LAST CLINIC EVER!!

Today is definitely a bitter sweet day. I'm so excited I won't have clinic anymore, but I am definitely going to miss all my hygiene girls! For being done with all my requirements it hasn't been an easy day! My first patient was a class four that I had to finish up and my afternoon patient had a ton of staining. But I'm DONE!!! :)

Finished Board pt.

Today I saw my board patient to finish up the left side of her mouth. I was so nervous because I had my professor check the upper right quadrant to see if I missed anything and she said she couldn't feel anything!! Thats such a relief. I have a little more confidence I passed now, but there's still always a chance I didn't. I wish WREB would just post our scores!!

Mockboard 3

This morning I finally made up my mockboard! My patient was so nice! Her calculus was SO tenacious! She didn't have huge radiographic calculus, but it did not want to come off. I ended up not missing anything, which is pretty amazing! I just hope the real board goes that smooth!!

This afternoon I finally finished my class 4 patient! He was so appreciative! He said his teeth are starting to not hurt anymore! That made me so happy!

LA mockboard!

This morning we had our local anesthetic mockboard. My peer pal was nice enough to be my patient. I kept telling myself it was just a practice exam and not to be nervous, but I was shaking in my boots! I ended up passing both injections, but my professor said I barely passed. I wasn't quite sure what that meant! I just hope I can pass the real board, even if it just barely :)

This afternoon I was supposed to make up my mockboard, but of course my patient didn't show up even though I talked to the this morning and she said she would be here. It's so annoying. I just hope I can find another patient that qualifies this Friday!

Last mockboard!!

So, I was so ready for my mockboard today. My patient comes and I take her back and I'm so engrossed in getting all the paperwork filled out so I get my patient check in on time that I didn't even notice a big honking cold sore on her lip! My professor comes up to me and says sorry we have to dismiss your patient because she has a cold sore! I wanted to break down and cry, but I kept telling myself I have more important things to worry about, like BOARDS! My professor was really nice and understanding and is allowing me to do it on a regular clinic day! What a relief!!

First Class 4!!

This afternoon my patient ended up being a true calls 4!! I'm so excited since I haven't done any class 4's and need 8 quads. He had severe bone loss and bleeding on ever tooth with generalized deep pockets! He was so hard to clean! I only was able to get 1 quad done, but he seemed really appreciative!

second mockboard

So my mockboard pt is my actual board patient so I'm excited to see how her calculus comes off. I ended up doing really well on mockboards! I got a 94%, which means I only missed one spot!! Her calculus was pretty hard to get, so I'm kind of nervous for the actual board! But my patient seems really reliable and is super nice!

Finally Some Injections!!

I was finally able to give some injections today!! YAY :) I sill only have 8 out of the 36 injections that we need, but at least I gave some today!! I still need more practice on the PSA. I have to remember to swing way out and down. I hope I get better with more practice...

This afternoon was kind of dissapointing. I had this guy scheduled who hasn't had his teeth cleaned for 30 years and of course he didn't show. But luckily I was able to see a 1A, which is better than nothing.

Back at the VA

My first day back at the VA was a pretty good day! My first patient was a class 2 and my afternoon patient was a class 5. My afternoon patient was the most adorable old man! Everyone got done way early, so we were able leave early!! YAY :)
I'm starting to worry about how many injections I have, I've only given 4 injections and our LA boards are coming up. I really need to get on that!!!

Finally a BREAK!!!

I found my mockboard and board pt. today!! Yes I said BOARDS!! I really didn't think I would be able to find a patient! Now she just has to show up and I have to pass! Sounds easier than it really is...
The end is near!!!!!!!!

first day back of my LAST semester!!

Today was the easiest day ever! I couldn't see my first patient because he had a heart surgery 5 months ago and he needs to waite the full 6 months before he has any elective care done. So, the only thing I could do was his HHX and x-rays. My cousin was my second patient and she was a way easy 1B! Not a bad way to start the last semester off!!

horrible luck with x-rays!!

At the VA today the x-ray unit was not working, so I had to move my first patient to another room to take BWX's. Then the doctor came in to do an exam and decided the left BWX wasn't acceptable, so I had to find another open room to re-take the dang x-ray!! Then to top it all off my second pt. needed a pano and BWX'S. So I took my pt to the pano room and I take the pano just fine, but the stinking sensor to take the BWX's wasn't working, so I had to move him to ANOTHER room!!! THEN... in the middle of taking the BWX's, that sensor stopped working!! My poor patient was getting so frustrated! Today was NOT my day to take x-ays! seriously....

