Class III

Today was my first experience with a patient who needs Local Anesthesia. It is kind of nice working on someone who is completely numb! I was able to get a lot of time with my ultrasonic today and I am feeling very comfortable with it now! I am so relived to have my requirements met for a class III patient!! I missed quite a few spots but I think that is to be expected this semester with class III's. I can not believe there is only one clinic day left! On Wednesday I will finish the patient I worked on today (she has one quad of a class II that still needs cleaned) and then finish my last 1B patient. I am really starting to get more comfortable scaling. There is still plenty of things I need to work on, but there have been some light bulbs click on these last few clinic sessions. I'm starting to feel more comfortable with patients and in my abilities. I would like to get better at feeling calculus with my explorer. I still sometimes have a difficult time feeling the calculus even after a scale check and the instructor is showing me where it's at. I would like to practice exploring and perfecting my fulcrums and grip over the summer. Overall it was a good day and I learned a lot about cleaning a periodontally involved patient! My goal for my last clinic session is to finish...and get one more sealant! That's all I have left! Big thanks to all the girls who have helped me so much this semester with getting x-rays and everything! Love you girls!

Another Longggg day.

Today was so productive! I needed an extra clinic session because of all of my bad luck with patients no-showing. For the morning clinic, I had my husband come in so I could take a full mouth set of PA's on him. It was my first FMX of the semester so I was a little worried, but I did pretty good! My first few PA's were missing the apicies, so I called in Instructor Caldwell and she gave me some great tips. I just love her! She also helped me identify the radiopaque blob at the apicies of one of my husband's premolars, a condensing osteitis! I also did a sealant on Skyler and was able to pass of my diagnodent, air powder polisher, and sealant PE on him! After that, my sister came in for some bitewings and a pano. She was pregnant when I cleaned her teeth at the beginning of the semester so I brought her back in so I could take them now. I also did a sealant on her too. Great morning! Then for afternoon clinic I had a 1B patient who was just a sweetheart. She was really nice and she was a god learning experience because she had a dreaded lingual bar! I got A LOT of practice with the ultrasonic and I feel so much better about it! I think I finally got it down! I learned a lot about instrumenting on anteriors. My goal for next time is to not miss any spots on the anteriors, that seems to be my trouble spot lately!

Longggg Day

Today I was able to complete my two quads of my special needs class III patient. It would have been easier for me I think if I would have polished first, and then scaled because there was so much plaque build up. It also would have been easier to use the ultrasonic a lot but my patient didn't handle that too well. I was able to give the patient and caregiver lots of good oral hygiene instruction and advised that it would be best if she is seen every 3 months. I am glad her mouth is all clean now. After clinic, I had CA for afternoon clinic session, and then it was the Welcome Event for the new junior class. It is so crazy to think that we are going to be seniors! Time really does fly!! So today was a long day and I am exhausted, but it was a good day. CA went really well and I did most things by myself today. My goal is to get more practice with my ultrasonic and my graceys on my next class III patient and to get quicker at scaling. I would like to read the clinic manual time goals and try and get as close to them as I can. ONLY 3 clinic sessions left!!?? I can't believe it!