The LAST day rocked!

I'm so happy right now becuase I'm done with my clinic sessions until January!!!! YEAH! I'm even more excited becuase I was able to meet all my requirements and get everything done that I needed to!

Today went well. I saw a class 3 patient and did a half a mouth. I was able to do LA for this and pass off my subgingival irrigation PE.

This afternoon I had my friend from high school come in. It was a nice relaxing afternoon and I finally didn't feel pooped after cleaning a patient! It seems like it has been forever since I was able to clean a 1B and it was really nice! I also passed off my blood glucose PE. One thing I learned today..... with the new scanx machine in use...you have to be careful which template you choose when taking digital x-rays. I didn't even realize that was on there so I put it in the wrong template and they wouldn't pull up to print. I had to take the whole set over again! Brother! The computer didnt' like me today. A while after I had printed off my treatment plan, I went in to do my walkout, and low and behold...there was no tx plan listed anywhere in his file! It is beyond me where it went but I had to remake a whole new treatment plan...weird! I had a good time using the new intra oral camera to show my picture some really deep pits he had on his 2nd molars....technology is amazing!

It feels so nice to be done!!! You know what they say....it will all work out!

CELEBRATION!!!

I am actually posting a day late this week, but at least I have some news to share! Today was my last day at the VA and I was able to finish up with my requirements!!!! I'm so excited! I got 2 quads of a 2 and 4 quads of a 5. No more worries for this semester!!! What a great feeling!

Yesterday went okay. I was worried sick in the morning because I hadn't been able to get a hold of my patient and I really needed her to be there...she was a class 3 exam. It was 8:20 and she still wasn't there so I decided I would help Claire with some screenings she was doing. I sat the patient in the chair to take his BP and then they called back over the intercom telling me my patient was here! Of course that would happen as soon as I sat that other patient down!!! I was soooo relieved though! I was kind of disappointed though becuase she decided she didn't want to be anesthetized because she hates shots so bad! (That's okay though, I made up for it in the afternoon!) I was able to pass of my perio files PE. I only missed 2 spots. This is a HUGE improvement! Last year when I saw her I struggled so bad, but this time around went much smoother!

In the afternoon I had my 17 year old patient coming back to finish him from last week. I was hoping he would want N2O, but he didn't...bummer. He was quite nervous and wiggly for the injections...but he made it through all TEN!!!! Let me just tell you again that he had the hardest stinkin' calculus to get off! He had a canker sore last time and it had almost tripled in size so I had the instructors take a look just to check and they thought it would be okay. Instructor Wolde recommended that he rinse with a mouthrinse made by colgate called Peroxyl that she says works really good. I hadn't ever heard of this before, so it was good to get her recommendations. Even though I was completely worn out at the end of the day, it was a good day overall!

Not Quite What I Expected

Today went okay. This morning I saw my last 1A and finished my mockboard exam patient. I was able to pass off my desensitization PE on him. It all went well.
Yesterday my afternoon patient cancelled for today. I looked at the resource list and found a 17 year old kid who needed to come in so I called him. I figured I could possibly take a pano on him and maybe if I was lucky do sealants on his 2nd molars...on top of this I figured he would be a pretty easy 1B.
Well, I learned my lesson....NEVER make assumptions about a patient! He was a really nice boy, but....he needed to learn how to use a toothbrush.
I struggled with my x-rays a little bit (I did get a pano by the way!). We sat down in the chair and I started to probe. Unfortunately I couldn't do a very good job becuase the enourmous amount of plaque and bleeding everywhere! I couldn't believe it! He was classified as a 2 and I was thinking to myself...where did my easy patient go!? We took a lot of time to review the x-rays, discuss the infection and of course teach OHI. He was so tender when I was probing so we decided it would be best if we anesthetized him to treat him. I messed up by not having the large window of the carpule toward me, but it went okay. I couldn't believe how hard his calculus was!!! Unfortunately today I only got one quad done. Luckily I hadn't scheduled anybody for next week yet so I will be able to have him come back this semester. I also put him on some prevident to hopefully help with the decalcification that was starting on the facials of his maxillary anteriors. What a day! I'm glad it's over!

Finally some PE's!!!!

This morning we had a lab on desensitization and emergency situations. I really like that we take the time to review emergencies. I really hope I never have to deal with one in real like, but if I ever do hopefully I will be prepared!

This afternoon my patient was returning from earlier in the semester. She was 2 quads of class 2 and 1 quad of a class 5. She was so easy going and was a great patient. I was so grateful to Bossenberger who helped me to get so many PE's done! I FINALLY did some that I've been trying to do for the past month! I was ablet to do my ultrasonic, calculus removal, and accessory fulcrum. I had extra time at the end so I did my caries risk assessment PE. My patient also needed Arrestin in one spot so I did that PE! It felt so good to get that load lifted off!

One weird thing that my patient mentioned is that she was rinsing with Balsalmic Vinegar. She had sores in her mouth from the acid even. Some of the things patients come up with to do! Crazy! I had to explain to her that listerine would be much better!!

Hectic Day!!!

Today didn't really go as planned! This morning my patient was 30 minutes late. Her BWX were the hardest ones I have ever taken (I'm surprised they turned out as good as they did...I didnt' have any retakes just 2 supplemental films to get the maxillary bone). The bad news is that I only got an OD done, but the good news is that she is a class III! She has quite a few class 1 furcations, a lot of recession and even some class 1-2 mobility. She will definitaly be a good experience. She can only come at 8:00 which only leaves me with the last day of clinic. She will be finishing off my class 3 requirements and my exams so I hope it doesn't fall through or else I'm screwed!

This afternoon was soooo crazy and hectic! I planned to see a 7-yr old boy and then see his 16-yr old sister. The little boy was quick and easy. I love doing kids. However, his older sister had like 3 HUGE cold sores!!!! GRRR! Ruin my plans! I tried to call my husband to see if he could come in so I could do my blood glucose and caries risk assessment pe's on him, but he was already at work so that wasn't going to work. Luckily Liz had a patient that she had scheduled for 1:45 and she was going to be busy with her class 2 patient so she told me I could have her. I was really excited to have something to do to fill my time and help me meet requirements.

