Last Clinic Day

I can't believe that yesterday was already our last clinic day for the semester.  It feels unreal.  Thankfully I had a great day for our last day.  I saw a 1B in the morning who needed a FMX (yes!).  That was the first FMX I have ever done in clinic.  I now am not panicked about PA's.  I only had to redo 2 of my x-rays too.  I think that it is so much fun to watch myself progress.  I remember being scared taking x-rays last year, but now I think it is a lot of fun and I enjoy learning new tricks and improving my own technique.  I have come to really like the Snap-A-Ray to do posterior PA's.  I definitely use the ORA for the anterior PA's.  I also scaled my patient in 20 minutes!  In the afternoon I finished a patient that has generalized moderate perio (I just used my "Patient First Language" skills there).  I got to do 4 injections.  I read through Malamed on Monday night to prepare myself for injections yesterday and it really helped.  Kayla was also kind enough to let me practice on her with a q-tip.  So, I plan on reviewing injections as much as I can so that I can give the best injections possible.

How Could I Forget to Mention...

We had a lab yesterday afternoon which was sweet, especially since I was not feeling 100%.  I would have been upset if I forgot to put this in my blog.  We got to learn how to do wheelchair transfers, which was fun and somewhat awkward.  It only took me 4 times to get Kristie into the seat, no big.  Once I figured out the proper way to do it I did much better.  We also got to take turns pushing each other in the wheelchair and at the very end I pushed myself.  I think I should invest in a wheelchair because it is a super good workout. 

No Voice = Difficulty Doing OHI

So, being a hygienist with practically no voice is harder than I thought it would be.  I had two 1A patients in the morning and I could tell they were having a hard time understanding me, so I tried the best I could to speak to them without my mask on so that they would know what I was saying.  I felt like I didn't give as adequate OHI as I would have had I not lost my voice.  However I guess in the real world if you lose your voice you can't just not show up to work, you just do the best you can. 

My first child patient was super clean.  He told me that he brushes morning and night and that he only (only?I'm thrilled when someone flosses at least 3 to 4 times a week) flosses once a day in the morning because he is too tired to floss at night.  I told him that I thought it was fantastic that he brushes 2x a day and flosses 1x a day.  I encouraged him to continue.  What's even better is that I actually think he does brush 2x a day and that he does floss some of the time because his tissues looked good and he hardly had any calculus and just a small amount of plaque.  My afternoon child patient was almost the complete opposite of my morning patient.  She hardly brushed and never flosses and boy did it show.  I showed her the plaque I was getting out of her mouth and she thought it was disgusting and seemed a little more motivated to at least brush 2x a day.  I also didn't know kids could have the kind of sheet calculus she did.  It was crazy.  I feel like we, as dental hygienists and dentists, need to launch some huge, wonderful program for parents and kids (especially parents) about oral hygiene because if parents don't know how to help their kids the problem never changes.  So when I figure out a way to change the world I will let you all know.

Another Day at the VA

Yesterday was my VA day.  As usual I saw 2 class V patients.  I almost had 3 class V patients, but thankfully Sarah was kind enough to do the extra one because I was not feeling well (I have a cold and am really tired).  One of my patients had had a gum graft on his lower left and needed one on the right side.  Bossenberger asked him if he would consider having a gum graft on his lower right and his reply was, "only if I start drinking some whiskey."  He was such a fun patient to work with.  Sometimes I am reminded by patients like him that whatever the hygienist and/or dentist say does not mean the plan will happen.  I always feel like if a hygienist or dentist makes a suggestion it should be done because we know the benefits of whatever we are suggesting, but unfortunately patients may not have the same view we do.  So, all we can do is give them the info and let them make the choice. 

Lunch this afternoon was wonderful.  Sarah had this awsome coupon deal for Biaggi's, so we had a big salad, tons of pasta, bread, and pizza for lunch.  It was a lunch to remember.  I'm not sure if any of us said more than a few sentences until after we were done eating because we were so hungry and the food was so good!  :)

Busy Afternoon

I had a pretty slow morning yesterday thanks to the fact that some setting on the scan-x machine was not correct and I had to retake my 6 x-rays using conventional.  (I later learned that the reason my x-rays were so dark was because some setting was changed to pano and not intraoral.  I didn't even know the settings could be changed, but I do now and hopefully won't ever let that happen again.)  Anyways, after redoing the x-rays we discovered my patient had an area of concern and most of the rest of the morning was spent addressing that.  I am so grateful to have such great teachers to consult with about issues so that I can know how to handle issues with patients when I am on my own.  Mr. Solomon was so nice to help talk to my patient about everything.  We only made it through the OD and then it was time for her to go.  I only had one opening to reschedule her and the day didn't work for her, so I came up with this crazy idea to do her after I saw my dad in the afternoon.  Let's just say that I was semi freaking out at lunch thinking about cleaning my dad and her and getting everything done in time. 

