11/25/08

Wow the last day of fall semester clinic! I cant believe how much I have learned in clinic this semester, its crazy. I feel like I know what I am doing now. Where as last spring I constantly felt lost. I hope that this will continue into next semester. I feel like the instructors are here more to help you than pick on you.

11/18/08

Today was a very fun day because Tony came in and it was my first real experience with the nitrous oxide. It was interesting to see the patient relax. I learned how to really work around the nose piece which I thought would be difficult. I felt really good about my scaling and ultrasonicing. I also learned that I need to use the Diagnodent more often.

11/13/08

The Va is awesome, I love the patients. They are very different than the ones we see at Weber State Clinic. My patient today was Biopolar. He would be very up and down. When he was down he would start to get nervous and sit up. Seeing these types of patients really helps ground you and learn how to alter treatment when needed.

11/11/08

Today was a pretty simple day for the most part. I had a 1b in the morning that I finished up. I feel very confident with 1b's now. Then I saw a 4 yr old which was difficult because I he would not cooperate at all. He kept screaming and I learned how far my patience would go. Then I saw a 1b in the afternoon which went very well she just had to leave early but I felt confident I could get her out on time. overall good day.

11/4/08

Today was a difficult day because my patient literally never brushes his teeth. The plaque was so thick that I couldnt scale without polishing first. The smell of his breath really got to me which has never happened before. I had him use listerine before which helped but not enough. He ended up being a class IV but I needed to finish him all 4 quads because he needed dental work which was a challenge but I did it.

10/28/08

I finished my class III today, which was nice. I felt fabulous with my results I scaled to quads and only missed 2 spots that were small. This was my mockboard patient that I didnt feel that great about but I feel much better now. I feel like I am really getting a rhythm down and am enjoying harder patients.

10/21/08

MOCKBOARD
Wow today was a eye opening day. I learned alot today from my mistakes. I will never leave a spot blank on my paper work ever again. Also i have learned that passing is a matter of luck. I was unlucky every spot I missed was highlanded and the places I got was not highlanded. Overall I felt good about the day till I got my grade but oh well it can only get better.

10/14/08

I felt that today was a very good day. I liked trying out the Peizo, even though I like the ultrasonic mush more. The sonic was my least favorite, It felt too heavy. The curved ultrasonics are always fun to use. I liked doing the salivary tests, I learned alot. My ph in my saliva rocks. I think that I will use my extra fulcrums lot now that I know what I'm doing.

10/7/08

Today started out not so good, I was not feeling well. But once I got started on my patient I started to forget about it and focus on my appointment which was good. My morning patient was a class III and I scaled three quads and finished him which is good for me. I missed a spot on the mesial groove on the 2nd pre-molar which was a great learning experience. I'm really starting to understand the root surface.

9/30/08

Today was very interesting, my first patient was a class III. I did a full mouth of digital x-rays on him. I hate digital hence why I chose to do them, because I need for practice but I am getting better. I started a quad which I felt went well. My second patient was a class V and she was wonderful. She made me realize why I like dental Hygiene. She really listened and was interested in what I had to say. It made me really feel like I was helping someone.

9/23/08

Well today was very interesting I had a class III come in that I only got one quad done on. The good thing she is my mock board patient for the moment. The bad thing is she has really hard tricky calculus. I missed to huge spots because they were so done in the pocket. I really learned how great my graceys, perio files, and curved ultrasonic tips are today. The patient was awesome because she was very patient with me. I felt like I was really feeling calculus and getting it off. My hand by the end of the appointment was so fatigued and I only didnt one quad, interesting how that works. My afternoon pateint was great but another class V which I dont need but good practice.

9/16/08

Today was a great day my morning patient needed full mouth x-rays which was nice. I did them on conventional film not digital which has its benefits and faults. I like placing films verses digital but its a lot slower because of developing. My patient ended up being at least a class 3 in most areas and possible 4 in others. One quad could possibly be a mock board quad which would be great. The afternoon was a little different my patient scheduled no showed but luckily a walk-in came. She was a class 5 and I missed one piece of calculus which I felt good about. I feel like I'm feeling calculus more and more every clinic session.

