screening day

Well, we had screenings today. Brooke and I decided to work together and screen nine patients between the two of us. I couldn't screen the first patient I brought back because she had both of her knees and a shoulder replaced and didn't know she was supposed to pre-medicate so she'll have to get a physician's consult done. I felt bad telling her that I couldn't even take a look in her mouth. One of the patient's brooke saw was super young. 13. Definitely didn't qualify. Ha. We flew through all of our patient's (except one that didn't show) and guess what? NOT ONE of them qualified for mock boards! SO frustrating. Bad luck for sure. Hopefully I'll have better luck in January.

Happy winter break!

Heading into the last week of fall semester...

Well ladies, we're in the home stretch. Tomorrow starts the last day of the last week of our fall semester of senior year. Eeeek! Is anyone else slightly freaked out by how fast dental hygiene school is going by? I can't believe it. It seems like not long ago we were all nervously saying hi to each other at our dental hygiene school orientation. So weird.

This week will be crazy with class, 3 tests, screenings, and the christmas party... but we can do it! Let's all stay positive! (I'm mainly trying to pump myself up.) After this week I can start my study regimen for boards. Yikes!

Last fall clinic day

Last fall clinic day: OVER.

Yeah, baby!

Today was super productive and I learned a ton. My first patient broke most of #8 off and can't afford to get it fixed so guess what he did? He mixed up some glue/cement stuff from his auto shop and slapped it in there.... whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat? Seriously, people. I can't make this stuff up. He was a... very interesting person. I was glad to get him out of my chair.

My afternoon patient was a guy that leigh found for me. Class 3! I got all 4 quads finished! WOO! I flew through his cleaning. I had a goal to get him finished and I did it with no missed spots. I felt great.

It was a fabulous last day of clinic. I feel like my confidence is really improving. Now I just need to find a mockboard patient for January at our screenings next week.

Dental Materials Lab

Dental materials lab was pretty rockin'. I successfully used block out to improve bleach tray quality, made bleach trays, and made a stylin' red night guard (with Dr. Naylors help). I was covered in dust and red shavings from the night guard by the end of the lab but it was definitely worth it. I was also able to make a nifty temporary crown using a method that I wasn't aware of before. It was a fun learning day! I'm stoked to try out my night guard! ( I might have noticed that I have started to grind my teeth in the last few months. I blame the stress of boards that is looming around me.)

Last VA day of the semester

Yeah, baby. Last VA day of fall semester: over. My morning patient was pretty much the nicest guy in the world. It was a nice change from the mostly grumpy men I usually see. I got 7 injections on him and 9 PAs too so I'm super happy about it. I wish every patient could be like him. My experiences at the VA hospital have been really eye opening for me. I know that most of the patients I will see in "real life" won't be like the ones I've seen at the VA, but it has been a great opportunity for me to realize what is out there and what some people deal with in their every day lives. I wouldn't want to work at the VA, but it has helped me learn a lot.

Tomorrow: LA and dental materials lab. Word.

Clinic Lab

Clinic lab was very informative. It was good to use the VELscope and see the pretty colors it makes. I am glad that I know more about the densensitizing agents that the Weber clinic has. Also, we learned how to transfer people from wheelchairs to dental chairs and vice versa. I need to start lifting some weights. My group had way too much fun in our wheelchair expedition. All in all, good day. Last lab of clinic for the semester! It's going by fast!

1A and diagnodent

This morning I saw an 8 year old girl. She was very timid which I was grateful for because hyper children stress me out. She was super easy to work on but HOLY PLAQUE. I can honestly say that I've never seen more plaque in one mouth since we started this program. This poor little girl had a 6mmx 10mm abscess above tooth B. She's going to have to have it extracted and it's not even loose at all yet. Dr Naylor said that the infection should go away once it is taken out though. I also got to see a tongue thruster today. It was a good learning experience to see what it looks like in the mouth. I also passed off my diagnodent PE.

GUESS WHAT ALL????

I'M DONE WITH MY FALL REQUIREMENTS NOW!!!!!!!!

squee!!!!!

