Farewell

When working on a hard case of periodontitis there is a strange connection built between hygienist and patient that makes the end of the treatment phase an even weirder moment. Perio treatment is rough and painful and often times very scary, especially for those who have been through it before. It's not uncommon for patients to cry or be very upset when they learn about the poor conditions of their gums and bone and that they'll have to come in for 3-4 different appointments to get their teeth properly cleaned so they can start over and have any chance of regaining oral health. That moment is key for me as a hygienist. That is when I can either ruin all hope and increase fear to astronomical levels or when I can actually earn a very deep level of trust and confidence from the patient. Obviously, I try for the latter.
After working to develop that trust you are continuously working to keep the patient calm and happy and hopeful during that first appointment where you're probably deep scaling one quadrant of the patient's mouth. Maintaining a good balance of anesthesia and deep scaling is very important. When working on a patient with this type of condition presented I see and actually feel the patients pain and anxiety inside.
At the second appointment, the patient is hopefully feeling a little better about things and you are able to get an idea of how the patient's home care is going. You are able to get a little bit more done because the anxiety is reduced and the patient is sometimes motivated by the cleaned quad to improve their oral hygiene.
By the third appointment, the patient and hygienist are usually on a first name basis and there's been ample opportunity to get to know a lot about them. You're excited for them to be finishing up their treatment and to see how they've been doing all this time. I usually like to go over and make sure the rest of the mouth is still clean so I scale and polish everywhere. I really like it when I'm able to scale the already cleaned quads without using any anesthetic at this point. The patient is also excited to see you because it's the last time and they're eager to hear how they're improving and to learn what more they need to do.
Finally, the hardest part: the release. Letting that poor injured bird fly on its newly mended wing in the wild for the first time. Well... not exactly but sometimes it does feel like it. You wonder if they'll be able to keep everything healthy for the next 3 months or if they'll ever come back and you'll be able to see them again. You schedule a recall and give them all the tools and knowledge you can to help them out but in the end it's up to them and you just have to wait and see.

On My Own!

Okay so I heard about a job at the Community Health Center in Brigham City and I went for it, I applied and thought I was too late since the job add was no longer running. Oh well... Then I get an email back from the center telling me they couldn't read my resume due to the program it was created in. Oh great! So they're still looking but now that they couldn't read mine they were probably just letting me know out of courtesy but I might as well send them a new version just in case. Needless to say I was rather shocked when I got the call to interview with them. I've never actually had a real job interview before. I've had a few jobs but they've all been through connections with my parents, friends or other family so I was very nervous for this one. When I went up for the interview it seemed to go well, the dentist, clinic director, and dental assistant were all interviewing me and they had very easy questions like why I love what I do and how I strive to better myself. The odd thing to me was that the application said they required a fluency in spanish so I was expecting them to test me by holding the interview in spanish. Instead all they did was ask me if I spoke spanish to which I replied "intento, pero quiero practicar mas." and when they replied in english yet again I went on to explain how I translated for my patients and fellow students in the clinic at Weber State. I have to admit: not my best answer.

When the interview was over they thanked me and walked me back out to the front. As I was leaving I saw a very well dressed hispanic girl in her mid 20's with gorgeous curly hair in the waiting room. My first thought was: I didn't really expect them to have patients that done up since it is a non-profit clinic that helps make dental and health care more available to patients that don't have insurance and a low income. Then it hit me... She's probably interviewing and most likely a native spanish speaker like most of the staff that is already working there. Of course they'd pick her over me. Oh well again... the interview was a good experience for me anyway.

Imagine my shock when I get a call the very next day from the HR director in Salt Lake City offering me the job! What the?! I don't really get it but I'm stoked and even more excited because it is the first job I have ever acquired completely on my own from my own credentials and not just based on who I know and who already trusts me. I don't start until December due to all the forms and paperwork that needs to be done and processed first but that is even more perfect since my sister is coming out here this month so I'll still have three days off each week in which to spend playing with her. It couldn't have worked out any better and now instead of just Thursday and Friday, I can add a ten hour Wednesday to my work week! Yippie!

Working Life

I know it's been a while since I've graduated now and I've been getting used to working as a hygienist in a real dental office really quickly. It's so much better and a bit more stressful than school because I get to call the shots. I'm the one that's got to decide what kind of treatment is done and what the charge is in the end. I was afraid that the sudden loss of appointment time would throw me off but it's really not bad. Sometimes I actually find myself obnoxiously AHEAD of schedule due to scheduling confusions.

