How Hard is Anatomy/biochem in Dental school??

[Ash]

I was not a bio major in college, so i never took anatomy or biochem and was wondering how hard it will be for me to take those courses in dental school without any background in them. Do you guys think i should prepare for them in any way before attending dental school???

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[45540]

I thought Biochem wasn't too bad, but my major being Biochem might have helped a little.

So far I absolutely hate Gross Anatomy ... but maybe that's because it takes a lot of work.

I really don't know how you could prepare for them without taking the course before hand. Just reviewing the material wouldn't be all that beneficial I don't think.

 

[1-16-17-32]

I thought Biochem wasn't too bad, but my major being Biochem might have helped a little.

So far I absolutely hate Gross Anatomy ... but maybe that's because it takes a lot of work.

I really don't know how you could prepare for them without taking the course before hand. Just reviewing the material wouldn't be all that beneficial I don't think.

Don't you realize that any information that you get on here will be from people who went to 50 different dental schools and have so many different experiences. I doubt you will get any usefull info, unless you specify a school.

 

[psiyung]

I thought Biochem wasn't too bad, but my major being Biochem might have helped a little.

So far I absolutely hate Gross Anatomy ... but maybe that's because it takes a lot of work.

I really don't know how you could prepare for them without taking the course before hand. Just reviewing the material wouldn't be all that beneficial I don't think.

How can you hate gross anatomy?

It is the mother of all sciences, and even though I am not doing to good , I just love all those little veins, nerves, and arteries

 

[Zurik5]

I hated gross, also. Blah.

 

[VancouverDoc2b]

I didnt think biochem was that bad...and I wasnt a biochem major....as far as gross goes....we have our first midterm tomorrow....so far its a lot of work....and we havent even hit the head and neck yet.....its not gonna be pretty when we have to do that...

 

[grr123]

Biochem was not too bad for me, partly because I took a few biochem courses before. But all my classmates who had not taken biochem before told me they struggled every minute of it. So I guess it will be a good idea to take it now to prepare for yourself.

As for anatomy, I hated it. It wasn't hard. There were just so much to memorize, and you knew you would forget about them two weeks after the final. It was such a torturing experience, and I highly recommend you wait. Why torture yourself twice?

 

[KY2007]

Every class you will have in dental school is straight up memorization. Some just require you to memorize more in a shorter amount of time, that's all.

 

[bingpredent]

I spent about 3x as much time in gross than in biochem.

 

[koobpheej]

gross is probably harder at those schools where you go to basic sciences with med students. i also spent a lot more time on gross than biochem. gross is harder because of volume; biochem is harder conceptually (albeit still not ighly difficult)

 

[AUG2UAG]

predent here:

At Columbia, students take gross w/ med students for lecture but have a separate lab where head and neck anatomy is more highly focused.

At UConn, students take gross w/ med students, including lab. Students are responsible for the entire body.

I totally agree that all the information is memorization:
Anatomy- memorize everything in the body
Biochem- memorize aa's, pathways, etc etc

 

[MsPurtell]

Gross anatomy was a b@llbuster to be quite honest. Tons of memorization and lots of learning on your own. Don't prepare tho..... I would recommend just relaxing.

I was not a bio major in college, so i never took anatomy or biochem and was wondering how hard it will be for me to take those courses in dental school without any background in them. Do you guys think i should prepare for them in any way before attending dental school???

 

[SLIMDEETS]

Biochem Sucks and Gross is even harder.
Have you ever taken a second language?
Well it's similar to that except you have a bunch of nerds who have taken it before. Your going to have to work your ass off, it's simple as that!

 

[Darksunshine]

Biochem Sucks and Gross is even harder.
Have you ever taken a second language?
Well it's similar to that except you have a bunch of nerds who have taken it before. Your going to have to work your ass off, it's simple as that!

:holding my stomach I am laughing so hard: Mostly over your bend over and hold on speech. . . . truly funny.

Yah, those classes sound like a lot of work I can hardly wait! XD

 

[PERFECT3435]

gross anatomy was the worst and the hardest thing i have ever had. its not that the subject is hard, its just that you have to memorize a ton of information for whatever reason.

frankly, i did ok in the class, but ask me anything about anatomy now and i couldnt tell you. to make things worse, IUSD made us take it in 4 weeks so that the med students could have the lab (we shared the lab with them).

 

[jk5177]

I just took an undergraduate anatomy course last semester in preparation for dental school. Of course it isn't nearly as difficult, but I learned a lot. I learned how to learn this material.
In my opinion, it is true there is a lot to learn, but some of them makes sense. It is straight up memorization. So I had anatomy figures with me where ever I went. When I walked between classes, I had them. When I wait for a stop light, I had it next to me. Other than that, it was pretty simple. The hardest that I came across, once again it is an undergraduate course, was the different muscles, and their insertion points, and what happens when one flexes. That was the hardest part of anatomy for me.

Biochem, is the mother of all sciences. There's memorization, analysis, and math. I thought that was hard.

