Hip Hip Hooray!

I PASSED, I PASSED!!!! I am so excited I totally passed all of my boards. It feels so good to have them over with. I also have all of my requirements finished. I was a little worried considering this week is the last clinic session and I just finished them last week so I am totally going to graduate. Woot woot! Now the hard work begins...finding a job. I'm crossing my fingers that the right job will come along:)

The National Written Board

Today I took the National Written Board and it was really long and I have know idea how I did. I thought the case studies were easier then the stand alone questions but maybe that's becasue I was so exhausted by then I just didn't care and then it seemed easy. Haha. I know I missed alot but I'm sure I got plenty right...at least I hope I got enought right to pass. Ah this waiting for weeks for our scores is wicked. I just really hope I pass and graduate.

Clinical Boards...yicks

Today was my clinical board. I was nervous that my patient wouldn't show up in enough time and I wanted to recheck the quad and extra teeth that I was planning on submitting. My patient was late but he showed in enough time to do all the paperwork and check the teeth. Then I got to anxiously wait with everyone else as the examiners determined if our submissions qualified. That was one of the longest hours of my life. My first submission passed and I got to work. My ultrasonic wasn't working very well the water was not consistently spraying and the tip was getting hot so I got the floor assistant and she changed it out for me and that was the only little glitch I had. I don't know how it went because by the end of 2 1/2 stressful hours I was so exhausted I just pray that I passed. It is going to nearly kill me waiting for my results. I really really hope I passed.

Slam Dunk!!!

Today I took my local anesthetic boards (Written and clinical). I was so nervous that I wouldn't pass that I couldn't sleep all night. After the written I wasn't sure if I had passed or not. I felt totally sick to my stomach. But have no fear I totally passed. I then was able to take my clinical and I was like one of the very first people. My dear sweet sister agreed to be my patient. I was nervous when they were checking her sites becuase she bites her check and I thought they might disqualify her but they didn't. Then I was putting on the topical and I was nervous becuase I couldn't really determine her landmarks on the IA but I was determined just to do what I had learned and as I took my syringe in my hand and pulled back her check the landmarks totally opened up and it went beautifully. Then I moved on to the right PSA. It was going great til I aspirated. And yep you guessed it Positive....first one ever of course it would happen on the board. It was just the tiniest little wisp of light pink. My heart stopped and my breath caught. We talked in clinic about if you get a positive aspiration you should just get a new set up and do it again but I felt really good about my position and everything so I annonced I had a positive aspiration and the Cheif examiner ask how I would like to handle it and my actual words were since it's just a little wisp i'm going to redirect and aspirate again. I did and I was able to see a negative aspiration. When they left I was convinced I had just failed. I cleaned up and waited for my score. When I picked up my envelope I could see a purple paper and my brain was so stressed I couldn't remember what that ment I ripped it open and it was a success memo I was so excited I ran down to tell my sis I had passed and we jumped around and screamed cause I was so excited. I hope all the rest of my boards go so well

Big day!

Today I was suppose to have my 1st mockboard patient comeback however, I have a ton of class II/V quads so my good buddy char agreed to see her and I scheduled my class IV to come. I he came and I was able to clean two quads I felt like it went really well instructor Perry was really helpful. He showed me some different chair positions and using different instruments in different places. I need to remember to use just the very end of my instrument and ultrasonic I tend to use the middle. In the afternoon I had my last class III coming back in and he no showed me this would be the second time he has left me high and dry at the last second so I don't think I'll be seeing him again I don't have time to keep scheduling someone that isn't consistent. So it turns out that my good buddy Char happened to have two patients show and she was kind enough to let me see one of them and as luck would have it he was a class III so I was able to finish up my class III requirements. Now I just have to find another 4 quads of a class IV and see one more child and I'm done with my requirements:)

LA mockboards

Time for another mockboard! I'm so glad we do these I think it helps with some of the nerves. Today was Local Anesthetic mockboards and I had my peer pal come in and be my patient. I was super nervous mostly because I want to do really well so that I'm not as nervous for the real board. I performed the left IA and the right PSA becuase I like those ones the best. I started with the left IA and I forgot to wait for them to say proceed before I annonced aspiration and I knew I had screwed up the second i did it. That is a good lesson to learn before the real board. Anyway I failed the IA becuase of that but I passed the PSA. I have a few things to work on but I think the real board will go ok. I also passed the written but I don't think that will be like the real board so I am still kind of nervous about that one. I had a crazy busy afternoon. I had my class II that Hailey used as a mockboard coming back to get finished. Then I had a screening and then a 1A. It was incredibly busy but, I was able to find a Class IV which I am in despirate need of and I was able to complete other requiremnts as well. It was a busy day but ended up being a good one. Now I just need to find another class IV and have all my patients show up and I'm set!

Mockboard #2

Today was our second mockboard and I was probably more nervous for this one because my patient is the same patient I'm using for the real board. I wanted to do well so that I would feel confident going into the real board. Everything was going along great and then I realized I only had like 15 minutes left to do head & neck and probing and all of that I started to panic. I can't believe how fast the time past. For the real board I need to be sure I watch my time better. I walked my patient to the desk right at the check-out time so I was fine but I don't want to cut it that close on the real board. I felt really nervous about my score and I was please to know that I only missed thress spots one of which wasn't a test site and that was good becuase it was actually just tooth anatomy but on the real board if they determined it was calculus they would still count it as an error because I don't get to check the spot and have discussion like with mockboards. I also missed to probing spots but, my instructor said he's not worried about that if I just take my time and double check them. I passed and I feel really good now about the real board. Still nervous cause it's kind of a big deal but I think I can do it!