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!