If you placed a bet on whether or not the afternoon went fantastic or a complete disaster I hope you picked it went fantastic because it really was fantastic.  My amazing dad came in this afternoon because I originally couldn't find a patient for the afternoon and he agreed to let me pass off some PE's on him.  I did blood glucose, diagnodent, and nitrous.  (The nitrous didn't take any convincing though because he loves it - so anyone looking to pass off nitrous he is your man.)  I also cleaned all four quads on him, and had him out the door at 1:50.  I then cleaned up, reset up, and brought my morning patient back and cleaned her four quads and was done at 3:15!  After a day like today I feel like I will be able to make it in a real office.  I learned a lot about time management today.  I made sure that I had everything out and ready to go so that I wouldn't waste time looking around for something I forgot.  I also reviewed everything with other girls and in my head to make sure that I knew what I was doing to complete the PE's quickly and effectively.  I also feel more confident when I'm not worrying about if I forgot anything, which helped me to get through the appointments on time.  I sure hope next Tuesday goes this well.  :)

Make Up Day

Yesterday I finally made up my clinic day from a while ago when I had a migraine.  My morning patient was an easy class 5.  Alexander and I worked to suggest dry mouth products for her to try.  Her tissues are extremely sensitive so I didn't even use the prophy paste on her.  I used her own toothpaste that she brought to polish her.  I was reminded by this patient that every patient needs to be treated individually.  Every patient deserves to get the best care, which includes being knowledgeable about different products and conditions.

My afternoon patient was a new patient and had x-rays back in May so I did not take new films.  My patient told me that he was seeing one of the Midtown doctors.  So while Dr. Hanson did the OD I went to get his x-rays.  When I came back Dr. Hanson had set out everything I would need to give maxillary and mandibular injections.  I was someone shaken up to see all of that stuff out, not because I am scared to give injections, but because I was not prepared for it.  It ended up being a good experience, mostly for me and not really for my patient.  While doing the IA I hit his bone twice.  After hitting it the second time I withdrew and asked Dr. Hanson to give the injection.  So she sat down and then she hit his bone.  We determined that my patient had some very different anatomy because that needle wouldn't go in very far, so Dr. Hanson got the needle in as far as she could and gave him the injection.  He stayed numb for his appointment so I would say it was a success.  After this experience today I realized that I need to be constantly reviewing how to give an injection so that I always feel confident and prepared even if I am surprised that my patient needs anesthesia like I was today.  I also worked really hard at keeping the instrument against the tooth, going toward the toe, and twisting.  I think that my efforts were a success!  :)

Thoughts from Tuesday

Tuesday seems like it was already a long time ago, but I wanted to share what my day was like.  Tuesday morning I told Kayla and Madi that I hoped my morning patient would be a class 3 patient and he was.  I was very excited.  I finished his entire mouth (which Dr. Hanson called 3 quads because he was missing a lot of teeth).  It's amazing to me how class 3's can be so different.  Sometimes the calculus comes off easy and sometimes it will not come off like my mockboard patient.  His calculus came off fairly easy, so I learned that I do not need to continuously crank on a tooth just because he was a class 3.  I also realized that I didn't need to use as much pressure since his deposit came off easier.  My patient had a partial denture for his maxillary teeth, but didn't have one on his mandible.  I discussed with him the benefit of getting a mandibular denture, but he was convinced that he did not need one because he could still eat just fine.  After trying to explain the benefits to him I finally left him alone to let him use his autonomy to make his own decision.  Hopefully he considers getting one one day. 

My afternoon patient was my grandma.  She is such a fun person to be around that the afternoon flew by.  She didn't have a lot of deposit so I did my best to explore carefully so that I could find and destory any pieces of calculus I found.