I know, sounds really strange, but you have to start somewhere when you're learning! Yesterday, we had our suture lab exercise in oral-maxillofacial surgery... Now, why put sutures in the mouth? Well, when your tooth is about to be extracted and the dentist needs to open gum tissue to get better access to it, there's gotta be some way to close it back up! So, we first start out really simple... practicing on a piece of latex which isn't too hard at all once you get your first stitch in...
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| Hey they stayed! ^_^ |
But, then you move onto a hot dog, which is supposed to simulate how fragile a person's gums are... And then things get slightly tricky. The first time I ended up pulling out all my sutures! :-( But, once you get your gentle fingers, it gets easier and you eventually end up with sutures that stay in...
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| Suture success! |
Of course, add in the tongue, blood, spit, and the fact that we're going to be doing this in a cup-size hole and the skill gets immediately more complicated, but for now, we're doing pretty well. :-)
nasty.
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