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!

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.