I brought the patient back and she had kind of a complicated HHX. She was diabetic, had high blood pressure, and taking several meds....those HHX are always a treat to work with! After taking her BP 4 times it was finally low enough to proceed! However, since it took so long it was like 2:40 and I hadn't even done an OD yet. Prof. Perry was so good to work with me and help her get her finished and on her way. One thing that was kind of cool is that I got to use the new intra oral camera...that thing is soooo much better than that old dinosaur we have had to use in the past! She had a big red area on her palate that I had never seen before. I asked Prof. Perry about it and he said that if there was white specks with it he would think it was a yeast infection, but there wasn't. We told her to watch for any white to appear and if it does to go see her regular dentist.

I had 3 charts to fill out this afternoon so I was a little late getting out of there. Thanks so much to my lovely pod who is always so willing to help me get cleaned up so I'm not there as late! You guys are awesome! By the way, it happened to me again. I had all these big plans to complete PE's today (the accessory fulcrum, Caries Risk Assessment,Blood Glucose, Ultrasonic) and I didn't complete any of them!!! Such is life I guess, but hopefully I will be able to get around to them sometime soon becuase the semester is coming to an end!!!

RELIEF!!!! I can FINALLY breathe!

Today was the big day...MOCKBOARDS!!! I was scared out of my mind. I haven't been that nervous for a long time! I honestly felt like I was either going to throw up or pee my pants...or both! Luckily now it is all over with and I can say prayers of gratitude!

I started off this morning being a student examiner. It was really good for me to find out a little bit more what the paper work is and what needed to be filled out. It was also good to be able to put myself in the shoes of the examiner and search for spots of calculus.

After lunch it was my turn! I was really nervous that something was going to go wrong. I started off kind of on a bad foot becuase as I was setting up my tray I dropped my sharpening stone and it broke into 3 pieces...Lovely! Luckily though my patient came ON TIME AND HE QUALIFIED!!! I was stoked. Once I got scaling I wasn't as nervous, it seemed just like a normal clinic day. I was concerned about a few spots, but when my results came back I had actually missed two different spots and none that I was worried about! Lucky for me, those spots weren't counted on my grade becuase it hadn't been chosen in advance to be graded. I did make a mistake on my perio statement. I didn't realize that because he had 4 mm of recession on 1 tooth, he would be classified as severe...at least I'm finding this out now!

I'm soooooo grateful we had this opportunity to run through things so I can continue to prepare for the real thing. I can't even imagine how nervous I'm going to be that day! I was happy how things turned out and excited to be able to use this experience to better my skills. I'm glad we get to do this 2 more times before the real board! Thank heavens we have intructors who know what they are doing and can help us!

Some Good Experiences!

This morning we had a lab in clinic. It was really fun to test the pH of our saliva and check our blood sugar. Then we got to practice wtih our curved ultrasonic tips and accessory fulcrums. We also got to try out a sonic scaler and a Piezo scaler; it was interesting to feel the differences between them and the ultrasonic. Katie and Liz were also nice enough to let me try on their loupes for a few minutes to get a feel for them. I'm slowly narrowing down my choices. It is a LOT of money to spend, so I want to make sure I make the right choice!

This afternoon I had a patient come in who I had seen last year. She was my class three last year so I was hoping she would be a class 2 or 3. She was a 3!!! Yeah! I'm using her as one of my exam patients. I was able to give LA for my first time on a real patient! She was nervous becuase she didn't like the shots last time....little did she know that this was my first time and I was more nervous than her! I was the one that needed somebody to calm me down, but I was trying to pretend I'd done it bunches of times and tell her it wouldn't be bad. It went well, but her anatomy kind of took me by surprise. Her zygoma made it very hard to get to where I needed to be for the PSA and I hit osseous 2 times when I did the MSA...I felt like I was clear out in the vestibule! It was quite the awakening that everyone one is NOT going to have textbook anatomy to look for and sometimes you have to make some adjustments!

I also was able to place Arrestin on 2 sites. It was really fun and easy! I liked doing it! I hope it makes a difference in her deep pockets. She is coming back in 3 weeks so I will be able to evaluate if it made any difference and also see if the Chlorehexidine makes a difference as well.

I went over time, but I feel like today was a good day. I had a lot of first experiences, but learned a ton! It's amazing how much we continue to learn everyday!

A FULL Day!!!

Today was long, but good. It was the first clinic day that BOTH my patients showed up, and they were BOTH on time!!! This morning I did one quad of a 2 and one quad of a 3. His calculus was some tenacious stuff! I got to use my perio files for the first time and I used my orange swivel ultrasonic tip. I love them! I feel like I've been missing out by not using them! It was the first time that I could really see chunks of black calculus coming out of the pocket! I also felt like I accomplished alot becuase I passed off 3 PE's! I'm excited also because I'm seeing this patient again in January.

My afternoon patient was a class V, but I was able to take a full mouth set of x-rays (I thought was great because previously he had rejected x-rays!) He had a pretty intense medical history, so it took me 45 minutes to go over! Patients like this are really great practice and experience, but NOT good for my time utilization score! Prof. A helped me test his blood sugar becuase he was diabetic. I hadn't seen how we do it in the clinic before, so that was neat; easier than I thought it would be. I didn't miss any spots in my scale check so that was a bonus!

Frustrations!!!

Well, I've had better days. This morning I didn't get started on my patient until 8:30, but at least he showed up. I got one quad of a 3 and one quad of a 2. He is the first patient that I have had on Peridex so that has been a good experience. He had some pretty tenacious calculus and I got some more good practice with my graceys.