I've been working 2 days a week consistently and subbing here and there which is perfect for me. I get to spend a lot of time with my husband while still making the money we need and I can choose whether I want to work or not on Saturday through Wednesday. Lately I've been choosing to work more than not, mostly to get my name out there and to gain some more experience in different offices. I've enjoyed getting to know many different offices, it's really nice to see the differences from office to office and to get a real idea from experience of what I like and don't like. I would highly recommend this path to any recent graduate of any program. Variety is definitely the spice of life.

LAST CLINIC DAY EVER!!!!!

Well, there it goes. My time in the WSU clinic and the best part is: I don't ever have to come back here if I don't want to (no offense) I'm just so excited to get out and work for a dentist in a real practice and actually get paid instead of paying. No more scale checks, no more PE's, no more Patient Encounter Forms!!! Just real honest to goodness patient treatment! While all of this is so exciting, I know for a fact there is a lot I'm going to miss...

1.

I've had the most wonderful class of 30 girls to work with and get to know over the past two years. We've worked so hard together to survive this crazy ride and now it's all done... I'm going to miss you all so much! We better keep in touch!

2.

The amazing faculty and staff that helped shape each and every one of us into the successful clinicians we will all become very soon. The professors and instructors that cried with us, that lost many nights sleep while we weren't sleeping because of boards, that laughed at our stupid mistakes and picked us up in the darkest times, while humbling us whenever needed. Thanks to all of you for everything you've done for us!

3.

SCHOOL. Honestly, I don't know what I'm going to do with all of the free time I'll have not studying anymore... I've had school my ENTIRE life so how am I supposed to up an quit cold turkey??? What about my comfort blanket? What about that great excuse to get out of housework by saying "sorry, but I've just got so many projects and tests right now I really need to focus on my school work." (instead my fiance soon to be husband will be the one pulling off that one!) I'm excited to read but what about learning??? I guess that will never stop. As my wonderful late Grandpa always taught me: Education is an ongoing process throughout life, to end learning is to die inside.

4.

The VA... NOT!!! (sorry, but I'm just not really going to miss braving the storms and traffic at 6:00AM to make it to Salt Lake to clean endless class V patients for free!!!

I hope you all have enjoyed this time as much as I have and I know we're all ready to move on to bigger and better things so let's all charge forth! Don't ever stop learning and progressing (I guess CE courses will help take care of that:) Good luck out there everyone, keep in touch please!!! Congratulations class of 2010

Boards are over, now for: the Last VA Day EVER!!!!

Well, I've passed all my Board Exams (YAY!!!) and now the school year is winding down for me, I've only got two more clinic days after this one and yes, this is a very nice day for me, it is the last time I have to wake up way too freakin early to drive all the way to Salt Lake and clean teeth for free. While, I must admit that this is a great service we provide and I do love being able to actually give the treatment needed without thinking of the financial aspect of things, I'm excited to actually start being paid for the work I do.

This morning, my 8:00AM pt. had to go to the ER due to high BP (200/108!) so I ended up seeing a patient at 9:00AM instead. This patient was a pretty straight forward class V with severe toothbrush abrasion and recession, but there was one little detail that no chart note could have adequately prepared me for: HIM. He had suffered a head injury and had some motor dysfunction because of it, he also had a profoundly decreased social inhibitory response accompanied by short-term memory loss. Therefore, I spent an hour and a half trying to get my instruments into his mouth while dodging all of his compliments and inappropriate statements such as: "No offense, but you have very nice, soft skin." and "It's too bad you're spoken for." and the very worst: "I think I'm going to tickle ya, what would you do then?" He made me very uncomfortable and to make things better, he couldn't remember what he had previously said so he was repeating the same conversations over and over again and made it very difficult to get the cleaning done. I got to hear over and over again about my nice hair, my gentle touch, my inadequate height, and the mole on the right side of my neck. AWKWARD!!! Oh well, this is the career I chose, take the good moments with the bad and I still love my future job!

VA: 10 quads III?! Can it be?! PSYCHE! only 4... :(

So in the morning at the VA, my first patient was a 63 year old man with 3 quads of class III that I was so excited to clean!!! ...Until he decided after 1 quad he was done being treated so he left at 9:30!

