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Little Things, Big Lessons: In Between the Rotations

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Conservative Unit: Where Dreams (and Wrists) Go to Die

I was pretty indifferent to Cons before this rotation. I was used to doing fillings, root canals, crown preps — it wasn’t anything new or exciting to me. But what I wasn’t ready for was the sheer number of patients we had to see. For the first few weeks, all we were allowed to do as house officers was clerking . Once we submitted and got our endo blocks approved (basically extracted natural teeth that we’d practiced root canals on), we could start working on actual patients. We started small — doing GICs on pediatric patients , then regular fillings, and finally root canals, from anterior teeth to molars. Sadly, we weren’t allowed to do crown preps — which, surprisingly, I loved doing in uni. Now, the biggest issue in this unit? No space, and way too many patients. There were only three dental chairs , and yet we were seeing an average of 30 patients a day . Sounds like good clinical exposure, right? In theory. But throw in the usual problems — chairs not working, supplies runnin...
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For four months, I sat at home doing nothing. I had passed the MDCN exam in November, but until the official induction happened, there was no next step. No license, no job, no real direction — just waiting. I tried to stay positive, but it was frustrating. I had just finished dental school, and instead of moving forward, I felt stuck. The four months of waiting should have prepared me. Four months of watching my 'MDCN Pass' notification collect digital dust in my inbox while my life stood still. Four months of watching my non-medical friends start jobs while I refreshed my email, hoping for news about my housemanship placement.  The induction finally came at the end of January, and it felt like a breath of fresh air. I could finally apply for my provisional license. I thought things would pick up from there, but instead, I found myself in another waiting game — this time, for where I’d actually be posted for housemanship. In Nigeria, you don’t get to choose just any hospital....
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