Make up Day

So my 1A's last week (on Tuesday) didn't show up so I scheduled 2 other 1A patients for today (Thursday afternoon) instead. My first patient was given to me by Savanna (THANK YOU !!!) Her nephew came in and saved my grade (literally). He was very well behaved and pretty fun to work on.
My second 1A was the daughter of a friend that I ended up paying for but it was so nice to get that last requirement done and not worry about whether or not she'd show up. She was a cute 3 year old patient and she was seriously so much fun to work on. Not a lot of work to be done but she was super cute and friendly and excited about it all. It also made me really happy to see a parent actually take care of their child's teeth like they should. She was already flossing every night!

Trying To Stay Motivated

Well, here I am, at the VA for the last time this semester, I've finished most of my requirements and I know that the last requirements will all be fulfilled on Tuesday (busy day) but the past two weeks in clinic and here at the VA have been basically pressure free. I don't have any vital patients so if they don't show it's not a big deal and I'm having fun talking to them and trying new things to treat them. I got to irrigate on Tuesday and pass of that PE that's due in the spring which was really enjoyable. Other than that, it's just been the typical class V patients and today I saw something rare for me this year: a 1B! Whoa! Hold on! I never thought a 1B would be a rare commodity after how last year went... Either way, I'm trying to continue to be a productive motivated hygiene student. I saw two patients this morning (a class V and then Diane Rosner let me have her 1B patient for the experience). Here's to the semester ending already. PS: I miss Ben (my boyfriend) the end of the semester is always hard on relationships I haven't seen him hardly at all this week because he has about 4 exams and work and he's always busy studying, working, or practicing in the CLS Lab... lame.

Class III with some new challenges.

So in clinic on Tuesday, my class III came who can't hear nor speak. She communicates with her mom in a made up form of sign language and her mom only speaks spanish. I only cleaned one quad on her and completed my exams for the semester, but the more valuable experience with this patient was what I learned from her. She's so positive and nice despite her disabilities. I learned from her mom at this appointment that she was born with perfect hearing and then she got really sick and was put on some pretty strong medications that destroyed her hearing at a very young age (like 7 months). She learned to speak Spanish Sign Language in Mexico and had some friends that were also hearing impaired with whom she could communicate freely. She moved to Utah about 10 years ago and she still doesn't really have anyone she can really talk to. She has kids and is able to raise them will with a lot of help from her mom. Her mom goes with her to all the appointments for her and her children to help translate to doctors, dentists, and other people of importance. Through all this extra work in their lives, her and her mom seem very happy and positive. They're willing to do what it takes to survive and thrive in their lives. I don't know how they do it but they manage. I'm excited to have her back in the beginning of next semester to learn more about her life and how she copes. It truly is inspiring for me.

The Day of the Cute Older Gentlemen

Well, this morning I saw two class V patients (8 quads) and it went very well. My first patient had a lot of crowns that didn't really collect calculus and only really had deposit on the six anterior mandibular teeth. My second patient literally only had one random little spot of calculus and lots of plaque. I hate cleaning plaque because it's gross and all you really do is push it around, it doesn't really scale off like calculus. Either way, I got him done, the cute 94 year old man. He couldn't hear really well but he was so sweet and he said to me as I walked him out front: "you know what you've got going for you? ...your laugh." it made me smile.

We went to lunch and I actually bought food this time because my mom told me she'd make pork chops for me to take to school and when I woke up at 5:30 this morning I found the pork chops: RAW! yeah, we went to a restaurant called Au Natural and I had a turkey burger with yam fries and then Staci shared a cherry vanilla creme soda with me (thank you!!!)

My afternoon patient was a very cute 87 year old man who was very easy to clean and didn't take long so while we waited for the doctor to come look at him, he told me the story of his wife who died 8 years ago which he said was already 8 years too many. He had been married three times before so his friend told him she wanted to set him up with a new companion. They met at a dance in December and then in the middle of May he went to see her and go to her sons graduation with her. When he knocked on the door she answered it and said "have you come here to marry me?" to which he nervously replied "no?" then she said "alright, then go home." He couldn't believe that after driving over 100 miles she would turn him away without even spending a few minutes with him. She opened the door again and said "if you want to marry me, you'll do it today, and if you don't want to, then please go on your way." Then he said "let's do it". So they went and got married and then that night, at the graduation, they ran into her bishop who said they should have told him they were getting married because he had their temple recommends all ready but now they'd have to wait a year before they could go through the temple. My patient replied: "yeah, but it was so worth it!"

I love my VA patients, they're so much fun and it's fascinating to me to hear their life stories. I really do love getting to know the amazing men and women that come into our clinic out here. I'm learning to truly appreciate the veterans more and more every time I come out here.

Our Halloween party was so much fun this year, we had two costume parades (Jr's and Sr's) and lots of funny prizes for the best costumes. Everyone was so creative and funny and it was really nice to just relax, play around, laugh, and eat really good food!

The cool first years came and joined us goofy seniors for some fun... Burke's son was definitely the hero of the day!

Me (the furcation, complete with amalgum headband), Abby (the snowboarder), and Staci (the 50's girl) goofing around in the lobby.

Our whole crazy class of 2010!!! Oh what fun we have!

Candace in her Kiss outfit winning her awesome scented candle for having the best costume in the senior class.

Lindsay unaware of the flamboyant clown lurking behind her... duhn duhn duhn!!!

The best actress in the class (Natalie) of course, dressed as Napoleon Dynamite.

Julie as little bo peep with our class mascot (her daughter, Abigail) as the sheep! Abby was born last summer so we got to experience the whole pregnancy with Julie. She had such a cute pregnant belly!

Shaylee is definitely a force to be reckoned with, despite what Professor Hanson thinks!

It was so funny how surprised she was that "quiet Shaylee" would dress up in such a rebellious costume.

The infamous duo: Professor Kami Hanson (the Queen of Hearts) and her partner in crime Dr. Carol Naylor (Alice in Wonderland) at it again~

This was so funny! It's a rap Kami made up when she was in hygiene school to help her remember the pharmacokinetics of local anesthetics and she performs it each year with Dr. Naylor as her back up. This year the rap happened to fall on Halloween ...and Kami's final tenure peer review! Her coworkers were all in the back watching her while she performed the days lecture. She's so awesome we all just love her!!!

Desensitization is a Breeze! hehe... yeah I'm weird

Well, after waiting until 9:50 my patient showed up and I was able to complete 1 quad of a III and 1 quad of a II AND my desensitization PE. Hooray for completing the process evaluations I don't need until next semester! BLAH!!! Now I just need to find a Diagnodent patient. Go team!

My afternoon patient was my very favorite again! I got to see him last year too and he's so much fun to work on. It's also fun to see my skills improve and my scaling time decrease with each time I bring him back. He was just a class V but he was a very refreshing break from all the rough class III's and exams and whatnot. He also told me about a position opening up next semester as a lab instructor for Biomed which I'm way excited about because I've been wanting a job that won't take up all my time, just give me a little extra money! Yay for jobs! Anyway, it was a good day and I finished up by 2:15 and it seems like everyone else is pretty much done for the day. Nice work Tuesday clinic group! We totally rocked it!

