one lonely success

I never thought that I would be so intimately familiar with wax.

“Wax?”

Yes, wax. As in the stuff that candles are made out of. It is also the material of choice for dental eductation. As dent students, we carve wax, flow wax and–if successful–form beautiful displays of occlusion out of it. A good wax-up is nothing less than a work of art and a bad wax-up is one of the most horrendous things you’ll ever see.

Now, I try not to burden loyal readers with my school day woes, but Occlusion Lab has really gotten the best of me. We take our first waxing quiz tomorrow (a delightful opportunity to wax a tooth to occlusion in a mere 90 mins) and I’m just hoping to have the minimum requirements for a passing grade.

Yes. It’s that tough. At least for now.

You see, something miraculous seems to happen once you’ve taken occlusion lab. It seems that everyone else you talk to is an expert and wonders how you can make such a big deal out of such a miniscule task.

I eagerly (read desperately) await that day.

Until then, where’s my PKT carver? (10 bonus JCDN points if you know what PKT stands for!)

UPDATE: Well, the wax quiz actually went OK. At the end of the 90 mins, I had my 5 points of occlusion that I needed on tooth #4 and I think I survived. This weekend, I’ve got to practice waxing up #4 and #29 into occlusion in preparation for the midterm exam on Monday. Wish me luck!