A DAY WITH DENTAL STUDENTS.....

Clinics and Classes at MRDC can be a heady experience, as Ayushi Bhatia, CS, FET student of MRIU finds out....

I was assigned the task of spending a day with dental students and given my interest in the field, took up the offer instantly. Like all dental students, I woke up early at 6:30 am for this is what a dental student does daily. By 8:00 am, I was at MRDC, for students were barred entry into the class after 8:05 am. There was a system in place and everything was as per schedule. Once inside the class, it was not too difficult to follow the rules.

Sitting in the lecture room surrounded by a good number of dentists, or should I say, upcoming dentists, and wearing those white doctor aprons, gave me a feeling of being a dental student. But the truth lies within, I wasn’t one. The lecture hall was reverberating with new ideas but all of that seemed to be going over my head. I tried to focus, but somehow it was not my cup of tea. The next slot sounded interesting. It was the time for hospital rounds. I joined 3rd year MRDC students on this venture, and found myself at the Asian Hospital for an educational round--education for them and experience for me. We stepped into the dental ward of the hospital. We also attended lectures of the Hospital doctors and treated patients. 

While I wasn’t treating patients (thank God!) but it was quite a pleasant experience watching the budding dentists working as dutiful professionals. The round got over and we moved towards MRDC. After a quick lunch, it was time for clinics. The year is divided into small clinical groups which start from third year and continues right through to final year. The clinical groups become close-knit and are friendly and reassuring, particularly for the daunting experience of seeing your first ever patient in the third year! In the third year clinic, the faculty members keep a watchful eye over the students for fear of mistakes. Next year they are likely to have more freedom. The students are looking forward to making decisions on their own and being in an environment that is more similar to private practice. As mentioned by others, this “typical schedule" is variable from week to week with other small classes thrown in, but it gives you a basic idea. These schedules must be hectic for them as it was exhausting for me but I eventually can’t complain. I enjoyed the day and made the best out of it.