9/9/08

Today went really well, I had a class V pt that I miss no calculus on. I should have used her as my exam. I have any Class V coming in this afternoon so I think I might do my exam on them. I felt a little nervous that I was not getting all the calculus off my patient this morning but I think she just had some rough surfaces that were part of her tooth anatomy. I can barely feel calculus much less tell the difference between a rough surface and calculus, I'm sure that will come with time. Overall I'm feel better and better about my skills and feel that i'm improving everyday. Last thursday at the VA was really good and I felt like I learned a great deal.

9/2/08

So today was crazy, it flew by. I felt like I was against time the entire day which made it go by super fast which was nice. I thought having two patients a day would kill me but I liked it. I saw my grandma in the morning and my sister in-law in the afternoon. It was nice to have family for my first patients back. I felt like I still need to pick up my speed with probing but I felt fabulous about scaling. I REALLY felt calculus with an explorer and felt confident that I scaled it off. Both scale checks made me feel great considering last semester I missed calculus all over the place. I also felt good about my overall speed. I finished my sisterin-law early which has never happened. I really like film x-rays so I decided to take digital so that I could get better with it. I struggled a little but I'm just going to keep working on it.

8/26/08

Wow! we are back in school. The summer just flew by I cant believe its over. I hope everyone had a great summer. I was very nervous to come back but now that i'm back I'm really excited. It was great to come to clinic and have an idea of what was going on. I'm excited to use my new instruments, it was wonderful knowing what each one was. I felt good about clinic today, it just came back to me like I hadnt left. I did my OD on Katie and it was a great refresher. I also like the time that we spent sharpening our instruments. I learn more about sharpening than I did the entire year last year. Well i'm excited to start seeing patients and get back into the groove of things.

Clinic 4/23/08

Today was my last day of clinic, wow I cant believe that my first year is basically over. It was a lot harder and stressful than I ever imagined but totally worth it. Today I saw my peer pal as my patient, I only missed two spots surprise surprise hahaha. I felt like very in control today esp compared to my first clinic day, it was a total 1-80. I'm starting to enjoy clinic instead of dredding it. I'm excited for the summer and I think when summer is over i'll be excited to come back to clinic.

Clinic 4/21/08

Today was not a very crazy day, I just saw I 10 year old boy. He needed a cleaning and some sealants. I also took some xrays on him, BWX. This boy was ver well behaved which made my job a whole lot easier esp compared to other children I have seen through out the semester. I really enjoy working with kids. His two other brothers came with him and saw katie and mindy and they did a wonderful job with them two. Overall I think this was a great day.

clinic 3/5/08

Today I saw a 16 yr old patient, that after OD check was thought to be a class I. After I had scaled, which I felt confident about, I asked for a scale check. During my scale check there was so muich calculus left that she got re-classified as a full class II. This was frustating because I had missed so many spots, but I did go into it thinking that she was a class I. I didnt not finish her she will need to return.

Clinic 2/20/08

Today was interesting because my patient had a lingual bar which made it very difficult to clean the mandibular ants. I had a hard time scaling around the cement because I didnt want to loosing the bar. The calculus adheres to the bar and its hard to know when to stop and when you have gotten all the calculus. She also had a very small mouth which made the x-ray's, the distals of the 2nd molars, and retracting hard.

Clinic 2/13/08

Today was a nice change not to have a patient. I felt like the ultrasonic unit was helpful and really solidified what we are supposed to do. I liked the insurance unit because I have worked with insurance companies for year and half and learning the codes and stuff was interesting because I know what they were talking about. The Denture PE unit was alot easier than I thought. It looks long but what we have to do is not that bad. Overall I felt that today was benefitical.

