask the current tenants what the place is like to live in, how expensive are their bills, how cold is it, are there any issues, and most importantly, what is the landlord like, a good/helpful landlord is crucial!

Obviously, unlike most courses, dentistry is 5 years, not the usual 3, so I’d be prepared to live with course mates at least in 4^th and 5^th year.

Will, Dental Student

Hi everyone! My name is Danyal and I’m a 3^rd year medic here at Newcastle. In this post, I’ll just tell you a little bit about Newcastle as a city and what student life is like here.

The important thing about Newcastle’s campus is that it is very close to town. The Student Union and many of the campus buildings are practically in town which makes it very easy to dash into town in between lectures or in lunch to do grab food or do a quick shop.

Newcastle is known for its nightlife,  and there’s also a lot to see such as Monument, Grey St. (previously voted as one of the prettiest streets in the UK!), Jesmond Dene, and Tynemouth Beach. More importantly, Newcastle also has the St. James’ football stadium very close to campus. Students can get tickets for a relatively cheap price from the Student Union – I watched Newcastle end Chelsea’s 23-win streak which was totally unexpected! Another sight to see in Newcastle is Quayside (image below) – this is probably the most scenic part of Newcastle and is a great place to go out for a nice meal though it is slightly pricy so save it for a nice occasion! Lastly, the Metro Centre is worth a visit – it used to be the largest mall in the UK and you could easily spend a day there without crossing the same shop twice. It has the IMAX theatre, hundreds of stores, and lots of great restaurants.

There are lots of great places to eat in Newcastle! Some of the hidden gems include Quilliam Brother’s, a teahouse near campus, and Grainger Market, a farmer’s market in town where you can usually find good deals for most things! There are also several restaurants and bars in Jesmond, the main residential area for students.

If you wanted to get out of Newcastle for the weekend, you could easily make an inexpensive trip to Durham, Tynemouth, Edinburgh, the Lake District, etc. There are lots of places in the North which are easily accessible by public transport or even by cycle if you’re up for the challenge!

As you can tell, Newcastle essentially has everything you’d like in a city and it is accessible which makes it easy to get around! We’re also one of the few small cities with a metro system! If you you still aren’t convinced then why not come and visit and see for yourself, because it’s honestly a great city for students and all of the students here love it.

Danyal Ladha

Hi everyone! My name is Danyal Ladha and I’m a 3^rd year medic here at Newcastle. In this post, I’m just going to tell you a little bit about how the first two pre-clinical years are structured.

Year I

The first year of medical school consists of the following modules:

• Molecules to Disease: biochemistry, genetics, basic cellular physiology – this is essentially a review of A-level concepts
• Life Cycle: focused around pregnancy and male/female reproductive health
• Clinical Pharmacology, Therapeutics, and Prescribing: introduction to pharmacology and basic pharmacology of the main conditions you cover over the year (done in second semester)
• Nutrition, Metabolism, and Endocrinology: the name says it all – you will cover all the physiology of nutrition including biochemistry (i.e. glycolysis, Kreb’s, B-oxidation, etc.) and also learn about the liver, pancreas, stomach, etc. This was one of my favourite modules!
• Cardiovascular, Respiratory, and Renal Medicine: this is the favourite in first year for most people! In this module, you’ll learn about the heart, kidney, lungs, and do a bit of haematology (anaemia, blood clotting, etc.)
• Patients, Doctors, and Society: this module involves all the communication skills, ethics, sociology, etc. and is quite dry in all honesty. Not people’s favourite…

In first year, you also have a few written assignments, the biggest of which is the Family Study. You, along with 2 classmates, are paired with a pregnant woman in the community and visit her at her home to discuss her pregnancy, both before and after it. You then have to write a bio-psycho-social report on your patient.