This afternoon rolled around and at 12:40 I got a text from my patient saying that he was really sorry but his boss wouldn't let him off work. I was in a big dilemma becuase he is my mock board patient and I really wanted to see him before mockboards and my whole schedule is booked until then. I told him if you could be here by 2:00 then we could still get done. (I just had to clean his Left side, I'd already finished the OD). However, 2:30 rolled around and he said he was on his way. Well, he walked through the door at 3:00. I was major stressing it! It gave me a LONG while to study, but I didn't want it. I wanted my patient in the chair. I was able to get one quad cleaned and missed 3 spots, but at least now I know what to expect now for my mockboards. In the end, I wish I would have just tried to find a different patient, but what is done is done. Oh well! Now my worry is if his boss is going to let him off work for mock boards. He says he will be there, on time, but I guess we will see.

Blessed AGAIN!!!

Clinic today went well, with some moments of stress that is! My patient this morning showed up 45 mins late...but I was just glad she was there! (Yesterday at 1:00 I was looking for 2 patients for today!) She turned out to just be a 1B (I REALLY don't need any of these!), BUT when she got there I noticed she had braces so I hurried to get the air-powder polisher out so I could do that P.E. I guess I grabbed the polisher that was brand new and it wasn't set up for the unit so I had to change it out, which was kind of messy becuase of all the cords, but I eventually got it taken care of! She was a really good sport about using it, even though it sucks!!! It is a really good tool, but just a pain to set up and really messy!

This afternoon I had a patient scheduled that already cancelled on me 2 times. I was desperate so I called to see if she wanted to come in today at 12:30 and she did but I told her this was her last chance. If she didn't show up she wouldn't be able to be seen by the clinic. Well, at 1:00 I still had no patient in my chair. She wasn't answering her phone so I knew I was out of luck. Just then 2 ladies walked in wanting to make an appointment to get their teeth cleaned. I was able to have one!!!!! Seriously, SOMEBODY is looking out for me! I didn't figure we would be able to get done with the appointment becuase we got such a late start, but I was just glad to be able to be getting something done! I took another set of Vertical BWX and didn't have any retakes! I'm starting to feel more confident with the vertical BWX's. I did my OD and she was classified as half a mouth of class V and half class II. I was stoked! She was a really fun patient to work with. I only completed the UR, but have her scheduled to come back for the rest. My peer pal, Candace, was there to observe me today. I felt bad when I thought I wasn't going to have a patient, but luckily things worked out! It was good to have her help to chart...it sure helped move things along! Thanks Candace!

Count Your MANY Blessings!

Let's just get to the point. I was extremely blessed today. My first patient went great. Instructor Wolde helped me with my exploring (duh, should be so easy right?!). I couldn't believe how big of a difference it made when I made sure my explorer was parallel to the long axis of the tooth. Oh we forget simple things so easy! It really helped me out though becuase I didn't miss any spots!

I was extremely worried about the afternoon becuase my patient cancelled on me last night. I had called everyone I could think of and nothing was working out. My husband was going to come in if I absolutely needed him, but I wanted to avoid this because he came in only 5 months ago or so. Boy was I praying! I was walking around campus trying to find somebody...nothing. Then 10 mins before clinic started a miracle occurred. This guy walked into the clinic and wanted to get his teeth cleaned, but he didn't have an appointment! I was able to have him, and he was the perfect patient. He had never been to the dentist before. I was able to take a full mouth series on him (I was struggling at first, but then I got on a roll and didn't have any problems.) He has lots of calculus and shockingly no decay or restorations anywhere. His deepest pocket was a 5. I am going to be able to use him for my mockboard patient on Oct. 21st, which is a huge stress reliever. He seems to be very reliable and very willing to help. All I can say is somebody was really watching out for me today!

First day of WSU clinic

Well, we made it through the day without anything too traumatic happening! Yesterday my holiday came to an abrupt halt when I called my patient at 5:30 to remind her of her appointment at 8:00 this morning. She told me her car was broke down and so she couldn't come today. After a slight little brake down and my husband and I both thinking how we didn't miss this stress during the summer, I got to work trying to find a new patient. Luckily mindy came to my rescue and her brother in law came in to be my patient. It went smoothly and I was able to pass off my Diagnodent P.E.
I was a little nervous that my patient for the afternoon wasn't going to come, but he didnt' let me down! We got started a little bit late and needed some help translating, but it worked out okay. I was dissappointed that all I got down was an OD, but I'm excited that he will be 2 quads of a class II and 2 of a class III! He is the first patient I have been able to recommend the Peridex for so I will be able to see for myself if it makes a difference at his next appointment. I was proud of myself for doing well on my vertical BWX because it is something I'm not 100% confident with...they turned out much better than I expected!

Back to School!

Wow. I can't believe it is here. Summer went by WAY to fast! We had a good review today in clinic, which was helpful to get my mind back into the patient mode. We were supposed to do an OD on another student, but I was the odd man out and so Professor Alexander let me do it on her. It was so helpful to get feedback from an instructor acting as my patient! (especially when I needed to work out some squeeks from the summer!) She told me I could use a little lighter pressure when probing the anterior teeth and to go higher up the neck in the extra-oral exam up into the hair line and more behind the ears because the lymph nodes extend clear up there. She also told me a good hint to make the patient own the pain. If they experience blood or tenderness when you are probing explain that it is becuase they have gingivitis in that area, not from anything you did. I thought this was a great way to approach that and a good way to educate the patient.

I also got some good tips on sharpening instruments...I really appreciated the hands on help. I hope that I can take what I learned today and apply it so I can really develop the skill of sharpening and do it right...I don't want to ruin my expensive instruments!!!

This semester I really want to learn more about the individual instruments...I want to use all of them and become comfortable with all of them and know when it would be best to use each one...and then after becoming familiar with them I can choose my favorites! I am excited to get started with the semester, and of course extremely nervous!!! I feel like we have great staff to learn from and we need to take advantage of this! Good luck to all my classmates!!! Let's stick together and Get 'er done!

Mission Accomplished!!!

I just have to announce that a miracle has occurred. Somehow, that can only be explained by a miracle, I got an A out of clinic! Through the whole semester I didn't think this was possible...so boy did it make my day when Costley told me this in my end-of-semester meeting with her. It's time to celebrate!!!! Wahoo!

Final Day!!!