Diane from the front desk brought me back another patient at 10:30, another 63 year old man, with 4 quads of a class III! However, because of how late he showed up and all the waiting I had to do with the other students ready for scale checks, I only got 2 quads done... so I got the 3 quads in the morning I guess! (possible III quads so far: 7, actual quads cleaned: 3)



In the afternoon, I miraculously had another patient walk in who was yet another 63 year old man with 3-4 quads of a class III! (he was missing some teeth). I was stoked! He was easy to clean but needed anesthesia for each quad, and the doctor came in for a check right when i had finished with the first quad and don't worry, he only took an hour and a half to do his exam!!! I don't know what was up, this was not a new patient and he only treatment planned two fillings! What the?! Anyway, of course Professor McConaughy came for a scale check again and again while the doctor was there doing his exam. Finally when the doctor left, I had to go track her down where she was doing charts already and when I asked her for a check she said she had to go to Charlotte first (even though I had been waiting for well over an hour!) By the time she came to see me, it was time to just walk him out so there you go: a 1-quad afternoon :(



Possible class III quads: 10-11, Actual class III quads cleaned: a measley 4 :(





Sad day...

CLINICAL BOARDS!!!

I told my patient to show up at 7:30AM. I was afraid she'd be late, but surprisingly, she showed up at 7:00, the same time that I did!!! The scariest part of the boards was waiting to see if my patient qualified or not which, don't worry, only took a little over an HOUR, but in the end she DID! I was so excited, I immediately went to town with the ultrasonic that Dr. Shaw so graciously lent me. The time cleaning flew by, my patient wasn't that difficult of a patient but I was so focused on cleaning that had I not had Casey and Alisha to set my pace from, I wouldn't have even noticed the two and a half hours going by. I finished, probed, and did an oral cancer screening for her and then turned her in. I wish there was some way to end this story, but I can't yet, I don't know how it ends... so that's all I've got for now, just a cliff hanger and it's driving me crazy! I should find out this week though... I guess we'll see.

LOCAL ANESTHESIA BOARDS!

Local Anesthesia Board: I was most nervous for the local anesthesia exams. The written exams were a lot harder than I thought, when I finished, I really didn't know how it went until I got the letter: PASSED!!!

As for the clinical exam, my lovely fiancee Ben was my patient and I was so excited and nervous to have him there with me. I got him in the chair and took a quick look in his mouth and what did I see? AAACK!!! A 1mm round red lesion just anterior to where I would be demonstrating the Inferior Alveolar injection!!! I thought for sure I'd have to find another patient and I didn't have any backups! The chief examiner came around to examine the injection sites so I doubtfully and very nervously pulled his cheeks and lips out of the way so she could see. To my astonishment, she said it was fine and I could proceed with the injections. Two examiners jumped right in to observe. I was so startled and emotional at that moment, I started with the PSA. I thought everything was going perfectly until I was depositing and I noticed that instead of having the needle angled 45 degrees toward the long axis of the tooth, it was parallel... CRAP! So I proceeded with the IA where I made osseous contact and withdrew only to make osseous contact again but was able to angle it around the bone. I made sure I was at the corner of the mouth and the examiners had Ben pull his cheek back to see if I was over the premolars and I totally thought I was. Of course after completing I got the result: FAIL! I failed both injections! Luckily, I had brought a cashiers check to retake the clinical instantly just in case. However, I did not have a patient and I had used all my needles and the only four cartridges of Polocaine that I had. What could I do?

I was so frustrated and I was venting to Ben and Meagan when my hero, Meagan, stepped in and offered not only her extra cartridges and syringes, but she also offered herself as my patient! I never would have expected that much from her. Even better news... after calming down and with her as my patient, I PASSED!!!!

Clinic Simulation Day

So today is the day that I'm supposed to pretend that I'm a real hygienist in a dental office who sees more that two patients per day. Of course, this morning I happened to have my most difficult patient i've ever seen in the chair: and only a class III. I worked on her all morning pulling, adapting, contacting, and removing as much of that concrete hard calculus as possible. I was very stressed and getting pretty tired. Luckily Professor Alexander must have been feeling rather gracious because she came over and helped me one on one get each spot of calculus that had been causing me grief. I got her done! 2 quads class III along with the curved slimline ultrasonic PE, and 6 injections: 2PSA, 2MSA, ASA, and Professor Perry showed me how to perform an Infraorbital nerve block (don't worry, just one of my most feared injections... but it went well and was actually pretty easy!)

This afternoon I'm supposed to have a new patient in at 12:30 who of course still isn't here but still hasn't given me a difinitive answer as to whether or not he'll be coming... Luckily I have a class V coming in at 1:30 so I won't have a completely empty afternoon... however, that also means that I can't see the extra patient out in the waiting room. ...LAME

LA Mockboard/class IV!!!

