Stacking

Just a quick few thoughts about instrumentation.  Let's start from worst and end with best.  That way when I'm done typing I will be thinking about what I do well at the end. 

Adaptation - most of the time I do a good job at this, but sometimes adaptation doesn't even seem to occur to me.

Recently I have discovered how wonderful it is to get a piece of calculus off by getting it from the facial and lingual side.  (Sometimes I wonder how I didn't ever try some of these amazing instrumenting techniques.)

One of my favorite things I have heard in the last few days was when Dr. Hanson told me I had a nice stack.  Wahoo!  I am actually keeping my fingers together.  I really struggled with that last semester.

I was pondering about how far I've come since last semester and I feel like I have grown in leaps and bounds.  In fact, I wonder why it ever seemed so hard before since it feels so natural now.

Oh, one more thing.  I was very ergonomic on Wednesday and even Pro. Alexander noticed.  (I still want to be able to put on my earrings when I'm old you know?)

The List

I'm going to copy how MeChel did her post the other day because it was direct and to the point by making a list of everything that happened (or should have happened) on Tuesday during clinic.

1) Class 3 = way hard (it's hard for me to feel accomplished when I only get one quad done for the appointment

2) I discovered a new love for my triple bend that I didn't really feel like was very useful before.  I now realize it didn't seem useful because I never had a real reason to use it until today.

3) When seeing a class 3 you may as well open every bag of instruments you have because you are going to need all of them at one time or another.

4) Making sure I can look at the x-rays while scaling really is wonderful and I'm not sure how I forgot to have the x-rays up while working occasionally last semester.

5) When you think you have adapted properly, adapt some more.

6) My afternoon patient was a class 5.  I thought the appointment was going wonderfully because I took x-rays (with no retakes), finished all 4 quads (with no errors), and had a decent discussion with my patient about OH.  Then Pro. Alexander came over and found a lesion in the palate that I had missed and suddenly everything else that had gone so well the whole appointment didn't matter any more because that lesion should have been what caught my eye and taken precedence over the entire cleaning.  Pro. Perry came over to take a look at it and we got out the intraoral camera to take pictures to show my patient what we were looking at.  Then I took a PA of the tooth that the lesion was above and the x-ray showed an abscess.  I showed my patient the x-ray and explained what the dark circle around the root of her tooth was to her.  I also stressed that she needed to see a dentist ASAP to get it taken care of.  I went home yesterday feeling defeated.  I hope that that lesson always stays with me and helps me to make sure I really do make a thorough investigation of each of my patient's mouths.  I want to be a great hygienist and I think yesterday was a very good lesson in how to be a great hygienist.  I really do want to help my patients and I have made a commitment within myself to slow down and really think about what I'm doing.  If my patients were asked to say one thing about me I hope that it will be that I care.

Injections

Wow, I need to remember to blog, especially because I feel like I know what I'm doing now so Clinic is more interesting and more exciting.  However, my post today is not about Clinic.  It's about local anesthesia.  So the last 2 Fridays we have given each other injections.  2 Fridays ago we gave and received 4 maxillary injections (PSA, MSA, Greater Palatine, and Nasopalatine).  Sam and I were partners and I have to say that I think we did a pretty good job.  I have to be honest I have never been a fan of needles and last semester I didn't know if I would have the courage to actually give an injection, but oddly enough I loved giving the injections.  I was excited for the next Friday to come so I could do it again. 
Well, a week passed and it was Friday again.  Last Friday we gave 3 mandibular injections (IA, long buccal, and mental).  I was amazed at how well the landmarks in the mouth help to find the correct injection site.  It was nice to have more confidence while giving the injections.  I thought it was kind of crazy how far in the needle goes to give an IA, but the more I think of the anatomy of the mandible the more sense it made.  One of the most important things I learned that day was if you want to make sure you're going to get numb you should have Sam give you your injection because I was numb for a good 3 hours.  Next week is nitrous, which I'm not too excited for, but the week after that we get to numb half a mouth.  Then we get to start numbing our patients.  Wahoo!

First Day Back

When I woke up this morning I was so nervous for today, but when I sat down and  picked up my instruments most of my skills came right back.  I actually had a great day.  Second year is wonderful and the instructors are awesome!  My first patient I saw was a 1B and I did x-rays and did half of her mouth.  I used my new instruments, which was a lot of fun.  I also got to use the ultrasonic on some mandibular anterior lingual calculus.  I forgot how fun it was to watch the calculus fly off.  I learned several nice ways to fulcrum from Instructor Would.  I felt like everything she said just clicked with me.  In case anyone who is reading this cares... my afternoon went even better.  I saw a Class 5 patient and was able to finished everything.  That's right, everything!  To top it off my patient was a lot of fun to talk with and made sure that it was stuck in my brain that I need to give her a call in January for her next cleaning.  Don't you love reliable patients? 
P.S. - Extra oral fulcruming is great.  I wish we learned more last semester.  So, all in all today was great.

Busy Busy Day

Today was very busy as my blog title says.  I was able to have my first patient walked out by 10, including doing my selective polish and sealant PE on her.  Her mouth  was so clean and I felt great getting everything done so quickly.  Then I did a sealant on Sarah (she was so nice to let me do it so that I could meet my requirement).  I have decided that I really enjoy doing sealants and I would like to do more of them.  I passed off all 3 of my sealant requirements this week too.  After morning clinic I came home, played with my cute dog, and then went back to the clinic to do a full mouth set of x-rays on one of my wonderful friends.  I did 16 PAs and 4 BWX on her and I didn't have to retake a single one!  I was dang proud of myself!  :)  It's been a great day.  Oh, and in case anyone was wondering I did get to take that pano on Monday, so my pano requirements are done.  :)

I'm not sure what to call this one

Today was supposed to be the day my wonderful class 3 patient came in, but she cancelled about an hour before clinic started.  No class 3 patient = no good.  So instead of screaming and running out of the building I decided to be more productive and figure out who else I could get to come in to make my day a productive one instead of a wasteful one.  My wonderful dad ended up coming in again and letting me do a sealant on him.  He was also generous enough to let me do 11 PA's on him since he has never had any PA's taken on him before (at least he never remembered ever having any done).  I have not been using the shick, so today I used it. 

STINKING GOOD NEWS!  I am hopefully going to take a pano for midtown if the patient shows up!  Yay!  I now have to go wait for her, so wish me luck!

Screenings

So, I went up to the clinic yesterday to do some screenings in hope of finding a class 3 patient.  My first patient who seemed promising didn't show up.  Then my grandma came in (she is one of the most awesome women I know) and I was able to take a pano on her, which was wonderful.  Then my last patient came in and there was some success there.  Kelsey and I were both very stressed about getting a class 3 patient because that's all we have left to do, but then I found a "possible Class 3" patient in the screening folder.  I asked Costley about it and she said that the lady is a class 3.  So, after getting the ok from the senior who screened her she became my pateint. Wahoo!  I called this person and she is suppposed to be coming in on Monday (after I volunteered to pay for half of her appointment).  Double wahoo!  In order to help Kelsey out I gave her one of the girls I screened. 

I have to say I love all of the girls in my class.  We all work together to help each other out, which I feel like it boosts team spirit and we're all able to accomplish more than we would if we were all only focused on ourselves.  Go class of 2012!