Today was a make-up day in clinic for those of us who missed veteran's day at the VA. I'm not gonna lie it has been a nice break not going to the VA all month. Today I finished up one of my class three patients. It went pretty well. I missed a couple of spots, but overall I didn't do too bad. I just have to remember to turn my toe towards the tooth and really exaggerate it sometimes. I also need to make sure on the anteriors I'm coming all the way up through the contact. This afternoon I just had a 1b so super easy! Now it's time to get my game face on for my very last semester of school ever! Woot!

Today I worked on a class three patient and did pretty well. I didn't miss any spots and feel like i am getting better with my exploring and identifying what is and isn't calculus. I think my instrumenting skills are coming along quite nicely too so pat on the back for me! I can tell that I'm getting more confident and sure of myself in clinic. Everything doesn't seem so foreign anymore. I can also tell that I'm much more relaxed and comfortable. I used to tense up really bad during clinic and then when I'd go home for the day I'd have a shooting pain that ran from my neck all the way underneath my shoulder blade. I'd don't have that problem anymore so it must mean I'm doing something right for once! Yip yip! Welp the semester is almost over! I can't even believe that it went so fast! That's a good and bad thing! I'm so ready for school to be over, but I'm not quite sure I'm ready for boards yet! They are coming way too fast! Hopefully I'm ready by the time they get here! Dah!

Easy day! I had a 1a in the morning and passed off my velscope pe and then we had a lab in the afternoon. During the lab we talked about medical emergencies and what to do in specific situations. We also went over how to administer oraquix, desensitization, and subgingival irrigation. It was a good day and I learned a lot!

Today I cleaned the most adorable little chinese lady's teeth. She had quite a bit of bone loss, recession, and some furcation involvement, but not a lot of calculus so she ended up only being a class five. She had perio splints on her upper and lower with quite a bit of calculus build-up on the lower splint. A couple of the teeth were super mobile and she kept putting her fingers up to hold them in because she was really worried they would fall out haha it was pretty funny. Most of the time I had absolutely no idea what she was saying because of her accent. At least she spoke english. This afternoon I finished up a patient I started last week. She was pretty difficult because she had a lot of tenacious calculus, with deep narrow pockets. I am now officially exhausted and ready to go home!

Today was my first day back in clinic since mockboards, since I was in the happiest place on earth last week fulfilling my duties as a princess. First of all, can i just say i love it when you call to confirm a patient the day before and they say they're still definitely planning on coming and then don't show up the next morning or bother to call and tell you they really aren't coming anymore. Ya, that's pretty much my favorite thing ever. Love it! Luckily, Ashlee brought both her husband and brother in to clean in one appt., but gave me one to clean in the morning. Bless her heart! Someday when I'm disgustingly rich, I have to remember to buy her some really expensive and unecessary crap. I was able to pass off my diagnodent and cra PEs on her brother, which was splendid. He was a great sport letting me analyze his saliva! My afternoon patient was a class 2. I did alright, but i still think class 2's are the hardest type of patients for me. I have a hard time getting down into the pockets and finding the calculus. It's definitely something I need to work on, since that's the type of patient we will be seeing for boards! Gah! They are coming too quick!

First mockboard...check! All i have to say is that wasn't near as bad as i thought it was going to be. If only that could've counted as the real thing I'd be happy as a clam. I only missed one spot! Boo yes! I do have to admit that my patient was pretty easy though. Even though she was a class three i think that actually made her a lot easier to clean because her tissues were very fluctuant and it was relatively easy to get down into her pockets to scale and explore. I'm really glad we do mockboards as stressful as it was for everyone leading up to it. I think we'll all be pretty grateful in the end when we do the real thing and the little slcc sluts have no idea what's going on bah ha ha...whoa that was pretty harsh! I've really gotta stop hangin around with Satan. I hope the slcc girls do well too....maybe...

So of course my class three patient today came in with a cold sore so I had to reschedule her. Lame is all I have to say. I was able to do a screening on a patient and pass off my blood glucose PE and take a pano on her, which is something I am in dyer need of. I haven't been able to take a pano on anybody yet so that was nice. I guess I feel somewhat productive, but I'm still pretty bummed about not being able to work on my class three. At least, the next time I see her I will be able to give her injections for anesthesia, which is a major plus.

