A much better week!

First and foremost...Karlie found me a mockboard patient! Thank you Karlie!

My morning patient turned out to be a class III! I completed the OD and one quad with one error. Not too bad, but I am looking forward to the day when I am quicker and have less errors. I was worried because I thought I was going super slow, but instructor Wold said I was going at a pretty good pace. That made me feel better. This was my first patient this semester who needed anesthetic. I am excited to start giving injections to our patients in clinic. This patient had been to her regular dentist's office and they told her she needed a periodontal cleaning and it would cost $500.00. She was so grateful for the service we provide at the clinic. She said she had no idea how she was going to pay for a cleaning like that. It made me feel good to see how grateful she was to me. My afternoon patient is a sweet lady I saw last semester. She is mentally disabled and a class II. The cleaning went well, although she gets pretty restless near the end of the appointment. I started with polishing to clear out some plaque so that I could scale. That seemed to help a lot compared to when I saw her last semester because it was difficult to work around all of the soft plaque. I missed two spots. Those dang distal line angles on the maxillary molars are going to be the death of me! Today we had our nitrous lab. Until today, I had never had nitrous before. I was missing out! That is some good stuff! :) Goals for next week: Don't miss the line angles and set scale time goals for myself.

Finally a Class III!

This week in clinic I saw a class III patient who only spoke Spanish. I did have a translator for part of the appointment, but the rest of the appointment was very difficult. Somehow I managed! He was very nice and cooperative. Unfortunately, I was only able to get x-rays and the OD done because he was a little late and there just wasn't enough time to get him numb and to begin and finish a quad with how much calculus he has. I am glad I have finally found a more difficult patient! He is almost a mockboard patient, but has too many restorations. He is going to be coming back in a few weeks so I can get his cleaning started. In the afternoon, my patient was a returning patient who was previously a class III, but she is now a class V. She had a 10mm pocket in her UL quadrant which was quite difficult to access but the graceys are wonderful! I was able to get her all finished, but I did have a couple calculus errors. More lateral pressure Jodie!! In pod wrap we talked about chair positions, and going "back to basics" and remembering where we need to be sitting to access different areas so that ergonomics are in our favor and we are more likely to efficiently remove deposit. My goal for the next clinic session is to use more lateral pressure as I am scaling areas with calculus and to use more of an exploratory stroke everywhere else. Also, I would like to utilize oblique and horizontal overlapping strokes as well.

Not the best of weeks...

VA this week went pretty good, I was able to get some x-rays! The VA x-rays took a minute for me to get used to, it seems like I need to come way more mesial than I normally would with the x-ray tubeheads at WSU. It was a good lesson to learn a new x-ray system. Also, Prof. Bossenberger showed me some good tips about scaling the distals of the second molars using horizontal strokes. I do want to work on being a little quicker at probing when I update the perio charts at the VA. Clinic was a little rough for me this week. I found out after my morning patient filled out her health history that she needed to premedicate for a knee replacement. I spent the ENTIRE appointment on the phone with her orthopaedic office, trying to find her doctor, waiting and waiting for a fax back. It was quite ridiculous. I did everything I could on her without having her premed, which was basically just charting restorations and tissue descriptors. She will be coming back in two weeks so that I can start her treatment. The good news is that she is at least a class II or III, so that's good. For the afternoon, I had a patient who ended up being a 1B. If she would have had a little more bone loss she would have been the perfect mockboard patient. She is a nice lady but she literally would not stop talking the whole time. Towards the end, I was getting pressed for time so I would try to put my instruments in her mouth while she was talking but she was not having it! It is one of the most frustrating things I have experienced so far in clinic. She was also quite sensitive as the instructors and I explored/scaled, which made things a little difficult. I ended up missing quite a few spots on her and I was extremely discouraged that I missed that many spots on a 1B. Prof. Alexander could tell I was not okay and she really made me feel better. She said that sometimes 1B's can be very difficult patients and she explained that I was just missing that final twist once I am in the pocket. Adapt, adapt, and adapt some more! Next time on a patient like her, I would use some Oraquix so that I am really able to get down in there and clean. Although it was a hard day, I am glad I learned those lessons. Today we had our maxillary Injections LA Lab. Another successful lab! Me and Jamie partnered up again and we both did a good job! I am really enjoying local anesthesia. Until next week...here's to hoping it can only go uphill from here! My goal for next week is to reduce errors and scale times.

VA CA, Clinic, and First LA Lab!

This week was a busy one! On Tuesday I was the Clinic Assistant at the VA. I was actually really glad I got to be the CA so early on the semester because it gave me really good refresher for when I have VA clinic next week. I got a little more practice with the computers and the VA routine. On Thursday, both of my patients were class V's. My AM patient was a class III last semester, but we decided this appointment that she is now maintained (class V)....aw mannn. I look forward to the day when I actually want my patients to have healthy teeth. As for the next year, I selfishly want unhealthy mouths from all of my patients! I am getting nervous about finding a mockboard patient. But I have to keep telling myself...somehow, everything will just work out! I was able to go the whole day without missing any spots, but I definitely need to speed up. I can't figure out what the heck my slow down is? I want to be more observant of myself next clinic day and see where I am wasting time. I am getting more comfortable with the ultrasonic, but I am still looking forward to more instruction on it in class next week. And finally, the Maxillary LA lab! Surprisingly, I was not very nervous for this lab. Everything went very smoothly both giving and receiving injections. It actually was kind of fun and Dr. Hanson said our group did a great job! My main goal for next week is, again, to decrease scale times. I need to watch the clock and see how long I am taking on each quad. I also would like to pass off at least one PE next week. Mostly, I need to find some more periodonatally involved patients!

First Day of Patient Tx and VA

On Tuesday I had my first experience at the VA. I was nervous! Luckily, my patient was the sweetest guy you will ever meet. Being in a new environment with a different computer program and a whole new routine is good for me. I HATE getting out of my comfort zone, so whenever I am forced to do so, that's great! I did not miss any spots and overall I felt like it was a good day. This patent had a crown on every single tooth, so it was difficult to explore and tell if I am feeling calculus or crown margin. That was a good experience for me. I also got a Pano and 1 PA for that patient. My goal for next time at the VA is to remain a little more organized and remember my routine, and hopefully remember all of the new computer stuff. In WSU clinic this week I had a 1B in the AM (a recall from last semester) and a 1A for the PM. I did pretty good I think! Unfortunately I did miss two spots on my 1B, but it taught me a good lesson. Prof. Alexander showed me on the maxillary buccal molars that there is almost always something there because they are up near a salivary duct. She showed me a horizontal and oblique stroke to get the deposit on the crown and just below the gingival margin. I was worried about the anteriors because I am notorious for missing spots on the mandibular anteriors, but I only missed one spot there (which doesn't sound like a good thing, but it's a mini victory for me). But after Prof. Alexander showed me the deposit and I felt it, I got it off easily. Also, As Prof. Alexander was walking around, she commented that my angulation as I scaled the mandibular anteriors was right on. Yay! My goal for my next 1B patient to is finish them quicker and reduce my scale time. My PM patient was an 8 year old. Everything went pretty smoothly and I was not as confused with mixed dentition as I was when I saw an 8 year old last semester. There was not much to scale, mostly just deplaquing the teeth and sweeping plaque from just below the margin. Looking back, I should have been able to finish a little quicker. Again, my goal is to decrease my scale times as I increase my skills and efficiency. So far, I am really liking second year clinic. Let's hope some of my patients next week need x-rays, I don't want a repeat of last semester. Local Anesthesia lab next week, here we come!