1A's

Today was my first time seeing two patients in one clinic session. They were two little girls, ages 3 and 5. They both had never been to the dentist before so they were a little nervous, but they were both so good! I took them for a ride in the chair, then showed then how the chair lays back and turns into a "bed", let them shoot a little air and water out of the air/water syringe, and let them hold the saliva ejector (Mr. Thirsty). Everything went surprisingly well! I was able to get x-rays on the 5 year old and both of them let me and the instructor really get in there and look at their teeth. The mother also wanted some x-rays taken so I took a quick set of bitewings on her too! I learned today a lot about how long a child can sit in the chair before they are just totally done. After bitewings, OD, brushing/flossing, and exploring, the 5 year old was DONE. She was still really good, she just got very wiggly and tired. It was a good experience today. I was able to get some requirements taken care of and I really think the girls wont be scared next time they go to the dentist because they were both so good! My goal for next time is to get e little quicker at charting. Granted, I had two charts to do today. But it seems like I usually am still one of the last people out of clinic every time.

Good learning experience

Today was my second appointment with my special needs patient, and they brought her denture this time! I was able to pass off my PE, no sweat! Last time, I only got the health history done and the pano (see post on 3/7/11). I did the OD and took some PA's and she was a class III! I was so happy because I need a class III patient. She only has two quads to do, but it's a good start to my requirement! Well today, I got through the whole OD and OHI, took the PA's, and then we were out of time again. I really was hoping to get done today but everything takes a little longer with this patient that usual. But she is so sweet! I feel so lucky to be her dental hygiene provider. She is patient and funny. She even made me a hat out of yarn. It is a good experience working with a patient with a mental disability. Now I have a little better understanding of how to handle similar situations in the future and in my career. One more appointment to scale and then I will be done with this patient. Today I learned that if a patient has sever xerostomia (as my patient does), don't do the disclosing agent. There is not enough saliva to move it around and it just got all over her lips. I will skip that part next time. My goal for my next clinic session is to RELAX. I noticed that My whole body gets pretty tense in clinic. I need to relax my shoulders and be confident in my abilities.

I can't handle the stress...

Yep, another cancellation, 30 minutes before clinic starts! I know that everything usually works out in the end, but when I hear my patient say "I won't be able to make it today" my heart completely sinks and my mind starts racing! Today I was so lucky. There was an on-call name on the list and he was happy to come and was here right on time! I am so grateful. Today was my first set of bitewings using conventional film. I was a little scared because if you have to take retakes on conventional film it takes FOREVER to take the x-rays, develop, mount, get them checked by an instructor, retake, develop again, get them checked again. Well, I only needed 1 retake which I guess is not too bad. But it does take a lot of time on conventional films. I really hope the office I work for has digital x-ray devices! Overall, things went good today. I finished the OD and one quad, and he will be coming back the last day of clinic to get finished. I learned today from Instructor Hafen to really make sure I adapt, adapt, adapt! Also, she helped me a lot with using an exploratory stroke first, then using the lateral pressure if I feel something. My goal for my next clinc session is to continue using the ultrasonic and getting more comfortable with it.

Dang stack!

I learned a lot today. You would think by now that fulcruming and "keeping my stack together" would be second nature by now. Nope. My fulcrum is almost always too weak and my stack is anything but together. Prof. Costley really helped me today with anterior instrumentation and emphasised the importance of my stack when working on the anteriors. It helped me a ton! She also showed me an extra-oral fulcrum that I think will really help me once I get a little more practice with it. Something else that should be second nature by now is my posture. My back usually hurts after clinic so that is a big sign that I need to pay more attention to my posture if I do not want to drastically shorten my career. Overall, today went good. I did miss more spots of calculus that I had hoped for, but hey, it was my first true class II and I learned a lot today. My goal for the next clinic session is to revert back to the basics a little and really pay attention to some of the things I have somewhat thrown out the window (posture, correct grasp, fulcrum).

No Show

The same patient who no-showed on me last time did it again. I called him yesterday to confirm the appointment and he said he was coming. I was quite frustrated. Luckily, sweet Kayla said I could see her mom. (Thank you SO much Kayla!) Kayla's mom was so sweet. I was able to get through the OD and I got some really great experience with a physicians consult. So next time I need one, I will know exactly what to do. Also, I learned that I can do an OD pretty dang quick now. After I got the fax back from my patients doctor, I only had a half hour to get done. I finished the OD! (With Stephanie's help recording probe depths). Unfortunately there was no time for PE's today, which really stressed me out. Oh well. I am grateful everything worked out today. I am grateful for sweet girls in this program! Like Kayla, and the girls in my pod who are always so willing to help me however they can, and all the girls who make me laugh in clinic when I'm stressed. We have the best class! I am still worried about x-rays, still worried about PE's, but I couldn't be happier that it's Spring Break. After a week like this, it is much needed.

Let's call today..Eventful.

It was not necessarily a bad day, just not a great one. Today my patient was a mentally disabled woman being brought in by her caretaker. They were both so sweet and everything was going great. I was filling out the health history and about ten minutes into the appointment, the caretaker got a phone call and just started bawling. I felt so bad, I did not know what to do, so I just hugged her and asked what's wrong. She said her grandmother died. Jamie came over to help me and walked the caretaker outside while I stayed with my patient. Mr. Soloman was a big help and helped comfort her outside along with Jamie. The caretaker decided she still wanted my patient to get her teeth cleaned so she left to take care of some things and my patient stayed with me. She was very sweet and quite competent. She started crying a few times in the appointment, but I was able to comfort her. The health history took me over an hour because she had about 16 different medications I had to look up, some of which were not in our DDR. So after the phone call and the loooooong health history, all I had time for was a pano. My patient had a broken shoulder and the pano machine could not clear her shoulder as it went around. Prof. Costley came to help me with my retake, we ended up having to take off the lead shield all together because her shoulder was too high. It all worked out in the end. She will be coming back soon to get finished. She has a denture on the top so I need to remind them to bring it next time so I can pass off my PE. I am still very worried about PE's, my goal is to do at least two a day for the next few clinic sessions. Like I said, not a bad day, just eventful. I was actually really proud of myself today.

Time Goals

A good day in clinic! Today I finished up my patient from last week who had 2 quads finished. I met my goal to pass off more PE's by passing off universal Instrumentation and Instrument Sharpening today, YAY! I told Instructor Hafen that I still am worried about the ultrasonic, so she came over and helped me. She let me just use it without water or power so i could show her the angles. She said it was good, but to remember to adapt and angle into that interproximal. That was so helpful. I really understand the way she explains things. I finished the last 2 quads and only had 2 errors on my scale check. Hafen helped me feel the errors and i was able to get them off by myself! I would like to get better at exploring still so that i can feel my own errors better before scale checks. In pod wrap we talked about setting time goals for ourselves so ewe can see our improvement or see how much we need to pick up the pace. I am going to do this, it is a good idea. I really need to go more sub and really focus on my finger-roll adapting. My goals are to somehow get a class III, more 1A's, and to use the ultrasonic! Then end of the semester is creeping up so quickly I can hardly believe it! Praying I will reach my requirements!