Now i need to start trying to figure out those local anesthesia calculations. ick.

Piercingssssssss

Today was a pretty interesting clinic day for me. Unfortunately, my afternoon patient didn't show up. She was supposed to come in at 1:00 p.m. At 1:15 she called me and said she wouldn't be able to come until 1:30 but that she might just not come at all... (huh?) She then called me again at 1:45 saying she wasn't going to make it because she was tired from work. She was peeved when I told her that I didn't have anymore openings until next semester. Sheesh.

My morning patient was right on time though. She used to have a tongue piercing that chipped and fractured numerous teeth, some of them to the point of needing to be extracted. (mentioned in previous blog). Today she informed me that her motivator for her 8th grade daughter to get good grades is telling her daughter that if she gets a 4.0 GPA she can get a tongue piercing... ( what the heck???) She genuinely wants her daughter to have one. I also got to see the side effects of a lip piercing. It has caused recession and mobility on tooth #5. Since we just talked about piercings in class yesterday it was cool to see. I got to do nitrous on her too. Fabulous.

My only PE that I need to pass off still this semester is the diagnodent PE. Hopefully I can get that done next tuesday.

Nice, easy day

Today was pretty easy. I'm definitely not complaining. My morning patient was a little bit... different and was taking a LOT of random medications. She recently removed her tongue ring because she's broken several teeth on it and one of her teeth just had to be taken out because it was so badly broken. Good for her for steppin' it up. Now she just needs to quit smoking a pack a day and remove the other 3 piercings from her face. Hahaha. I was able to do nitrous on her so that was awesome. She'll be coming back so i'll get two nitrous requirements and hopefully a nitrous PE done with her. Fabulous.

My afternoon patient was a class 5 patient that I saw once during my junior year. She was "pleasantly surprised" by how much faster i've gotten. (word.) she now has a drive to recruit all of her friends to come see me. bring it!

today i passed off..... ZERO PE's. again. i really need to start passing them off. i suckkkk.

i can't believe how fast this semester is going! pretty soon it'll be our final semester in the dental hygiene program.

i'm stoked.

mockboards, baby.

Holy mockboards.

So glad they are over. I passed, and that is all that I care about for the time being. My patient showed up. (good thing!) I speak no spanish other than "hola", "abra", and "cierre" so it was difficult because my translator couldn't make it til 1:15. but steph helped me out so that was rockin'.
Note to self: either learn spanish, or find an english speaking real board patient. it will make my life much easier.

1st submission: denied (dang, minus 4 points already???)
2nd submission: accepted
Note to self: on real board patient find someone without interproximal amalgams that you might mistake as interproximal calculus. then, HOPEFULLY, the 1st submission will be accepted.

So, i got to cleaning. Need to have patient done and checked to mr. solomon by 3:18 p.m.
Note to self: if possible, on a real board patient, find someone lacking their wisdom teeth. pain in my butt.

I was cleaning along, taking my time (2 hours for one quad plus 3 teeth? please. cake, right?) when my translator finally showed up. We commenced to make awkward small talk while i cleaned my patients teeth. ("what are you going in to? oh neat.... oh yeah, i graduate in april. super stoked.... *awkward silence*.... ")

Then, at 2:15, my patient stops me and tells the translator that she needs to leave no later than 2:55 so that she can pick up her kids from school... WHAT?! so, i did my best speed cleaning, speed perio and recession charting, and scooted her up to mr. solomon. i was convinced of failure because of the time issue and having to speed clean the rest of the teeth.

Luckily, i passed! Yeah, baby. I actually got more errors on perio charting than anything else. Only one missed calculus spot. Word.

In other news, i sat on not one, but TWO chocolate chocolate chip muffins today. Once in brooke's car (had no clue i did it at the time), once in the wet lab ("muffin, where are you??? ugh." sit down... squish. sat on the muffin) oh my word.

All in all, good times.

