My Profession

Hi everyone!

Today I´m going to talk about my profession. The profession that I chose is Dentistry. 

Dentistry is a profession that  takes care of the health of the stomatognathic system. This system is composed by; lips, tongue, teeth, gum, cheek, palate, tonsils, salivary glands, lymph nodes, temporomandibular joint, among others. The organs and tissues of this system allow basic functions such as; eat, talk, to pronunce, chew, smile, breathe, even kiss.

Due to the vital importance of this part of the body, the dentistry degree has a duration of six years. This profession is a mixture of a wide scientific knowledge (branches of science such as biology, chemistry, physics, biochemistry, pathology, semiology, physiology, pharmacology, among others) and highly developed manual skills.

Personally, this profession that brings together all the things that I like. But the most important thing is to give a better quality of oral health to our patients and educate the Chilean population about oral health and its prevention. In this way we can even improve the quality of our country's health.

                                 

My Favourite Concert

Hi Everyone!

Today I'm going to talk about my favorite concert. The best part is that I was able to participate. I play the violin since 2008. I started with private tutors and then I applied to a youth orchestra. I am currently a member of the Orquesta Sinfónica Juvenil de Padre Hurtado. 

In 2016 we were selected to participate in the 15th anniversary of the founding of children's and youth orchestras of Chile (FOJI). It consisted of a series of concerts in different parts of Santiago. First we went to the Pablo Neruda concert hall in Quinta Normal. The second presentation was at the Palacio de la Moneda and the last and most important was at the Movistar Arena. 

It was the best experience of my life. There were 40 orchestras from all over Chile, and we played several songs together. It was wonderful because there were many types of classical instruments. It was a great experience for us, because it was the first time that a youth orchestra represented Padre Hurtado in a national event.

A Country I´d Like to visit

Hi Everyone!

My favourite country is Sweden. It is in Northern Europe. Its capital is Stockholm. Its population is 9.903 million people. This country has a mixture of modernity and nature. 

Sweden has one of the most efficient political systems in the world. In fact, the country guarantees all the rights of its inhabitants, such as free education and health. Swedish nature is vital for the governments and inhabitants of the country. The forests and seas are very well cared for, with their species always protected.

The city of Stockholm is built on 14 islands. It has more than 50 bridges, in addition to an ancient medieval city, Gamla Stan, royal palaces and museums, such as the Skansen outdoors.

Gamla Stan's Christmas market is the oldest in Sweden, starting in 1837. Here you can find candies, decoration, crafts and much more in some cabins that claim to imitate the stalls that existed in the Middle Ages.

I really want to know this country! 

Reflections of the Year

This has been a very dynamic year for me. I started the year very calmly enjoying my holidays in January and February. In those months, I began to buy the instruments that we were going to use in the clinical practice subjects and I bought my clinical suit. I was very excited to wear a clinic suit!  I was very motivated to start this academic year, since every time we have less theoretical subjects and more practical subjects.

The year began very demanding from the very first day and my class schedule was very extensive. Most days I enter at 08:00 am and leave at 05:30 pm. To get to the time I have to get up at 05:30 am. But I was so motivated that the schedules were not a problem for me.

The new subject “Simulation” is stressful but I've learned a lot about clinic and patient care. I learned to fight against frustration, which is very common in this type of career. It is the first time that I perform operative practices and it is very common to make mistakes, but I had to learn to be efficient and to work quickly. 

The other subjects are easier such a “Anthropology”, “promotion and education in health” and “dentistry based on evidence”.  Also take a drawing course that allows me to relax a bit.  And I cannot forget my violin classes on weekends and the concerts with the orchestra of Padre Hurtado! 

In this English course I learned a lot about this language. I am a very introverted person and English scared me sometimes. But now I feel more secure  and I want to continue learning.  

The year in general has been a bit more complex than the previous one, but everything can be achieved with hard work and persistence, that is the key to everything!  I have learned to organise myself better, to organise better my times and to be more persevering with my goals, there is still much to be given. I also had to study much more, but I'm happy.

My Favourite Food

It was very difficult for me to think about my favorite food because I love to eat.

