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.