If my patient is late, why can't I be???

Well, my 8:00 cancelled and I called my 10:00 to move her up and she said she'd be here at 9:00, yep, so now it's 9:36 and I'm running out of clinic time and patience. So far I've helped my classmates with charting, adjusted my schedule, looked for free stuff on KSL.com and now I'm studying for the National Boards (what else am I going to do???) Well, hopefully she comes soon... she's one of my class III exam quads. Please, please, PLEASE come!!!!

Late... Again???

Late patients make my world stressful!!! My morning patient showed up at about 8:45AM instead of 8 so I had to wait and wait and then when she came she was a II/III who needed a full mouth! It was great to get a full mouth series in but oh my gosh I had so much to do and this morning FLEW by! I got two quads and the x-rays done as wall as the root debridement PE. Yes!!!

This afternoon my patient of course showed up at 1:00ish and at first Alexander and I thought she was a class II but as soon as I sat down and started scaling I realized that she was no II. That was III-type calculus there baby! Yes!!! However, I also needed to get some BWX and do some LA on her which of course takes a lot of time on top of the lateness plus you have to factor in the fact that all the professors seemed to have their hands full when I needed them! Also for some reason my nerves were really getting to me, I was shaking pretty bad on the injections and they still didn't allow me to use the ultrasonic so I had to handscale the whole thing which just made me even more frustrated and got to me bad. My patient made a comment to me: "you seemed nervous, I could feel you shaking. How long have you been practicing?" (i said 1 year) and then she said: "you need to not let your nerves get to you, you're a very nice girl, don't get so nervous, you do very well." WHat a cute freakin patient! I really enjoyed working on her reguardless. I only got one quad completed on her and another one started but I did get 4BWX, 5 injections and 1 quad of a III!

Overall, it was quite a productive day! I got a lot done and it literally flew by, however, thank goodness it's over! I can't wait to go home and watch Transformers with Ben tonight. (thanks baby!)

You're Under Arrest!

This morning, I got a class V pt, typical. I would really like some 1A's but of course among the veterans, children are pretty rare:) Extra quads are always good! I got my patient finished in an hour with everything (he really only had plaque and maybe two spots of calculus even though he only brushes occasionally...) seriously, where do I get these people????

I had another patient at 9:30 and it went very smoothly, he brushes 2x/day and flosses everyday so he had literally no calculus. Probe depths were generally normal with two sixes and an eight! With no calculus I figured some nasty bacteria had to be the culprit. I got to use the arrestin! It was so much fun and I used it in three spots that was actually kind of hard. The applicator tip doesn't really fit into the pocket but when you inject it, the medicament is pushed into the pocket. I really enjoyed it and that means that there is one more PE done.

The STRESS is Hitting the Fan

Okay, so I really shouldn't be freaking out until tomorrow when I have my counselor session because chances are I'll talk to Professor Alexander and everything will be okay, but that's just not how I work. I can't stand waiting and in the waiting phase things just seem to build up and build up in my mind until they become the only thing I have time to think about. It's actually kind of bad, I don't really get stressed out easily but when I do get stressed like this (in the way that I have so much to do i probably won't get done with it all but there's not a single thing I can do about it now) I, of course, shut down completely and decide I can't do anything! Yeah, I'm trying my best to not worry and I decided before clinic today that if my patient was a class II it would be an exam and then I'd have one less big scary thing to do this semester and I'd have no reason to stress. Well, my pt. was a class II and I did use her as an exam and it went well but I'm still stressing way too much! To help me (hopefully) calm down I'm going to write out all that I have left:

6 PE's:

1. Medicaments

2. Blood Glucose

3. Diagnodent

4. LA

5. Periodontal File

6. Root Surface Debridement

Along With:

8 quads 1A

8 quads III (exam)

(even though I've already done 9 quads this semester)

All that has to be done in the next 8 clinic sessions (three of which are at the VA and only one of which isn't scheduled yet... I have no 1A's scheduled thus far).

I know it'll be okay but still I'm stressing, hopefully Professor Alexander will be able to help me. (please!!!)

Mockboard #1: FAILURE!

My mockboard patient was barely qualified and didn't have very deep pockets at all, I thought it'd be super easy with her. She told me she had to leave by 3:00 even though clinic didn't end until 4:00. My scaling time was supposed to end at 3:00 but I knew that wouldn't work so after being more diligent than I have ever been with one of my patients, I turned her over to the examiners at 2:15. I was feeling pretty confidents since I was really quite careful exploring and probing and scaling. It took me 1hr and 15 minutes to scale two quads of an easy class II! I was feeling pretty confident but got nervous when the instructors were taking a lot of time checking her. Of course, she comes back and that which I had feared became true: I FAILED! I missed a ton of spots and apparently even two of my probe depths were off!!! I seriously don't get it, I took more time than I usually do with my patient's whole mouths just to do two quads and I still failed? I'm sure I deserved it it's just pretty humbling for me and it puts even more pressure on me for the later mockboards and WREB in March. For now, all I can say is: Thank Goodness I'm Done Until MONDAY!!! (I love fall break!) OH well, life goes on...

Have You Been Probed?

This morning, I had a younger patient who happened to be 2 quads of a class II and 2 quads of a 1B. He was pretty interesting he was way excited about the cool technology we use at the clinic but he doesn't really like the dentist. He had some super sensitive gums so i had to hand scale his full mouth while he was wincing and bleeding a bunch! I still finished early and just hung out waiting for my fellow students to finish so we could all go to lunch. Of course, my 1:00 patient showed up at 11:00AM instead so Diane walked me through the umpteenth pano because apparently I still don't know how to do them... Her walking me through it actually caused more problems because she was trying to do so much that the machine was starting to malfunction. It was 11:30 by the time he sat in the chair to be cleaned so Kami Hanson did it for me so that we could get out for lunch.

When I got back from lunch, I discovered that nobody cared enough to reset up my unit for the afternoon and Diane decided I should do the note and charting for this patient that I didn't even see so I was working on setting up my unit and making the note when my patient showed up. Kami wasn't going to give me another patient but then Staci volunteered to not take the patient so I ended up with the 33 year old patient that was half german, half venezuelan and even though it doesn't matter to me since i am very happily taken, I must say he wasn't ugly. Staci helped me chart and of course, being as awkward and dorky as I am, I said the most awkward, stupid question I could have possibly asked a patient that close to my age. When getting ready to perio chart, I picked up my instruments, turned to my patient and said flat out: "have you been probed before?" (seriously??? it sounds like some kind of creepy dental pick-up line! Yuck!!!) The three of us all started laughing our heads off and my clever patient, having picked up on my sarcastic demeanor today said "you mean by aliens? ...well there was this one time..." I was seriously dying it was so funny! He was an easy 1B and I finished him pretty early but on my way back to my unit from walking him out to the front desk, the assistant Sharrah asked me if I gave him my number. (yes, everyone was talking about him because it's not very often that we see patients under the age of 40). I teased Sharrah back claiming I gave him hers and then I proceeded to tell Staci she should definitly go for him since he's a lot closer to her age bracket and she is single... Yeah, probably not going to happen because I didn't exactly see her running out to the parking lot after him. You missed out Staci! hehe.

