Today was quite a scary adventure on the commute to school. I was driving with our normal car pool and on the freeway a wreck happened right in front of us. An SUV was going over the overpass/bridge at 21st street and they started fishtailing then turned sideways and slammed into the concrete barrier. It then soun around then flipped. Pieces of the car were flying everywhere. Luckily we were far enough behind that we were able to dodge the wreck and safely go no by. It really shook me up but we were safe and it ended up being okay.....for us! Anyway, we then got to clinci and set up and my patient had not showed up so about 15 after 8 I called him and asked if he was coming. He was my last 2 quads I need for my requirements and he could not make it because of the snow! He said his car was stuck in the snow and he couldn't get it out. So now I am freaking out because I still need 2 quads of a 4!!! He said he will come next week so hopefully that will be fine. I ended up screening a patient for a first year student who needed a class 3. The patient was quite wierd and had a lot of medical issues. I actually felt really bad for her. I took x-rays and lucky for her she had very minimal bone loss and just needed some OHI and better home care and she will be in good shape. Not so good though for the first year student, she was not a class 3. So in the afternoon I was super excited for my patient because my Pooky was coming in!! My husband was my patient, he had never been here before so I was way excited to show him what this was all about. He showed up on time and I was able to take x-rays and clean his teeth. I was not happyp though because I found 2 x-rays. It was really fun to have him here to see what clinic is all about.

Almost Done!!

Today I brought back my board patient and I just found out that I PASSED MY BOARD!!!!! I told her about it and thanked her a million more times. Anyways, I finished cleaning her upper quads and she was finally finished after coming 5 times!! My afternoon patient was a class 2 and she was super nice and everything went really well. I am just so glad I passed my boards and I am almost done with Dental Hygiene School!!!

Just another day

Today was just a typical day at clinic. I had someone scheduled to come in for a screening at 8:00 but he did not show so I found someone waiting for midtown and he came back for a screening. My instructor looked at him and she said she would give me 2 qudas of a 4 for his entire mouth. I was okay with that. So then I sent him back out and set up for my 9:30 appointment. This was a really nice hispanic guy that was a 1B. He was super nice and had great OH so I was done with him in no time. In the afernoon I saw a 13 year old boy. He was the most talkative 13 year old I have ever met. He was really quite entertaining. This was his first time ever in a dental office. His teeth were pretty good but I found 2 cavities! His first ones, he was devastated! They were on the buccal pits of 31 and 18. It took me the entire time to get him done because he was so talkative but we got x-rays taken and did the cleaning and then he was finished.

WREB CLINICAL DH

Today was my clinical DH exam, the one I paid $950 to take!! Nerves were veyr high this morning. I had to drive myself today because the other girls in my carpool have their exam later. Anyway, I was really nervous my patient would be late and I was right, she was. Luckily I had told her to come super early so I was able to get her checked in on time. As my patient was being checked in I set up my instruments and ultrasonic and then I had to sit there and wait for an hour for my paitent to come back to me. As I was sitting there I was talking to some of the other girls and I was getting more and more nervous my patient was not going to qualify. Two of the girls before me had their patients brought back to them and they did not qualify, their first and second submission!!! I was so nervous because the same instructor who checked my patient had checked one of theirs. I saw my patient on her way to me and I thought "Please have a blue paper, please have a blue paper" because the patient's that did not qualify came back with a yellow paper. As soon as I saw that blue paper I was so relieved, she qualified! And even my first submission, so I did not loose any points on submission. After that I jumped right in and began. It was really weird giving anesthesia with no instructor there to watch me, it was a good weird, like, Yeah I can do this myself!! So I used every ultrasonic tip I had and did that for almost an hour. I then went through and used my graceys and every other instrument I own. I finished up the the slimline ultrsonic tip and felt pretty good about everything. There was one little tiny rough spot on the mesial of 21 so I grabbed my very sharp montana jack and beared down on my fulcrum and I totally slipped off and stabbed my patient's tongue with it!!! I felt SO bad, I was jsut so nervous and wanted to get that calculus off and I slipped. It bled pretty good, so if the examiners see that I wonder if they will count that as tissue trauma. Oh well, after that I did my probing and recession and I feel pretty good about that so I checked her out. Then I cleaned up my unit and went downstairs to wait for another hour before she was done.I gave her a thank you card and some money and set up a final appointment. Then she left and I stayed to babysit the backup patients for the afternoon.