Does my back hurt...why yes...yes it does. Along with my neck, legs, feet, arms, hands, fingers, eyeballs, and brain. Oh and I'm pretty sure my teeth hurt too because both my morning and afternoon patients had ridiculously tenacious calculus. I had to work my butt off to get any of it to budge. Definitely not a fond memory I will have of clinic. Dr. Hanson said it was even hard for her to get off so that makes me feel a little better. At least it helped me pass off my calculus removal PE. I also did my second patient as my eaglesoft patient in the computer so that's another project down that I don't have to worry about. I can't believe how much time has gone by already. This semester is flying and I'll be graduated before I know it!

Definitely rocked my class three exam today but......then my afternoon patient, which was only a class two, kicked me right off my high horse and into the stallions freshly excreted pile of crap! I don't know what my deal was, but I missed a ton of spots! What the what! Not cool! I was so frustrated, especially after I had done so well in the morning with my class three exam. I definitely believe Dr. Hanson now when she says that a lot of the time class twos are more difficult to clean. I guess I wasn't getting down far enough with my explorer to feel for the calculus and so I thought it was smooth as can be. Never underestimate the power of a pocket....and its evil and cunning ways of deceitfulness (aka making you think it's relatively shallow when really it's a deep dark abyss masked by a tangled mess of tight tissue) GAH! I swear I'll never let that happen again...hopefully! Haha it was a good lesson I guess...even though I had to learn the hard way!

Today was extremely productive! I took a FMX on my first patient of the day. We ended up finding some condensing osteitis on the distal root of #19 at the apices. That was interesting, since I really haven't come across anything yet in school that has been way out of the ordinary. My next patient was a spanish lady that came into the WHC on Thursday. She ended up being a class three and a possible candidate for mockboards coming up. Woot! My patient this afternoon was a 1B, which was pretty easy. Professor Wold helped me with my angulation. Hopefully I can continue to improve and get better. It's hard and a little frustrating sometimes when you're being taught by right-handers! I got to pass off my first PE too! One down, fifty million more to go haha! Welp that's it kids! Kissers, Hugzies, and giggly unicorns to all who have the priviledge of reading this life-changing post!

Here We Go Again!

First day of clinic check! Today was crazy craze, but good. I made it through and that's all that matters. One of my patients ended up being late and one didn't even show, which was a real bummer and super frustrating, but I still feel like I had a good, productive day. In the afternoon, I ended up having to leave clinic to pick up Kim's son Kyston so that I could have a patient in my chair. Bless you Kim, bless you well. It was actually nice to just have a little kid the first day because it helped me to relax and just have fun after being so stressed out. Kyston was a hoot! Everything came back pretty naturally and I wasn't as scatter-brained as I thought I'd be. My appointments flowed smoothly and for the most part I was pretty relaxed. I definitely need to brush up on my skills a little. I'm still struggling a little bit with my explorer and figuring out what is calculus and what's anatomy. I'm also not angling enough so I missed some spots where calculus was present. That's all...peace out!

Last day of clinic equals awesomeness! I had a really easy class two today and clinic was really relaxed and fun for me. I feel like I have learned a lot this semester and improved ten fold. It's amazing to look back at the beginning and see how much better I've gotten. Hopefully I'll just continue to get better and better next year too! Wow...can't even believe I only have one year left! Glorious day! Well until next year darlings!

Thank heavens for easy days like today. All i had left to do for my requirements was pass off my intraoral camera PE and do a sealant. My mommy was nice enough to drive down to Ogden after work so that I could pass these two things off. It was super quick and easy and I had her out of there within a half hour! Blessed day! I'm all done with everything now! Such a good feeling!

Blessed day..I am finally done with my class three and all I have left to do is one PE and a sealant. Woot woot! I never thought I'd actually be able to get through this semester, but alas it looks like there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Life couldn't be better! I felt a lot more comfortable scaling today and was a little more familiar with my graceys and how to angle them. It's amazing how much more efficient you can be when you have correct angulation. I'm excited to see my improvement as a second year! Wow can't believe I only have one year left...that's a happy thought! Peace out all!