This morning the Local Anesthesia mockboard went so well, I got a 90% on the written and I did a "textbook" PSA injection according to Professor Alexander. I did fail the IA, but that was because I didn't wait for the examiners to say "proceed" and I stupidly said "at site of deposition" while swinging the syringe to place it over the premolars. Yeah, I'm a dork... oh well, I'm glad I did it now and not in two weeks during the real thing!

I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT WE HAVE WREB AND NATIONAL BOARD EXAMINATIONS JUST TWO WEEKS FROM TODAY! I'M FREAKING OUT A LITTLE HERE...

This afternoon was a normal clinic day, I had a class IV patient with special needs and a few health issues. I don't really understand why the first year instructor who gave this patient to me on Monday made such an emphasis on how difficult this patient would be. This class IV was a lot easier to deal with than my last class IV, except I had to work around the N2O nose piece and the patient's rather large tongue and small mouth. It was a good experience, I only missed one spot! Here's to rejuvenating my confidence in my own clinical skills... hopefully I can maintain this positive outlook through the end of school.

Final day of my 5 week VA spree!

So this morning, was uneventful in the eyes of a dental hygiene STUDENT but rather busy in the eyes of a HYGIENIST. I had 4 quads of a class V again with BWX and a pano, pretty easy, light, supragingival calculus... nothing too exciting. However, my patient forgot to premedicate so we had to wait an hour before I could scale him. He also had a handful of health flags like insulin-dependent type II diabetes, angina pectoris, asthma, COPD, sleep apnea, joint replacement, atrio-septal defect, congestive heart failure, and the list went on. I had to make sure he took his premed, had his inhaler, ate breakfast and took his insulin, and that he had some nitroglycerin with him just in case. I also couldn't lay him back all the way nor could I use the ultrasonic so it took a little while to get him all finished. Otherwise this appointment would have been pretty quick and uneventful. Good experience for me, I needed an opportunity to deal with a pretty full health history.

THE LAST MOCKBOARD!!!! Thank Heavens!!!

Well, there you have it, my last mockboard finished and done. I didn't even have a patient until 3 days ago when Natalie Burghardt called me to say she found one! I happened to be in the building so I was able to take x-rays that same day. Today my mockboard was in the afternoon which I think helps me do better because I get the morning to calibrate my exploring to the professors and examiners. It was a very good experience to clean that quad. She was a class III but I still scaled her rather quickly. The calculus was the type that just melts and oozes off when you hit it with a powerful ultrasonic, but underneath there are little highly calcified rocks of calculus that you have to go back and do a very deep and thorough hand scale to remove after. I was concerned because the patient had a rough CEJ that could have felt like calculus and her tissues looked very loose and kind of beaten up (but it was from her oral health status, not my scaling technique). I thought I might get docked for missed "CEJ" calculus and tissue trauma but I didn't. I actually didn't miss a single spot!!! I'm so excited to have the last mockboard done and I'm actually kind of excited for the real Boards. All I can say for now is WREB: Bring it on!!! I'm ready for you!!! (except the written parts... :) Good luck to everyone with the LA mockboards next week!!!

Another VA day

Today, I didn't have a pt. until 9:30AM, there was the random pt that was going to try to show up for just basic polishing and debridement at 8AM. (boring, but oh well, at least it keeps him healthy). Of course, he didn't show, so I had a long boring morning of waiting. To make things even less eventful, everyone else had easy patients and didn't need charting so I restocked some random supplies for everyone (so much fun! ...I wish I could get CA credit).
At 9:30, my patient finally showed up needing a maxillary impression for a night guard, 4 BWX, and a good thorough cleaning. The impression had to be done twice because the first one didn't get enough of the anterior teeth, but Sharrah helped me get the second one done right. Then my BWX had some issues since my pt. coudn't bite down very well on the right side. The patient actually ended up being a class II! I got my class II/V done today!!! Yay! I just need to find those blasted III's! The doctor came in and said he needed to be scheduled to get his wisdom teeth out and one small cavity filled. Then we had to wait until the periodontist had some time to come look at the pt. to evaluate him for a possible mandibular anterior gingival graft (same surgery I had last year... poor guy!)
My afternoon patient was a class III that I had seen in January and scheduled to come back on my day. He's a very good pt. He just fell asleep and let me do the cleaning. It also helped that I was able to numb him and therefore the cleaning was smooth and easy for him and me. I like it when appointments work out like that.

Mockboard #2: PASS!!!

