Signing off

Weird. This is my last post to record my experiences throughout the dental hygiene program. Today was really busy, I saw two patient this morning. One was my husband and I really wanted to get him in for a cleaning before I was done and I also needed to pass of Nitrous and he was all for it. I also finished my class IV patient and it was so great to see how much better her tissues looked. They still bled a little bit but overall her probe depths were better! (some of them got worse and I am assuming this is because there was calculus there the first time I probed). Then we had a potluck lunch in the wet lab with all of the faculty. I love them all so much, i was trying not to think about how much I would miss them! Then in the afternoon my class III came in and was so willing to let different students work on him to get their requirements for quads, injections, etc. I am done with my requirements! Yay!
This whole dental hygiene experience has been the hardest thing I have ever done, every single day I was wishing the madness would just end. Now that it finally is, I realize that although these past two years took everything I had and at times I truly hated it...I am so sad to see it end. I came into this program not knowing anything. I actually considered quitting at one point because I did not think that I could do it. Thank goodness I didn't. Cause I did do it!
Class of 2012 I love you girls with all my heart!!! WE DID IT!!!

Prof. Alexander is right..."It All Works Out"

Another clinic day down, the second to last one! I was so stressed because I only have one more clinic day and one more VA day to find a class III and I called a random dude off of the list and he came in today.....Perfect Class III! So now I do not have to stress so much about requirements! It was really hard to communicate with him because he does not speak any English, but we was right on time and so willing to be there! I am thankful to have Mr. Solomon there to translate to patients like this because it seemed like he had no idea why his mouth was hurting and why his cleaning was taking sooo long! He had radiographic calculus like crazy and so I was really nervous to get my scale check but I ended up doing pretty dang good, leaving only a few rough spots. I will bring him back on the last day to hopefully finish him up. Also, this guy bled like crazy, which for some reason makes me ten time more exhausted at the end of the cleaning, from all the suctioning, rinsing, scale for a sec, suction, rinse, scale for a sec...etc. ONE MORE CLINIC DAY, hopefully I wont be holding back tears the entire time!

Another busy day!

I did conventional films on my three patients today, it was good for me to practice it again since I had been avoiding it like the plague. My morning patient ended up being a class II with not much deposit, but I sill managed to miss some spots which was a little bit discouraging. I think as I am trying to pick up my speed, maybe I am exploring right over these deposits, especially pieces that are left burnished. Oh well, another learning experience. In the afternoon I saw the two cutest little girls. I love treating kid patients. These girls were so good and patient. Their mom had promised them that if they have no cavities then they can go get ice cream after the appointment. The youngest little girl ended up having 4 cavities that we could see visually. I thought she was about to cry, and then her sister informed her she could have "a little bit of ice cream". They were fun! I did not get to do a sealant unfortunately, but I did pass of my AP polish PE on Ashley. My goals for next week are still to pick up my speed, but to slow down as I am exploring so that I do not breeze right over the calculus. Two more clinic days...this is nuts!

Boards are done!!!

I have mixed emotions about the clinical board. I felt okay after it, but really somber, not necessarily relieved like I was hoping to feel. My scaling time went by really fast but I can honestly say that in the moment I did my best. The minute I got home I burst into tears, which was very confusing to my family, but those were tears of excitement, fear, and exhaustion.
In clinic today I had my board patient come back in. Professor Alexander suggested that we check out the quad that I cleaned for boards...that was scary! But it turned out looking pretty good, just a couple of areas that may have been burnished. So we will see! It was great to see the change in her tissues, especially in the quads I had cleaned a couple of weeks ago.

I passed my LA Clinical!

I can not believe it! I was sooo nervous for this day. And I do not know how it happened, but once I got in there and was being watched by the examiners, I felt completely calm. I remembered everything I had to do and say. Luck was on my side because everything went perfectly (unlike my mockboard which was a total disaster). I would like to thank my husband and his amazing anatomy. I mean, that raphe is gorgeous! Also, to our instructors, who always believe in us even when we do not believe in ourselves! It was a good day. Now on to the next one.