In my family everyone knows how to cook but my grandmother does it every day. She has a garden with all kinds of vegetables to cook and  prepares most of the time traditional food. Of all the delicious things she cooks, what I like most are beans, and the best thing is that they can be prepared in many ways, always with many vegetables.

For example,

1. Granados beans; They are cooked in summer and prepared with corn and basil,  can be accompanied with tomato salad.

2. Beans with reins; They are cooked in winter and prepared with noodles, pumpkin and sausage.

3. Beans with mazamorra

4. Beans with Mote

5. Beans with rise

Then you will find a recipe to prepare beans with reins in these days of cold.

Ingredients

2 ½ Cups of beans
½ Kg of sliced pumpkin
2 Tablespoons of oil
½ Finely chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 Teaspoon of colored pepper
½ Teaspoon of ground oregano and cumin
¼ Pack of noodles cut in half

Preparation

1.- Put the beans and squash together in a saucepan with 1 ½ liter of hot water, cook on high heat for 25 to 30 minutes or until they are well cooked.

2.- Meanwhile, heat a frying pan with the indicated oil and add the onion with the garlic, sauté for a few minutes until it softens slightly. Season with the colored pepper and the oregano, cook again for a few more minutes.

3.- Add this sauce to the pot with the beans and add the noodles, cook for about 8 to 10 minutes until the noodles are cooked completely and thicken the preparation. Once ready serve when you like accompanied by a salad of tomatoes or celery if it's your taste.

My Favourite Subject

       

This year at the university has been very intense. The subjects of this year have been more complex and more related to future work in clinic. But that does not mean that these subjects are not entertaining to study. Currently, my favourite subject is "Scientific and Clinical basis for diagnosis in dentistry I".

It is very interesting because this subject covers several branches of the sciences such as biochemistry, physiology, pathology and semiology It helps the dentist in training to identify signs and symptoms through the clinical examination to recognize alterations of normality. Thanks to this knowledge we can recognize the most prevalent pathologies in oral mucosa, salivary glands, periodontal tissues, maxillary bones and teeth, in patients of all ages.

The subject begins with biochemistry, which studies the chemical composition of human beings. Especially proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, nucleic acids and metabolic reactions.

Physiology studies the functions of each part of the body. It is related to the nervous, musculoskeletal, circulatory, respiratory, gastrointestinal, immune and endocrine systems.

Pathology is a branch of medicine responsible for the study of diseases. More specifically, this discipline is responsible for the study of the biochemical and functional structural changes that underlie the disease in cells, tissues and organs.

Finally, in semiology, the various pathological manifestations (signs or objective clinical manifestations and symptoms or subjective perceptions) are identified to form a clinical diagnosis.

All this knowledge allows me to see my profession from different prospectives and makes me understand all the dimensions that a disease can have. It is complex to study but it allows me to be better trained as a health professional.

Medline Plus

In this blog I am going to talk about a website that helped me a lot in my first year of the career. In Anatomy, I learned about all the organs of the body, bones, muscles, etc. I had to study many types of diseases of the whole body, not just the mouth. In addition, I had to solve clinical cases in which it requires a lot of information about surgical interventions, diseases and their diagnosis, recommended drugs according to the case and which anatomical structure was affected.

For that I used the website MedlinePlus, which is supported by national library of medicine of USA. In this Website we can inform ourselves and learn about the systems of the body and its various components, disorders and diseases of any kind and education about well-being, prevention and planning.

In the diagnosis and treatment section, we can find information about surgery and rehabilitation, diagnostic tests, symptoms, alternative therapies, transplants and donations, and medication treatments.

In the diseases section we can consult about; injuries, mental health and behavior, problems of metabolism, infections, congenital defects, poisoning and toxicology, abuse of addictive substances, pregnancy and very common diseases such as diabetes and cancer.

It also has multimedia material and videos explaining how they affect diseases, how they perform surgeries, questionnaires on healthy lifestyles and games about health.

One of the things I like most about this website is that it can be used by all kinds of people, from professionals to patients. It is highly recommended for people to educate themselves about their illnesses and which is the protocol that the doctor follows to treat the disease.

Link: https://medlineplus.gov/spanish/