Weird day...

This morning, my patient showed up late and it was my patient that has a difficult time getting numb... Of course, who would be my instructor? None other than the very slow, instructor snow who doesn't seem to enjoy giving ample anesthetic! Woo hoo! ...yeah, I was worried, but she actually was a lot faster this time and she used more LA this time than she did last appt. however it still wasn't enough so I took it into my own hands and decided to use some Oraqix that helped out a lot, but not quite enough. Oh well, I still didn't do too bad despite my patient's sensitivity.

In the afternoon, it was most interesting because I remembered that I had accidentally told my pt that her appt was at 1:00 instead of 12:30 and when my original patient who had cancelled the night before showed up saying he had until 2:30 if I still wanted him but I just said I'd reschedule because my afternoon patient was a hopeful mockboard. She was! I found a mockboard to replace the one I found last week that was a class three who had never been cleaned. Instead she was a class II who hadn't been cleaned in 2 years so she had calculus but it shouldn't be overly tenacious... yes!

Injection Day #2

The second day of local anesthesia was a lot easier and less nerve racking. Mandibular injections to me seemed a little more difficult but they were still way fun and Julie was once again a great partner.

The IA injection is super weird, if you angle it wrong you hit the bone but once you get in that space with the perfect angle then you watch how the needle just sinks in! 3/4 of a long needle!!! Whoa! SOOO COOOL!!!

Dr. Naylor showing Shaylee "proper technique."

Kelsie Showing off her pteropalatine rugae.

Holy Halitosis!

This morning my patient showed up and I had an interesting dilemma from the start, he couldn't read, nor did he know what was going on with his health. Luckily his son was there to help me out but it made it a very awkward appointment trying to communicate with a spanish speaking patient that didn't seem to be 100% there. To make things better, even right after the pre-procedural rinse he had some pretty powerful halitosis due to his class III status of Periodontitis. Probing was miserable with the smell and then x-rays were really frustrating because at first he didn't want to pay for them but since he was going to be my mockboard patient I needed certain images of the teeth I'm planning on submitting. To add to it, he had a very small vault making PA's pretty difficult. I only had a little bit of time for scaling and since he had never had a cleaning, his calculus was so tenacious I didn't even get to finish a quad (holy first-year flashback!!!) Oh well, at least for mockboards I will have a patient in the chair for now.

My afternoon patient went much smoother. She's an amazingly sweet woman who was very helpful and had gone from being a classII with active infection and lots of bleeding to a class V with no bleeding and everything perfectly maintained. Her tissues looked so good! I got her all done with BWX and a PA, very nice!!!

INJECTION DAY! DUNH DUNH DUNH!

Today was the day I've been more worried about other than boards. We learned maxillary local anesthetic injections. I wasn't too worried about giving them (which was so much fun and way easier than I thought!!!), but I was terrified to receive them. I'm the girl who passed out when I got my wisdom teeth out because I knew they'd be giving me an IV to put me to sleep for the surgery! I didn't even feel the IV but I was so scared and nervous about it my poor little brain just couldn't take it! I'm here, alive, and it didn't even hurt, I didn't cry or jump or even gasp a little bit! I didn't even know I was getting the very first one (the PSA) I couldn't even feel it at all. To all those first years who are nervous about this day as I was, don't worry anymore, if I can make it, anyone can! Good luck, bring on the mandibular lab!!!

VA Luck... thank's Kami!

Well, at the VA I've been lucky enough to have a bunch of really good patients so to be fair Kami was trying to give me the easier patients and saving the harder ones for the other girls. Of course, my morning patient: 4 quads of a class III and I got him finished!!! In the afternoon Kami only gave me 10 teeth of a class V which was kind of down about until I was available when the dentist wanted a student to clean his patient who was 3 quads of a V and 1 quad of a II... I finished him with zero mistakes in about an hour only using my hand instruments. Woo hoo!!!

An x-ray filled day... thanks to Facebook???

Well, I walk into clinic this morning and look expectantly at my phone hoping to have a message from my boyfriend telling me his dad is still coming in to be my patient this morning, but of course, all I saw was a blank screen. My phone was dead!!! Argh! So I borrowed Pam's phone to call Ben and he gave me his dad's number. He tried to cancel on me but instead I talked him into coming in just for some x-rays to help speed up his appointment next time. I got 4BWX and 4 anterior PA's taken and it all went pretty well. I'm excited for him to come in and get cleaned... it looks like he'll be a good experience, I've just got to get him when he's available. Before my patient showed up, I got on Facebook knowing that my friend Britney would be online and available for synchronous communication (thanks Kami!) Of course she was online, but she was busy in class already so I was racking my brain thinking of what to do when I noticed how many of my friends were on facebook. I started talking to a bunch of them and finally Chris decided to come in and save the day! He let me take 4 BWX on him and now he wants a cleaning and I bet I'll be able to clean him really quickly (crossing fingers).

This afternoon, my patient showed up perfectly on time and was a good solid class II. What a great experience! Her lower anteriors were so crowded and the calculus kept breaking off in little pieces so it took forever to clean them!!! Somehow I was able to finish scaling in an hour, and I got her out a little early and helped everyone else clean up.

Hopefully next week goes well, and even more so I hope that this Friday isn't as bad and scary as I'm fearing since we're practicing Local Anesthetic on each other! YIKES!!!!

Rock Climbing meets Scaling... OUCH!!!

I've been trying to get into rock climbing lately so I've been going to the gym or climbing out doors about 5 days a week for at least 2 hours at a time. I can't believe how sore my arms are now after climbing harder than ever last night and hand scaling 3 quads of 1B and 1 quad of a II. Thanks to my amazing boyfriend's amazing mother who saved me since I couldn't get anyone to come in this morning. I know she doesn't like the dentist at all but she still came in for which I am very thankful... hopefully she doesn't hate me now for picking at her for about 2 hours!

In the afternoon I worked on a very nice class II who was spanish speaking so it was a very nice experience. He'd been in recently for a screening so all I had to do was probe and get started! I finished him in 2 hours!!! It was so awesome. However, now I'm SORE!!! My back and neck and forearms are so tired I'm ready to just go home, talk my boy into giving me a sweet back rub and going to sleep... but of course I'm trying to be healthy again so instead I'm going to the gym... at least until he gets out of class! Thank goodness today is over!!!

VA day 2: not quite as amazing...

Today wasn't as good because all I got was a 1B in the morning with a pano and BWX and then a class V with only 6 teeth in the afternoon. I finished early this morning giving me a nice long lunch break but now I've been done for an hour but I still have to wait for the students I rode up here with that are just starting to scale... Lame! It's not that their slow at all, just that I had a very easy patient with no x-rays and no exam and only 6 teeth while their patients need x-rays and exams and such plus they showed up late making the process even more delayed. Oh well, sometimes you win, sometimes you don't win quite as much...

"Oraqix" ~SLOW!!!!

