A Technician Goes to Dental School: One Semester Down, Seven to Go
Posted Apr 28, 2011 in Labs & Profiles
In Part II of his ongoing column, technician-turned-dental student, Eric Nunnally, CDT, chronicles his experience at the University of Louisville School of Dentistry.
People kept telling me that dental school would fly by. Liars.
It has been a great experience so far, but by no means is it going quickly. People also told me that getting accepted to dental school was the hardest part of dental school. Liars.
The coursework is difficult and, at this point, I feel more like a physician than a dentist. I could diagnose a systolic heart murmur more quickly than a cavity and I know more about the systems of the human body than I ever wanted to. We're taking the same basic science courses as the medical students, but with the dentistry work on top of it. We're in school approximately 34 hours a week and it's not unusual to study 30-40 hours for one exam, which we have every three to four weeks. In between all of that, you try to learn to drill...
