what type of math is used in dentistry?

Answer 1

GREAT QUESTION!

1. If you can count to 32, you can number the teeth.

2. If you can count to 10, 20 or 30, you are good for most composite curing procedures.

3. If you can push the start a timer that has been pre-set to 5 minutes, you are golden.

4. This is the tricky one. If you are trying to determine the length of a tooth that you are doing a root canal treatment on, you will have to understand ratios so that you can compare the actual length of an instrument to the film length of the instrument so you can determine the actual length of the tooth by measuring the film length. Or, you can use an electronic apex locator and forget about the math.

5. If you are really into it, you can use ratios to determine how much of which tooth should be visible, by using the "Golden Proprotion." If you can't figure that out, don't worry. You ought to be able to tell if something looks good or bad anyhow from experience.

Let me tell you. After 30 years in practice, the last time I used any math in dentistry was for my biostatistics class in dental school. And even then, the professor declared that it was totally useless for dental students to learn that stuff and he vowed never to teach the class again. Every now and then, I check the curriculum and they still don't teach biostatistics.

I always wondered why in the heck you needed a year of calculus to get into dental school. The only thing I ever figured out was that, if you were smart enough to pass calculus, you were smart enough to pass dental school.

Oh. You might want to know how to balance your own checkbook. :-)

Kevin - I never thought of that, because the film insert always tells you how many impulses to use. But - when you take a license exam, they might ask you to calculate radiation doses of milliamp seconds or something like that. Simple math.

Answer 2

Math wasn't a great area of my MBA software. I had to take stepped forward Algebra, information, and Math for organization. i think of those have been the only 3. Your significant concentration would be on the thank you to shield workers: guidance, strategic making plans, employment regulation, and so on.

Answer 3

You also have to know about the metric system aka mm (dentists measure by mm's). It's all OJT. Also as a dental assistant all the materials have directions; they even have pictures!!! Even on my worst blonde days, I was good to go!!!

Answer 4

Dr. Sam is correct. I'll just add this piece. If your x-ray machine counts impulses instead of seconds, you have know how to convert fractions to decimals.