Today I was really hoping the patient Mr. Salomon gave me would be a class three, but of course it wasn't! Just my luck! I'm starting to get pretty worried that I won't find it and it's really starting to bug. I just hate the fact that I may fail clinic for something that's simply out of my hands! Dah! Anyways I was able to finish up my PAs i needed on this patient and pass off a couple of PEs too,k which is always a plus! Now all I really need is my Class three so please bless that he/she is out there somewhere and that I'll find them soon!

Today I did a 1B, which I think will be my last of that type of classification. It went really smoothly and I was also able to pass off a couple of instrumentation PEs that I needed to so that was good. It's amazing to look back to the first of the semester and see how much improvement I really have made. I never thought I would survive or get this far! Somehow everyone always makes it through though! I still have a lot of areas that I can improve in though...hopefully I don't lose it over the summer.

Today was great and I loved it. I got to work on a seven year old boy named Gage and he was a hoot. I barely got a chance to clean his teeth because he talked so much haha he was adorable though. I used him as my exam patient and I think overall it went really well. I didn't miss any spots and was able to pass off my diagnodent PE and do a sealant on one of his six year molars. Like I said in one of my previous posts, I would absolutely love to work in a pedo office! It would be way great times indeed!

Welp today was super unproductive....my patient that cancelled a week two weeks ago forgot to even show up this time and when he finally did he had a cold sore...great! I'm really hoping he's my class three, but who knows if I'll ever actually get to work on him! Please bless please bless! I was able to pass off my peer calculus PE at least so that was good. It's a good thing I have all my quads or I'd be in big trouble! I hate the fact that there's nothing you can do if a patient cancels and no one else can come in..extremely frustrating!

Today was a 1B and pretty easy. It's interesting to see the different attitudes people have about homecare. This lady said she doesn't floss because it hurts..haha...I told her that if she made a regular habit of it then it wouldn't hurt. As dental professionals, these things just seem so common sense to us, but we forget that most of the population has no idea how important doing simple things like flossing is.

So my patient cancelled on me today...that's cool. Luckily, I was able to get a class two off the resource list to come in and everything went smoothly from there. I was even able to get a few PAs done to put towards my requirements. It was a little difficult to communicate with my patient, since she only spoke spanish. The OHI was probably the most difficult part and I don't know how effective I was, but hopefully I made a bit of a difference!

Today I cleaned a three and five year old. The mother couldn't bring them until eight thirty so I was a little rushed. I learned today that even five year olds can have a lot of calculus. These were the first kids I've done so it was kind of fun. I could definitely see myself working in a pediatric dentist. Kids are great! Unfortunately I wasn't able to do any sealants, so hopefully they're comin' up.

Today there was a patient mix-up between Emily and I, so my patient came at the wrong time and ended up not showing. Luckily, while up at the front desk a lady walked in wanting to get her son in for a cleaning and he was with her so I was able to bring him into the clinic for a cleaning. He turned out to be borderline 1A/1B so I ended up counting him as a 1A, since I don't have any quads of that class yet. It was a good experience as far as charting and scaling went. He had a lot of build-up on his lower linguals and some really tenacious sheet calculus, but using my air helped a lot. He was a fun patient to work on.

Today was my class 2 exam and it was tough. I'm really frustrated because I don't think I did very well. When Professor Costley did my scale check I had missed a lot of surfaces, which was really discouraging, especially since I tried really hard to use my explorer. I even went through and flossed to double check. I don't know how to get better other than practice I guess, but it's still eating me up, especially since I've been doing so well with all of my other patients. I was able to pass of my blood glucose test and my patient was a sweetheart so that made the experience a little more enjoyable.

Today I did a 17 year old and claimed him as my second 1b exam. I was able to take a pano on him because his thirds are start to come in and sometimes bother him. Another thing that was interesting about him was that he had gingivitis not from poor OH, but from heavy breathing and had pseudo-pocketing because of it. The exam went well and I'm starting to feel really comfortable with 1b patients. I've also been trying to better utilize my explorer and get better at feeling if there is calculus or not instead of just scraping every surface.

Today we didn't have patients which was a nice break. We went over how to do the removable appliance, blood glucose test, and diagnodent pe's. I've already passed off my denture pe so now i just have to get the other two done which shouldn't be too hard.

Today i just finished up karen walrdon and was able to pass off my sel polish pe. I was also able to pass off my sealant pe with kelsey's pt so today was very productive! Yay!

