My Wonderful Parents

So on Monday my mom came in and I finished her up and on Wednesday my dad came in and I finished him up, along with doing 3 PE's.  I really don't remember if my Monday patient canceled or I just couldn't find someone, but I'm so glad that my mom was so willing to come in.  She is not a big fan of the dentist, but she was a great patient for me.  Everything went pretty smoothily too (except for waiting 25 minutes for my final scale check).  On Wednesday I cleaned 3 quads on my dad (I did the first quad at the end of January I believe) and I was so glad he was able to come in.  My patient canceled on me on Tuesday afternoon and after calling to find someone and having no success I called my dad and he came in for me.  He asked me if I was going to pass off any pe's on him and I told him I wanted to do at least 3.  He said, "Good.  Pass off as many as you can on me so you can get them done."  I love my dad, can you see why?  My parents are very encouraging and so willing to help me and I appreciate it so much.  Now you may be wondering, what pe's I passed off.  Well, let me tell you - I passed off my blood glucose, air powder polisher, and diagnodent pe's.  I chose to do those because #1 I needed to get them done and #2 I think those would be the hardest ones to convince some random patient to do if they didn't need it done.  I honestly would like to pass off pe's on patients who really need it, but who knows if I would get a patient in my chair that would need one of those three by the end of the semester. 

I can't believe I forgot to mention... my loupes came!  I love them, but I am having to adjust to using them.  I wore them for 20-30 minutes on Monday and Wednesday to start breaking them in.  I love being able to see those dang molars now.  I also feel really good about using my explorer to feel things.  I have been working really hard at feeling with my explorer and using my air to find and remove all of the calculus.  Practice is working it's way towards perfect.  :)

I was also CA Wednesday afternoon, which went really well I thought.  We several big things happen - unit 15 began leaking water, which Mr. Solomon cleaned up and as soon as he was done cleaning that up I walked into put instruments away and the autoclave was open and the fill switch was on and water was leaking out of that, so I turned it off and Mr. Solomon cleaned that up.  Then we had to move some of the storage stuff because of the leak in the ceiling.  I also got to help a lot of the girls with probing today.  It was nice being busy.

Congratulations to those who stuck it out to the end to read my blog.  It was a long one today.

Monday Make Up... Again

I always forget to blog on Mondays it seems like, but I couldn't skip what happened on Monday.  I was able to do 4 quads of a 1B in one appointment.  Hurray!  Seeing myself make progress is so encouraging.  I have been keeping myself organized and coming to clinic as best prepared as I can for what I'm going to do for the day.  I am also learning how to instrument better and more effectively (I think).  The funny story of the day award goes to Pro. Costley though.  I went to ask her if she would come do my scale check and she was standing in Karlie, Heather, and Tanya's pod and she was talking to Heather.  She meant to say she wanted to sit down, but accidentally added an h in the word.  We all had a good laugh about it, including Pro. Costley.  Ha ha ha.

Goal: Work on being faster and just as effective so I can keep on finishing patients in 1 day (1Bs and 5s).

Getting There

So, today I did x-rays and 3 quads on a 1B in one appointment (instructor Hafen was kind enough to help me finish up since my patient said she couldn't take off another day of work).  I was very proud of myself for this accomplishment until I read Marianne's blog and now feel awful.  I know I left around 11:50 and I really do feel awful that I was not aware enough of what was going on to help.  After a good kick in the pants I vow to make sure to help anyone who needs it before leaving clinic.   

I Saw the Calculus Fly

So, even though it's Wednesday I still want to blog about Monday because I had some cool experiences with my patient.  My patient was a Class II pt and had a bunch of calculus on his mandibular anterior linguals.  I used my orange tip for the ultrasonic to get it off and boy did it come off.  I really like the ultrasonic, but I haven't even really gotten to see a whole lot of calculus come off with it until today.  I feel like I learned how to better use my ultrasonic after today because I had a lot of calculus to get off.  I learned how to angle it better for certain areas, which helped me be more effective.  I am now a totally firm believer of using the ultrasonic.

Patient Swap

Have you ever seen the show Wife Swap?  Well, today Kristie and I did Patient Swap.  We had already started cleaning a couple's teeth.  I had previously done the husband and Kristie had previously done the wife.  Well, we each needed the other person's classification so we swapped patients today to help each other out.  I am so grateful I have such good friends who are willing to help me out.  Those of you who remember the lady who told Kristie, "I don't need some 20 something year old telling me how to brush my teeth," well, she was my patient today.  She definitely has a strong opinion about what is to be done, but a very nice lady.  I was able to finish her up today and have my first real experience with a patient who does not want to be given any education or pointers, did not want fluoride (because the insurance companies won't pay for it because fluoride doesn't work), and who told me she didn't like the blue boa or suction and that she would just rather swallow the water (and junk in it) while I used the ultrasonic.  Ha ha.  It was quite the day and I really did enjoy it.  Even though I was frustrated that she wouldn't listen to my sincere suggestions I still felt like it was a good experience at learning to let a patient choose what they think is best for themselves to be autonomous.  Since I finished her up early my wonderful mom came in and I passed off my Intraoral Camera PE on her.  I wanted to do that PE on her because of her mandibular tori to let her get a good look at them.  After I showed her the pictures she said that she isn't sure she wanted to see them because she thought they looked "so gross."  Ha ha.  I told her how they are considered "normal" because so many people have them and that they are not a big deal as long as they do not start growing again or if she needs dentures (which she is no where close to).  I'm pretty sure she is still not convinced. 

Goal:  Continue to work on being as productive as possible (like having my mom come in today after my other patient so I can be getting as much done as possible).