Class 1B finally!

On Monday I completed my first 1B patient. It was this cute little 13 year old that had all her permanent teeth. She had braces so her cleaning was a little more challenging. However, she keep them really clean so that was good. It was difficult to probe around the brackets and wires. However she was a good sport. She had sensitive gums but she put up with all of the stuff I had to do to her. I was able to take bwx and clean all four quads. It took alot of time to floss all her teeth but I got her all finished. It was a good experience to see a patient with braces.

Two patient in one session...what was I thinking?

Today my sister was suppose to come in so I could complete her appointment. However, it turns out that she got a cold sore...of course! So instead my mom brought my 7 year old niece and my grandpa who is edentulous. I thought it would be no problem to get them both done. I started with my niece and the cleaning went really well. She was wiggly and she didn't like my mirror in her mouth at all. She has also had some pretty traumatizing appointments in the past so all in all she did really well. I declared her as an exam so I took my time wanting it to go well. I probably should have hurried more. Then I saw my grandpa. I wasn't sure what to do because I wanted to take a pano but then I would have to take his dentures out and if I did that I would need to start my PE and that required an instructor so I kept waiting and waiting because my instructor was busy with OD and scale checks. It took a very long time and finally I had to ask another instructor to help me. I was way stressed because by now I had wasted alot of time. I took the Pano film and it was fine. Then I walked my patient out and finished cleaning his dentures the rest of the way and then I still had to chart. If it weren't for my awesome pod partners I wouldn't have made it through the day.

Class III

So on Tuesday afternoon my patient cancelled on me so I was scrambling to find a patient. I called a patient I was given from the resource list and they wanted to be seen all day (so two clinic sessions) so they could get done and not have to take off additional days of work. I worked it out with Prof. Costley and told my patient I would work both clinic sessions and get as much done as I could. At the morning appointment I got through the OD and my patient was a class III which meant I was in for a long afternoon. When he came back in the afternoon I used the ultrasonic. It was a good experience because I was able to see the huge deposits shatter off of the teeth. After using the ultrasonic I hand scaled my little heart and hand out. I was so tired by the end both my hands were shaking and every muscle in my body hurt. I was only able to scale one half of the mouth. My patient wasn't happy that they had to come back but, I don't think he understood just how much work he needed on his teeth. The second years I talked to and my instructors said I did a really good job to get this much completed. Now I just hope he comes back to get the other half done and then I'll have my class III requirement done. Next time my instructors said they would numb him and I could just scale and not have to worry about hurting him and I should be able to get him finished.

Class 2 complete

Today my mom came back again and I scaled the other two quads I had left. It took a long time for me because the calculus was tenacious. However, I feel like I learned alot today. I learned how to feel for calculus and that I was not adapting good enough or going deep enough on the mesial surfaces. I made like five errors and they were mostly on the mesial surfaces. I also learned that I was not going deep enough into the col and I learned how to check from both the buccal and lingual surfaces. I just wasn't getting all the way into the col area. In one area I scaled of a big chunk of black calculus which I would guess had been missed before. If felt good to get it cleaned and think that now that area will be healthier. I was also good to finish a whole appointment. I feel like a class 2 patient was a lot to take on this early in the semester because I feel like my skill level was not good enough but, now I'm finished and it taught me a lot and hopefully it will make my other appointments easier.

First patient of the new year!

Today I brought back my mom to finish her appointment. She came in last semester and we started but I only got up to the OD check. When she came in today we reviewed her HH and did a quick visual intra and extraoral exam. Then we disclosed and I started scaling. I decided to work on the lower right because her anterior teeth had alot of build up. After scaling I had Instructor Hemsley check. I only had like three errors which surprised me. Then she said she wanted to check a few things and that she thought she was going to reclassify her. I asked why and all she said was because of a few things I'm seeing. Then she left and talked to Professor Costley and then she brought back the x-rays and said yeah were going to classify her as a 2 and walked away. I was way frustrated because I had nothing to go off. My mom kept asking me why the change? What does that mean? I didn't have a lot to tell her because I didn't know why specifically they had changed her. It made me really frustrated and It was difficult to focus and finish. I finished two quads. After clinic Instructor Hemsley came over and explained everything to me but, I wish It would have been during the appointment. It just made me feel like the experience was a failure. I didn't learn anything at the appointment and I wasn't able to better educated my patient. It was a good thing she still had two quads for me to clean because otherwise I wouldn't have been able to educate her on her specific needs. I hope this semester gets better:)

Real Patient Day!

Today my goal was to understand how an appointment goes when it's with a real patient instead of my pod partner. I was really nervous because my mom thought she had a cold sore and so I made her and my sister come just in case. It turned out not to even be a cold sore. I was also nervous that I would have enough time but, things went just fine. I started by having my instructor check my health history then I was approved to take 4 bwx and I went to take them and my mom has the craziest teeth. She is missing her maxillary cuspids, her right mandibular premolar. Plus she has enormous mandibular tori, like they are almost touching and the stick up like huge balls. However, I got the bwx on the first try:) Then we proceeded to the extra and intra oral exam. Then I did a full mouth probe and I missed a few depths and I'm still struggling a bit with that then we went over OHI and that took a lot of time because she was really interested and we discussed a lot of different things. Then it was time to dismiss her and chart. The day went very well. I didn't have time to scale but she's going to come back next semester and I will get some good practice then:)

Me as a Patient

Today I was the patient and that was a nice change. It was good to go through the check in process as the patient so that I know what to tell my patients what to expect. It was good to be the patient and hear all the things that they were told to do. It was a good reminder for the whole appointment process. Next time is real patient day and I'm way nervous to have a real patient in my chair even if it's just my mom:)