The day of cancellations/ no shows

Yesterday I called my patient for this morning and she couldn't come anymore. I called everyone that I had but nobody answered so I frantically texted lots of the dental hygiene girls to see if anyone had any extra names. So many of the girls texted me back trying to help. It made me really grateful that we all have each others backs. Steph found me a patient for this morning! Yay! I owe her! She was a 1B and i got bitewings. She bled a TON. Every time I touched her tissue it bled so it was hard to see. She never flosses so I taught her how. Hopefully she'll start doing it.

The patient I had scheduled for this afternoon didn't show up. I talked to him yesterday and he said he was coming. I called him about 12:40 and he picked up the phone but then hung up. So i called again and it rang one and a half times and then he sent me to his voicemail. Rude. I wish people would just tell me if they weren't planning on coming. I've had someone cancel on me every single week now. This was the first time I haven't been able to find another patient to replace them though. Bummer.

LUCKILY... this morning Sam walked in our pod and asked me if i'd found a mockboard patient yet. I told her no and she said that McCall had given her a mockboard patient but her patient for the morning qualified so I am able to see the one that McCall had given Sam. PHEW. Such a relief! Especially since I am having zero luck finding one and my afternoon appointment no showed. I need to find a translator for my mockboard and take some PA's on her so i'll get cracking on that.

Sore emily

Today was a LOOOOOOOOOOONG day. Holy moly. My first patient had 3 pages of health history for me to do. It took quite a while. She was really excited about this "smokeless cigarette" thing that she had. Apparently, she's been smoking since she was 18. She's now in her forties. She said she tried to quit but she gained 60 pounds so now she smokes "only because it helps her stay thin." She had recently discovered those "smokeless cigarette" things that I have seen advertised on television. There is no secondary smoke given off and she looooooves that she can smoke wherever she wants. She has different flavors of her smokeless cigarettes. (Today she brought pineapple and mint chocolate chip with her.) She continued to stop me during the appointment so that she could take puffs off of them. She was thrilled about how "they only contain nictotine so they aren't that bad for me!" Oh. My. Word. Professor Alexander handed me a card for a tobacco help line to give to her. She declined the card because she is convinced that because the smokeless cigarettes don't contain the formaldehyde and tar of a "regular" cigarette, she is golden. She also had a massive list of meds for me to look up. She was a class 3. (Finally, a class 3 at WSU!) but she had too deep of pockets and not enough calculus for a mockboard. I only got one quad done on her because of all of the stuff on her health history and probing took me a while. ("Is that a 6..... or a 7.....?????) yikes.

My second patient was a regular at the clinic. He's been coming for a long time. Dude has EXTREME staining. Jeez. I have decided that stain is the worst thing EVER. As much as I dislike the air/powder polisher, I should have used it. I spent 95% of the appointment scraping black and brown off of his teeth. He barely had any calculus, but the appointment was long because getting stain off is a tedious business. Jen Wold told me that she would rather see a patient with incredibly tenacious calculus than one with stain. I completely agree. I'm pretty sure I threw ergonomics out the window because I was so sick of trying to scrape off stain while also trying to pretend to be proficient with indirect vision. My indirect vision skills are seriously lacking.

Anywho, I'm glad today is over. Friday we give each other more injections! Eeeeep!

Peace out.

The day of 1B's

Today wasn't bad other than it being a mere 200 degrees in clinic. (seriously, AC anyone??) I only had 3 quads of 1B that I had to do this morning because I had started on him last week. I had him out of clinic by 9:15. I seriously should have scheduled someone after him. My afternoon patient cancelled on me so I had to scramble to find another one. Luckily I did. He was just a 1B and didn't want x-rays so it was a fairly quick appointment too. I am feeling really stressed about how I've only seen 1As and 1Bs because I'm worried that I won't be able to find a mockboard patient for october 11th. Eeeeep. Send me good vibes.

senior year clinic!

Can I just say how much I love senior year clinic? I love that they professors/instructors/drs let us do our thing. If we need help, they are there to help us, but they don't constantly hover over us. It is great.

