Clinic and Lab

Thursday I ended up having a lady I work with come in and get her teeth cleaned.  My class III patient cancelled and so I needed my back up patient!!  Lets just say you never know what kind of a mouth you will have until you start working on them!!  I thought she would have been a 1B, just actually is Perio maintenance!! What?! Can you believe it?! Seriously, this is out of control haha!  It was interesting to see that her pockets were a little deep in some areas, and then no bleeding, but then there is definitely bone loss.  Alexander helped me put it all together and it was cool to look at xrays, bleeding and pfi to determine what classification she was!!  See....Im still learning!!
In the afternoon we had lab, and it was so fun!  We got to use the ultrasonics, and the sonic.  Then we learned more about graceys and then we were able to learn about blood glucose and all of that jazz!!  Clinic is going good...minus the stressed out part of mockboards and everything!!

VA adventures

So obviously I had the VA today, who would have thought, right?!  Anyways, I had a new patient this morning, and guess what.  Turns out the man is perfectly healthy.  He could not remember the last time he had been to the dentist, and look at his mouth....completely normal.  Geez louise. I guess i shouldn't be "hoping" for disease.  How SICK and WRONG are we?!! Seriously! The Dental Hygiene program makes us this way!!!
    My afternoon patient was a little bit rough, he was kind of a diva, but hey everyone has their moments.  I just let him be the diva and relax.  It went well!!  I got some pes done today and it was super nice!!  Still, I have WAY more PE'S to go, but hey I made a dent, its fine!!  Well clinic is tomorrow and then a lab in the PM!  I have heard they are going to freak us out for boards....HEAVEN HELP ME!!  That is the last thing and the first thing on my mind EVERY SINGLE WAKING MOMENT!!  How will I ever pass?!!!  It can happen, it WILL happen...we will be fine!!  Until next time!!

All done.....with V's and 1bs.

Today was a good learning day for me. Even though my patients were so sweet and so kind, I still was able to improve my scaling skills. i missed a spot in the interproximal space on 24. Seriously you dont realize how easy we skip spots like that. Professor perry told me it was a tight spot and a hard one to get, he showed me how to angle the instrument further to the tooth in order to really get it. See even as a second year I am still learning and improving. I love second year clinic alot more than first year! First year is not fun! I guess its just a different kind of fun. haha. Some of the first years came in to do their observation and it was weird to think that just a year ago i was right in their place. Hearing them stress over all that was due and the exams made me laugh. Its kind of nice to be over that hump. But second year is a different kind of stress and i prefer it over last year.  I always tell myself when i feel like its too hard or impossible, that "This too will pass!"  Haha and thats what keeps me going! So those are my words of wisdom....this too will pass. You got this!!!(pep talk for myself!)

VA....always a story!!

Today I had the VA!!  It was great!! My morning patient I saw had driven all morning to get here and he was so sweet!! I loved this man!! He did say something that freaked me out haha he said, "Dont rush, I have no place to be, Im a retired old man.  Plus my fantasy is pretty girls...your just fine!"  What?!!  Excuse me?!  Haha all i did was do a little haha and then said ok lets take a look into your mouth!! Crazy!!  Sweet though!!  He was 3 quads of a V and one quad of a III.  I took 4 BWX and 1 PA.  He was the best, class III's are hard, but I loved him!!

My afternoon patient taught me alot.  He was shy and more nervous, so i was determined to break that barrier a little bit by the time the appointment was over.  I think I hit that goal because I had him talking to me nonstop.  Cool young guy!  He was a smoker so we talked about that for a little bit and then we saw the staining.  Connie and I started to polish it off and some did come off.  But Bossenberger came over and said that it was some stain but alot of it was Class 5 caries!! Oh my gosh, I remember learning about that but not knowing exactly what it looked like!!! Crazy!!  I learn something new every day at the VA!!  It grows on ya, but its still not my favorite place to be.  But i love how relaxed and fast paced it is!!  I love Connie also!! She is amazing!!  Love that woman, and she is a great hygienist! I hope I become as great and good as she is!!

