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!