Found a Board Patient

This was a tricky one. First we thought she would work and then decided she wouldn't due to probe depths and about had her sent out the door...and then we figured out another way to make it work! I am going to clean her UR quad and 3-4 mandibular teeth. She is so sweet and willing to be there even before I bribed her with a cash reward! I am a little nervous about using that many extra teeth and my patient is a class III/IV, but it will all work out. I can not pass her up because there are students who have not even found a board patient yet. Luckily, my patient was willing to be both my morning and afternoon patient and I had time to clean a couple of quads today. And I did alright. I really need to work on that final twist though , even while exploring! Good luck on boards ladies, we are gonna rock it!

The Return of the No-Shows

Another almost patient-less morning, but the day was saved by sweet little Faythe who was a class V off of the resource list. She was really easy to clean because all of her teeth had crowns or veneers. She was so sweet and complimentary of me the entire time, because she came into the appointment quite worried that a student would not know how to clean around all of her dental work. She left very pleased and that made me happy. I had my class IV come in this afternoon. She is another on of the sweetest patients I have seen. I got 2 more quads done on her today. I felt pretty discouraged though because of my calculus errors. I think I still need to make sure that my lateral pressure is adequate enough and that I am ultrasonicing deep enough in the pocket. Marilyn was a lot of help to me today and stayed with me until I got every single error, so it was a great experience and I felt like I learned a lot, but couldn't help leaving clinic feeling a bit in over my head...for many reasons....like boards...which is all I can think about for the next two weeks!

Last Mockboard!

Well I passed, but barely! I had to use my 2nd submission which took of 4 points and then I missed three calculus errors....but I felt like a learned a lot and am getting better and better every day. My errors are from missing the last twist interproximally and I need to do the same thing when I explore. I did the left IA on her, which is so much easier than the right, I have no idea why I was so set on the right side for the LA board. We will see what I end up doing. I still need a board patient which is stressful, but it has worked out for me every single time that I find one right at the last minute, so I have faith that this will be the case yet again. And that is that!

Loooong day

This morning I did the OD for a patient that I knew was going to be a class IV and gave him to Jodie who still hadnt seen one yet. He has more calculus than I have ever seen, she should have fun with this one! And my afternoon patient did not show up or answer any of my phone calls so they are off my list! So I helped stock the pods, helped Kelsey suction and that is about it. This is the dumbest post ever, but seriously nothing happened today. Love you girls!

LA Mockboard

I was so nervous for this day. Thank goodness Kelly was my patient cause I instantly felt better when he was in the chair and it was time to just get it over with! So let me just share my dumb mistakes with you guys and some things I learned, in hopes that we can all do better next time!
So the first thing I did wrong was started aspirating before they said "proceed". I waited for both examiners to say "I see" but that is not enough...basically do not do anything until you are told to proceed.
Also I must have been so nervous cause I did the dumbest thing ever as I was breaking down my syringe. I usually always get rid of the needle first, it just makes more sense to me that way. But the night before mockboards I was reading in Malamed and its says to dispose of the carpule first. So I went completely out of my routine and got rid of my carps and both of my rubber plungers were stuck and it was just a disaster trying to get them off of the harpoon using my cotton pliers. So after I was already all flustered I still had to get rid of the needle. Instead of twisting off the cap/needle I simply pulled off the cap(without the needle) and tapped it into the sharps. I looked down at that naked needle still on my tray and about had a heart attack! Luckily Marilyn was there to coach me a bit on how to handle this. I made the needles as safe as I could but putting it through a cotton roll and then twisting the needle off with my cotton pliers. So lets just say I failed that part.
The other things were not failing points necessarily but I was told to watch these things...My IA was not quite deep enough and my second angle on the PSA was a little "flat", not going towards the other eye at an angle. So I really need to work on those angles, cause I still do not understand all 3 of them entirely. All in all, today was a really good learning experience and I do feel a little more confident about the real deal!

