Last weekend, my academy conducted a two days foundation course on Minor Oral Surgery (14 & 15 March, 2020).
It was supposed to be attended by 5 participants out of which 3 were outstations participants.
Sadly, because of corona virus threat, 2 outstation participants cancelled their seats.
We decided to go ahead with 3 participants.
Instead of keeping it formal, we kept the whole course casual.
It was designed more as a discussion and less of me talking and them listening.
Instead of keeping the tea break and lunch at the venue, we walked up to the nearby restaurant during breaks just to change the mood and freshen up before the next session.
In the course we had lectures, demonstrations and hands-on on different topics.
We had lectures on the below mentioned topics -
-Basic principles of Minor Oral Surgery
-Sutures & Suturing techniques
-CT scan Interpretation
-Frenectomy
-Surgical Removal of an Impacted Tooth
-Complications of Minor Oral Surgery
-Medical Emergencies at a Dental Clinic
We had demonstrations on the below mentioned topics -
-Sutures & Suturing techniques
-CT scan Interpretation
-Frenectomy
-Surgical Removal of an Impacted Tooth
-IV cannula placement for IV drug administration
We had hands-on on the below mentioned topics -
-Sutures & Suturing techniques on a pillow
-Incision, Flap reflection & suturing on a goat jaw
-CT scan Interpretation
-Frenectomy on a goat jaw
-IV cannula placement for IV drug administration
Watch some snippets from the lectures I delivered during the course.
Participants practiced incision placement, flap reflection and suturing skills on the goat jaw.
They also got to perform a frenectomy on a goat jaw.
Participants were also encouraged to expose the mental nerve without any damage to the mental nerve.
If I am to choose a specific section of the course as my favorite, then I would select the one where I ask the participants to strip off all of the soft tissue from the goat jaw using nothing but a periosteal elevator.
As the participants continued to strip the periosteal flap from the goat jaw, I could see their technique improving.
I could clearly see that they were enjoying the exercise a lot.
The course ended with all the participants receiving their hard earned certificate from KViZ Academy.
This course was special to me also because I was to mentor someone I've known since many years and consider my younger brother, Dr. Faisal Sheikh.
It was a pleasant surprise to receive videos from the participants on WhatsApp sharing their experience during the course.
I had to add subtitles to Dr. Bhujwal's testimonial but Dr. Faisal Sheikh's video was so well shot and edited that I just straightaway uploaded it to our YouTube channel. Dr. Sheikh saved a lot of my time.
In the end, I would add that it was a fun filled session where I wasn't only a mentor, but even i learnt a few things while interacting with the enthusiastic participants.