Holy Cow.....I can't believe that the last day of clinic is already over. I made it through...It doesn't seem real. Today was a good way to finish off the semester. I actually saw 2 of the 2nd year students (Chanci & Skye). It was really good to get some extra tips from them and get some good feed back. I did have help recording probe depths, so that helped me to get through them quicker. That is one thing that I have loved about our class....everybody is always willing to help out whenever help is needed. Thanks everyone for all your help throughout this whole semester! I really like how everyone has tried to help get everyone's requirements met.
I feel like I have learned a Ton this semester and gained a lot of confidence, but it is overwhelming to think of how much improvement still needs to take place. I have become so much more comfortable with exploring and probing and taking x-rays. I can actually feel the calculus and then know that I have removed it.
A few of my goals for next year are:
-Get a sequence down to help my scaling be quicker
-Overall better instrumentation and choice of instrument
-Get quicker at EVERYTHING!
-Learn something new and improve at every clinic session
Right now my biggest concern is that I'm going to forget everything over the summer...I hope I'm not too rusty when school starts again!

Some Patients to Remember

Today didn't quite go as planned. I had a brother and sister (ages 16 and 13) coming in. I knew I was going to have to bust my butt to get them done, but I had high hopes that it could be done. Those hopes were shattered the second I looked into each of their mouthes. I couldn't believe it. I first saw the girl. She had a pretty good case of some gingivitis, TONS of plaque and multiple caries! She had a few good things for me to see, including a retained root tip. Prof. M. helped me to get a plan set up for her to try to get her on the right track. The good news is that I didn't have to retake any of my BW's! I was pretty stoked!
I was running pretty behind when I brought the brother back. The mom had mentioned that he had just gotten his braces off, but I certainly wasn't expecting what I saw. He had decalcification, and caries EVERYWHERE! I honestly didn't even know where to start. He had so much plaque, I couldn't even get accurate probe measurements. The funny thing was, that the mom acted like it was a normal thing after getting braces off. I tried to set some OH goals with him and he was totally uninterested...his comment was "i'm just not a motivated person." Boy oh boy, I wish I could teach him some motivation! If he was my child I would be making him pay for that ginormous bill their going to get from the dentist. I just don't understand the thoughts that go through people's heads sometimes!!! We ended up just doing a full mouth debridement to try to get some of the plaque off. He is just going to go see the dentist to be scaled and polished because we ran out of time. I was actually kind of glad, because he had so much dimineralization, that honestly I didn't want to touch any of his teeth with my scaler! As Prof. M put it, these kids really need to meet their toothbrush!!!

Mission Accomplished

I was pretty intimidated about the day today. I was finishing my class III, who I really struggled with the last 2 appointments. I got in there, and I changed a few things that I didn't do last time. I used my ultrasonic longer and made sure that I was really going deep enough into those pockets. I went back through with the ultrasonic after handscaling. I checked every single spot with my explorer, making sure I was getting deep enough with that. I also discovered something else new today...I really like the mini graceys. I haven't really used them in the past, but they are wonderful for deep pockets when the tissue doesn't let you get down there. If I still felt a spot I went through with my mini graceys and was able to remove it. I felt pretty confident when I had Vining come over to do a scale check (at least a lot more so then last time!!!). I was so excited to hear that I only missed 1 spot!!! It took me a long time to do, but that was my main goal to be able to feel the calculus and then remove it. I also passed off my last PE today, which was my area specific PE. It is good to have those complete!

Life in the WSU DH clinic

Today I had a goal to get my last 1A requirement finished. I was expecting it to not take very long...but it took a little longer than I expected...isn't that how it always works. I guess it is a good thing that it didn't work out to have my 2nd patient come in. I took BW's. I knew that I couldn't see the distal of the cuspid and so I went to show Kim and Angie both (I couldn't find McConaughy), and they approved them. Meanwhile, Becky was taking a pano. When we went to go get them signed off McConaughy says "Kristin, you know these aren't diagnostic right?" You can imagine how frustrated I was after hearing this. She told me to just have the others grade them becuase she didn't agree with it. Then we got through with the cleaning and my patient needed 4 sealants. Since I am done with my requirements Chelsey Y came to do them. I was trying to pass off my removable aplliance PE on Emily W. retainer, but of course there was no one to be found to pass it off too. I feel like it took me double the time I needed because I was waiting around. I guess that is life in the clinic!

Things never go as Planned!!!

Today I had a 1A coming in at 8:00 and then I was supposed to be helping Denae out with a family by seeing a 14 year old. Those were my expectations when clinic started and I was all prepared to bust my butt, but then the 2nd patient didn't show up. It was kind of a bummer, but it all worked out just great. I did my 1A exam on my cute 5-year-old. I felt like everything went very smoothly with that. Then I finished at like 9:15 with her with nothing to do. I was going to do my removable prosthesis PE on Emily's retainer, but instead I ended up doing a sealant on Denae's patient and taking her other patient's x-rays. These both really helped me becuase I needed to fill both of those requirements. I didn't have any retakes on the BW's which was a miracle! I just need one more set of BW's...but 9 more PA's! Don't ask me where I'm going to get my PA's becuase I have no idea! I'm debating if I should let this same 14 year old come in next monday when I see my last 1A (8 years old). If things go as smoothly as they did today, I think I could pull it off. However, if anything goes a little rough...i could be in trouble. If anybody reads this do you have any suggestions???

Complete Chaos

Well today I had my class 2 exam patient coming in. He gave me quite the scare on Thursday when he called me and told me that he didn't know if he could come in. I almost freaked out becuase this would have been the 2nd class 2 that I had done an OD on and then didn't come in. Then I talked him in to coming and he didn't want to pay. Well he showed up with money and everything. I started scaling the lower anteriors becuase he needed to be numb there. After I cleaned him there I had McConaughy come and do a scale check on those teeth. Well after looking she said, I think he is a class 3 and I think he would be a good board patient. We spent the next hour trying to figure out what we were going to do with him. It was quite stressful. I ended up doing 2 quads...not very good because I was in a hurry, and Valerie is using the other half for her mock board on thursday. Prof. McConaughy was really cool about it all and she said we did the best we could considering the circumstances. Hopefully she will be a little bit easy on me for my exam score (she is letting me count it as my exam with only 2 quads, hopefully Costley will be cool with this.) Anways I was like a half hour getting him out of there, but we did get him out of there. He was happy too becuase she offered to pay for the other half for him...too bad money doesn't grow on trees for me!:) Well, I'm just glad the chaos is over with, I hope I don't have another clinic day as chaotic as that!

