First 3 weeks of dentistry in heritage city...

Phewwww... time really flies been working as a dentist officially for the past 3 weeks... Initially I was observing for 1/2 a day! Then I started seeing patients on first day itself...( after not doing anything for the last -4 months) poor patients...
Then reality hits, I have to make my own decisions on what is best for patient at the point of time ( referring to their current need... ie no need treatment planning) . Currently in outpatients department ( going on rotation every 2 months to all the speciality) .
So what exatly outpatient department does? Well we treat walk in patients for - filling,extractions, scaling ,dentures and certain root treatment. Fillings mostly are without local anaesthetic! endos are limited to anteriors... no dams available for me... :( Oh! what else... what is BPE? (not screened at all)
Oh you can do whatever treatment you deem necessary for the patient and patient usually tells you what they want! (dont bother about explaining things in long winded way...usually patients don't return for 2nd visit)
X-ray for extractions or as special investigation to aid diagnosis??? ( oh its foreign language!) I still do it occasionally when patient cant give me a proper history for diagnosis and for endo plus wisdom teeth xla just incase I could do a MOS on impacted molar.
:) Training in UK and working bak home its 2 different stories. Learning to adapt is important. You got not much time to treat patients (about 30 mins from the time they are registered) , if you start to do something heroicc time catches up on you, next thing you know you have 10 patients waiting !!! :(
Government outpatients services are extremely cheap! RM1-2 for most stuffs and RM50 for MOS (while in private your fork out RM500 for it) :) At the end of it I do enjoy my 8-5 mon-fri work. They are good days and bad days, you learn as you go along!!!
I sometimes wish i could speak mandarin....(ooo here ppl speak mandarin chinese patients la) I speak to them in my BM karat!

Some terms I've learnt:-

ngilu- pain,sensitive,alittle pain,sometimes pain,dull pain,sharp pain (oh it covers alot)
sakit - pain (serious terms)
cuci gigi- scaling
tampal -filling
geraham - molars
hati lebam- something along the line with heart failure plus peparu berair

Oh medical history is even more hilarious-

Me: Puan/Encik ade ape ape masalah kesihatan? badan sihat?
Pt :Tak de. Sihat.
Me: Ade darah tinggi? Kencing manis?
Pt : Darah tinggi ade. Sikit sikit. Kencing manis ade.
Me: Ade makan ape - ape ubat tak?
Pt : Ade. Satu untuk darah tinggi. Satu untuk kencing manis. Satu lagi tak tau.
Me: (GRrrrrr....) Nama ubat tau?
Pt : (some patients) yang bulat warna putih tu.... (some other patients) tak tau doktor kasi...(!!!)
Me: Sudah makan ubat untuk hari ini?
Pt : Tak makan lagi nanti lepas cabut baru makan... (blurgh...) (not all are like that most of them take their meds)

Moral- its hard to gauge drug interactions... when patient doesnt even know what they have & most of them don't even see their drs unless they are really ill)

It's a learning curve.... :)