Considering switching to medicine. Please give me some feedback on my preps.
Please note: I probably spent about 2–3 hours working on the tooth marked with a cross in the pictures - and, most importantly, I did so almost entirely without water! It's probably also my best prep ever and even though I've worked on it a long time and gave it my all (which I have done on A LOT of preps before), I don't really know why it turned out so well and I think it's also, to a large extent, just a coincidence.
The other two teeth are typical examples of the result I get when I do crown preps under exam conditions:
- with water
- in 1.5 hours (I often need an additional 10–20 minutes)
I just finished the third semester, and so far, we've only had one class a week related to dentistry in the first semester. I still have to retake the exam from the first semester where I have to do a crown prep on a molar or premolar.
In the last 15 months I've practiced on approximately 40 days for 7 hours on average. In the last two weeks I practiced every day and could focus on only that. I only practiced molar crown preps.
I've watched a lot of YouTube videos—some of them multiple times—and have generally used every resource available to figure out how to prepare a tooth.
I know that the tooth I prepared withouth water looks fine. But I have three problems:
It's completely different with water. Especially in the approximal spaces I only see water. So I have to use a very low RPM and stop after every second to check if I fucked something up.
Even if I allow myself to prep without water and take >3hrs, not nearly every tooth turn out that well.
I don't enjoy practicing, and I sit there feeling very stiff and tense and often get a headache.
Whether or not a tooth turns out well enough just seems far too random to me. I think I'm someone who can never reduce the risk of failing a practical exam to almost zero. It's completely different than anatomy, biochemistry etc. If I were on my last attempt at a theoretical exam, I would take a semester off if necessary, study exclusively for that exam, and then I wouldn't be the least bit worried about failing it.
But we have only very limited practicing time in the sim lab.
Now would be my last opportunity to switch to medicine.
What do you think about the two preps I did under exam conditions, especially considering how much I've already practiced?
Please disregard the adjacent teeth, they are old and breaking contacts is not a problem anymore. :D