Average Patient...Great!

I feel good about how today went. I had my 2nd class 2 come in to scale him. He was a little bit easier class 2 but had tons of pseudo pockets. I was able to pass off my ultrasonic PE and Hemsley gave me some good tips to help me improve. I need to get more interproximal when I am doing it. I was able to meet my goal of being done scaling in 50 mins and I only missed 3 spots. My hardest class 2 is coming in next mon and he is my exam! (should have chose better with that!) I hope I have gotten enough practice! I got done a little early so I was able to sharpen all my instruments. Sharpening is also getting easier for me...I really struggled with this when we were first doing it! Hemsley came and told me that my patient today was a pretty average patient that you will see in an office. That made me feel good becuase I could be confident with that. Each time I learn something...it is amazing how much there is to learn!

Handy Helpers

Today went well. I accomplished everything that I had set out to do. I was able to pass off my universal instrumentation PE and finish scaling my 1st class II. I had a lot of help today from Russ and Joni administering N2O and LA. I didn't use the ultrasonic becuase of all the crowns she had. I know some people have been shown how to use it around the margins but I haven't been shown and I don't dare. I only missed 2 spots today, but I took a little bit longer than I wanted to. One of the spots I missed I was really struggling with because of the malpositioned teeth. I still really struggle with finding calculus deposits under the margins of crowns just becuase I get nervous around the margins. I hope I will be able to improve my confidence in this. I feel good about my progress today. I have my 2nd class II coming back on Wed to scale him for more practice before my exam class II in a week! I still need 9 PA's so I'm hoping they will show up somewhere!

What a Day!!!

After today I think I am going to have a breakdown. I didn't get near what I had expected to get done. I had my class III scheduled to come in this afternoon, but then Monday I found out that Clair had a pt that she needed to give away (1B). She said she could ONLY come in today at 9:00 becuase that is when she was originally scheduled. I made arrangements with Costley worked it out and told her to come in this morning. Low and behold...she no showed. Lovely. I was so mad that I had made the extra effort for her, and then she feels like returning the favor by just not showing up. What a waste of my time!
Then it was time for afternoon clinic. My patient is so sweet. I was able to talk her into getting numb today which helped both me and her. Her calculus was SOOOOOOOOO stinking hard to remove. I would work at a spot and work at it some more and it would still be there. Prof. Costley was a huge help and was really good to help me not get discouraged. She had to come back and try to remove a bunch of spots after me. I finished the spots that I was not able to remove in the UR from last appointment and there are still a few spots on the LR that Costley says she will just remove next time. I feel like I worked my butt off and was still missing so much. I still need to do her UL and LL, which I have to finish next time. I just pray that I will be able to do it and that whoever my instructor is next time will be just as willing to help me. I feel a lot more comfortable with my graceys after today, which is one good thing. I'm so glad today is done with...I don't know if I could handle much more!!!

What a Day!!!

Draining Surprise!!!

Wow. That is the only word I can use to describe today. I wasn't sure what to expect out of today. All that I knew is that she hadn't been to the dentist in like 3 years and that she was terrified. I was really hoping for a class II. I definitely had a learning experience today. She was so difficult! I wanted to have my OD done by 1:15. Much to my surprise, my health history took 50 minutes in and of itself to do! Ouch! I used my drugs book more today than I had ever used it put together since I've owned it!
She was soooo anxious. I even had a hard time probing becuase she was jumping so much. She needed N2O, which I have worked with in an office, but not in here. Tamara came to administer it. Tamara also gave the LA, or attempted to. The patient grabbed her arm in the middle of it. Another thing that I found was very annoying is that her phone rang probably 8 times and she answered it every time. Bless her heart, she is such a sweet lady and I really like her, but she caused me a lot of stress today!
I didn't get to do my universal instrumenation PE today like I had planned, but I'm just glad I got through what I did. She had some farely deep pockets, but not too much calculus. She has a crown on almost every tooth. Kim was having a hard time trying to decide which classification to make her, but luckily she chose in my favor. She said she really should be a class V, but with the difficulty of the patient and everything else involved she gave me a class II. I am so grateful for this!!! I honestly would have started crying if I knew after putting up with all of this that I would only get a class V. It was definitely a good thing for me to experience, but I hope I don't get any more of these for a while....except she is coming back next monday for me to finish. I'm just glad we won't have to do the HHX again! Hopefully it will go smoothly...I will be crossing my fingers. She is my 4th OD of a class II (becuase going right along with my luck one of them decided she didn't want to come back so I had an entire day wasted on her! Oh well, such is life right?!) All I can tell my self is just keep chugging along and hope for the best!

Double Time!

Well, today was quite the day. I knew it was going to be a little bit of a stretch trying to fit everything in today that I did, but luckily Professor Costely was very patient and helpful and I was able to make it through. I had my grandma come in to finish scaling her. She was my first patient of the semester and I just barely finished her up! Sheesh! We got started 20 mins late, so that didn't help. I started with my OD and then we went on to OHI and scaling. I passed off my anterior scaling PE. It was a really good one on one time with Costley. I feel like she really helped me to make some improvement with my stroke. I feel a lot more confident about getting down into the col area now. I learned that I also need to make my stroke not just in the direction if the tooth, but more in the direction of the toe. I feel like it was a good opportunity to have some help, becuase when I am practicing the wrong thing....I obviously don't get anywhere!
I had my sister-in-law come in to take a FMX on her. I didn't get started until 10:45 and I had to do it today becuase she is from Salt Lake and it is their spring break right now. Costley was really cool about it though, which helped me to stay calm. I feel like the x-rays went well. Out of all of them I only had 2 retakes, and one of them we still couldn't get after trying it again...it was a very tricky one! We couldn't get them to print so I will have to go back in to do that when mrs. campbell is around. Although I had to pay for the x-rays (because I was desperate!...bummer!) I feel like today overall was very productive...not only in meeting requirements, but also in what I learned. Hopefully each clinic session I will start to catch on to more and more each time!

