Feeling a little better

Today I did my first 1B exam. I think it went pretty well. This was my patient's second appointment so I was able to get all the scaling done. It took me 1 hour and 15 minutes but I got it all done and I had no missed areas!!! I couldn't believe it, I am always so worried that I am going to miss something but obviously I must know what I am doing enough to get everything off. I also feel like I am still not using correct positioning, I was not able to pass any PE's off today and that was kind of frustrating to me, but I guess I have plenty of time to pass them off. My back really hurts after this appointment. I have got to do something about that because it is miserable. I feel a little better today than I did last week but I am still stressed to the max. I am so worried about getting all my requirements met, my PE's passed off, finding patients, and not to mention studying for the three tests I have in classes this week. Some day I will feel even better I hope.

Feeling Lousy!

Today I had another new patient, he was not new to the clinic though. He has been in several times. So the appointment started out good. My patient did not want me to take x-rays though so I was a little bummed about that. I got started with the OD and that went well except I didn't even check existing restorations to what the last hygienist had recorded. Well after having my OD check I wasn't feeling too hot about everything. I feel like I am still so slow and there is no way I will be able to ever get a patient done in one appointment. I am stressed out everyday because first of all I am worried about finding patients and second I feel that even if I get enough patients in here I am too slow to get all my requirements done. Today is just one of those crappy days. I feel like everyone is ahead of me and doing so much better than me with their requirements and their skill level. Hopefully I will start to feel a little better about myself but not today.

Another new patient

Today started off bad. First of all yesterday I called my patient to remind her of her appointment and she said she had to leave early. That was enough to make me want to cry. I knew I would have to hurry and do as much as I possibly could. Well, I got to clinic this morning, set up my unit, and was all ready for her to be early to fill out her HHx. Well, I waited and waited and waited. Finally she got here at 8:10 and she filled out her HHx. Waiting for here made me even more nervous and afraid that I wouldn't be ablr to get anything done. Well, I got her seated and I was grateful that she even showed up at all. Luckily she did not have a difficult HHx so that went really fast, her vitals were good to I got a signature and I was on my way. We decided to take 4 BWX, I was going to do digital but there was a long wait so I decided to try phosphor plates. I was way nervous to do these because I have no practice on them. Luckily Emily the TA was back there and she was tons of help. I was able to get through it without any retakes and it went really smooth. I was really impressed at the ease of the phosphor plates and I really like them and will definitely be using them in the future. So our appointment went on and I was able to get through the OD before my patient had to leave so I was happy about that. I was also able to get 2 sealants done on Kim's patient. She was so nice and offered to let me do a couple on her brother because she had already done some. So what started out to be a bad day ended up pretty good.

Second Patient

Today I saw my second patient, my sister. Overall it went really well, I was able to take 4 BWX and 1 pano. I did not get to do any scaling though. I got everything else done, so next appt I will be able to pick up where I left off and hopefully get 4 quads scaled next appt. I felt like I took forever taking the x-rays. It was frustrating because I felt like I was hurrying but it still took a long time. Hopefully after I get used to actually taking the x-rays on a real live patient and not the dexter it will go a lot smoother and a lot faster. I feel like a I am finally getting the charting down a little bit, I can do it a little faster now and without worrying quite as much. I am glad I can stop worrying about todays patient and starte worrying about my wednesday patient.

Back to School

Wow, after that long break it was super hard to come back to school. I was so nervous to come back, I felt like i had forgotten everything. Well, maybe not everything, as soon as I walked into this building I felt like I never left and things are coming back to me quite nicely. So we learned about our gracey curets today. Personally I think a lot of them look alike. I am glad we only have three to worry about. I really liked scraping white-out off the typodont's teeth, it was quite fun. I really like the way the graceys work. We also learned how to use the ultrasonic scaler and I thought that was super fun. I've seen the dentist use those several times but I've never used one myself nor have I had it used on me. I really can't wait until the lab in Feb so that someone can use one on me so I know what it feels like. I had a good time practicing on the typodont it was pretty fun. I just switched clinic times so it is a little different being with different people, but I know I will love it just as much. I am really nervous and really scared to be treating patients every clinic. I am more worried about where I am going to get all my patients from. I have no idea but hopefully I will be able to figure it out soon.