Oh baby!

I learned something this week. When a patient walks in for a 3-hour dental appointment with her 3-year old son by her side...this is not the best of scenarios for a student dental hygienist. My morning patient was a very nice class II and her little boy was adorable. How long can a 3-year old sit and wait? About 15 minutes. The paper and pencils I gave him were not quite entertaining enough. After that, he was trying to get into drawers, pulling on the blinds, smearing lotion from his mom's purse all over his hands and face, and finally, emptying mom's wallet and making it rain with quarters and $20 bills. I cruised as fast as I could with the appointment so the poor little guy would not have to wait too long. For a 3 year old, he really was being pretty patient. I missed, probably due to my hurrying, some sheet calculus on the lingual mandibular anteriors. Well, don't I feel stupid! It was a good lesson. I think I sometimes get so focused on scaling interproximally and feeling for calculus, I forget to use my eyes and look for supra calculus. Besides that, I did not have any errors. Dr. Hanson showed me a good tip, to use my scaler and clean the pits in the premolars. My afternoon patient turned out to be a class III/IV which was exciting! I also found a patient who was willing to pay for a FMX, double exciting! Unfortunately, taking a full-mouth series of X-rays seemed to take me longer than it should. I hope it becomes a little quicker with practice. My goal for next week is to always use my air to check for calculus!