I'll take Relaxation over Stress ANYDAY!!!

Well today I had Jamey, my peer pal, come in. I used her as my second 1B exam. She was actually a fill in for me because my patient cancelled on me last friday. I was a little more relaxed (still a little stressed...naturally) with her, it was good to get to visit with her and get some suggestions from her. She was also great to give encouragement. Obviously she didn't have very much calculus so that made it easy on me. I was able to pass off my intraoral camera PE on her which I had set as a goal because I expected that I would have some extra time. I was also able to get my PE done where I observed Janet scale. I really think you can learn a lot from watching people scale. I wish I could do it more often. I didn't miss any spots! (which isn't a huge accomplishment on someone with such good OH, but still it will help my grade!)
I also found out today that one of my class II patients that I have already done an OD on may not be able to come back becuase she may not have a car available. Shoot! One full day wasted if that is the case. I'm kind of worried about that!
It is so crazy to me that we are almost done with our first year....in not too long I will be in Jamey's shoes!!!! I told Jamey it would probably be a good experience for her because she would be able to see how much improvement she had made since this time last year!!!

What a day!

Well, one thing I discovered today is that it is a lot of pressure being in charge of having other people's patients show up! I had scheduled a family of 5 for me and a few others and yesterday I couldn't get a hold of them. I thought I was going to be tarred and feathered by my peers! The family seemed like they were pretty on top of it, but you can never be 100% sure. A few mins after 8 I called the number that was listed under the work number of the mom. She answered and it freaked me out becuase I thought she was at work! However, it was her cell phone, and she said they were actually out in the waiting room filling out some paper work. I felt like an idiot for being so annoying but it sure was a relief!
I wasn't quite sure about what to expect from my patient today. He hadn't been to the dentist for a few years. We took vertical BWX (which I struggle with) and a pano (yeah my last pano requirement!) becuase he still has his wisdom teeth and they have been bothering him. However, I had to do some retakes, which took FOREVER!!!!! I was really nervous because I knew he was going to be right on the border of a really hard 1B and a easier class II. I knew if he was a 1b I had to finish him today. Luckily Costley agreed with me. She said he wasn't healthy enough (maintained) to be classified as a V, and he definitely had some pockets going on, but not a ton of calculus. She said he could be counted as a Class II but she demanded PERFECTION out of me when I scale...that's pretty scary...I have yet to accomplish that!
I now have all my OD's complete for all of my class II's and III, I just have to complete them all so hopefully they will all return. I'm still really stressing out about my PA requirements. I was able to complete my PSR PE today as well.
I also realized today that I need to look CLOSER in my extra oral exam. My patient today had a 6x6 flat light brown lesion on his left cheek. It went completely undetected until Pro. Costley took a look. He said it had just recently appeared and so he was going to go get it checked out. I for some reason thought that anything suspicious would be a lot darker colored than this was. It was good for me to see what I need to be watching for. It's really easy to miss stuff like that. Sorry this is forever long to whoever is going to read it!

A Very Rewarding Challenge

I originally had no idea what to expect about today. My patient showed up and I was soooooo stoked!!! I finally got a class III patient! I didn't need to take any x-rays becuase she just had some taken a month ago at Mid town so that helped me be a little quicker. It took me a while to probe (Luckily Jessica helped me chart) but they were the deepest readings I have ever gotten...all the way up to a 9!!! It was exciting but at the same time intimidating. There was a little bit of a language barrier, but I think she understood me pretty well and I was able to get most of my message across. She had brought her 2-year old little girl with her which at first was quite the distraction. After a while Amber said "she's so cute, but I think she is falling asleep!" She was sitting on the floor just swaying back and forth. Luckily I was able to grab her before she hit the ground. The rest of the appointment she layed between her moms legs and snored. It was a whole new experience scaling. I missed 9 spots in 1 quad...it is amazing to me how far you have to stick your instrument to remove the calculus...and this wasn't just any calculus, this was some tenacious stuff! I hope to be able to continue to learn as I complete the other 3 quads next time. I was also able to pass of my ultrasonic PE today, which I wasn't originally expecting to be able to do, so now I have all the Pe's done that are due next Wed. I don't get quite as nervous about the appointments as I used to, so hopefully I will just continue to get more comfortable and build more confidence. I'm totally up for the challenge!

Mission Accomplished

Well I finally feel like I accomplished something. Even though was having one of my 1B patients coming back today, I still feel like I was able to get a lot done. I completed my exam on her, and did some sealants and I passed off my Diagnodent and air powder polishing PE's! Yeah!!! Today for my exam I was really focusing on trying to get the time I needed to get a 4 on my scaling becuase she had a pretty healthy mouth. I was worried about missing spots however trying to hurry so fast! I was able to get it done in 20 mins with only missing 1 spot! I was pretty excited because in the past I have spent forever trying to check and recheck my work. I feel like it was a good confidence builder...just what I need to get me through the rough, overwhelming days that lie ahead! I feel like I learned a lot from Instructor Vining. Today he went over a sequencing pattern with our pod and I really liked the idea of it. I'm really going to try hard to start doing that sequence with every patient. He promises it will make us faster and that once we get the sequence down it will come automatically! One mistake I made today is that I didn't start with the mandibular lingual anteriors, so I felt really rushed with them. Jeff said to Always start with the hardest areas and then go to the easier areas. I'm up for trying any suggestions that helps me become a little bit faster and more comfortable with what I'm doing!

