Better than last week!

Today was better than last week, though that doesn't say much since anything had to be better than that, overall it was OK. I saw a woman who had been into the clinic about a year and half ago. She was very nice but she was a talker. She had all these questions and ideas about her teeth and I was having a hard time with time management. I did 4 bwx and a PA on the LL where she was having a slight pain on and off. I had to retake the PA so Instructor Caldwell came in to help me. Once we got the xray the patient cornered Caldwell and asked her so many questions. We were in there for what seemed like forever!!! I was able to get OD and OHI done but no scaling. OD is taking me such a long time. I wish I could identify things better so it would make things go much faster. Hopefully in time that will happen! I accomplished my goal of keeping my emotions in tact and most importantly not having throw up anywhere around! ha! New goal is to be better at taking xrays and becoming faster at my OD.

WORST DAY EVER!!!

Like I said in my previous post I have had a lot going on in my personal life so I have not been on my game when it comes to school. This day for clinic I attended a funeral procession before hand and was about an hour late to begin. My son Andon was my patient for that day and I brought my 2 year old son Trevin to watch and see if he would be willing to be a patient in the future. I thought I would get a feel of how he would do so I could see if it would be a waste of my time to bring him in as a real patient. When I got there I was an emotional wreck and so flustered but tried to hold myself together. Andon hopped up in the chair and was the greatest patient!! I was so proud of him. Instructor Caldwell was so helpful and encouraging so I would have the confidence to complete him in one appointment. Trevin was being so good sitting in his stroller watching us and his movie. Things were going pretty well. Then I decided to take BWX on Andon and we went into the lab. I took Andon's xrays and as I was developing them Trevin came over to me to tell me he had pooped and wasn't feeling well. He then threw up! I was so humiliated! I didn't know what to do! When I explained the situation to instructor Caldwell she was so understanding and told me it would just take a few minutes to finish Andon up so his scaling would count but I had wiped off his info on my laminated charts. At that point I started to tear up. I couldn't believe my day! Instructor Caldwell and Karen then came to my rescue telling me that I could quickly probe again since he only had 8 teeth to probe and then just quickly reevaluate and get him done. I rushed out to the waiting room where my kids were and got them. Andon was so good to sit up in the chair and let me probe again and then have Caldwell check him. I was so proud of him and felt so bad for Trevin and humiliated and upset for myself!! A roller coaster of emotions to say the least! In the end I got my first 1A done and that is what matters! Goal for next time is to not have throw up anywhere around and to learn to keep my personal emotions bottled up better!!

Back to school!

For my first patient this semester my mom came back to finish her cleaning. I was nervous but so excited to finally get in and start cleaning. I have had a lot going on in my personal life so I didn't feel on my game at all. It took me a bit to even feel somewhat comfortable with the instruments in my hands! It was nice not having to go through the whole OD and xrays this time. I was glad to just get in and clean teeth. Instructor Vining was very patient and nice to me. He helped me get comfortable and explained everything he was doing and why when he did my first scale check. When all was said and done I only missed one spot the ML of 12. After he told me to feel it. I still didn't really feel anything but a little grit but then the tooth was smooth. I guess that was it??????? My goal for my next visit is to complete one thing at a time so my mind isn't all over the place!

First real patient!!!

Toady was patient day! My mom came in and I really appreciated it! I was a little nervous but super excited too! I filled out her HHX at home because she is on a lot of meds and I didn't want to waste time doing it at the appointment. I got BWX but then when I was developing them I forgot to take the double films apart so I sent them through together so I had to redo those! Then once I got the BWX correct instructor Wold asked for 2 supplementals so then I had to take 2 more x-rays! I felt so bad for my mom. We were in radiology for like 40 min! After all of that I got her OD done and checked and passed with flying colors then I only had time for OHI so I didn't even scale my first patient yet! I couldn't believe how fast the time went. Not sure if it went as fast for my mom!! hahaha! Anyway I LOVED finally getting a chance to use everything we have learned and I can't wait to finally feel calculus!!!

Finished up my mock patient!!

Today I finished up my mock patient Kayla! I know everyone is nervous about Monday being our first real patient but I am super excited!! I love dental hygiene and am loving learning more and more. To get the chance to practice and actually work in different mouths makes me happy! On another note I failed my first PE this week. Sam (a second year) reported that I had the wrong shoes in radiology as I was doing the pano pe. So McCaughaney failed me! I was soooo upset that she would report on my shoes when they just had a little mesh on them. UGH!!!!! Oh well I redid it today and so life goes on!

Mock patient day!!

Today was my turn to try out all of my skills on Kayla! I was so nervous last night and this morning. I was just hoping that I would do good and remember all that I have learned. I did! I did pretty good with perio charting I was just a little off (only by 1mm) on the uppers. Kayla has an implant so I was not sure what to do about that put I tried! I used the plastic probe and then Costley showed me the correct angles to get the measurements. This makes me so excited to finally get to see a "real" patient! One week away tell then!

Clean mouth!!

Today Kayla finished the rest of my mouth!! I sit here with clean teeth and fluoride soaking in! hahaha! Now next week will be my turn! I can't wait to finally get to practice the whole sha-bang!!