cadavers in dentistry?

Question

is it true that if i were to become a dentist i would first have to work on cadavers?
if not what so you learn on?

Answer 1

You don't actually practice dentistry on cadavers. At least I didn't do this 30 years ago. We had a gross anatomy lab where we did a total body dissection, with major emphasis on the head and neck. In other words, we had to isolate and identify virtually every structure in the head and neck, but only "most" of them in the rest of the body. This dissection took six weeks to complete, working from 9 to 5 in the anatomy lab. They wouldn't let us enter the main dental school building during that 6 week time period, because (frankly) we all smelled too bad from the preservative solutions used on cadavers.

When you are learning to drill teeth, you start out using fake teeth that are made of something called "Ivorine." It is sort of a very hard plastic with some filler material that makes them seem sort of like a weak porcelain. Soon, you are practicing in extracted human teeth that you have gathered from your dentist and others. You mount the teeth in a block of plaster so they can't run away from you and start drilling and filling. (No billing, though.) After you've got this down pretty well, you start to practice on living and breathing patients who know perfectly well that you are new at this stuff as they have agreed to be treated by students at a dental school.

Answer 2

yes you do get to work on cadavers. you will learn some anatomy, but to learn to do dentistry you usually work on each other or real patients that come to the dental school for discounted procedures.

Answer 3

Yes that is true you have to know what your working on. Then on people in a dental school
Husband is a doc

Answer 4

that would kill me i have a crippling fear of bodies (i refuse to go to wakes, unless a close family member)

Answer 5

Yep, doesn't it sound creepy?