BDS 2nd Year - A walkthrough

by Sajeel Ahmad

Students particularly of de' Montmorency College of Dentistry will find this helpful.

Pharmacology.

Books: Lippincott’s Review of Pharmacology, Big Katzung, Mini Katzung, Multi author/Cheema, Netter’s atlas for Pharmacology, Rapid Review Pharmacology.

Strategy: Pharmacology is quite vast. Make sure to study as you go along. The class tests at the end of the sections matter very much as part of the internal assessment and could save you in the final viva with Dr. Zahid. Also, the department keeps an immaculate record of your attendance and Dr. Fawad, of your behaviour, so be on time and play nice. The practicals are just about writing down the dictation and it might be a good idea to get your copies checked regularly.

Lippincott is the key book here, the one you’ll be pursuing before the viva. The trick is to read up the subject from both Lippincott and Mini K when its being taught in class and Big K only if you really have the time and energy, but focus on Lippincott for all your reviewing.

The main divisions of the subject:

General, ANS, CNS, CVS, Respo, GIT, Autocoids, Chemotherapeutic drugs, Dental Pharmacology.

 General Pharma: The key book for the first time is Multi author (the first ninty pages only) because that’s where the test will be from and because you do need to cover it at least once. And the two chapters in Lippincott are a must, but you might need to go through Mini-K once to understand them properly.

 Dental Pharmacology. No one teaches this. You’re on your own here. I only used the notes available from the photocopy shop on the way to the hostel, and they seemed to be enough. Kamran Ali’s Dental Pharmacology is the standard text, however.

 Some topics aren’t included in the UHS syllabus (Endo, immunosuppressants, antidepressants, etc see site) but they might still be asked about in the viva only but they don’t really expect you to know them anyway so just stick to what’s required of you.

 For those who really want to do Pharmacology justice, there are a series of really great video lectures available in the Kaplan Series. A Dr. Lionel something that people mostly use for the steps preparation. Almost makes pharmacology fun. A review book that goes with the lectures is also available from Union books etc. You can get the videos online. Even if you go through them only once, you’ll never forget the basic concepts. Or some people just do ANS from there. But this isn’t a substitute for your course books so don’t focus on these too much.

 Rapid review is a great book but it misses out on most of the little details given in Lippincott as its based mainly on Katzung. But still, way way better than Firdaus.

Viva and OSPE:

Viva: 60 marks (30 int, 30 ext).

Copy: 5 marks.

Practical: 10 marks (5 for perform & 5 for viva). (Practical prepare and dispense 100ml of  .1% KMnO4 lotion  from stock sol and give its directions as mouth wash...)

This practical part just includes writing the procedure and the calculations. You don’t actually have to perform it.

 2 observed stations; Measurement, Weighing (3 marks each).

3 non observed; Identification, Calculation & Prescription (3 marks each).

These are just to be written too. For the observed, there will be Dr. Fawad and another doctor present who’ll ask some questions too.

 OSPE:-

1-prescription of antibiotic for swelled and painful gums (unobs)

2-instruments identity: pestles and mortars n their uses (unobs)

3-calculate the weight for preparing .1% KMnO4 sol. Of 100ml (unobs)

4-how many spoons (table spoon which was laid there and we need to identify it) would be required for taking 30ml of syrup (Observer asked about other types of spoon)

5-weight of carminative mixture for preparing .1% sol of 20ml (balance was placed and observer asked questions about it)

Ospe: Identify and write uses of mortar and pestle, calculate volume of stock soln reqd for prep of .1 percent 100 ml KMnO4 soln, prescription for gingivitis. Measure powder for 4 percent 10 ml lidocaine soln. 30 ml equals how many given spoonfuls.

 Table viva: ointments, mixtures, lotions and their uses

Table viva, again with Dr. Fawad. From all that you’ve been taught in the practicals. If you haven’t paid attention during those and written them down, get the “Red book” for preparing this.

 External:- treatment of anaphylactic shock, actions of aspirin, why take paracetamol in dengue instead of aspirin, moa of paracetamol, specific Cox receptor name on which it acts, B agonists , why tetracyclines contraindicated in children

 Internal: tetracyclines, quinolones

Their action adverse effects, dopamine, benzodiazepines, b agonist B blockers, epinephrine effects on cvs,

Final note:-

And yeah first question was

Dosage forms by internal; idiosyncrasy by external... GOODLUCK!!!

:)

Pathology:

Books: Robin’s Basic Pathology (Medium Robins), Levinson’s Review of Microbiology, Shameem (handbook for micro). Shahid Anwar’s Qaida and Aurora for Parasitology. (Also Monica, if you’re really really studious) Pathology Illustrated. Rapid Review Pathology. Firdaus Pathology. MRS Microbiology. Goljan’s Rapid Review?

Consists basically of General Pathology which includes the first seven chapters of Robbins and Microbiology and Immunology which is almost the entire Levinson.

 Inflammation and Neoplasia are the main chapters to be focused on. But the others aren’t any less important. Some of us skipped Immunity from Robbins as it’s explained much better in Levinson. Pediatric diseases from the seventh chapter are not included, the chapter (or part) on Oral Pathology from the systemic portion is. Also, pathology illustrated is a very nice little book for concepts if you can get your hands on it.

 Levinson is split into General bacteriology, Clinical bacteriology, immunity, and parasitology, and mycology, general and clinical virology. Virology only demands an overview, and most of us probably skipped out on most of it. MRS is quite good for some light reading before you actually tackle the subject. Levinson has summaries at the end for all the organisms that come in handy. Also, tons and tons of mcqs that are very helpful and some case scenarios too that come as seqs.

