Day 3 Spokane

More and more learning today.

I got to observe an alveoloplasty today..... don't worry, I didn't know what it was either. I think it can be performed for a few different reasons. The reason today was due to a sharp alveolar ridge following an extraction. The dentist had me palpate the alveolar ridge before we got started. Normally this ridge is smooth, but on this patient there were sharp line angles underneath the gingiva. It was no wonder the patient was in pain. So the doctor took a scalpel to the gingiva and flaped the gingiva up, clipped the sharp edges with bone cutters, and then used a bone file to smooth it out. It was REALLY cool to watch. I was pumped that I got to see this today.

One other cool thing I learned today is that if #20 or #29 have roots with apices close to the mental foramen they can appear to have apical cysts due to the radiolucency of of the foramen. It was funny, because the dentist was telling me how this an exception to a rule but he has never seen it. One of the assistants over heard us talking and ran over and told us that she just saw one that morning. So she brought out the X-ray and I got to see a real life example. It was pretty cool, and it would be easy to make that mistake if you didn't know the exception.

Spokane Falls continues to be a great experience.

Brad