Class IV {Woot Woot}

This morning I saw my mockboard patient again but only had time to finish one more quad on her. I have come to the conclusion, at least in my experiences, true class II patients are harder than any other. I missed spots on her mesials on her premolars and Prof. Alexander showed me how to get them off using a horizontal stroke with the sickle and sitting at 12 0'clock. We also had quite the experience trying to give her an IA. The second I looked in her mouth, I could tell her anatomy was quite different than I was used to, it just felt different. So I attempted the IA 3 times with osseous contact. Prof. Alexander gave it a try and aimed really high, finally got the needle to go in and not hit bone but she got a positive aspiration. So we decided to stop trying and do Oraqix instead. It was a good learning experience, every person is truely different when doing injections! I will be calling her tomorrow to see if she is having any trismus in that area since I poked it so many times!
My afternoon patient ended up being a class IV and I got a full mouth on her. I got one quad done today and she did not even need anesthetic, it was crazy. She has some pretty deep pockets, like some 7's, 8's, 9's so the calculus errors I made today was just not going quite deep enough. So, I will do better next time!

Moving right along...

It was a pretty good clinic day. I got one PE passed off and I got some PA's which I have been in desperate need of. My morning patient was diabetic but she told me she was feeling fine. So we went along with the cleaning and she started getting really dizzy and not feeling well, about a half hour into it. I sat her up and gave her some water. This patient has an infection around her brain and I have been dealing with physician consults and working with Dr. Naylor to know that best way to treat her. She was on anti-dizzy medication for the infection, so I just figured her feeling dizzy in the chair was a normal thing lately...It totally slipped my mind that she was a diabetic. Turns out she did not eat any breakfast and this is one thing her doctor has stressed to her many times. Prof. Alexander was quick to act and got her a Pepsi to sip on. She started to feel better but I was still a little shaken up from everything. I tried to finish the quad I was working on but after a few minutes we decided we better dismiss our patient since we were running out of clinic time anyways. So I learned a good lesson even though I was discouraged for hardly getting anything done. In the afternoon I saw a class III patient who was really nice, but he was talking my ear off. I finished him in the nick of time and was really happy about that. Prof. Alexander helped me with a few areas today and she really helped me work on that last twist as well as using just the tip of the instrument to get off the calculus.

Mockboard #2

This one went much better than the last. I was in complete shock that I passed because I felt discouraged throughout the entire cleaning. My patient has some calculus that was clinging on for dear life and those third molars were really tricky...I was sweating like crazy! But I only missed two spots! Greatest feeling ever. I missed points on my x-rays because I completely forgot to get a film or pano of her 3rd molar, so that was a good learning experience for all of us. Also when I was anesthetizing my patient I ended up doing an infiltration instead of a PSA. Perry explained to me that since I was not quite angled towards the opposite side of the mouth it wasn't a PSA. I will eventually get that dang thing down! Mostly I am just relieved that it is over and hopefully for the real one I will not be quite as stressed about the process and paperwork side of it.

Not the most productive of days...

So my morning started out with my patient needing a physician consult because of a seizure she had 4 days previous and infection around her brain (this was throwing up red flags all over the place for me). After 2 hours of waiting, we never received it back and my patient was so eager to get started she was willing to wait that whole time to see if the fax would come. So basically I got nothing done, except the learning experience of my first physician consult. Those are not fun. The afternoon went much better. I finished cleaning my class III patient from last semester and so I got to do injections as well as finish her with only one error. There was quite a chunk of burnished calculus that took me forever to get off but this was good practice, and more determination to not burnish it in the first place. So things are getting better, slowly but surely I am getting there. She was really sweet and seemed very interested in coming back in for regular cleanings and keeping her teeth healthy. It was great to see the half that I had cleaned last time and to see that she had been flossing and brushing and that the tissues did not even bleed on that side. I love when people just get it and care. Until next time blog....MOCKBOARD #2....lets hope this time around goes better than the last!

Last Semester!

Here I am in my last semester of the program, I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. Our first day back in clinic had its up and downs, which I am used to. I saw the 1A's that I had scheduled the day of the infamous wind storm. Things did not go as quickly as I had wished, even with 1A's in the chair, it is hard to quickly and efficiently switch from one patient to the other. I got some practice with primary dentition. I was also able to "diagnose" quite a few interproximal caries on their x-rays so I stressed the importance of fluoride and home care, especially with the mom so that she could help them with their flossing. I also saw a class III/IV patient in the afternoon! A miracle! I only got through the OD because she was about an hour and a half late but it went well and I got to know the feeling of my probe dropping into a 9mm pocket. She was very sweet I just hope that next time she has a translator with her so I can communicate with her better so I can feel as though I really helped her. Well, that's all for now, I am excited to be back!