Woo hoo!!! I'm not a complete failure! Granted, my patient wasn't really qualified to be a board patient but she still did have a good amount of calculus and deposit that I had to clean off. I only missed one spot! And my patient was so sweet, she was seriously a joy to work on! It's nice to have a little ego boost every once and a while.

VA Day- Oh My Jaw!

This isn't the one that I saw, but pretty close to it. (For those of you who don't know about ONJ, that brown lumpy thing the arrow is pointing to is a large, exposed area of infected, necrotic bone from the jaw! Yuck! Super cool though when you're odd like me and my fellow hygiene students!

This morning I had a very pleasant patient with class II periodontitis but that wasn't the real excitement of the morning. Diane had a patient with Osteoradionecrosis of the Jaw! ONJ! I never expected to actually see that in real life but there ya go! It was in the right mandibular retromolar pad and was about 10x7MM! The patient was also really neat, he let each one of us students and even Professor McConaughy come in and take a look! It was so cool!!!

No, Can it be??? I didn't think those even existed!!!

I found what I had always believed to be impossible to find: A very reliable board patient! Not only will her mouth almost surely qualify for WREB, but I'm not afraid she will disappear on me like those rare patients often do! She's always asking me how much she has to pay and just won't accept the fact that I'm going to take care of her and pay for her cleaning as a thank you for being a great board patient (also hopeful insurance that she will actually come). My afternoon patient today cancelled on me (of course, the one patient I didn't even want to schedule in the first place would cancel on me!) After finishing my class V patient in the morning I called all of my back up patients and none of them could come. I tried for the long shot of calling my board patient and by some crazy miracle she was available to come in for x-rays and to clean her upper arch (that definitely wouldn't qualify at all). What kind of luck is that??? Man, I definitely have someone watching over me:)

Open your mouth so I can get some work done!

AM- 4q. class V exam with 4BWX and and opportunity for subgingival irrigation in one pocket. This patient was the epitomy of health after perio. From the hygienist standpoint, I was very proud of her though I must admit the student side of me was kicking and screaming that she had been a class II 2 years ago and hadn't had a cleaning since but she still had hardly any bleeding and no significant calculus deposits!!! Seriously?!

PM- 2q. class IV exam and the oraqix PE. This patient is loudly inappropriate and I'm sure even though he was a class 4 and I was doing 2 quads I could have had him out of here by 2:30 but he talked and talked and seriously would not stop to let me clean. I actually started joking with him that I'd pull his bear hairs if he didn't open his mouth and let me work. He joked about how usually people say "shut your mouth so I can get some work done" but I use the verb open instead (which is not intended to mean: please keep on talking to me while I have the Gracey 13/14 in your 9 mm pocket!) I figured out a little more how to manage this patient. I learned that if I threw back the obnoxious comments he became a lot more mild and actually started to be quiet, relatively. He still hummed "Singing in the Rain" the whole time I scaled. Oh my, what a good experience but I'm glad he's finished. I'm also going to bring him back in April to see how he has been able to maintain his oral status (who knows... maybe it'll be a class 4 again? please?)

A great Class V day

6 quads of class V, that's it for me today. 6 very uneventful quads that were easy and smooth as usual. The kind of quads where you spend more time waiting for dentist and professors to come and evaluate than you spend actually scaling and polishing. Oh well, it was a nice relaxing day to start the week out with since yesterday was Martin Luther King Jr. Day. I did get to clean 2 partial dentures, and that was fun, the upper denture actually had some calculus that I got to scale off (which was more than I found in the actual remaining teeth.) Luckily the patients here at the VA are so nice and interesting to work on. I really do enjoy working out here where it feels like I'm actually a semi-autonomous clinician and I can provide my patients with the best treatment possible without really fretting about cost or insurance or anything like that.

I was able to place arestin and periochip and take a pano and 4BWX in the morning and then I took 7 anterior PA's in the afternoon which was really good for me to practice. Not to mention the 70 PA's that are required of us this year!

Extra Patients... Oh wait, they're already yours!

Oh my gosh, what a day! First of all, I accidentally scheduled two patients for today at 8:00AM but luckily my class III couldn't come. The patient that came instead had 2 quads of a class II and 1 quad of a class III so I used the experience as an exam and it want really well. I keep having troubles with my dang fulcrum finger and I tend to roll my thumb to the side making it difficult to get the proper angulation and adaption. I was able to finish her with only one error even though she had an extremely tenacious anterior mandubular calculus bridge on the lingual surfaces. It was the kind of tough calculus that instead of flaking off, I was only able to scrape a very small grainy layer of calculus off with each very focused and intense stroke. I had to use both ultrasonic tips to finally get it all off and I still missed one spot (but only one!!!)