Money Doesn't Grow on Trees

Today I got another class II patient!!! I was stoked! He was very receptive to my OHI and seemed like he was a little more motivated when he left to do better. It was the first time I had used the flip chart to teach and I think it worked really well. I didn't get to scaling yet, but I'm planning to do that all next time. He will be my exam patient. He was really easy to talk to and pretty open about things. It has been since he was 12 or 13 since he went to the dentist. Probably like 10 years. I just hope I can convince him that he needs to get in there and get an exam from the dentist when I am done with him. One thing that I learned today is to talk about finances when setting up the appointment with every single patient, even if they have been in before. He had been in several times before, so I figured he was aware of this, but showed up with no money. I ended up paying for the BW's (my decision) but made sure he knew that he needed to bring $28 with him next time because I cannot afford that! I just pray that he really will come back and that he really will bring money with him. It is very obvious to me that money is a huge issue of why most people don't take care of their overall health, including their teeth. But the world keeps turning and we just have to hand over the money! If anybody knows of any $$$$ growing on trees, please help me be aware of this!!!

FINALLY!!!!

I finally did it! I finally was able to have a class II patient in my chair. I can't take the credit for it though, Chelsea B. actually gave me her name becuase I had drama with confiming my patient yesterday. It is so nice to feel like we are all helping each other out so hopefully we can all make it through the semester together. I really appreciate her...I owe her big time!
I was a little nervous at first becuase I didn't know how much Enlish she spoke, but she was great, very easy to talk to. I only got through an OD check, but I was able to take 4 BWX and 3 PA's, all digital! That is good news. It was good to be getting 5 probe readings and actually be right! She had a ton of bleeding and I could tell it was really sore. Vining thinks it will be best to numb her up for next time. I'm excited. She actually acts like she is motivated to doing what she needs to do to help get her mouth healthier. She also asked a lot of questions...it is good for me to get drilled with questions! I feel like I am continually learning...I just really hope I am retaining it all!!! There is sooooooooo much information out there to know!

Rest and Relax!!!!

Today was a fun day. I could actually sleep soundly last night and didn't wake up having any nightmares about my patient not showing up. It is amazing what stress does to you! I learned a lot today. I feel like we covered a lot of good things...Dental Codes, Tx planning, ultrasonic, denture cleaning and diagnodent. The most interesting thing to me was the diagnodent because I have never seen one of those used before. I would like to run one of those things around my mouth! I think it could be a very efficient tool. Costley also said a few things that helped me relieve a LITTLE bit of stress about meeting the requirements for clinic. I just need to get all my PE's in and make sure I'm doing my best and having a patient in my chair every time and hopefully all will work out. Jamey, my peer pal, also said that she was all done with her class II and III patients so she would send them my way if she came across any. Hopefully she can help me out. One thing I realized that I need to review as well is what instruments need to be used where, particularly the Gracey's. From now on we will need to tell the instructor what instruments we will be using for treatment at the OD check. I think this will help me think through things and get a plan in my head. I know I have SOOOOOOOOO much to learn and soooo many skills to develop and improve on....my only hope is that in some small way I am showing progress!!!

CA Day #2!

Today I was CA for my 2nd time. I ended up switching Jessica because she wasn't able to be in clinic today. I had a lot of fun. It was good to work with Tori a little bit and get to know her a little bit better. It was a little bit different than last time becuase I got to close down everything and learn how to run the autoclave. Everything else came back to me pretty quickly, but Tori was still a really good help. I'm kind of excited for the break I'm getting. I didn't have a patient today, we are having a lab day on Wed. and next Mon. we are out of school! I hope by the time next Wed. rolls around I won't have digressed! I'm still really stressing over requirements...I just gotta think to take it one day at a time or I'm going to go crazy!!!

Thank Heavens For Husbands!!!

Well....today was interesting. My patient called me at 10:30 to cancel because of the weather. She works at an insurance company and didn't feel like she could leave because the claims would pile up. Frustrating. Luckily my husband was able to come, even though it was not convenient at all for him, bless his heart.
That was only part of the stress of the morning. On the way to school I got stuck in a snow bank by my house. My landlord had to bring me to school (how imbarrassing!) and my car is still stuck. Luckily my husband was able to come in today, although it wasn't very convenient for him.
I need to be more careful in the pockets and interproximally. I really gave my husbands gums one heck of a work out! Today, instead of NOT going deep enough into the pocket and interproximally, I think I was trying to go too much. However, I feel like I improved a lot in my technique and Angie was very helpful. I really need to pay close attention to the lingual mandibular anteriors. She gave me a good tip to use my Barnhart to get the calculus off the straight linguals or any groove by using the toe. I think this will come in very handy. I was able to pass off my universal instrumentation PE and my instrument sharpening PE because we had extra time. Hopefully I can take what I learned today and improve upon it!

To the Rescue!!!

I wasn't quite sure how well today was going to go. My patient I had scheduled previously cancelled yesterday, so luckily my grandpa was able to come in so we could finish up with his work. When I talked to him last night though he said that if it was snowing bad, like it was supposed to, he may not be able to make it...That is not a comforting thought! Luckily he came to my rescue. I was a little nervous because most of his teeth are crowned. I have never worked with scaling crowns so I wasn't very confident with it. It wasn't as bad as I anticipated. The hard part was his mandibular anteriors. There was some hard calculus on there! Boy was my arm tired! I missed a few spots on the anteriors, which dissapointed me a little bit, but it is okay, I just want to get better. I was able to pass off my anterior scaling PE and my exploring PE.
I worry that I am not accomplishing enough in each appointment, but I guess I should just feel lucky today that I even had a patient because there were several girls who didn't have a patient today, which is sooo frustrating!!! I guess I will just keep taking it one appointment at a time and keep trying to improve.

Whew!