My morning patient today was actually kind of difficult, he was a pretty difficult class II with super sensitive gums and tons of bleeding! I had to probe quad by quad after anesthesia because he had so much inflammation and therefore sensitivity in his gums. My patient doesn't like the N2O and had a really hard time getting numb from the lidocaine. He told my instructor (who was REALLY SLOW) that he usually doesn't get numb easily but she still only used 3/4 carp of lidocaine for his LL quad! I'd have used at least one whole carpule, but I can't do anesthesia yet... Just as I expected, I went to scale with my ultrasonic and my patient who wasn't numb even though my instructor claimed he was, lit up like a christmas tree. I felt so bad, but I was hoping that I wouldn't have to wait for her to come back and give more LA. Instead we had to wait while Instructor Snow went and found the Oraqix that is "so great for numbing the gingiva!" When she found it, she didn't know how to assemble the applicator so after playing with it for about 5 minutes, she decided to start looking for someong to help her. AAAGGGHHHH!!!! Oh my gosh I got so tired of waiting and I could tell my patient and his daughter were getting impatient as well.
Then on the UL it was the same story only she decided to just use the remaining 1/4 carp of lidocaine for the entire quad! And then to use the oraqix to numb the rest. That would be a fine idea on a patient for whom the LA worked but instead my patient was wincing with every move of my scaler. (I promise I'm not that bad at instrumentation!) I missed some spots on the top because I was too shy to dig in with my patient in so much pain. Then... on the pt. encounter form she noted that I need to be brave enough to dig for all the calculus and she actually had the nerve to write "maybe some more anesthesia?" What the heck??? I probably could have finished the patient in one appointment had my instructor not been so skimpy and slow with the numbing... and exams, and checks, and x-rays, and signatures, ets... Also, when I was trying to walk my patients out, she was just starting a scale check so I asked if I could get another instructor to sign it instead (usually the other instructors would then tell me to just put their initials on the paper for them) but instructor Snow was trying to tell me that I had to wait and make my patients wait for her to finish her "very thorough" scale check so that I could get her signature before they left. I just had Professor Bossenburger sign it instead... Thank you!
The afternoon went much smoother, Dr. Naylor was my instructor and she helped me out so much! I had a class V patient that actually had a good amount of calculus, and I was able to finish her in one appointment. Dr. Naylor showed me some nice tips and tricks and helped me get the few spots that I missed. It went very quickly and we got it all done, 4BWX and all.

First Patient Day of 2nd Year.

Well... today should be interesting. I'm sure I'll be able to complete my afternoon patient since he is relatively young and I'm not expecting him to be that difficult. My morning patient, however, will be a bit more interesting... the patient is in her 30's and has some kind of disability that requires that her mom do all the talking for her, although I'm not quite sure what that is, the best part is that her mom only speaks spanish! What a workout on my poor brain that tries so hard to be bilingual. We'll see how it goes! For now she's late because her mom had to take one of the grand kids to school and when I called she was thinking of rescheduling because she would be late today. I told her to just get here as soon as possible, so hopefully it's soon enough.

She came on time... but she was not an easy patient, she couldn't hear nor speak like I said and she was so sensitive that even x-rays were a bit of a chore with her. I couldn't probe until she was numb and she had some 6-7mm pockets in there filled with really heavy dark black subgingival deposits all over the place that I struggled to get out even with the ultrasonic!!! At least I got another quad of a class III done with a lot of help from Professor Kami Hanson who helped me realize all the crazy bad habits I have like fulcruming on my middle finger and rocking toward the heel instead of the toe... always room for improvement. She'll give me plenty of practice breaking these habits and working with the gracey's because she'll be back in a few weeks for a couple more and then again in October possibly for a Mock Board Patient!!! Yes! I hope that works out like it sounds like it could.

My afternoon patient was younger than I thought but he was also a lot tougher than I thought. He was a class II!!! He was a smoker and had a lot of build up and stain so I got some more good practice with the ultrasonic and some fine maneuvering with the hand scalers thanks to Professor Alexander. She also showed me that I am not reaching far enough interproximally nor am I rotating the tip toward the tooth like I should.

VA= AMAZING!!!

So today was technically my first clinic day at the VA but just yesterday I was the CA for the VA so I was already pretty familiar with the workings at that clinic and things went really smoothly. I learned how to work the computer system and break down/set up rooms yesterday at the orientation so today they let me skip some and take the patient that had to come in at 9:00AM instead of 9:30 when they wanted us to start.

He was such a neat patient, really friendly and fun and I was able to probe, take a pano and 4 BWX, get a Doctor's exam, and complete 2 quads of a class III and 2 Quads of a class V and get him in and out in less than an hour and a half and I only missed one spot that Professor Hanson didn't want to count because she wasn't ready to do a scale check. The coolest part is that I hardly had to use hand instruments because apparently I was pretty effective with the ultrasonic. Then I went around and helped the other students and Jess (the CA) to finish everything up and let us all go to lunch.

My afternoon patient was also very nice and lots of fun to work on. He only had 2 quads to clean and they counted for a class V again but it was good practice to work around implants and I had never actually seen a fixed full denture before so that was really neat. Once again, I got him finished in an hour and missed no spots! I've started out strong but I hope I can keep it up. However, Professor Hanson did point out to me today that I've been fulcruming on the wrong finger the whole time! I'm supposed to be using the ring finger but instead my middle finger has been my fulcrum for over a year now! Aack!!!

Still an overall productive and very positive day!

1st Day of 2nd Year Clinic: LONG!

Clinic today was long and kind of boring although I must admit I really did appreciate having a relaxing first day without any patients I just think it could have been a little shorter... but oh well! We just got to organize instruments and practice some OD's on each other and we listened to a long review of emergency response stuff and got to re-watch the enthralling OSHA and HIPPA videos! Yay! Bleck!

Floss! Paddle! Floss! Paddle!...

Good oral hygiene is a must on the river... We trained this boat of paddlers how to use their flossers while simultaneously paddling through the white water! (Don't try this at home!) Haha!

Spanish Adventures... with floss???

Promoting good oral health in Spain! Yes, my frriends Ben and David asked me for some floss so I thought I'd join in on the flossing party!

Possible future job opportunities for me in Spain???

These aren't really dental related at all but as you can tell that statue was getting a little too friendly, and that walls below were just way too fun for climbing!

Got 'er Done!

Well, as much as I detest Larry the Cable Guy (except in the movie Cars) I have to admit that his catch phrase is a perfect description of today. Shalyce and I teamed up and got Vickie all clean (Shalyce more than me actually, but I helped do a little bit). I was distracted at first because I was trying to get my patient (Emilie's board patient) to schedule a make up time to get x-rays done before the boards. Then I was translating for my peers because a ton of them brought in spanish speaking patients and then I was helping Professor Hansen get me all registered to present our Second Life table clinic in DC in June and then I was running around getting papers for Costley so I could check my grades. Oh wow, and now it's all done!!! Shalyce let me try her loops while scaling and they were so nice! She got them from Perioptix and they were only $395.00 so I'm definitely going to have to look into getting me a pair of those!! Well, until next semester... over and out!

Ending With a No Show... Oh Well!

