Week 6

Ever have one of those clinic days where you you wonder what the heck you are doing here? I felt so out of my league today and although it was a very discouraging day it was one that was much needed. Everything went fine with my first patient except she ended up being a 1B. My afternoon patient was my Mockboard patient and I brought her back in to get some PA's and some more quads cleaned. I guess this is my first experience with really tenacious calculus and I can see why they sometimes say class II's can be the hardest. There were a ton of spots that I was not feeling with my explorer so Dr. Hanson came to save the day and really helped me out and watched me for a while. This patient has overall been a really good experience for me and I need to think of it as just that.

I need to stay Up, up, up on that fulcrum, the toe need to be 1st thing sub-g, and just get in there with the ultrasonic and let it do the hard work. Unfortunately, not all calculus comes off as easily as I have previously experienced.

Sigh...

Well tomorrow should be fun. We are having our nitrous lab and it will be my first time experiencing that stuff. Well, time is flying!! It is freaking me out a little.

No Show #2

It was one of those rollercoaster days. Great morning, sad little afternoon. This morning I found my mockboard patient (thanks JODIE...how could I do this without you?) and that was a huge relief since she is the first patient I have seen this semester that is not a 1B or V. My x-rays were a success which always makes me feel like I just conquered the world. And then Mr. No Show ruins it all. I tried the best I could to get another patient in and waited for a whole hour and a half for this lady to show up that said she could and then she called to say nevermind. I left clinic feeling quite discouraged today, but writing about it and eating this Nutella right now sure makes me feel better! Its gonna work out. I have a few goals for next week...

Lateral Pressure...
Watch my time, try to speed things up a bit....
Have a good attitude...
Don't be afraid of conventional film...
POSTURE...
Learn Spanish...
and more lateral pressure.

Busy!

Once again, I had a class 1B's and V's at both the VA and in clinic. This has been really good practice for me and has really gotten my confidence up, but I am a little bit worried about finding a mockboard patient. I have to remind myself that I only have so much control over what class my patients are so I will just keep looking! Today I learned that getting the ultrasonic out even on a 1B gets them done so much quicker and I do not know why I have been so afraid to use it on them. We also got some really good instruction in class on Monday on instrumentation. We brought in all of our instruments and really went over the basics which was great to review and I felt like a learned a lot. We learned that we can not go wrong as long as we: Keep parallel with the long axis of the tooth, lead with the toe, direct your working stroke towards the toe, use lateral pressure, and twist! I just need to get that all down to one fluid motion and practice, practice, practice! We also did mandibular injections today which also went great.

Survived

This was the week I had been dreading for about a year and a half now. Today we gave our first injections! I seriously did not sleep last night I was so nervous. I think it is because all of the girls were scaring me about the nasopalatine injection and telling me that in their dental offices it made grown men cry like babies. Yikes I was nervous but thank goodness Jodie was my partner cause it calmed my nerves a ton. So, it went well! What a baby I was being, they did not even hurt that bad and I actually had fun when it was my turn to give the injections! Clinic was good and my patients were wonderful, except still class 1B and V's. Also, my vertical BWX were awesome. So that made my day.

Week #2

Another week down! Clinic went really well yesterday. I was a little worried about getting back into the flow of things but most of it came right back to me. I had a little bit of trouble with the x-rays I took on my first patient/brother-in-law. I know I need much more practice in this area and I hope that each week they continue to get better and better. Having two patients in one day sure seemed overwhelming, but it actually made the day go by very quickly. My patients were pretty easy ones though and I am looking forward to those more difficult patients. I also went to the VA for the first time this week. Boy, was I nervous, but just like always, I had the sweetest patient ever. It is so great to hear people express their gratitude for the services they are getting. He told me he was so lucky to be there and did not mind that his appointment took a little longer. I wish all of our patients would realize that although their appointments may be painfully long sometimes, they are lucky to be getting treatment for so cheap!

Senior Year, It's Here!

I am ready to take on "the beast" aka second year.

  

I am trying really hard to believe that no matter what, just like in first year, things will somehow work out.  This first week was pretty overwhelming but all in all, it was good to be back.  I am excited about having less class work and more clinic time which is definitely what I need.  I like the second year professors and instructors so much!  They are going to be pretty fun, I can tell.  I am thinking that clinic is going to be a bit more relaxed than last year and I am hoping within a few weeks I will not constantly feel as though I am going to barf before my patient shows up.  So a highlight about this week was getting to inject anesthetic into raw chicken.  And in only two short weeks, I will be giving injections to Jodie.  Oh boy... another thought that makes me wanna barf.  I do not enjoy watching needles break skin but I will have to just get over that. 

 

Well thats week #1 in a pretty little nutshell.

Just so ya know....LAST DAY!!!!!!!!!!

WOOT WOOT WOOT!!!!!!!!!
I can not believe i made it to this day, alive. I would first just like to start off by saying that i for sure would not have made it here without all the girls in this program with me. There is nothing like having 29 girls that have your back, and i love each one of them!!
So today i had a patient that was a 1B and a Class II in one quad. I got a little nervous after i did the OD and took the x-rays cause i had to finish her obviously since it was the last day. But somehow i made it. I am so thankful for the time Caldwell spent with me today and showing me tricks. She was definitely one of my harder 1B patients and i did not do as well as i wanted to and for some reason i left clinic feeling kinda defeated. But then on the way home it hit me...i have a whole year to finish getting this stuff to click....and also that other minor detail that....
I made it through my first year of the dental hygiene program.
I could just cry!