My first day of clinic at Weber my patient cancelled on me 20 mins before her appointment because the person that was supposed to give her a ride couldn't help her anymore. Luckily, Whitnee saved my butt. I was able to see her patients little brother. (Yay, 4 quads of 1A down!) I was also able to do an OD and one quad on Whitnee's patients dad. It worked out great. I am so grateful for Whitnee!

In the afternoon, TWO patients showed up for me... yikes. My patient that I was supposed to see on Sept. 6 in the afternoon got the dates mixed up. Unfortunately, she had a car service bring her because she is really old and she can't drive anymore. So, of course... Whitnee saved me again by seeing her. Whitnee didn't have a patient scheduled until 1:30 so she was able to at least start on her.

I felt really good about how I scaled. It seems to be coming back to me pretty well. I know that I have a ton to learn and that my first week I had easy patients, so hopefully I can kick it up a notch on the 6th!

Last monday clinic of junior year!

Today I had a patient of Brooke's scheduled for sealants but he cancelled yesterday so I was stressing out. I had planned on doing my air-powder polish PE on him and getting my last sealant requirement over with. I texted a bunch of the DH girls and asked if any of them had anybody I could do a sealant on. Within two minutes Karlie Nichols had gotten a hold of me and told me that her sister was coming in for sealants and that I could do some sealants and my air-powder polish PE on her. Seriously such a blessing. I don't know how else I would have gotten those requirements done with only one clinic session left this semester. One of the reasons I have been able to stay semi-sane throughout my first year of dental hygiene school is because of the amazing girls that I have around me every day. We all get along well and do everything that we can to help each other out. I am so thankful for the girls I have to support me every day!

Cute little 7 year old girl patient

Today I saw another 1A patient. She was so cute and excited to be here. I was able to pass off my Diagnodent PE too and do a sealant on her. I was a good experience. I am not great with kids so it was good to get it over with. 2 more clinic sessions to go! Woo woo!

Class 3 requirement DONE!

I finished up the last of theclass 3 quads that I need today! Pretty exciting stuff. He was a bleeder. I had to keep wiping off his gums and rinsing out his mouth. Poor guy. He was a really good patient though.

I still need 10 PAs and 2 sealants, as well as 8 more quads of 1A. Yikes. I have my 1A patients scheduled and have 1 sealant patient but I am seriously stressed about finding PAs because none of my patients the rest of the semester need x-rays. I am going to try to get some PAs from midtown today. Wish me luck!

Goal: TAKE PAs!

3/30/11

Today my patient was a class 5. She was missing a lot of her teeth so I finished pretty early. No PE's because I just have diagnodent, air powder polish, and sub g ones left and this lady was a gagger so I needed to get her out of my chair. I can't wait for summer. I am so freaking burned out. Adios.

Class 3/2 aka hardest experience of my life.

On my patient today I needed to complete 2 quads of class 3 and 1 quad of class 2. It was a work out! I missed 13847139471923710912734971234 spots of calculus, no big. Costley was great about it though and so was my patient. Professor Costley also taught me how to use an extra oral fulcrum today- they'll save my life due to my tiny hands and short fingers. I'm just glad today is over. Woo woo! Goal: Keep using extra oral fulcrums, don't forget!

3/23/11

My patient today was a cute old lady. She is a class 5. She was super nice the whole time which was great. I feel like a learned a ton today. I really utilized my explorer and went more interproximal that I have in the past. She thanked me for being great and it made me feel awesome. Goal: Don't forget what you learned today.

My first 1A patient!

I finally had a 1A today! I'm glad it was a 1A today after spring break because I am dying a little bit being here instead of lounging around my house. It's a good way to ease back into school. My patient was an 8 year old. He was a chatterbox and really funny. When I came back from processing x-rays he was dancing in the x-ray room. Hahaha! I passed off my intra oral camera PE on him which was good. Not a bad day!

Goal: learn how to talk to children.

3/9/11

Today was exhausting. I finished up one of my 1B patients and did 3 quads on her. She's got a lot of calculus so it took longer than I wanted to and I missed like 6 spots. grrrr. After her I saw an edentulous patient and passed off my removable appliance PE.

Now on to my perio test.

SO TIRED.