My patient didn't come, I called him just a bit ago and apparently he's working in Park City! Luckily I just need 1 quad of anything so I'm going to share Vicki the second year with Shalyce. Thank you Shalyce!!! You're awesome! The only problem with him not showing up is that he's Emilie Egan's Board patient and she was planning on taking x-rays on him... I set up an appointment for him to come in tomorrow at 3 for x-rays and I'm planning on riding him until he shows up. He can't not show up for her because I would feel really bad about it all... Oh well, I guess I'll go help Shalyce with Vicki, I'm kind of in an apathetic mood now that he didn't show up and with how crazy this month has been so I'm not being very helpful which is not usually how I am. All I can say is thank goodness it's the LAST clinic day!!!!!! WOOOOHOOOO!!!

Better Late Than Later

Today I got to clinic way early and I called my class 3 patient to make sure she was awake and coming in. When she answered she said "oh I was meaning to call you, is there any way I can reschedule???" I told her that this was my last Monday and that if she couldn't come in today I couldn't see her and that I really really needed her to come in today. She said she'd be late but that she'd still come. The last time you can seat a patient is at 9:40 and of course she arrived at 9:38... I was able to get her done because I only had one quad (thank goodness!) and I got all my charting turned in early because Instructor Vining got tied up with other scale checks so I charted while I waited. It turned out to be a pretty good day in the end... thank goodness! MY CLASS 3 IS FINALLY DONE!!!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!

Worst Clinic Day EVER!!!

So, today on my way in to clinic I saw that Natalie was pretty stressed out because her pt. canceled on her just before clinic started. I decided to help her out because I had a pt. coming in that I wouldn't really need except for a few PA's so I told her that after I finished with the x-rays she could take over completely. To help speed up the process, Natalie did vitals while I wrote HHX in the chart... but his BP ended up being 150/105! I asked the pt. if they had ever been told before that they had high BP and the pt. claimed that no one had ever mentioned anything. Then the pt. told me that they had just had a Rockstar energy drink 1 hr before the appointment! Well, duh!!! So Natalie and I moved to her chair and she let me pass off the Diagnodent PE on her. An hour later we returned to my patient to recheck BP and this time it was at 135/85, still high, but at least treatable. Boy was that frustrating so Natalie and I worked together to get 3 PA's and 1 set of vertical BWX so we each got something we needed out of him. Then Natalie charted while I probed our problematic patient and it turns out that the pt. had lots of calculus, absolutely zero cavities past or present, and very little bone loss. Anyone who is familiar with the national board exams knows exactly what that means: the absolute perfect board patient! Of course, it would be unethical to make him wait until next year to be cleaned so I gave him to one of the seniors who had been frantically looking for a board patient to use next month. She was so excited and relieved to finally have found that precious board patient. It felt good to help out everyone and at the same time get my last x-rays and pass off my last PE, but after thinking that today would be an easy day and having it turn out to be one of the most stressful, confusing, difficult days ever and not actually get any quads out of it I couldn't help but feel incredibly frustrated. And to top it all off, I got to pay for the pts x-rays because apparently his wife (who's come in before and paid for everything herself) didn't tell him to bring any kind of payment method. He's supposed to come back in again next week, hopefully that goes a lot smoother...

One More To Go...

So, my class 3 patient showed up at 8:50 today so I was a little set back on time but it was all good. I still managed to clean two quads with only four mistakes! She had some real tough, black subgingival calculus because she hasn't been cleaned in so long. It was a lot of work and Instructor Vining helped me every step of the way from numbing to checking my scaling progress to make sure I didn't overwork myself. Many thanks to him! Also, my patient was awesome, she's such a sweet fun woman and I love working on her. Another good thing: now she has to come in again so she'll be taking up another clinic day so that's one less patient to waste!!! So cool, great day!!! However, the new policy that Nick came up with to inform us that our patients are here by changing the colored dot on the computer schedule is completely ridiculous. Who sits around and watches their computer while we wait??? That's what the freakin intercom is for!!!

I Never Thought I'd Say This:

My class 3 patient is running late and I'm actually really happy about it. She called me at 8 (when she was supposed to show up for her appointment) and said she was just waking up. I only have to do 3 quads on her and after that I only have 1 anything quad, 3 PA's, and 1 more PE (the diagnodent) left. I'm glad that I'm so close to being finished so I'm not stressed at all anymore but the problem is that I still have four clinic days left! I have to have a patient in the chair everyday so I'll probably just bring in 1B patients until I run out of sessions but that's frustrating because I can do 4 quads of 1B patients each time and I don't really want to be wasting my patients that could be used for next year/semester. As for today, we'll see how much I get done of my class 3... if I don't finish it could be even better because then it'll take up at least one more clinic day which right now is always a good thing.

Lame Day!

Well, today was incredibly lame, I wanted to bring in my class 3 patient or London, Colby's sister because she would be easy and is on spring break right now but I already had a different patient scheduled and she called this morning to say she would be coming. She came in and was very nice and let me take four BWX and 1 PAX so that was nice but then we got into the chair and she informed me that she had to leave by 9:30!!! I could've finished more had I known that, I wouldn't have done conventional films that take FOREVER to develop but no, so all I got today were some x-rays and a full mouth of probe depths all that I am not even going to use because she ended up being half class 2 and half 1B. Blah! Also, I'm clinic assistant today which of course I forgot until I got here and even though I usually bring my lunch anyway, of course this morning as I left I thought: "I get out at 1:00 I'll be fine to wait until I get home to eat..." LAME!!! Oh well, that's why I have pop tarts and crackers in my car. Hopefully FHE tonight will be good enough to make up for today, Brother Barnes did say he had a unique lesson planned...

Easy, Easy 1B Day... Thank Goodness.

So last night I took a Tylenol PM because I haven't been sleeping very well this week and i've got a pretty good headache going on. It felt so good to get a real nights sleep and i even got to sleep in (sorry to my students for missing SI! I really really needed the sleep). I woke up just before 10:00 and hung out with my aunt for breakfast. I got to the school at 12:10 and set up my unit and brought in my patient who happened to be a super easy 1B patient. I didn't have to take his BP or do a full HHX because he was last in in October, and he barely had any calculus because he went to his regular dentist about three months ago. I got him all scaled in 20 minutes and only missed 2 tiny spots which I flicked off in a few seconds. He was out by 2:15 which was very nice because that allowed me to take my time cleaning up and charting, and even gave me some time to blog again. Welp, here comes pod wrap, I'd better get going.

What a wreck!

Well, Today I wasn't all there because on my way to clinic I got a call saying that Colby had been in an accident and was in the hospital but that I should still go to class since he'd probably be released soon. If I didn't have my prized class 3 patient that I found during the screening last Friday, I would have bailed out and gone to the hospital but I didn't have a choice. I only got 1 quad done because I had to probe her whole mouth again and I was nervous because I wanted to pass off my area specific instrumentation PE and instructor Vining said that if I missed three spots he wouldn't pass me on the PE. I worked really hard, did a lot of alternating between the ultrasonic and hand scaling instruments. Finally, I finished and he only found 1 missed spot on the hardest quad of my class 3 patient! I was so excited but still freaked out because in the middle of clinic Colby's brother Jason sent me a text saying they'll be keeping colby in the hospital for a day or two to keep an eye on some things... and that was literally all the detail I had heard all day long. I kept thinking back on my sister's experience in high school with her friend Jean Holmes. The hospital first said she'd be just fine and that they could take their time so Hailey and her friends went to the store to get cookies and flowers. When they arrived, everyone was crying because she had some complications and had passed away just before they got there...

