War Zone
“Good lord, you guys look like you came out of a war zone — it’s just a test!”
— The fantastic Dr. Tautin, after our 4 hour prosthodontic lab practical
This man, one of the bench dentists who evaluates and guides us through labs, saved my sanity in Oral Anatomy lab first semester. In a class with the purpose of weeding out those who didn’t want to be in school (and the distant second goal of teaching oral anatomy), he did his best to get a new flock of uptight students to settle down. On waxing up a tooth: “If it looks like a tooth, you’re on the right track.”
You see, Dr. Tautin insists on clarifying our understanding of how dental school fits into the rest of our lives: make it through, move on. He once called the experience “job training”, which did more toward clarifying my perspective than 40 hours in therapy ever could. Having never given therapy a try, I think knowing more people like Dr. Tautin, those with their perspective and priorities at a wonderfully realistic, humanly-attainable level, does wonders for the psyche.
Closing in on the end of the semester…