3/7/11

Today was super frustrating. Mr. Solomon wanted me to see his sister and so we scheduled her together last week. Today he told me that he wanted her to see Midtown instead because she has a toothache. UGH. So i was able to take BWX and one PA but no cleaning at all because she was with midtown. SO IRRITATING. Out of anyone, he should know that we can't afford days where we get nothing done. I was able to do my peer calculus removal PE though. Hopefully the week looks up from here!

3/2/11

My patient today was a 1B. Her name was Tami. She was so nice, I am going to see her kids later on this month. She has a hard time opening her mouth very wide so that was a little bit difficult but other than that, things went smoothly. I was able to do her whole mouth today and BWX and ONE PA! woohoo for the PA! I missed three spots of calclulus.

Goal: Don't miss calculus!

2/28/11

Today I saw the cute 82 year old man again. I passed off my blood glucose PE on him. His blood glucose level? 232. No big. Yikes. He was way surprised and said that it has never been that high before so I took it 2 more times to make sure it was right. Professor Costley said it was ok to see him anyway which is nice because usually we make them go see a doctor before we can see them. She told me to take it again at the end of the appointment and it was down to 159. Still high but at least it went down. He is such a sweet old man. He didn't have a lot of calculus so I finished him early and I was able to pass off my instrument sharpening PE too!

HOORAY!

Goal: Get better at this whole thing. I'm feeling like I suck at it and don't know what I'm doing.

2/23/11

Today I saw Ryan again, my class 3/class 2 patient. DUDE. I only got one quad done! I didn't have to probe or anything! FREAK! I feel like I totally suck. This guy is nice, but there is no way he is going to want to come back 19834712938741029 more times so I can finish him up. ARG. It was so, so hard. Such an eye opener.

Goal: Don't suck so much and BE FASTER.

2/16/11

LAB DAY. NO PATIENTS. Yeah, baby. It was so nice to be able to breathe a little bit! Today we learned how to take the blood glucose level, diagnodent, and removable appliance. It was cool. I survived the finger prick! I was super nervous about it but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Also, my diagnodent numbers on my molars are all going down! Yay, fluoride!

2/14/11

Today I saw a cute old man. He is 82 years old and is very nice. He has diabetes so Demmings took his blood glucose level because we haven't learned how to do it yet. He is a class V and has been here several times. O only got one quad done on him because he has BLACK stain all over his anterior teeth, top and bottom. DUDE, stain is hard to get off! I was so frustrated. Hopefully next time it will go better. I didn't know that we got marked off for leaving stain so I'll probably get killed on check marks and such. Oh well. Good learning experience.

Goal: Get better at stain removal and take his blood glucose next time to pass off PE.

2/9/11

I saw 2 patients today. I finished up Brenda's 2 1B quads and then I was supposed to see a 6 year old (1A- i need these desperately.) The father decided he'd rather have his 11 year old seen and he had all of his permanent teeth so he was a 1B, but I finished him so I got 6 quads of 1B done today! WOO HOO! I still wish the kid had been a 1A because I have no 1A yet but hopefully I'll find some. Also, no errors today! HOORAY! It was a good day.

Goal: FIND 1A PATIENTS!

2/7/11

I finished up the last 3 quads on the cute boy! He is a 1B and has very little calculus so it wasn't too bad. I also took a pano and did 2 sealants on my little brother to help him prepare for his mission. Things ran pretty smoothly. I'll try to keep it up!

CLASS III. word.

My patient today was a class III in 3 quads and a class II in one quad. woohooo! i finally probed a pocket 8mm deep. so cool. (for me, not the patient.) I did gross debridement with my triple bend ultrasonic (per request of caldwell.) I'll start scaling at the next appointment. calculus everywhere. so thick. so so so cool. It'll be tough though. The gross debridement was a work out!

1/31/11

PROGRESSION! today i completed a class V patient from start to finish! wahooo! the poor guy has a bad back so i had to let him get up and walk around a few times. I used my ultrasonic quite a bit today. it was good. instructor demings helped to teach me how to get up on my fulcrum more. it was a good learning day for me.