Easy class 5

My patient this morning was so sweet! She hasn't had her teeth cleaned for 3 years, but there really wasn't any calculus. I was able to take a pano on her, which I was so excited about! 3 down 5 to go! We started the appointment out slow because she had a long HHX and she needed to be premedicated. So happy we only have to see patients this morning, now we get to do a special needs lab this afternoon. Should be fun!

VA CA

Let me just tell you, being CA at the VA is so boring!! I was falling asleep while I was charting for Kathy! oops :) It was so annoying that NOTHING was stocked in any of the ops! So for the whole morning I was stocking everything in every op. Darn those SLCC girls! Only one more CA day next semester. YAY!

VA CRAZIES!!

Let me just say today was the weirdest day EVER! My first patient in the morning was a way easy 1B, who hadn't had his teeth cleaned in 10 years! I was shocked how well he took care of his teeth. Then I saw a second patient who was CRAZY!! When I tried to bring him back he acted very childish and kept trying to run away from me. When I finally got him in my chair he became very friendly and started hitting on me, saying I just was so cute and looked like a little doll! AHH. So I start the cleaning and I'm just scaling away because he's a class 3 and he pulls out this Kermit the frog that was on his key chain and slowly starts moving it towards my face. (I have no words) Then out of no where he starts freaking out and says he needs to get his medicine or he's going to "tear" the office apart. So I try to set him up so he can get his medicine and he says, "No its ok we're almost done." (Please make up your mind) So... I grab the doctor and have him do an exam. Halfway through the exam my patient jumps out of the chair and just starts yelling saying swear word after swear word!! (I'm definitly scared now) I walk the patient up to the front and try to get him scheduled to come back with the prosthedontist and he starts yelling and swearing at the poor front desk lady. All I can do is say good luck and I left....

Mockboard from H***

I think I can honestly say this was the most stressful day of the semester!! Once I got started on the cleaning I was fine, I think I was just nervous while waiting for the instructors to make sure my patient qualified. And I got LUCKY, my patient just barely qualified, even with adding 3 teeth from another quadrant!! So I was taking my time on the cleaning and making sure I felt confident that I got all the calculus off when I noticed everyone was checking their patients out. I kept thinking to myself I still have an hour, my checkout time ends at 11:50. But then it clicked and I realized SOMEONE put the wrong checkout time on my sheet, instead of uppting 10:50, they put 11:50! Oh and don't worry, I figured this out at 10:45 and I hadn't even probed!! I seriously almost had a huge breakdown!!! But everything worked out fine, I still passed with an 85 and that's all that matters :)

DARN COLDSORE!!

I love it when my class 3 pt comes in and has a huge coldsore on her lower lip. I felt so bad because she thought I gave it to her when I cleaned half her mouth last time. I tried to explain to her that she probably had the virus laying dormant and has never presented with signs until now, but of course she speaks spanish and she most likely didn't understand me. Luckily Kailene had 2 patients come in, so I was able to do the OD on her other patient. I guess it wasn't a total waste of a day.

Crazy, Crazy Day!!

This morning I saw a way easy class 5. She had so many bridges and crowns, that I really didn't have to scale any calculus. She did have the smallest mandibular linguals though. I had the hardest time adapting my instruments because her teeth were so tinny!! I ended up finishing my patient an hour early, so I saw Kailene's extra patient. I only had about 40 minutes, so I only did the OD and of course she's ANOTHER class 5! No more class 5's please :)
My afternoon patient hasn't had her teeth cleaned for about 15 years!! Her teeth actually looked pretty good considering it's been so long. She ended up being a class 3, which I'm so excited about!! She was seriously the best patient! She let me take an FMX, which was my first one all semester. I was hoping I could scale 2 quads, but apparently I was thinking too big. I was only able to get one quad done.

Pretty easy day!

This morning I finished my class 2 patient. I realized I really need to work on using a more forceful lateral working stroke, especially where the calculus was tenacious. I used my mini graceys for the first time and I actually really liked them because my patient had tenacious calculus, but her tissues were pretty tight. This afternoon I saw a 1B, but she was a pretty hard patient for just being a 1B. I felt like it took me so long to clean her teeth and all I could think about was it shouldn't take so long to clean a 1B. Ugh!!

Day 2 at VA

I had two great experiences today. My first patient was a class 3 on his lowers. I found that I need to go more subgingival when scaling. And my second patient was on periomaintenance. I love it when I get classification that are anything but 1B's!!