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!