My afternoon patients I hadn't been able to get ahold of due to a disconnected phone line. I was supposed to have a mom and daughter. I also had another patient that I could call in case they didn't show up. Of course, I tried to call my backup and she couldn't come... then i called like four other patients and none of them could come. I was about to turn to the familial lifeline when I thought to ask Mr. Salomon if there was an extra patient lying around anywhere and to my excitement, there was! A mom and daughter that said they had been called to come in to an appointment at 12:30 today. I looked at the health history forms and lo and behold: it was my patients! I don't know how they got called or how they remembered to come in, but either way I was so excited! I also was frustrated with Mr. Salomon because he didn't see that I had put them in the schedule (granted, I had forgotten to put the daughter's name on the schedule so it kind of threw him off). I got the daughter cleaned (a 1A of course) and then I screened the mom who is just your typical class II. Oh well. Still no board patient hopes but at least I was productive enough...

Where am I?

Oh my gosh! I'm so glad that today is over! I don't know what's wrong with me but it's like my mind is gone and all my clinical skills with it.

This morning I had a class IV!!! the first I've ever seen, with the most mobile teeth I've ever seen. I got two quads cleaned on him with only two errors and it only took me 45 minutes! I was feeling really good about myself because my patient had been rather difficult to deal with, his calculus wasn't bad but he would not stop talking!!! No joke, I had my gracey in his 9mm pocket and he was still talking to me. And some of what he was saying was very inappropriate and made me and even Professor Alexander very uncomfortable working on him. Of course, he has to be a class IV so I can't help but see him again... dang requirements! I guess that's how the working world will go though.

I called Ben to meet for lunch and he happened to be working so I was on my own. I remembered that I had a hot pocket in the freezer but soon after realized it was missing which didn't really surprise me. I decided to eat the clam chowder in the locker which of course exploded all over me and the locker room when I tried to open it. Aagh!!

My afternoon patient came... and so did her husband. Luckily Staci's patient had a cold sore so I gave the husband to her which of course was a class III... oh well. My patient ended up being a class III as well and might serve as my mockboard patient for the first test. Hopefully all goes well. However, Kami pointed out that once again I was fulcruming incorrectly, and leading with the heel instead of the toe of the instrument. I kept forgetting little random things like writing down the spots missed for Kami, and filling out certain papers, and even including BWX on my treatment plan. WHO AM I? and WHERE HAS THE REAL DENVER GONE??? Hopefully she comes back quickly because I don't know how long I'll be able to make it like this. Thanks to very forgiving and helpful professors that are here to try and steer me back to where I should be.

L.A.M.E.

Welcome back, now wake up!!!

I swear, I was going to be all ready for this semester and do everything on time and exactly as is to be expected of me, but then I have to go and screw it all up the very first week! Apparently yesterday I was supposed to be the CA at the VA and I didn't even know about it because I wrote it down in the wrong calendar and I thought I only had Tuesday CA days left... oops! Now it's trying to do everything I possibly can to make that up to my fellow students and Professor Alexander... Dang it!

The First of the Last ...at Last

This is my first day back at the VA and it is now the start of spring semester which also happens to be my last semester ever! (unless I miss school too much and come running back to the safety of books and tests). Finally I'm going to graduate!!!!
This morning I had a patient that was pretty easy, just a 1B but a very nice girl. I was supposed to be doing a re-eval but he no showed. Then I was supposed to have a second patient when my 8o'clock went home but he cancelled as well. It's been a pretty quiet morning. Thank goodness for Shalyce's second patient with K.C. the awesome golden retreiver-siberian husky mix service dog. He detects seizures about 3 minutes before they happen so he warns his owner and helps him get his medications and be safe during episodes. He was a cute huge dog and he talks and does lots of tricks that his owner was showing us while we waited for the premedication to kick in. Then it was just hanging out and trying to remain productive by helping others clean and such while I waited for lunchtime!

My afternoon patient was so awesome! He was very nice with class 3 periodontitis. I was able to do four injections, arestin, and use him as 2 quads of a class 3 exam! The injections were very cool, he is a larger man so I got to experience finding the landmarks around the extra tissue. I got him numb and then I got to try to get arestin down to the bottom of a 10mm pocket. So cool!!! I really loved it although I'm not so sure how I did on the scaling since my instructor was a bit unclear during scale check.