Last Clinic Day

My last clinic day didn't really feel like my last clinic day.  I may end up showing up to clinic next Thursday out of habit.  My last clinic day went wonderfully.  It was the perfect way to end the semester.  I saw two kids in the morning which meant that I finished all my requirements.  Yay!  I'm pretty sure that miracles happened for everyone the last few weeks so that everyone could get done. 

Both of the children that I saw were 3.  I was worried about how they would feel about going to "the dentist," but they both did a great job.  Each of them let me look in their mouth and feel each tooth with the explorer.  I also brushed their teeth and discussed OH with their moms.  I was really impressed with both of the mom's who brought their kids to see me.  The first mom told me, as we were walking back to my chair, that she and her son practiced the night before about what it would be like to go to the dentist so that he was prepared to sit in the chair and open his mouth.  During his appointment his mom said things like, "Isn't this so much fun?"  and "Look at your cool purple bib that matches her coat."  Listening to her say positive comments to her son made him smile and he had a great time.  It really showed me how important it is for parents to prepare their kids so that when their kids go to the dentist it can be fun and not scary.

My second child's mom impressed me with her knowledge of how sugar affects her children's teeth.  She said that her two kids are only allowed to walk around with water in their bottles/sippy cups.  They only drink juice on rare occassions and they get to drink milk with meals.  I love seeing parents who are educated so their children can be healthy.

I had a great afternoon as well.  I saw a 1B and after his appointment Amy asked if I wanted to see a walk-in patient.  I said sure, cleaned up my room, and saw the lady.  She was a V.  I had her walked up to the front desk by 2:45.  I decided that I think I will be able to make it in private practice now.

Last VA Day

Yesterday was my group's last VA day.  We were all excited that it was our last time that we would have to wake up that early to get down there, but let's face it... deep down inside we will miss it.  Even though we have had to get up early it was always fun to be together (and complain about waking up early every single drive down.  Ha ha.).  Today was a great day for all of us I think.  I got 3 quads of a class 3 which I cheered about because now I only need 7 quads of a class 3 and that seems doable.  We all chipped in and bought Biaggis for lunch.  It was amazing.  I think we would have all taken a nap in our chairs if there had been enough time.  The last thing that made today great was getting done early and heading home just after 3.  Oh, and we took a pretty great jumping picture too.  The VA has been a great place to get experience. 

So Close and Yet so Far Away

I can't believe I have less than a month left of school.  This is my last month of school for most likely forever.  Thinking that we only have one month left of school seems so soon and yet I feel like it is so far away because I still have so many requirements to do (14 quads of a 3, 2 kids, 17 injections, and several PEs).  I have been working as hard as I can to kick in gear and get everything done as fast as I can. 

This morning I finished my board patient.  Finally!  Perry didn't feel anything in the quad that I cleaned for boards.  I almost jumped for joy when he said that.  However, I left a boulder sized piece of calculus on the quad I cleaned today.  It was on the distal of 2.  I seriously don't know how I missed it.  Perry had me sit at about 10 o'clock to get it off with my Gracey.  Sitting in that position and doing a finger assist with my Gracey was awesome!  I love learning knew things, using what I've learned, and then be effective with it. 

In the afternoon I thought my patient hadn't been to the dentist in 10 years.  Turns out it had only been 10 months since his last cleaning... bummer.  He ended up being a V, but he was really nice.  I was able to give him some really good OHI, which made me feel really good.  He was one of those patients who reminded me that I want to be a hygienist because I want to help people (during school I forget sometimes that I'm practicing to be a real hygienist.  It's just not about requirements). 

Good luck to everyone for finishing the last month!