Year II

In second year, the first semester is mainly one module: Thoughts, Senses, and Movement. This sounds like it’s about your emotions but it’s actually the most intense module of the first two years – in it you do a bulk of the anatomy (including neuroanatomy and musculoskeletal stuff – upper and lower limb) and all of the neuroscience. It is a favourite for some but those who dislike neuroscience and anatomy have a hard time with it. I personally enjoyed it quite a lot!

In the second semester, the modules are as follows:

• Clinical Sciences and Investigative Medicine: pathology, immunology, microbiology, virology – this is dry at times but also quite interesting to learn about how all the different bacteria/viruses can infect the body. You also learn about cancer and systemic diseases.
• Clinical Pharmacology, Therapeutics, and Prescribing: pharmacology centred around microbiology, cancer, and neuropharmacology
• Patients, Doctors, and Society: this is continuous throughout the first two years and will be there to haunt you every semester. Enjoy!
• Life Cycle: in second year, this is more focused on ageing

In second year, you do a Patient Study, which is similar to the Family Study but with a patient with a chronic illness. You also have an assignment called a Student Selected Component in which you do a research paper on a topic of your choice.

Something important to mention is that there is a module called Clinical Skills and Communication which runs throughout the first two years – in it you learn all the important clinical exams such as respiratory, gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, taking blood, blood pressure, etc. You get to practise these on volunteers which allows you to practise your bedside manner and professionalism as well. I had to mention this because early clinical experience is one of Newcastle’s strengths!

I hope that was an informative overview of the first two preclinical years! If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at d.ladha@newcastle.ac.uk.

Danyal Ladha

Hi everyone! My name is Danyal and I’m a 3^rd year medic at Newcastle University. In this blog, I’m just going to explain how anatomy is taught at Newcastle, and a few pointers for learning it based on my experience.

At Newcastle, anatomy is taught by prosection rather than dissection – this means that the Demonstrators and Anatomy Leads have already dissected the cadaver for us. There are obviously pros and cons to both methods but the benefit of this is that you do not risk damaging the specimen and ruining your own learning material!

In first year, you have a Dissecting Room session once every 2-3 weeks (more frequent in 2^nd semester) and you learn the anatomy of the thorax, abdomen, reproductive organs, heart, and kidney. In second year, the first semester is anatomy-heavy and you are in the Dissecting Room 2-3 times a week. All of the anatomy of the upper limb, lower limb, face, brain, head and neck, etc. is learned in this first semester so it’s safe to say that it is initially a bit overwhelming. If you like anatomy or neuroscience though, you will definitely enjoy this semester.

I initially found anatomy quite challenging but I certainly enjoyed it, particularly in my second year. Below, I’m just going to list a few tips which helped me a lot and will hopefully be of some benefit to you:

• Prepare for the anatomy sessions beforehand! I didn’t do this for the longest time during first year and it really helps to look over things for even half an hour the night before a session. If you walk in with no idea what you’re going to learn about, it’s all a bit overwhelming and you don’t absorb any of the important material they try to show you with the cadavers. You won’t have access to cadavers later on so try to make the most of the time you have with them!
• Use TeachMeAnatomy as a guide – I discovered it in second year and I wished I knew about it in first year! It explains everything in a concise and understandable way and has just the right amount of information.
• Watch AnatomyZone videos on YouTube – each one is 12-15 minutes and explains things really well in a 3-D format which really helps. I also used the program that the AnatomyZone teachers use called BioDigitalHuman – you can google this and use the website to look at any of the anatomy in 3-D. I’d highly recommend this as it helps a lot to visualise things from different angles.
• Use mnemonics and draw things out to help you remember them – I found that drawing out the blood supply of something helped it stick in my memory a lot easier than just trying to passively memorise it.
• With regards to textbooks, Netter’s Atlas of Human Anatomy has really good pictures as does McMinn’s Atlas (more realistic images).

I hope some of those tips were helpful and that you feel a bit more excited about learning anatomy now. It really is very interesting and it’s definitely important because so much of it is clinically relevant. Good luck J

Danyal Ladha