UGH.

So, wednesday my patient was a 15 year old girl. She hasn't had a cleaning since she got her braces off 5 years ago. Calculus everywhere. EVERYWHERE. except the occlusal surfaces. AND, a lingual bar on her mandibular AND maxillary anteriors- caked with calculus of course. Classification: 1B (ridiculous if you ask me. I mean, I get the same credit for cleaning her teeth and my mom's. My mom wasn't bad at all.)

My instructor for the day: caldwell (my first time with her)

My grade on tal eval: 2 x's and drumroll please.... 12 (TWELVE) checks.

WHAT THE HECK.

I mean seriously? She was a hard patient. Really hard. My hardest yet. I missed some sub spots and spots by the lingual bar that I truly didn't know how to get off. I know I didn't do great.

BUT 12 checks? I even understand the X's for calculus removal (sub and supra) . But seriously. Good-bye to any chance of a decent grade in clinic. Not happy. At all. The grade I received has pretty much destroyed any confidence I had whatsoever.

1/24/11 -My mommy

I finished up my mom today! 3 more quads of 1B. I am starting to get anxious about the fact that all I have seen is 1B patients though. I don't even know what a real perio pocket looks like when probing yet. Hahaha. It was really nice having my mom in today because I am super tired so I didn't feel bad for being sluggish.(because she is my mom... she understands.) I passed off my selective polishing PE today. 3 down, a million to go. Costley taught me a little bit about extra-oral fulcrums today. It was neat.

1/19/11

My patient today was a class 1B. She is a very nice girl. She is in dental assisting school right now so she had a lot of questions for me. He teeth are very crowded and crooked, especially the lower anteriors, so I had a hard time probing and scaling around those areas. I only got through the initial OD, 4 bitewings, and one quad today. I need to work on being faster. I wish that I could get more done in one appointment than I can right now.

1/12/11 a.k.a. random cute patient day

Today was pretty good in clinic. At first, I was stressed out because my patient was 10 minutes late and I was worried that he wouldn't show up. My patient today was my first patient that I have never met before! It was good to get that step out of the way. I took 4 bitewings and 1 PA. I got all the way through the OD, OHI, and 2 quads of 1B scaling. Woo hoo! I'm getting faster! I need to make sure that in the future I remember to have to patient sign for their x-rays before I start scaling... I almost forgot again. Yikes. Another bonus today? My patient is super cute, 26, and single. Yeah, baby. Not bad for a Wednesday clinic session.

1/10/11

My patient today was my cute mom. I took a pano on her because she has been having jaw pain. The pano looked awesome except for the earrings chillin' there that I forgot to have her take off. Ooops. I also forgot to get the HHx signed before I took the pano. Oh yeah, AND I had to have Costley help me to get the pano machine to lower. (in my defense, the switch was so high above my head that I couldn't see it... poor midget Emily.) I think I might be getting a little bit faster at probing though.... maybe. It still takes me way too long. I passed off my first explorer PE today. I felt so hectic today, it was stressful. I'm really hoping that I can get into the swing of things and no always feel like a chicken with their head cut off every time I am in clinic.

P.S. indirect vision.... bane of my existence.

Back pain!

Today I scaled all 4 quads on my little brother Ben. It was craziness! I was worried that I wouldn't finish in time. He had a TON of calculus on his lower lingual anteriors and he has a lingual bar so I ended up using the ultrasonic to help me to get off all of it. I have a really hard time scaling the upper quadrants. I think it is because I have to use indirect vision a lot and it really confuses me. My back is killing me so my posture must have been not so hot.... or my muscles aren't used to it. I'm not sure which one. I only missed 3 spots of calculus today. 2 supra and 1 sub. I feel pretty good about it! I'm exhausted!

I pretty much forgot EVERYTHING

Today was the first day back in clinic for spring semester. We learned about treatment planning, ultrasonics, gracey's, and the taleval system that we will be using. Yikes. I pretty much forgot everything that I learned last semester. I am going to really have to work hard to remember everything so that I don't get behind. Eeeek!