WREB ANESTHESIA

This week was WREB so I did not have normal clinic (well it is actaully spring break). So instead of going somewhere fun for the break or going to clinic I stayed home and studied for days straight for my anesthesia test. Well, it paid off. I went in to take the anesthesia exam and I left feeling a little worried but not too bad. Well, I PASSED the written but I feel really bad because a few girls in my class did not pass and I didn't realize it and I was celebrating that I passed and they probably thought I was a jerk. Anyway, then after that I was the very first student to take the clinical anesthesia exam. I was super nerovus but just set my things up like I normally do and hoped for the best. I brought my patient back and instructed her on a few things to do that would make it easier for me to see then it was time to begin. The instructors first came over to check and make sure my patient did not have any sores or puncture marks at the injection sites. Well, she didn't so I was okay there. Then they checked my paper work to make sure everything was in order and luckily it was so they told me to apply topical. So they walked away and I applied topical and waited for them to come back. After a few minutes they came back and asked if I was ready to go. The examiners were really nice and very helpful, they really calmed my nerves because of how nice they were. Well, I was ready so I started with the right PSA. Everything went pretty smoothly and before I knew it I was done with that injection. Then I proceded to do the left IA. I started, was a little shaky, but I made it to sight of penetration. I proceeded to site of deposition, then aspirating and then I thought I saw red in the carpule but wasn't sure if it was just my patient's tongue I could see through the carpule. SO I said "I think it is a positive aspiration, yes it is a positive aspiration". They probably thought I was stupid and couldn't tell what a positive aspiration looked like. Anyway, I withdrew and got a new setup and tried again. This time I got a negative aspiration and all was well and it was over. I walked my patient out and broke down my room, I had a bit of a struggle with getting the needle off the syringe but it ended up being fine. I then waited in the classroom for a little while for my envelope to arrive. It arrived and I got a purple SUCCESS MEMO!! It was great I passed both injections the first time. I was really excited. I then waited around because my orientation for clinical dental hygiene the next day was at 3:30. Luckily I stayed because one of my peers needed to use me to retake the clinical local anesthesia because she failed one injection. I was happy to help. She did a great job and she ended up passing. Only one girl out of all of us who passed the written failed the clincal anesthesia, so overall it was a great day.

Simulation Day

Today was my simulation day. I was able to get a lot accomplishe. In the morning I saw 2 kids, an 8 year old and a 12 year old. The 8 year old was a cute little boy who was very shy and didn't say much at all. I was able to clean his teeth and do a sealant on #14, he did not need x-rays because they were taken 6 months ago. His sister was the 12 year old and she was a very small 12 year old. She needed some bitewings and her mom also wanted me to take a PA of her lower anterior teeth becuase we found a cavity. She was a good girl and I got done with her in no time. In the afternoon I was ale to get 4 quads of a 2 complete. It wasn't too difficult but I got it done. My patient was very interested in everything I was doing and wanted to know all about it. She was very receptive to the OHI I gave her. Overall today was a good day. I am not very fast so I don't know if I could have handled another patient in the afternoon but it was still a great learning experience.

LA Mockboard

This morning I had my LA mockboard. I wasn't really nervous until I got into the clinic and started setting up. I started with the right PSA and it went well, no positive aspiration and they did not tell me to stop and withdraw before I was finished. Then I did the left IA and I was a little worried because my patient's tongue was kind of in the way of the landmarks. I just asked her to lower her tongue if she could and that did the trick. Then, when I went to do the injection I was shaking like crazy!! I usually never shake like that, but this was a stressful situation so it was kind of to be expected. I just stuck the needle into the site of penetration and that stopped the shaking. I proceeded with the injection, no positive aspiration, and it went well. I ended up passing both injections so I was really excited. I then took the written test which was actually a lot easier than I thought it would be.