 

[PERFECT3435]

. So I had anatomy figures with me where ever I went. When I walked between classes, I had them. When I wait for a stop light, I had it next to me. .

have you taken the nerd test yet?
http://www.innergeek.us/geek.html

take it and please let us know.

just kidding bud. glad you learned a lot in under grad. however, most dental schools teach head and neck anatomy and not the whole body. i also know that in under grad, they cover the whole head and neck anatomy in 3 mins. so taking under grad anatomy is not goona help you in dental school all that much. like you said, you basically learn how to study fo rthe course in under grad anatomy. thats about it.

 

[KY2007]

Gross does require a lot of time b/c of the amount of material. However, I didn't find it all that challenging. Biochem wasn't too bad either.

 

[12YearOldKid]

have you taken the nerd test yet?
http://www.innergeek.us/geek.html

take it and please let us know.

just kidding bud. glad you learned a lot in under grad. however, most dental schools teach head and neck anatomy and not the whole body. i also know that in under grad, they cover the whole head and neck anatomy in 3 mins. so taking under grad anatomy is not goona help you in dental school all that much. like you said, you basically learn how to study fo rthe course in under grad anatomy. thats about it.

Actually, I think those that only do head and neck are in the minority. Still, undergrad anatomy won't help you much. The level of detail just isn't there in college level courses.

 

[airvent]

I heard That undergrad Biochem was more difficult then Dental school Biochem.

I had BioChem in undergrad and it was tough because it was geared torwards Chemistry majors.If you did not do well in Orgo you were in for a beating.You needed to know reaction mechanisms. Test questions were like:

" where will the labeled carbon be after 2 turns of the tricarboxylic acid cycle + draw the mechanisms"

and

"The triosephosphate isomerase reaction catalyzes the formation of 1R dihydroxyacetone phosphate from D-glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate. How does this prove that the reaction goes through the cis-enediol(ate) intermediate?"

I was told that Dental biochem will not be that detailed. If it is simply memorizing the cycles and enzymes then it should be a breeze.

 

[captaintripps]

I heard That undergrad Biochem was more difficult then Dental school Biochem.

I had BioChem in undergrad and it was tough because it was geared torwards Chemistry majors.If you did not do well in Orgo you were in for a beating.You needed to know reaction mechanisms. Test questions were like:

" where will the labeled carbon be after 2 turns of the tricarboxylic acid cycle + draw the mechanisms"

and

"The triosephosphate isomerase reaction catalyzes the formation of 1R dihydroxyacetone phosphate from D-glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate. How does this prove that the reaction goes through the cis-enediol(ate) intermediate?"

I was told that Dental biochem will not be that detailed. If it is simply memorizing the cycles and enzymes then it should be a breeze.

These are exam questions typical of any general biochemistry course, chem major notwithstanding. Depending on the dental school, a similar level of appreciation for stereochemistry may be expected.

 

[USUaggie]

Here's something you may want to try - I'm currently in Biochem and we haven't had a test yet so I don't know how hard it really is, I need to cram a bunch of classes in my schedule so I can graduate in August and I don't have any room for anatomy (it would put me over my scholarship's credit limit) but I heard it was really helpful so I just go to the lecture 3 hours a week. I really like the teacher and the material's interesting and right now the rest of the class is stressing out about test 1 tomorrow while I sit here and read forum posts on sdn, man I'm a nerd. Anyway, I think it will make it a little easier to learn next year.

 

[HuyetKiem]

I heard That undergrad Biochem was more difficult then Dental school Biochem.

I had BioChem in undergrad and it was tough because it was geared torwards Chemistry majors.If you did not do well in Orgo you were in for a beating.You needed to know reaction mechanisms. Test questions were like:

" where will the labeled carbon be after 2 turns of the tricarboxylic acid cycle + draw the mechanisms"

and

"The triosephosphate isomerase reaction catalyzes the formation of 1R dihydroxyacetone phosphate from D-glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate. How does this prove that the reaction goes through the cis-enediol(ate) intermediate?"

.

Pretty similar biochem questions at Case plus clinical cases. Spend some time studying, Biochem was not that bad over all. I never took Biochem in undergrad.

 

[airvent]

Yeah, I'm sure its the same. Just wishful thinking on my part.

 

[al’diente]

I heard That undergrad Biochem was more difficult then Dental school Biochem.

I had BioChem in undergrad and it was tough because it was geared torwards Chemistry majors.If you did not do well in Orgo you were in for a beating.You needed to know reaction mechanisms. Test questions were like:

" where will the labeled carbon be after 2 turns of the tricarboxylic acid cycle + draw the mechanisms"

and

"The triosephosphate isomerase reaction catalyzes the formation of 1R dihydroxyacetone phosphate from D-glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate. How does this prove that the reaction goes through the cis-enediol(ate) intermediate?"

I was told that Dental biochem will not be that detailed. If it is simply memorizing the cycles and enzymes then it should be a breeze.

My biochem in undergrad so far is a walk in the park. Basically just memorizing aa’s, sugars, and lipids structures and knowing enzyme functions & their graphs.

 

[Big Time Hoosier]

My biochem in undergrad so far is a walk in the park. Basically just memorizing aa’s, sugars, and lipids structures and knowing enzyme functions & their graphs.

The SDN community would like to thank you for responding to a thread that’s nearly two decades old.

Big Hoss
SDN Community Organizer