170 degree turnaround!

Well, I finally finished up my great aunt whom I saw back in January. I knew she'd be easy and she only had three quads left so I passed off intraoral camera and took a pano on her while she was in. Of course, it wasn't 180 degrees because I had to do one hugely stupid mistake... I left my patients gorgeous dangling earrings on for the pano so now they have been recorded very nicely in a slightly more artistic than usual panoramic radiograph. Nonetheless, I finally don't need anymore! I also finished by 2:45 so I did the peer review of calculus removal and watched Hailey doing a fantastic job with her cute old man patient. While watching Hailey scale, Tandem came over and asked if I needed sealants I told her I already had mine done last semester until I realized that she was asking if I wanted to do sealants instead of if I wanted them done to me! hehe, I went over and was able to do one sealant on the little boy in her chair while she sacrificed her fingers to keep his mouth open. We each did one sealant and then she figured his patience was completely expired so she let him go. The good news is... those sealants still need to be done so maybe she'll be able to do them again next semester! Either way, thank you Hailey and Tandem for helping me out today! I was also glad to be able to help everyone else clean their units to make up for all the times I run overtime and have them help me at the end of the day. Good work team!!!

Class 2 exam... BAD DAY

Well, I should have gotten the hint yesterday when my patient tried to cancel on me but somehow I managed to talk him into coming by guilt tripping him about how he is my exam and a lot of my grade is riding on him coming in for his apointment. Today just didn't go well, I was so ready for a nice day of scaling, so of course I jumped right on it. Nothing was changed on his HHX so I went straight to x-rays ...skipping my signature first! I could have failed the experience for that but luckily, Instructor Vining was feeling merciful so he gave me a chance anyway. I only took posterior PA's last time, so this time I took six anterior PA's which was a very good thing because he had a very nice sized periapical abscess on #25. Scaling went well but I was already so frazzled with my huge mistake earlier that I felt like I was messing up and just not doing well. Luckily I didn't do so bad on my patient, I didn't miss too many spots but it definitely wasn't my bery best clinic day ever. Thank goodness I'm done with class 2 patients! I just wish today could have been a better experience. Now I've got to go study for DH exam 2 I'm very nervous because I haven't had enough time to adequately study for it... oh well, here goes I guess... :(

Yay... Another Dang Class 5

So on Monday I kind of figured my patient would be a class 5 but there was still the hope that she had let her teeth go since her last appt. here in 05 but no... her teeth were very clean. She was a very sweet older woman and at least I got another set of bitewings and 4 quads of a 1B done but I really am needing to find that elusive class 3!!! Hopefully, today I will have better luck... that is as long as my patient actually shows up. Once again, I haven't been able to get ahold of this woman who is the same woman who brought her 16 year old son in a few weeks ago when I had a back up patient coming because I hadn't heard from her yet. I'm praying that she remembers on her own and comes anyway. PLEASE!!!!!!!

Busy Busy Busy!!!

Well, I had quite the day, I slept in a bit because I stayed out late dancing last night so I got to wake up at 8:00AM and it was so nice! Then I checked some school stuff, studied a bit, scheduled a few patients for April, got an appointment to get my oil changed, and got my dog a rabies shot. Yes, I was quite productive today.
Then, to continue, I was able to clean, finish, and walk out my 1B patient by 2:50. She was the first braces patient I've ever seen and it went so well! I scaled her in 30 minutes with 0 errors! I was also able to pass off ultrasonic PE, do some sealants, and pass off the sealant PE.
After my awesome little 14 year old patient left, Charlotte was awesome enough to give me the denture from her patient so I was finally able to pass of that PE as well!!! I never thought I'd get a denture patient, I was seriously considering asking if it would be alright for me to bring in my own retainer and clean it, but Char totally saved my semester! It seems like everyone today was super busy, I believe Casey saw three patients, and Abby saw an extra one that walked in accidentally due to a scheduling confusion. Good job Debriders!!! We've definitely earned a very nice spring break next week!!! Have fun!!

Change of plans...

Yesterday, I had a very stressful time before my patient was seated in the chair. I had tried to call and confirm the appointment for the entire weekend before but I never got an answer so on Sunday night I called a bunch of my other patients and no one was available! Then I talked to Colby's sister and she said she could come in for some x-rays and to let me pass off some PE's. Yesterday morning, when I arrived, I was feeling pretty calm because of the easy day I had ahead of me, I wouldn't have to do OD or scale! At 8:19AM my patient texted me to say she would be leaving shortly and then at 8:20 Katee called on the intercom to tell my my patient was there and to ask if HE would need a new health history. HIM???? Yes, that meant that my original patient showed up out of the blue without calling or making any attempt to confirm the appointment beforehand! I called Colby's sister and told her she didn't need to come in and rapidly changed my set up to be ready for a real appointment! Somehow I was able to finish (thanks to Instructor Carter giving me a time extension so I wouldn't have to bring him back. I also had a lot of fun with my patient yesterday, he's sixteen and even though I'm out of high school, I'm still young enough to relate well especially with the whole musical theater scene so I had fun joking with him about school and keeping his teeth clean and whatever else came up. He was also pretty clean so I was able to scale his whole mouth in only 30 minutes with 3 errors! I was way excited! It started out pretty rough but at the end of the day it all worked out perfectly.

Class V ...again

I was saved by a very good family friend today because my patient cancelled on me yesterday afternoon. I was way stressed out but when my patient agreed to come in I was excited but that excitement was completely overshadowed by my excitement to learn that he was a class III last time!!! But of course, I always see patients after they've figured out how to take care of their teeth so he was just a class V which is good news for him but not so much for me, I don't need anymore of those! I need a good class III or even a solid class II for an exam. I'd even be happy with a nice 1B, but that's just not what I'm meant to see I guess. I was able to take four PA's and four BWX on him which I've needed and I got two quads done which really makes me wonder why monday I couldn't get even one quad done. I was rather dumb with charting today though, I completely forgot to write down any OHI that I did and I talked with him about oral hygiene the entire appointment!!!! Baah! Of course, I can't have even one day where everything goes flawlessly like I want it to... I'm realizing now that I've got almost my entire schedule full, I only have 2 wednesdays available!!! This semester's going by so quickly.

Today I did: Almost Nothing! BAAAH!!!

Well, I've found 2 quads of my class 2 exam patient, I've just got to find 2 more. Unfortunately I didn't get to scale at all but I did give him some amazing oral hygiene instructions in the time I did have. It was the first time I didn't get to ANY scaling so my confidence is nowhere near as high as it was the last few weeks with all of my easy 1A's and 1B patients that I finished in one appointment. I guess I needed the humbling experience, and at least I don't have to find a patient for Wednesday anymore. I also got to take 8 PA's on him with the phosphor plates (yay! Maybe I won't fail because of my unfortunate x-ray drought) and I didn't even need to take any retakes! I also got a great experience with the tale-tell sign of Periodontitis: halitosis!!! Oh boy that was fun, I'm so grateful I was able to use one of the nice orange masks that seal really well.