No Patients and Yet Productive

So, yesterday I called people, but no one could come in... no one!  I felt pretty depressed when I went to bed last night about the situation, but when I woke up I decided I would make today a productive day.  The best about my decision was that it actually happened.  I passed off my air/powder polish PE on Stefanie (major thanks to her!) and did a sealant on her.  Krisite was also kind enough to share her patient with me so that I could do sealants on him and pass off my Sealant PE on him.  Then Karlie did 2 sealants on me.  I love having my sealants done.  Karlie was also kind enough to scale around my lower anteriors too.  She did an awesome job.  I also got my board stuff together.  I used to be able to talk about boards like they were a few years away, but now I have to get in the mindset that they are NEXT week.  A week from today I will be doing my LA clinical and then my patient clinical the next day.  It was also fun to talk to everyone else who didn't have patients, which was about half the clinic.  I'm glad that the morning worked out so well.

Sam was kind enough to let me see the father of the two kids that she was seeing.  Kristie ended up seeing the mom.  I was definitely blessed today since everything worked out so well.  My patient was a class V and  a nice guy.  I was able to get his HH, OD, and scale in an hour.  I just have to do x-rays on him and then we will be done.  (He had to go pick up his other child for Sam to clean.)  I am so glad I have such great friends in the program who look out for me. 

FYI - I finally made up my half of a clinic day from the first of the semester on Tuesday.  My patient was a 1B.  The exciting part of the day was being able to give Karlie N.'s patient 3 injections (thanks Karlie!).  I was so glad that I got to practice before next week, especially on her patient because her patient didn't have the best landmarks.  I feel pretty confident about giving injections. 

Running Out of Titles

Now that we are on the down hill slope of the semester I am having a hard time coming up with creative titles for my blog (obviously).  Let's start with the VA on Tuesday.  I got a total of 4 quads between my two patients for the day.  At least one of those quads was a class 3 and I passed off two PEs.  I feel a sense of urgency all of a sudden to pass off as many PEs as fast as I possibly can.  My morning patient was such a nice guy.  He said yes mam or no mam to everything I asked him.  My afternoon patient only had a few lower teeth.  He is in the process of getting a full upper denture and a partial for the lower.  I was able to pass off my Desenitizing PE and Oraqix on him because of a tooth that was sensitive.  It was awesome to be able to get both of those done.  I am surprised with how well that Colgate desensitizing paste works.  After I polished it on he said that he was not sensitive anymore.  I now like and plan on using that paste more.  Both of my patients also made a comment about "this is where all the pretty ladies are" when they came back to the chair.  That has nothing to do with learning, but it's something that I want to remember.  Ha ha.
Now for clinic, which I am still presently in (I finished my patient a while ago and am now searching for things to do to keep me busy).  I saw my board patient this morning and I cleaned her upper left quad.  I couldn't do anything else because I'm saving the UR and LR for boards.  There was a piece of calculus that I could not get off, but thankfully Alexander was kind enough to come help me.  We had to throw everything we had at it.  After having difficulty with that spot it made me nervous about how board day is going to go.  I plan on using all of the strategies that Alexander has shown me so that I can do well on it.  One of the best tips that I learned from Alexander was a good horizontal stroke.  Actually, it's not just a horizontal stroke.  It's a horizontal stroke with a twist, literally.  Alexander will do a horizontal stroke and follow the tooth around the line angle as she does the stroke.  I love learning new tips like that one that will help me be successful.  Well, now that I have blogged I guess I better go find something else to do.  Have a great day everyone!

Mockboard #3

I am a student examiner this afternoon and am going crazy without having something to do (since all my boards are done I don't have to study like crazy), so I thought that it would be nice to be productive and blog.  Today was our third and final mockboard.  I unfortunately didn't pass because of calculus errors, but everything else was spot on.  Alexander showed me a few pointers to help me improve like: coming up higher on my fulcrum.  There was one spot that I was struggling with and she showed me how much easier it is to access an area and be successful when you come up higher on your fulcrum.  I can't wait to have a patient that I can practice it on so I can improve.  I have to be honest, I'm nervous about boards, but I think that as long as I focus on fixing the things that I do wrong I will be ok.  I also was reminded of the importance of having sharp instruments.  By the end of my appointment my instruments were quite dull.  I'm glad that I saved a set of instruments for boards!

