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My First Tooth Drawing Experience

As a second-year dentistry student, it is part of the activities that we must draw and carve teeth. As simple as it may seem when I watched the tutorial videos, it was frankly hard to imagine the tooth model in a two-dimension form with specifically just the outlines, strictly without shading and other three-dimensional aspects of the tooth. As someone who has not even practiced sketching in months, it really was a struggle to draw even the first side I started with.

While trying to follow the videos, it made sense to me that drawing a tooth is indeed a systematic process. First, the measurements of the tooth should be taken into account in an accurate manner. It is then followed by the indications of reference points from the measurements, and finally the consideration of curvatures and lines of the whole tooth from the plot marks. Both the tutorial videos were effective in guiding me since it was a thoroughly explained step-by-step process. They both served their purpose well and were already sufficient that I did not need to look for other references.

When I was working on my draft of the labial aspect, the size of the boxes honestly hindered my pace. I had to squint my eyes, and take some time before I could plot the necessary points that could form the tooth.  Also, I realized that the force and pressure in using the pencil, as well as the eraser, should certainly be just light at first. It would be hard to erase if the stroke pressure is heavy and the lines were already dark. The cross-section paper also gets easily erased at some point if you constantly draw one area inaccurately. It is frustrating when one part of the paper looks too scratched and whitened, because it’s the first thing that stands out when you look at the whole output.

Additionally, the aspects that I really found difficult were the mesial, distal, and incisal view. It was hard to copy the features, like the curvatures, the bluntness and grooves of the root, and the formation of cingulum. It took me nearly three hours to draw the five aspects of the maxillary central incisor. At some point, I wondered why my classmates and I have varying measurements when we all have the same tooth model bought from the same store. I tried to make sense of the proportion of my measurements as I followed the videos over and over.

Drawing a tooth was like one of the ways to rigidly exercise my dexterity skills, and a factor that can make me familiarize the feature of the tooth. During the process, I found out that it works best for me to plot the reference points in a line manner instead of points, for it to be easier to erase afterwards. In all four aspects of the tooth excluding the incisal view, I also drew in pattern the necessary reference lines, like the total length of the root and crown, so that it would not consume my time later on. Another strategy I practiced was that I took pictures of different sides of the tooth sample, and I used it as reference while drawing the structures. Furthermore, noticing that the labial and lingual views, as well as the mesial and distal views are like mirror images of each other, I worked on both sides one after another. I have left the incisal as the last aspect to draw, since I find it much difficult than the other aspects. Lastly, I had to examine my measurements more than twice, after I finished drawing, because I think the precision matters significantly in this activity.

After I finished with my draft, somehow, I felt proud with my output. The whole process was challenging yet amusing at the same time. It felt satisfying to finish even just one aspect of the tooth, and much more gratifying to finish all five. I worked on the cross-section paper afterwards, and I felt the need to rest for some minutes at my completion of the five aspects of the maxillary central incisor. It was overwhelming during and after the process, but it was worth the stress. I took photos in different angles after I was done, because it was an accomplishment for me to manage drawing a tooth. Later that afternoon, however, I felt reasonably terrified of the comments that I would garner with my first output. Expectedly, the incisal view that I had drawn was said to be in need of improvement. Despite that, I am thrilled as I wait for carving, which is our next activity that seems to be more challenging than drawing.