Ward Campout! 02/20-02/21/2009

Up at Whitear Rec Center, the ward campout was so much fun. Colby and I got there with my friends following behind just as dinner was beginning. Everyone was eating pizza and treats while playing basketball and lightning. I tried to play lightning four separate times and each time I got out in the very first round (by four different people). I seriously did not make a single shot the whole night. Basketball never was my forte. Then we went to volleyball and I did a little better at that one but of course the Bishop's daughter brought one of her friends who will be attending Snow College next year on a full ride scholarship for volleyball so of course the other team would win, especially when she was up to serve! Of course, with how my mind has been going lately, I can't go on a trip no matter how long without forgetting to bring something obviously important (like the ski trip when I forgot my snowpants!) This time, I get up there, all proud that I didn't forget any clothes or toothbrushes or any of the stuff I'd really need. Then, I saw Chelsey and Monica's sleeping bags and thought: "oh yeah, I told them to bring that stuff but completely forgot my own!" Dang it!!! Thank goodness for good friends that take care of me:) They shared their bedding with me by trying to sleep on the big (broken) reclining couch with me. All three of us were crammed on that big couch and poor Chelsey ended up in the middle of the two independently moving halves of that couch so everytime Monica or I moved that night, she'd get tossed to one side or the other. In the morning, Brother Richardson so politely yelled to wake everyone up at 7:00 AM instead of the planned breakfast time of 9:00 after we had all stayed up way too late and had a difficult time sleeping due to the uncomfortable sleeping conditions. Reluctantly, we all woke up and got to work on breakfast and getting ready to go play outside for the day. After some awesome omeletes and pancakes thanks to the bishopric, we all headed outside and ferried each other up to the sledding hill. That was quite the hill and the day was absolutely beautiful with all the sun and snow and warm weather. Thank goodness it was warm since so many people forgot or didn't have snowpants so they sledded in soaking wet jeans and somehow didn't get way too cold!
Colby and most of the boys were driving snowmobiles to help us sledders get back up the hill. (thanks guys!) Chelsey, Monica, and I tried twice to make it all the way down the hill together but we kept falling off and the only way we could get the weight somewhat right was by having me ride in front (even though in the picture Chelsey's in front). Chelsey was too worried about getting cold so when she rode in front, she sat backwards curled up in a ball which didn't help with out balance issues at all. So I was the one that got to catch all the flying snow in my face on the way down. Colby and I also went down the hill a couple times. The first time, he steered us off the normal path and into the deep snow so by the time we reached the bottom I was barely visible under all the snow that I got hit with on the way! The second time I told him to keep us out of the deep snow but then we hit a bump and went right back into the deep stuff to keep from falling off completely. Once again, it was me with a face full of snow and that time, Colby didn't even get any!!! Hehe, it was so much fun though and I'm so glad I went even though I'm seriously tired now, thank goodness for Sunday naps...
These last two pictures are just pictures I forgot to upload from the YSA murder mystery dinner party. That was rather interesting as well, they were really creative and went all out on that activity and it turned out well. But, I've already had enough story writing for one day so hopefully these pictures really are worth 1000 words.

UDA Convention

Well, thank goodness for interesting, intelligent, relevant, and passionate speakers!!! That speaker on Thursday was so good, he was a periodontist and he really knew what he was talking about and I could tell how much he cared about the patients that he treats. That passion, understanding, and knowledge helped keep my attention and motivate me to go out there and save the world! ...one perio pocket at a time! hehe The booths, however, weren't as good as the booths at UDHA because they were more geared toward dentists than hygiene students although it was nice to have all the different loupes vendors there to compare and try out. I didn't end up buying any yet, but we'll see, maybe I'll change my mind. I was also excited to learn that the really awesome dental floss I learned about in September has now reached the market and it's called Reach Ultraclean, if you get the chance, go try it!!! It feels thin and painless like glide but it actually has a very effective cleaning ability. The table clinics were also fascinating, especially the projects about tissue, bone, and tooth regeneration. I didn't really even know that was possible and now with that flicker of hope, we may be able to actually reverse the bone loss that happens with Periodontal disease someday! How incredible would that be. Plus, we'd be able to replace teeth with real teeth instead of dentures and implants.

Second 1B completed!

I finished a 1B in one appointment for the second time! (and this time I actually finished her early!) Of course, like all of my patients, she refused x-rays and even though I thought she was a perfect candidate for sealants, she didn't want them because she figured she was healthy the way she was. Of course, she's got some pretty good genes, she's 24 and never had a cavity and her dad who only brushes his teeth 1x a day had no cavities after not going to the dentist for over 20 years! Good genes, but still a lot of work for me (she had a very nice calculus bridge along her fixed lingual mandibular retainer.) Anyway, I got four more quads of 1B done but still no PA's, BWX's, nor sealants! Blast!!! Well, if anyone knows anyone that needs x-rays and could refer them to me I would be indebted to you forever!!!!

Only day of class this week... glorious!

It snowed. A lot. Night classes and nursing were cancelled but not good old dental hygiene, we perservered even though Katie Gibson was stuck in Logan due to the closing of Sardine canyon. I had quite the class today I was totally not with it and not in the mood for class. I'm still kind of in a fog from last weekend and I'm so excited for this weekend that I'm just not thinking straight. Of course, even when my mind isn't working, my mouth just keeps running ...and that is bad news. I totally blurted out some really stupid answers, but still I survived and I learned better than I probably would have had I kept my uncontrollable mouth shut. Class today wasn't as fun as last thursday (which many of you may recall was hat day thanks to Natalie). I wasn't sure how that would go over but it was really fun. We had some really good food and fun hats and games (especially the awesome perio piñata!!!) Yes, we are a bunch of goofy nerds but if we've got to be in that classroom for that long each week we might as well make it as entertaining as possible while we're there right? I'm still kind of hoping it snows enough to cancel clinic tomorrow but it looks like the storm is over now so that's probably not very likely. I also had a lot of fun getting home from class, I made it home alright but my mom's Chevy Tahoe got stuck on the wall of snow built by the snowplow at the end of my driveway. I literally couldn't get it to move one foot in either direction so I had to run in and grab a shovel to dig the huge mound out from under the car! Lame snow plow!!!

Valentines Day

This year, I had a most wonderful valentine's day. Of course during the day I volunteered for Gve Kids a smile day so I missed out on an amazing day skiing (as Colby so gladly pointed out to me...) but it was really fulfilling to help all those underprivelaged children to not be in pain and have a healthier smile. For the first half of the day I assisted with my dentist Dr. Daniel Burdett and we did some quick fillings and removed a retained deciduous coronal margin, which ended up being two big chunks of baby tooth that he had to literally dig out of that poor kids papilla. I also got to put in a sealant on one patient after Dr. Burdett cleaned out the occlusal surface a bit and he taught me a very neat trick: after you place the sealant material, if you wipe your finger along the surface you are sealing before curing, it will turn out smooth and not too bulky so you won't have to grind it down, and the sealant material will stay in the pits and fissures where it's needed. I did that for the twelve other sealants I placed in the second half of the day and none of them ended up uncomfortably high.