A Good Learning Experience

Yesterday at the VA I had a wonderful experience with a patient who had Parkinson's disease.  I have to admit that I was a little worried when I saw on my patient's health history that he had Parkinson's because I didn't want to mess up or do something wrong.  My patient came back with me in his remote controlled wheelchair (it was sweet!) and he was able to get himself into the dental chair.  Once we started talking I realized what a nice person he was and I decided that I would be able to handle the appointment without too much anxiety.  During the appointment he sat with his hands on top of the arm rests to help control his shaking and sometimes I would have to hurry and move my instruments so that I didn't poke him when he would move.  He had moderate to severe xerostomia and we took periodic breaks so he could have a little cup of water to drink.  I also had a good OH discussion with him.  He said that he bought a power toothbrush to help him brush better and he likes the bigger handle.  He said that he does his best to floss, especially the areas where food gets stuck.  He was happy to get more Biotene too.  He was such a great patient.  I really enjoyed getting to know him and getting to practice some of the things that we had discussed Monday in class. 

What a Week

During clinic on Thurday I had such a fun patient.  He wanted to know about everything and told me about everything.  He would say things like, "McCall, what's this?"  "McCall, this is my new CD player."  "McCall, do you want to listen to my CD?"  It was a good experience learning how to work with a patient who likes to talk.  We also would have to take periodic breaks for a couple minutes, which was a good lesson in patience.  It reminded me that people aren't the same and that as a hygienist I need to do whatever I can to make my patients comfortable.

Yesterday = found a board patient who is also going to be my mockboard!  Yes!  Thank you Sam for helping me.  I also practiced the PSA on my dad again since I failed it on Thursday.  I went more posterior like Pro. Alexander told me to do and everything worked perfectly!  I am now confident for LA clinicals.  A big thanks to my dad for being my patient.  :)

This week=studying like I've never studied before.  I was crazy enough (which I am now grateful for since it's all over) to take my board this weekend.  I have never studied so much in my whole life.  I felt good knowing that I could actually do it.  I took it this morning and feel so much lighter now that it's all done.

Dental Days... aka Give Kids a Smile

It has been fun helping out at this event.  Like I said in my earlier post, Sam and I were doing data entry.  I was happy to get to know Eaglesoft a little bit better and learn my codes better.  I am glad that I was able to be a part of this event.  I think that it is so cool that so many people (dentists, assistants, and hygienists) come together to do so much service for our community. 

A Week Long Summary

This is probably going to be a long blog... you've been warned.  So this week was/still is (today is the Give Kids a Smile Event and I am at the front desk doing data entry) a week full of clinic.  On Tuesday I saw 3 class V patients and was still done early.  I am amazed at how my skills have improved and I have gotten faster.  I think that having awesome teachers who really take the time to show me how to be a better hygienist have made all the difference in my skills improving.  I love how each teacher really has an area they focus on or a trick that they use all of the time that they share because then once I learn it I can use it and be better. 
On Thursday my whole day was full of 1Bs (not intentionally though).  I was able to pass off my caries risk assessment on my willing friend, which was nice.
Yesterday we did 2 sealant clinics.  One of the clinics was for James Madison Elementart and the other one was for Odessy Elementary.  Sam and I got to be in Radiology for the whole thing.  Being in charge of processing, cleaning up, and breaking down is a lot more work than it sounds.  By the time we were done I was exhausted, but it was a good experience.  I love being able to participate in these activities since we are getting to serve these kids.  Being a part of service activities reminds me that being a hygienist isn't just about working in private practice, it's about serving in the community too.

