radiographs and map(ographs)

Today was my first "Monday rotation" of the year.  My group was in radiology for the afternoon.  For the first hour, we were in a small lecture (as in 3 of us and the prof) about normal anatomical landmarks in oral radiographs.  The radiology professor is pretty laid back and chill, which made the lecture pretty fun and interesting.  Obviously, the best way to show us what to look for in an x-ray is to show us lots of examples.  The amount of things that you are able to see on an x-ray, even on a tiny periapical, is pretty amazing.

Once you get into the cone-beam CT scans, it is downright impressive.  The individual x-rays can be transformed into 3D images of the entire skull.  To show us what we are able to image with CT, the professor brought up some CTs from a trauma case they are currently working on.  A patient came into the clinic to get implants for replacement of some of her teeth that were knocked out in a serious car accident 2 months ago.  (It was very serious.  The patient was the passenger.  The driver did not survive.)  After 2 months and numerous surgeries, this woman had about 20 screws in her mandible (the jaw bone) and maxilla (the bone that forms the front of the face).  Some of them had not been placed properly and were actually going to hinder the healing process.  Also, the oral surgeons has missed a fractured condyle.  Now, while it is still possible to repair the condyle, it may not be worth the trauma to the patient, who will most likely suffer from jaw problems and TMJ pain for the rest of her life.  In addition to all that, there were still some teeth that had been fractured at the root (which she will most likely lose) and multiple (more than 10) hairline fractures in the bone between her teeth.  Our clinic professors get to inform her of the bad news that was discovered on the CT.  Needless to say, there are many more obstacles she must tackle before getting implants.

After the lecture, we got to practice our own x-ray taking skills on Dexter.  From what I've been told, this Dexter is pretty expensive too because he is a cadaveric head.  (You can't take x-rays on plastic!)  Since I've had experience with taking numerous x-rays before, I was thinking this would be a piece of cake.  In some ways, Dexter was easier than real people.  He doesn't gag, push the sensor with his tongue, or complain about how uncomfortable he is.  On the other hand, real patients are a lot easier to reposition and don't clamp down so hard on the sensor.  Overall, I think my x-rays turned out alright for it being the first time I used a new x-ray system and a fake patient.

Finally, a friend of mine posted this link on facebook earlier today.  It is an article entitled "how white is your neighborhood?" and shows maps of different cities color coded by where people of different races live.  I thought is was super interesting to see how segregated our cities still are.  (It is also very sad too. Can't we all get along?)  To see different maps of 40 different American cities, check out this link.  I totally scoped out Chicago and Phoenix.  I am guilty of not diversifying...I lived in pretty white neighborhoods.  (In my defense, my neighborhood was chosen mostly by close vicinity to my school, not by the people living there.)