Colby was planning to take me on a double date with his friend Travis and his girlfriend Kelsey but Travis broke his vertebrae that morning snowboarding behind a snowmobile in Strawberry so they spent that night in the hospital. That poor kid is so accident prone! So it ended up being just the two of us but it was still way fun! He took me to the nail salon next to the walmart in Layton to get pedicures which was a new and funny experience for both of us. I let him pick out my nailpolish color so now I've got hot pink toenails with black/silver hearts which definitely isn't my normal style but that just made it more fun! Then we went back to his house where he made some steak, baked potatoes, and salad while I made brownies (my one job that I still almost ruined by forgetting to grease the stinkin pan!) Luckily it all turned out very well. Then we watched What Happens in Vegas and finished the night off with brownies and ice cream! Definitely one of the best Valentines Days ever!

Finished with 1A!

Finally, after an hour and a half of waiting and worrying that I'd have to find a new patient, finally Jennica and her two siblings showed up. I was surprised at how cooperative that little three-year-old girl was. She let me explore, brush her teeth, and even scale! Granted she had no calculus and just a little bit of plaque but it went nice and smooth and I finished her up in about an hour for the entire appointment (15 minutes for scaling) I could have been faster except for the fact that little kids always seem to come equipped with very wiggly tongues and fingers and lips and legs so I was working really hard to not poke her because with kids that little, one bad experience can scare them and make the next appointments a lot harder on the patient and clinician. Thank goodness today is over and now I don't have to see another patient for a week and a half!!! Yay!

SNOW!!!! AAACK!!!

Well, I am typically one who loves the snow ...except for today. Luckily, I didn't have my patient cancel on me but here it is, 8:20 and do I have a patient in my chair??? No, they're running very late of course. The best part is that my patient is coming with two siblings that I gave to Jess and Ashley so they're stuck waiting around as well. I also don't know if my patient will even be anything for me since she's three and she may not even let me look in her mouth. I'm crossing my fingers that she's a calm, even-tempered three-year-old. So for now I'll just relax, blog a bit, and keep being super excited about decorating Valentines cookies for FHE tonight with my student ward. Yay! I love cookies... way too much.

Success at Last!!!

Finally! I finished a 1B patient in only one appointment for the first time!!! It was so nice to feel like I could actually finish a patient in a somewhat reasonable amount of time. After scaling the first quad I was nervous because that scale check came back with like four missed spots which made me doubt my abilities. However, I got those all cleaned up and scaled the other three quads with only two errors so I redeemed myself... Yay! My patient was actually very interested in the OHI instructions, especially what I taught her about the etiology of periodontitis. She seemed eager to learn how to prevent perio and reduce gingivitis (which she was relieved to learn is totally reversible.) I love it when patients actually own the problem and are willing to catch the infection before irreparable damage is done. Hopefully she does well and the next time I see her she'll be all nice and heathy.

Sierra Girl!

Today I got to see my second little 1A patient and it was so much fun! She was the six year old daughter of my dad's law partner that I got to hang out with all last weekend and boy did we have fun. She was infatuated with the low volume evacuator (or as she called it, "the sucker"). I got her all finished 45 minutes early but of course as she had no permanent teeth it was easy, clean, smooth sailing the whole time. I probably could have finished her faster if she didn't have such a wiggly little tongue but she was adorable. She just doesn't like cherry or mint so I ended up polishing her teeth with kids' bubble gum flavored Crest toothpaste which she liked. Disclosing was a treat for her too and at the end I gave her a pink glove balloon and she pranced on out with her mom showing off her new prizes. Oh I do love those 1A patients so far.

Sarah, my cute little 1A

Sarah was the toughest, coolest, and cutest little nine year old I've seen so far. She was patient, easy to clean and she even let me try to wiggle out her loose tooth. I think I was more scared of it hurting her than she was nervous about the pain so I didn't get it out :( Anyway, I got her done and walked out just barely after time was up because she got there twenty minutes late and then we had to wait while her dad went to get a parking pass so he could fill out new HHX forms. While we waited I took her back and took her vitals and then we couldn't proceed with tx until her dad returned. I also had some problems creating a treatment plan because somehow Staci's computer managed to open up my patient's chart instead of hers so that was a lot of fun for me. Despite it all, I got her finished and now I have officially completed my first four quads of a 1A patient. Also, on Wednesday I've got another little 1A patient coming in: my six-year-old friend Sierra... We'll see what she allows me to do for her.

My Professor/Boss: Act II

Well, I got him done! My first class 2 patient just walked out the door with a bright, goopy-yet-calculus-free smile!!! It was a lot of work but I finished him up pretty quickly with only a few errors. I learned that I need to be braver with going deep into the pocket and using even more lateral pressure in those deep pockets. I was able to pass off three different PE's!!! (Anterior #2, Posterior #2, and Ultrasonic #2) Yay for class 2 patients! Once again the experience with the cavitron was very good and I think I'm getting the hang of it a little more now. We'll see how those grades turn out... Also, I can't tell you how awesome it is that we only needed one patient this week, but I'm sure you already know the feeling :) I'm looking forward to the presentations in Periodontology tomorrow and I'm so thrilled that Jess and Ashley reminded me that we don't have Dental Med tomorrow Yay!!! Have a good one...

In Honor of Mr King

Might I just say how much I appreciate having Monday off in clinic... Thanks to Martin Luther King Jr. Day, instead of stressing over finding a patient and trying to scale and OHI and all of that, I will be enjoying myself up on the mountain with the snow and the slopes and my new skiis!!! I'll see you all on Tuesday have a good day off!!!

Class 2!!!

So here it is, my first official class 2!!! I wish I was better at classifying because I would have declared this patient an exam. Of course I was pretty nervous when Costley found a bunch of missed spots on scale check, yet somehow it turned out alright mostly fours and a three!!! I was really hoping to get at least one quad done and that's exactly what I did even though I thought that would be pushing it since I've never had to fill out an entire health history during the appointment and my patient's was a little more complex than those I've filled out in the past. However my patient was very compliant and fun and he let me complete one whole quad of a class 2!!! I plan on finishing him next clinic time (wednesay because monday is a holiday...)

2nd pt of 2nd semester

My patient this time was great! I was going to use Caleb as an exam today but of course we ran into a bit of a problem. He's my friend that came in for real patient day last semester and he's so much fun to work on so it was the perfect patient for something to go incredibly wrong... I don't know how but somehow his chart completely disappeared! (Thanks so much to Mr. Salomon, Professor Costley, McKenna and Kara for helping me look you guys are awesome and to Instructor Caldwell for being so understanding and making that rather uncomfortable situation a lot better than it could have been.) I got to finish scaling all his teeth and polish and fluoride and it was so great! I didn't even miss any spots in scaling and i was able to pass off my explorer and selective polish PE's!!! Go team! Also, Thanks Instructor Caldwell for finding my chart in Professor Hansen's office just before pod wrap. Next time I would like for my chart not to get lost but overall I would say today was successful and it felt so good and almost comfortable!!!