VA insanity and my turn for CA

Well since I was CA today for clinic, which I might add was awesome!! I really enjoyed it!!  No stress with patients!!  Anyways, I had a crazy story I forgot to tell last week.  At the VA, my afternoon patient had HIV!! I never ever thought I would see a patient with this disease!! I guess there is a first for everything!! Being nervous was definitely an understatement!! I said so many prayers to keep me safe and calm, so that a freak accident would not happen!!  It was the craziest, awesome thing that happened!!  As soon as I called my patients name, my nerves ceased!!  I was expecting to deal with a very sick person, but what I saw was a 6'4 man who you would never guess had HIV.  He was an awesome guy!! One of the coolest patients I have ever had!! I really enjoyed working on him!! I was so calm and able to think thru everything, and I did not make a mistake at all!!  He was great, and I am so happy I was able to experience that!! 

This week at the VA I saw a difficult class V, and let me tell ya, I was done with the VA that day.  He was a difficult patient.  First of all his blood pressure was off the charts, his lower and upper lip were like boulders trying to move them, which was impossible.  His tongue was as strong as the hulk and then his cheeks were horrible!! I seriously could not do anything to get to his teeth!! He was impatient and his gag reflex was crazy bad.  It was everything rolled into one, every patient is their very own. 

In the afternoon, I was to my limit.  I was frustrated and I wanted to leave.  I had a new patient, and I knew this was going to be a very long time!!  When I brought him back, I could smell the perio disease on his breath! As I was taking xrays, I could smell it thru my mask.  This was the first day ever in my school career as a hygienist that I understood what everyone meant when they said wait until you smell periodontal disease!!  Well I finally got too.  I wouldn't think of it as a pleasure, because it was everything but that!!  He was super kind and patient and very cooperative.  He had not been into the dentist/hygienist in over 20 years.  His fiance brought him in because (these are her exact words) "His breath stanks, and I ain't kissin' that until something is fixed in his mouth!  We get married next June and I gotta fix whatever it is in his mouth, cuz I sure dont want it!"  It made me laugh, because she was so adimit about his teeth, and he could careless, obviously.  Well as I was probing I knew this was going to be good.  His pocket depths were 6's 7's and 8's.  He had pus and blood coming out of every single sulcus around his teeth!!  He was foaming at every tooth and the smell was indescribable.  Wow!!  I just double masked up and went at it!!  I finally got one quad done of a Class III!!  A class 3 yall!!  I was super stoked.  It sucks because I did all the work and now another hygienist gets to have him and gets those requirements!! Ridiculous!! Oh well, I am hoping I will be able to get all of these requirements soon!!

Clinic = stressed to the max

Well first actual real clinic day over with.  I had my mom this morning and then my friend Mallory in the afternoon.  Its hard readjusting to everything after being gone for 4 months.  Crazy how much you forget. 
I really enjoy second year clinic, less busy work, less paperwork, basically we get all the crap out of the way!! Thank heavens.  It speeds everything up so much faster!!
Today professor alexander taught me how to polishing using a trick.  Holding the prophy paste and saliva ejector in one hand and then the polishing motor in the other.  Its perfect, you can retract with it!!  love it!! Look, they show us all the fun cool tricks in second year!! Ridiculous!!

Then in the afternoon Prof. Perry showed me how to use the prophy paste in between your middle and ring finger and then cup it and retract with your finger.  HELLO!!  So much easier!! I love it!!  See two new ways in how to polish!! More tips are welcomed.  He also showed me another trick, along side of his quizzing.  Seriously, he does not give up.  One question after another!! Its crazy, thats why we are nervous for him!! Oh well, its life right?!! 
Overall clinic was good, I only saw two 1b's but hey its a classification. 
BRING ON THE CLASS III'S PLEASE!!!!