Today I had a goal of completing a class 1A patient and passing off my selective polishing PE. I really wanted to get 2 BWX's and 2 occlusals. When I saw the weather outside I was worried my patient wouldn't show up, but I lucked out and they got here right on time! I feel good about what I accomplished today. It was my patient's first time to the dentist, so I knew that could be a little challenging, but nothing I couldn't handle. When I went in to do the x-rays, we got the 2 occlusals taken just fine. But then when it came time to do the BWX's he really struggled. I learned something though. Prof. M mentioned that I should have had the dad wait outside the room. I feel like I could have gotten them, but the dad had already made the decision for the kid that it was too hard to do. I will know better for next time to have the parent wait outside the room.
We came back to do the cleaning. He was getting really antsy and didn't want to lay in the chair anymore. I did half a mouth RC prophy and half toothbrush prophy to pass off my PE. We finished it up and got them out of here. I felt like I was a little more at home today working with the kid, but it still is a lot of extra paper work etc, that I am not used to doing at the office! Overall, I feel like the day went smoother than past days have gone. He is the first patient I have actually completed all the way through (not much of an accomplishment since it was just a 1A, but still.) What a relief to have the day over!

A Little Bit of Help Makes a World of Difference!

Today went well. I made it through the OD check and OHI with my class V patient. I was really hoping he would be a class II....but it just didn't happen. He had the bone loss present, but his tissues were pretty good and didn't have enough calculus to be classified as a II. Better luck next time right! I felt like today went a little bit smoother. Prof. Costley came in to help me with my vertical BWX. I didn't use the Rinn kit this time and it seemed to work better. I think in the future I will just use the tabs. Also something I didn't know...you can't take vertical BWX with the digital sensor, I guess it doesn't work!
Another thing I learned today is how to detect which teeth are the pontics in bridges. If you can't get between the teeth with the floss from the incisal edge, then get a floss threader and point it toward the tooth (away from the gingiva to prevent poking the pt!) and see if you can run the strand of floss up under the tooth.
I haven't even scaled a patient yet this semester so it could be interesting the next time I get too! The thought of reaching my requirements is always in the back of my head. I need to pick up the pace at each individual appointment and accomplish more, but at this time I'm just not really sure how to do this!!!

CA Day! Hooray!

Today was A LOT less stressful than the rest have been. I wish I could say I had a patient and it was less stressful, but that isn't the case! I was CA today and I learned a lot! There is a lot that goes on behind the scenes! There are so many places to stock and so many duties to attend to with such a large clinic! It was a good experience. Mrs. Campbell had a lot of good suggestions for us and gave me a lot of little hints when scheduling patients. For example, make sure when scheduling an appointment you edit the preference so your name shows up. If you don't, then that patient's name won't show up on your recall list, it will go to the WSU recall list. I don't want to lose a valuable patient because I made such a small mistake! I also realized how much easier it is for Mrs Campbell or the CA to schedule an appointment if you email them instead of calling them...then they can do it when it is convenient for them.
Today I was also able to talk to a few of my peers who shared my same stressful feelings about clinic (I didnt think there was anyone else out there!). This made me feel better that I wasn't alone! I just have to keep telling myself that lots ofother people have made it through this program and I can too. I just hope it all works out in the end with my grade and meeting all the requirements!

Turn My World Upside Down!!!

Well, today my goal was to pass off my sealant PE and my air-powder polishing PE becuase I had a little girl coming in just for sealants. In my mind I had planned it going pretty smoothly becuase I have done sealants plenty of times in the office that I work in. Low and behold...my world got turned upside down today!!!
First off, the patient had cystic fibrosis so I couldn't do my air-powder polishing PE. I was having a hard time getting used to the switches on the suctions with the plastic barriers on them and really struggled turning them off and on (I just switched ops this semester). Then my air-water tip was broken inside and so I was pushing the air and water would come out...which doesn't work well to create a dry field to place a sealant. On top of all this I dropped my etch 2 times and had to go get new tubes. It took me forever and a day it seemed! Luckily I had a patient with patience and a mom that was as well. I'm really struggling to know how I can make my clinic sessions so smoother. I get so nervous and stressed out...a situation that I don't handle well. I need to find some ideas of how to make my mind set like it is just a regular day that I am working in the office. I was just so frustrated because I didn't hardly feel like a accomplished anything, and what I did accomplish was a disaster. Is there any hope for me???
Prof. M said to learn that I shouldn't struggle for so long. If I am having touble with things in my unit I should get one of the CA's to help me set up a new op quick for treatment. Especially when I am working with kids becuase they dont have much of an attention span. I think it would have helped the situation, but not my stress level!

Snowing Stress!

I had a goal today to get through an OD check with my patient. I wasn't quite sure which class type she would be, but I knew I was going to have to hurry. Well, things didn't really go as planned. It was snowing like CRAZY this morning! My patient actually ended up being almost an hour late so we weren't off to a good start. She had a lot of new things for me to see intra orally that I hadn't seen just working on each other in clinic.
I decided to take 4 vertical BWX. This is the first time I have done verticals on a human patient. I completely bombed the 2 molar BWX. I retook them, and bombed them again!!! I was so frustrated becuase I had tried so hard and totally thought I was far enough back to get the distal of the second molars. I obviously need to change something!
Needless to say, I was running behind and I got all the way through, but didn't have time to have the instructor come do my OD check. In fact, I didn't even have my patient walked out by the time we were supposed to have our charts in. Luck just wasn't on my side today. The instructors were really good to help me out today, which I really appreciated. We decided that my patient should be classified as a V, which will count towards my 1B requirements. I guess it was a good experience to help me to learn to deal with my stress!!!

Welcome back!!!

Well, it's crazy that school is already back in session. I am in a new operatory, so the switches on the suctions are a little bit different and the setup is a little bit different, but hopefully it won't take me too long to get used to that! I felt a little better after I had organized all my instruments so that I could have some sterilized packages ready to go. We were also able to practice the ultrasonic. I need to remember to not get close to any soft tissue, because it will burn it. I also need to remember to go a little bit faster paced over the teeth with it. It should be faster than the air-powder polisher!!! I am excited to get to use this on our patients and think it will be a great benefit.
We also learned more about the Gracey instruments. Before I didn't really know how they worked, so this was a really good thing to learn. Wednesday we see our first patient for this semester. My grandma is coming in. She hasn't been to the dentist in a while so I'm sure it is going to be a little more difficult than anything I have done up to this point. Hopefully it will go okay!