Scrambling for Patient

Yesterday afternoon my afternoon pt for today canceled and then this morning my morning pt canceled.  I was able to get people in though for the morning and afternoon and was sort of impressed that I pulled it off.  I was able to help MeChel out this morning since she didn't have a pt and I called the wife of the man that I was seeing and she came in.  I love successful days when I get to help people.  I saw a V and 1B today, so I didn't really get a chance to perfect any new skills that require harder classifications of patients.  I did, however, practice my exploring on my easy patients since I had so much time.  I liked being able to practice exploring so that I will continue to be more efficient at it.  I realized that I tend to lay more flat when I explore the premolars for some reason, so from now on I know that is a spot that I need to be extra careful of when I'm exploring. 
Both my morning and afternoon patients were excellent patients, mostly because they were nice people who were really interested in their dental health and wanted answers about a lot of things.  I love people who are interested because then they are much more likely to do what you tell them.  Both patients asked me questions that required more than basic answers, which was nice for me to review cause and effect of different issues.
So, all in all, it turned out to be a great day!  (Except today is the last day that Dr. Hanson will be with us, which is sad.  We love you Dr. Hanson!)

Mockboard #2

I passed!  With that obvious statement I would think that you can tell that this mockboard went a lot better than my last one.  I even finished early.  I missed 3 areas: one that I totally shouldn't have missed and two other areas that I was exploring incorrectly.  Instructor Wold reminded me of a few techniques for exploring correctly.  On a tooth that was tipped a little I was not keeping the shank parallel, which was the cause of me missing the area.  It

Don't Assume

So, I had a 1B in the afternoon and she was super healthy except for a couple teeth.  I thought that I had done a fabulous job and got done fairly quick (she had a lot of black stain that I had to get off), but no, I missed 5 or 6 areas.  That was a humbling/shameful moment since I missed so many areas on a 1B.  It was a good reminder that even 1Bs can have calculus and that I need to be on high alert for those tiny specks (and the big chunk down in her one 6 mm pocket). 

My morning patient was very concerned about the color of his teeth and he thought that his last hygienist didn't do a good job since his teeth didn't get whiter, so it was fun to get to explain that just cleaning the teeth don't make them whiter and that for stains inside the teeth need to be bleached out (using expensive in office tx or even trying something as simple as Crest Whitestrips). 

1st Screening at James Madison Elementary

Yesterday was the first screening I got to be a part of and I really had a good time.  It was a lot of fun to talk to all of the kids.  It was very interesting to me what kind of dental education the kids were getting at home.  Some kids were doing exactly what they should be and some of them didn't know they should be brushing twice a day.  It was nice to know that even though the kids only spent about 5 minutes with us that we were able to at least talk to them about brushing twice a day and show them how to do it so they have at least been exposed to it.  I also had an experience with one of the students while doing the head and neck exam.  While examining his neck I felt a bump by his spine that didn't feel right.  Bossenberger comfirmed that he should be seen by one of the Midtown doctors.  I hope that it isn't anything, but I'm glad that I have been given the skills to notice when something just isn't quite right.  Having that experience also reminded me just how important a head and neck exam is.  When I get into private practice I do not want that to be something that gets "thrown out the window" in order to save time because I may be the first one to find something wrong with a patient and potentially save their life.

So, moral of the story... ALWAYS do a good head and neck exam.

It's January and a New Year

I can't believe it's already January!  I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year.  I know I did (well, I had a good time as long as I wasn't thinking about boards and studying at least).  So many things are happening this month: school starts; which means VA, Clinic, regular class, screenings, worrying about boards, studying, sealant clinics, and working on my group's research project.

For my first day back to school I got to go to the VA.  I'm actually at the VA right now, but I have time to blog since my afternoon patient didn't show up.  It's ok though since I had two patients in the morning.  I had a nice, easy morning, which I was grateful for since it was our first day back.  I saw two class 5 patients and happy that I had no errors.  I feel like whenever we have a break from school, even if it's a little one, I become more able to do the things that I need to do, like recognizing problem areas that the doctor needs to check and being able to detect calculus better.  I also am enjoying discussing things with patients more because I know more and feel like I am doing a good job of giving them the information and care they need and deserve.  I am really happy with how well today has gone.  Even  though I don't have a patient this afternoon I am still being productive by studying for local anesthesia. 

I hope everyone that had class stuff to do today has a great day and good luck studying!