Clinic 2/11/08

Today was Awsome I scaled my patient who was a class IV. I learned so much, I felt furcation, and passed off my ultrasonic PE. This patient had calculus chipping off big enough to get stuck in the suction tip, it was crazy. I used my graceys a lot, which I had never done before. I really like them, I felt like I could get the distal and mesial better. It was crazy to me that this patient didnt need anthestic. With all their recession they didnt seem to be overly sensitive. Overall this patient was a wonderful experience and I cant wait to finish the other two quads.

clinic 2/6/08

My patient today was a 1B today and also my exam, which turned out to not be sucha a great idea, hahaha j/k. Most of her calculus was the lower linguals. I had a hard time when it came to finishing through the contacts. I would get to the contact and stop, I need to go through the contacts. I also found this patient difficult because they had a tiny mouth, which made the posteriors hard. Only all I learned alot but it was a little frustrating.

2/4/08

Wow today was crazy getting to school the snow storm was pretty bad. Multiple students had no patients because of the storm. I was suppose to have two patients again but my first one couldnt make it and had to be rescheduled. my dad was there as my second patient which worked out. I got the rest of his OD and OHI done today and plan on two more appointments with two quads each. Hopefully everything will work out.

1/30/08

Today has been the best day so far, my boyfriend came in which might have had something to do with it but also he is a class 1b which I have not had yet. It was nice not to have to worrie about a ton of calculus. His x-rays went GREAT and they were conventional. I finished him so he wont have to come back, which was a great self-esteem boost. Today was a good feeling and made me feel like I can do this.

1/28/08

Today was interesting becuase I tried to see two patients in one day. My first patient could only come in for 45 mins and was a class III which doesnt give you much time to do much. I was a litttle discouraged with her appointment jsut because I didnt even get a quad done and at this rate with only 45 mins she will take lots of appointments to finish. My second pt was my dad which went a little better. I did full mouth x-rays on him and I learned very quickly that digital is a lot hard to do PA's then with conventional film. I got part of his OD done but not all so I dont know what his classifcation will be.

1/23/08

Today was the first 1a I have seen. The cleaning went well and then her mom wanted me to put on sealents which she ended up needing 14 of them. Wow, this was a lot of sealents to do in one apointment, not to mention they were 20 mins late. I completed 12 of them because the other two werent fully erupted teeth and I didnt feel comfortable enough getting them completely Isolated. Today made me feel more confident and faster at sealents. I learned that it can be alot easier to do two teeth adjacent to each other at the same time.

1/16/08

Today I had a new patient which I was very nervous for. My patient first started out being a Class II but by the time we first scaling the first quad she got changed to a class III. I have a very hard time going interpoxal. My patient made comment that her clean felt cleaner and better in the one quad that I had cleaned. She had very tenaious cal, which made it very difficult. She is returning next monday for 45 mins so we will see how it goes.

clinic 1/14/07

Wow today was crazy I had my first real patient and boy was I nervous, but I got through it. I never dreamed that clinic days woudl be this stressful but hopefully they get better and better. I need to work on my x-rays and probing as far as time goes and I need to work on x-rays and scaling as far as doing better. My patient today was very nice and came from far so me and Lis made sure to finish him and his wife today which was pushing it but we did it.

clinic Asst. day 1/9/08

Today was great I loved clinic I was not nervous or intimidated, the catch I was CA today. I learned a lot about how our clinic is actually ran from behind the scenes. I enjoyed working with all the patients at the front desk. Mrs. Campbell was very nice and helpful, I also enjoyed working with Torri alot. Torri showed me where everything is in the clinic and how to start the autoclave. I could be the CA for the whole semester hahahahaha. I just scared to death work with my first real patient.

First day back!

Well I was very scared and worried to return from the christmas break but today really was not that bad. I feel like I understood the graceys a lot better now. I took awhile to grasp the right angle and side to use but I got it in the end. I also felt better about the ultra sonic and how to set it up with the right water pressure. Overall today was better than expected.