Bone Boot Camp: Week 2 Summary

Bone Boot Camp Day 6- May 18, 2015

We took our quiz on the teeth before we resumed learning more about our dental inventory. Besides siding the teeth and noting defects, we now needed to record pathology. Two of them are hypoplasias, which are lines and pits on the tooth’s surface, and opacilies, which is malformed enamel. We also learned the measurements required for the teeth. After our lecture, we put our learning into practice by filling out the teeth’s inventory.

As we worked, one of the students commented the course has “a crap ton of reading.” The general opinion is, however, that Bone Boot Camp is enjoyable. When we finished the inventory, we experimented with dental casting. One of the materials we will be using is what Dr. Barrett termed as the “blue goo.” The blue goo is a material that we will use to cast teeth.  One purpose of the experiment was to find out which student was capable of creating a good cast with the smallest amount of material being used. It is important as we will have a limited supply to use down in Peru.

 

Bone Boot Camp Day 7- May 19, 2015

As we came closer to Bone Boot Camp’s conclusion, we now focused on trauma, pathology and trepanation/deformation of the bones. We study each bone of the individual’s skeleton to determine if the bone is unusual; from the feet’s phalanges to the skull. If the bone is unusual, we identify what is unusual about the bone and record it in our Standards forms. For trauma and pathology, there are eight categories:

• shape
• size
• bone loss
• bone formation
• fractures/dislocation
• porotic hyperostosis
• vertebral pathology
• arthritis

Bone Boot Camp Day 8- May 20, 2015

Our final day of Bone Boot Camp was putting everything we learned together. We received a skeleton to put into Standard Anatomical Position (SAP) and complete as much as we could of the Standards packet we have been working on piece by piece throughout the previous days at Bone Boot Camp. While we worked, the two radiography students came to see us as our work. They assisted the more experienced of the class who taught them about the bones. We then gave our Standards packet to Dr. Barrett who would examine it to see where we currently stand in our ability to complete the Standards packet.

Bone Boot Camp Day 9- May 21, 2015 

While Bone Boot Camp concluded the previous day, we met with Jim Skufis, a radiography instructor at WCC who gave us a brief orientation to what he and his students will be doing during our stay in Peru. We are expected to lend a hand to the radiography students when they need us and vice-versa. Therefore, we needed to learn the basics of the x-ray process and safety measures with x-rays.

We left the meeting having completed our basic training…Sunday, we fly to Peru!