Last clinic day!

In the morning I was supposed to see a class 5 patient, but she no-showed. I saw a class 5 in the afternoon. It went really well and was a great ending to clinic. It was nice to be done with everything already, so I didn't have to worry about requirements and PE's or anything. I was able to just enjoy my last day. I can't believe it's over. Well, almost over; we've still got boards.

4-9-09

In the morning I saw my board patient for a quad. It went well. It was good to see her one more time before my board exam. In the afternoon I did one quad of a class 4. I am now done with requirements. YEAH!! It's such a relief to be done and to not have to worry about anything anymore. The apt went really well. She was such a nice lady, and was very excited to have her mouth clean. She was talking about how she has been working hard to keep it clean now. She has already drastically changed her habits. It was good to see how much her homecare has already improved.

4/2/09-Mockboard

Our last mockboard went so well. I had my real board pt, so I was kind of worried about how it would go. I didn't miss any spots! It makes me feel tons better about the real thing. I did miss one probe depth, but that was all. Yeah!!

Today was an easy day. I had a class 5 in the morning with no calculus, and then another class 5 in the afternoon with just a little calculus. I got done with both of them pretty fast, so I wish I would have had another patient scheduled. It was hard enough to get 2 patients today though. I don't know what it was about today, but no one wanted to come in. I got my schedule for the rest of the semester pretty much filled trying to fill todays afternoon apt. It was a good day. Both of my patients were even on time, which never happens.

I'm sick of no shows

I talked to my patients last night and they said they were coming. My morning patient no showed and I was supposed to see her husband this afternoon. I had already screened my morning patient and she was a class 2. She didn't qualify for boards, but she was close, so I was hopeful about her husband. When I called to find out if she was still coming she said she couldn't and that her husband wasn't coming this afternoon. So I'm in a very bad mood right now. I was able to find someone to come in this afternoon, but I'm pretty sure he'll be a class 5. I also found someone who could come this morning, but late so I'd only have time for a screening. She called back though and said she wouldn't be able to make it. So I had an extremely unproductive morning and I am so frustrated!! I'm doing okay on classifications, but I need to find a board patient and I'm never going to find one if my patients never come!

2-26-09

My morning patient cancelled the night before. I was able to fill the spot though. The patient I found said she had never had her teeth cleaned. I was excited, it sounded like good potential for a board patient. She ended up being a 1b, she had hardly any calculus. I think she wasn't being completely truthful about never having had her teeth cleaned. Oh well.

I had another no show in the afternoon and was unable to find someone to come in. I HATE wasting time. It bugged me so bad to not have a patient. I did sharpen all my instruments though, so at least I got something done this afternoon, just nothing productive.

2-17-09

I found a class 4 patient. Yeah! I did 2 quads and scheduled him back for the other 2. It was very exciting. Especially after a morning with yet again another class 5. He is scheduled for April. Now I just need to find 4 more quads. It's a relief to have at least 2 quads done. Class 4's are impossible to find!

2-12-09

Today was my clinic simulation day. It was extremely buisy, but productive. In the morning I did a Pano on my sister and saw a 1a. Then I did an OD and x-rays on a pt I was hoping would qualify for boards. It was close, but not enough.

In the afternoon I did 2 quads of a class 2, I did a sealant on my little sister, and I saw a 1b and passed off my nitrous. My first patient was 20 min late, which matters when you have 3 patients scheduled. It all worked out though. The sealant was a little crazy. My light didn't work, but I didn't realize it didn't work until I went to cure the sealant. I had to run over and get a new light. At least it was my sister. She stayed open and it still worked out. I was glad I didn't have to start over.

Mockboard

Wow, this mockboard went so much better than the one last semester. Last semester my patient was an hour late. This time she called me the night before to let me know she would be there 15 min early because she knew it was my test. She was amazing! I hope I can find a patient that reliable for boards. The whole thing went so smoothly. I didn't miss any calculus, Yeah! It was a good feeling to pass. Now I just need to find a patient for the real thing.

2-3-09

My VA day yesterday was great. In the morning my patient was half hour late, so I was able to go to dental and do some injections. My morning patient ended up having really high blood pressure, so he was just going to have a dental exam and then leave, but the dentist said to go ahead and do the cleaning. He was a class 5. The apt went really well.

In the afternoon I did a set of BWX and a Pano. I really need Panos, so that was very helpful. I was also able to do more injections. He turned out to be 3 quads of a 3 and 1 quad of a 4 YEAH! I only finished 2 quads, but he is coming back for the other 2. He was a very nice man. He was anxious to start using the proxybrush and double checked that it was in his bag when he left. It's nice to have patients that listent to OHI and that I know are going to follow through.

1-29-09

My morning patient was a class 5. She had a periodontal abcess around #31. The rest of her mouth was pretty clean, but there were deep pockets with big chunks of calculus on that one tooth. I numbed the LR quad so I could clean it out good and then placed arestin.

My afternoon patient was very difficult. she was a class 2. She didn't speak any English and had a mental disability. She layed on her right side and wouldn't turn her head to the left at all, so cleaning the linguals on the left side of her mouth was really hard, especially the UR posterior lingual surfaces. After the apt. Prof. Alexander suggested sitting her up next time and stand up to scale. That would be easier than the weird position I had to sit in. It was a good experience for me to have a patient that was difficult to scale not because of the calculus, but because of the circumstance.

1-22-09

My morning patient no showed again. I went with Camille to the union building and found a patient. He was just a 1b, but better than nothing. The apt went really well.

In the afternoon I had a new patient who didn't speak any English. He also turned out to be a 1b, so it wasn't a very productive day. Oh well though, I'm done with 1b's now.

My VA day went well today. I had the class 3 in the morning. I was able to finish him, but it was only 3 quads because he was missing teeth. I missed two spots, both on the line angle of premolars. I was also able to do my ultrasonic PE.

My afternoon patient was a very easy class 5. I didn't miss anything on him.

1-15-09

My morning patient was a really good experience for me. She had alzheimers and couldn't really communicate. She would sometimes nod or shake her head when I talked to her, but usually she didn't respond at all. Taking x-rays was really difficult. As I left the room she would turn her head to watch me. I told her it was important for her to not move her head until I came back in the room. I didn't have to retake any x-rays, but I did have to go back into the room to reposition it several times per x-ray. It took a lot of time, so I was unable to finish her cleaning. I did two quads and rescheduled her for the other two.

My afternoon patient no-showed. I've had two clinic days and three no-shows. I'm hoping this will not be my luck throughout the semester. Maybe I'm just getting all of my no-shows out of the way early. Mindy's patient had her kids with her; so I was able to clean her 5 year old's teeth. He was a funny kid. When I told him I was going to paint his teeth with fluoride to make his teeth strong he was really excited. He asked me if I could paint them blue with flames. I told him I only had white and he said his teeth were already white, but at least they would be strong.

First Clinic Day

The first day back to clinic was not a good experience. I had two new patient scheduled and was hoping for good classifications. My morning patient no showed; I tried calling him, but he didn't answer. I tried calling people, but no one could come. Luckily someone walked in and said she had a couple of hours before her next class and was wondering if she could be seen. She was just a 1B, but I guess that's better than nothing.

My afternoon just got worse. That patient no showed also. I called her and she said she couldn't come. she was planning on coming, but now she had to watch her daughter. I don't understand why people can't call if they need to cancel! I spent the whole time trying to find another patient, but was out of luck. Not a great way to start the semester.