 The trick with micro is to read clinical scenarios on the pathogenesis and manifestations of the different diseases and make clues. Kaplan’s review is great for Microbiology as is the USMLE First Aid Step 1 book. Didn’t find Shameem, Shahid Anwar or Firdaus helpful in the least.

 Pathology practical format.

Viva: 40 marks (20 int & 20 ext).

Copy: 5 marks.

 15 marks for *Three Observed stations (5 marks each);

1 of sterilization & occupational health,

2 of staining micro specimen (10min each).

Staining can be either Gram or Zeil Neilson. Catalse, oxidase and coagulase tests also came. And there was one station for stool examination. They didn’t make us do anything practically. Just told us to write down the procedures and then asked some general questions about it.

 30 marks for 10 nonobservd (3 marks each);

5 of micro & parasitology,

5 of G.Patho.

These are just questions with a diagram from Robins or Levinson, printed on a paper and easy enough if you use your mind a bit. We were asked about Sabourad’s agar, CLED agar,  anthracosis, a centrifuge, granulamatous inflammation, etc.

 Pathology department also keep tracks of your test record, even though we hardly had three or four tests maybe and they hand you your scores to take with you in the viva and both the external and internal ask to see it. I’d scored less in the immunity test so both my vivas were mostly from there. (Dr. Samina (our internal) asked me to name chemokines and I tell her IL-8 and CTB4 and she very nearly had kittens) Both also ask from the specimens.

 Internal from General Pathology. Mainly definition causes..

Hyperplasia, metaplasia hypertrophy, necrosis types, caseus necrosis, granuloma, edema n causes, acute chronic inflammation...

External from micro aj tou parasites se pooch raha tha... Media aur specimen identify kra k parasites se related question kr raha tha...

 

Dental Materials:

Books: Phillips, McKaib, Shaheena, Jaypee/Sharmila, Craig

This was by far the toughest subject for me. Phillips is the ­Gold standard here and despite all the hype about it, most of us found it quite easy to read. McCaib remained the personal favourite though. Quite good for an overview of the chapter and general concepts before pursuing the details from Phillips or Jaypee. Ultimately though, you might find yourself cramming from Shaheena before the exam and the viva. Jaypee has MCqs given in a hefty revision portion at the end.

Viva has 50 marks, 25 each with the internal and external. 40 marks for the OSPE, 20marks/5 stations for both observed and non observed.

Ospe here is nothing to worry about. It’s mostly from stuff you know, and the people conducting it are our own postgraduate trainees so they help you out.

Ospe main help thi...Titanium carbide, diamond bur, alginate, composite, inserting tooth into wax pattern, sticky wax, Inlay wax etc...

Un observed: acrylic, light cure composite, porcelain metal crown,  phosphate bonded investment, acid etching gel...

Obs: znpo4 mixing, amalgam mixing, polishing acrylic partial denture, impression compound manipulation, flasking of cast...

Viva internal: amalgam classification, metals in amalgam n uses of metals... Procelains setting stages , investments uses , direct filling materials ...

External: classification of gypsum, compression strength of amalgam value n if greater than composite, stress, fluxes.. Cements, impression mat, composites, polymers, acrylic wagaira...

Sir ne properties myn se bhe pucha...

Ziada cements se puch rahy thy...

Community Dentistry:

Joseph John is the man. The book’s easy enough. The subject’s easy enough, if you can stand the abysmal speed and manner in which the lectures are delivered. The department (yeah right) is the main problem. Look through the TOS for an idea about what to skip from the book. Statistics and fluorides are the important chapters.

Viva has 60 marks. 30 each with the internal and external.

OSPE

Indices (CPITN and DMFT) 10 marks

Charting (WHO) 10 marks

Instrument handling, brushing and flossing techniques 5 marks

Instrument and material identification 5 marks

Out of the above, they gave us models for the DMFT index after which the both the external and internal took our viva, and then another ma’am asked about the instrument handling, (Link to Ghole’s youtube channel for VIDEOS ) brushing and CPITN probing.  (WHO charting doesn’t happen) All easy enough so we won’t say much about it.

Behavioural Sciences:

90 mcq’s are a little hard to get right after just one reading of the book. So at least go through it twice. A help book (Tauseef’s?) is available that has mcqs and short questions for the OSPE. Kaplan’s review is good for getting a feel of the real subject. MCQ’s from the Q-bank are also available and very helpful. (Damn you, confabulation!)

OSPE has nine stations, with each station carrying ten marks. 5 observed stations that have seqs and 4 non-observed stations that have some activity with a patient. (The activity can be anything like breaking bad news, taking history, educating the patient, counseling, getting informed consent, personality analysis etc.)

This year’s Non-observed: With patients, advice about diabetes to a woman, a crying girl who had abdominal pain from food poisoning, convincing a guy's brother who had an adenocarcinoma to let him know the diagnosis, a guy with hiv who doesn't want to tell his wife.

Observed: Sleep hygiene. Dilemmas faced by a doctor. Freud's stages of development. A scenario involving a guy whose pain became worse on passing by a place where he had an accident before. Define rationalization, repression, reaction formation with examples.

p.s. The above is just a general guideline based on my own personal experience, which you don’t necessarily have to follow. Mine’s one way to look at it. Find out what works best for you and follow that.

 p.p.s. Credit for most of the Viva and ospe messages go to Ali Faraz Hassan.