Today was my first 1B exam and it went really well! Everything went so smoothly and I didn't even miss any spots in his mouth! What a good feeling that was! Now I just need to continue to perfect and improve my skills! I can't slack off now!

I finished Reyna my spanish patient today. I was able to pass off my denture PE with her and had Mr. Salomon translate OHI for me, which made things a lot easier. Geez! I need to learn espanol quick!

My original patient for today cancelled, but luckily I was able to do Eric's patient's wife. She was a sweetheart and very clean. It was a pretty chill day with really new that happened or that I learned.

Today my patient had braces, which was a new experience. Luckily, she was really clean so it wasn't too bad and I was also able to get her done in one appointment. I got to pass off my air/powder polisher PE and that went really well. Instrumentation was a little different with an ortho patient and took some time to get used to, but it's comin'...it's definitely comin'!

Today Dave came, which was really fun! I was able to get him done all in one appointment, which shows that I'm progressing and getting better at this whole cleaning teeth thing! It's such a relief! Something new I did run into was a little something called sheet calculus and boy is it a bugger! I didn't even know it was there until Angelique pointed it out and it took forever to get off! Yikes!

Today was an interesting day for me. I had my first spanish patient. It made things a lot more difficult because I couldn't really communicate with her. The good thing was that she had a partial denture so that will help me pass off a PE. She also had one quad of a class three, which will help toward my requirements.

Oh Blessed Day!

So I feel really good about today! Everything went really smoothly and I can see myself progressing! Maybe I can do this after all! I was able to finish my gma who was a class two and now I have eight quads total..not much, but every little bit helps. I got to pass off two PEs and felt really confident about what I was passing off. I'm finally get the hang of all my angles, which end of the instruments to use, and what calculus feels like. Its glorious beyond all reason! I feel like I'm getting just a tad bit faster too, which is always a plus! So far all of my patients have been close family members and next week i'm seeing someone I don't even know so we'll see how that goes! Yikes!

I be sweatin'

Today was the second day of patient treatment in clinic and I was able to finish up my mom by the skin of my teeth. I took a FMX on my mom and it took a little longer than expected because maybe I'm an idiot and maybe I totally deleted my retaked on ScanX. It ended up taking me close to an hour to finish up with that and by the time I was done I was all sorts of crazy in my head, which made it hard to focus and do well when my mom was actually in the chair. I had to bust my butt to get her done and it was even more challenging because she has so much bone loss on her mandibular anteriors that you have to be extremely careful scaling there. She also has a lot of areas with recession that are really sensitive so scaling there was a bugger too...oh and did I mention after all that she was only a 1B! Whatever am I gonna do when a class two or three comes along!? Awh well somehow I made it through and my mom, bless her heart, was an excellent sport! At least it gave me some good experience..now to go give my pits a good and much needed washin!

Bring your gma to school day!

Today was our first patient day and my gma came to get her teeth cleaned! Bless her heart! She had quite the health history so it was a good thing i got it done beforehand. Everything went really smoothly and i was even able to get a quad done. I think i'm finally catching on and getting used to the flow of clinic, which is a huge relief! It still frustrates me that I can't get such an easy patient done in one appointment, especially when I have to sit around and wait to get things checked off before I can move on! Awh well I guess that's what school is all about! I still really have no idea what I'm looking for when it comes to calculus because unless I can blatantly see it i'll usually miss it! Dah! Hopefully that skill comes soon because it's really startin' to bug when an instructor comes to check and tells me I have a spot of calc where i worked forever! Right now that's probably the biggest thing i'm struggling with! Welp kids that's about it! Until next time! Peace and blessings!

I'm Back!

Wow..i can't believe the break is already over and today is the first day of clinic! Weirdy magee! Today was pretty chill, especially since we didn't have to see a patient today! We went over info on area-specific curets, ultrasonics, and how to chart certain classifications. I still feel pretty comfortable using the ultrasonic, but it was weird picking up an instrument again. We practiced with our graceys for a little bit and it took some time for me to get used to it again. I still struggle with what end to use and how much pressure to apply. I also need to get better at detecting calculus and recognizing the difference between that and anatomy of the teeth. Overall, it was a good day and i'm glad to be back...i think!