10-28-08

I had a class 2 in the morning. I was also able to do a FMX. I need PA's really bad, so that was good. My bitewings turned out aweful, but my PAs were really good. I was able to get all of the 3rd molars in.

In the afternoon my pt didn't show up. I tried calling her and she didn't answer. Luckily Lindy's pt brought her husband with her in hopes that someone would be able to see him. He was 2 quads of a 2 and 2 quads of a 5. I was also able to get 3 PE's done, so it was a good day. He was kind of upset about the health history. He didn't see what my questions had to do with anything. I explained the impact oral health had on the body and vice versa. He was still really ornery about it. Once I was done with the OD he was really nice though.

Mockboards

I'm glad mockboards are over; clinic seems a lot less stressful now. I was a student examiner in the morning. It was nice to be able to see the flow of things before it was my turn.

My patient forgot about the apt even though it was confirmed the day before. Of course, there always has to be something to keep things interesting. Mr. Soloman called her and she did come in, but she was an hour late. I didn't have much time to scale because she was so late and needed anesthesia, but it went okay. The injections went really well. I missed a few spots, but if I would have had more time I would have done much better, so I feel good about it. I'm really glad we get to experience the whole process a few times before our real boards.

This morning was very relaxing. It's incredible the difference it makes when we don't have a patient for clinic. The lab went well. Accessory fulcrums were easy; I've been using some of them already. It was cool to see the difference between the sonic and the two types of ultrasonic scalers. The blood glucose is really easy to use. The saliva thing was okay, but it's gross to watch. I've already placed arestin at the VA; I'm glad we talked about it today. There's not much to medicaments; they are pretty easy.

My patient this afternoon made me mad. He called last night to say he might be cancelling if he can't find someone to work for him (even though he's been scheduled for a month). He said he would call at 10:00 today to let me know. I told him to leave me a message, and to call as soon as he could so I could find another pt if he couldn't come in. He never called. I tried to call several times, but he didn't answer. I figured he probably wasn't coming so I started to look for another pt. I couldn't find anyone, but then he did end up coming. After all that he was just a 1B! Oh well.

This morning I had a new pt. She turned out to be a 1B. She didn't speak any English; I was very glad to have translators there to help. She wanted a full mouth done, so I finally got some PA's. The posterior PA's were hard because her mouth was very small. They turned out good though.

My patient this afternoon didn't speak any English either, but her son was there to translate. She was a new pt and a class 2. She will work for mockboards, Yeah! She has never had her teeth cleaned before. Her calculus is very, very tenacious. I'm kind of nervous to use her for mockboards because it is so hard to remove her calculus, but at least I have a pt.

9/23/08

Tuesday morning I just had a 1B with a set of bitewings. It all went really well; I didn't miss any spots. His gums were really inflamed by his lingual bar. I gave him some floss threaders to use; hopefully he uses them .

That afternoon was much better; I had a class 4. It was awesome. I've never seen anything like his mouth, even in a textbook. He is going to have all of his teeth extracted and is getting dentures. On #3 I could see the entire lingual root, and there was plenty of room to get instruments under it. The tooth was so mobile I was afraid to do any hand instrumentation on it; I would have pulled it out. I don't think I've seen so much calculus in every patient I've seen put together. It was so cool. I was glad Emily finished early; she suctioned for me, it helped so much. His anterior teeth were a lot more mobile after I scaled; the calculus was giving them a lot of support. When I was done it was incredible to see the difference between the two sides of his mouth. He'll be in next tuesday for me to finish. I'm excited! When he comes back in I am going to try to get used to the curved ultrasonic tips.

Today was a pretty easy day. This morning I had a 1A and my other pt cancelled. I was able to pass off infection control, sealant, and selective polish PE's. I did two sealants and a set of 2 bitewings. My patient was a really good kid. She didn't have any problems with holding still or anything.

This afternoon I had a 1B. I did BWX on him too. He had x-rays 6 months ago, but they were not at all diagnostic; so I took more as retakes. They turned out really good.

I need to work on exploring. I still can't always feel the calculus.

9/9/08

My patient this morning was a recall. She was a class 2 the first time she came in and then a class 5 last time. Her last apt was 4 yrs ago, so I thought for sure she would be a class 2 again. She takes very good care of her teeth now though so she was a 5. It was a little disapointing, but it was cool to see how much she has improved. Her probe depths were better every time she came in. The first time she had some 8 mm pockets; now she had 2 4 mm pockets, but the rest were 2's and 3's. Her OH has improved so much. It's good to know that some of the things we tell our patients sink in and actually help.

My patient this afternoon was a class 5 also. She was the same kind of patient as this morning. She was very interested during OHI and was motivated to continue improving her home care.

Overall, today went really well. It all went smoothly. I missed a couple of spots, but I feel like my scaling skills are improving.