Monday, February 28, 2011

And she has to come back AGAIN!!!

Holy Smokes!!
My goal for the day was to finish scaling Paola. She is half class I and have class II. This should have been done this appointment! I wanted to quickly do OHI since we did a lot of it last Wednesday and then scale away. I seriously don't know where all the time goes! One quadrant took me 45 minutes! That is not ok! The worst part is that I do not know how to go faster. I am hand scaling and don't really use my Ultrasonic. Maybe I should use that more. I just feel better about it and more confident when I am hand scaling.
I did learn something today though. Professor Costley was helping me scale and noticed that where I was scaling there was a 5 mm pocket. That means that my scaler should be up that far! Duh! Ha ha what a simple thing that just hasn't clicked until now.
I also heard her telling someone else that when I am scaling I should be making every stroke for a reason, not just scraping back and forth.
She also taught me an extra oral fulcrum that is going to be great to use!

I was pretty frustrated about today. Somehow I need to get faster!!!

Friday, February 25, 2011

X-rays take a long time!

This time I had another new patient that I have never met before. I wasn't able to look at her chart before hand either. That is always nerve racking!
My goal for the day was to be able to start scaling and get as much done as possible. I wanted to work fast! I feel like my OD is getting faster which makes me feel really good! When I got to look in her chart I saw that she hadn't gotten x-rays for over a year. Good and bad thing for me. I got to take a set of BWX and a PA, however that takes up a lot of time!! I did conventional for the first time on a clinic day. Those day light loaders take a lot of time!! And waiting for 10 films to process takes forever!! So needless to say, I didn't make my goal. I only had time to get through OHI. I felt like it was a really good thing for her though! She said the previous hygienist didn't use the disclosing agent and she seemed to like it! I was also really happy because when we brushed the plaque came off really easily and I was able to teach her how to angle her toothbrush. She kind of had a hard time with it at first, but I can tell she understood why she needs to do that.
I will hopefully see her again soon. I think I'll be able to kick out all 4 quads pretty quick. She doesn't seem to have too much calculus and I'm betting it won't be super hard.
Next time I take x-rays I need to figure out how to shave time off!! I can't imagine doing a FMX with conventional. That would take 2 hours!!

All in all, I liked working with my patient. She was very nice!

Monday, February 14, 2011

4 quads in 1 appt!!

So today I finished the patient that my peer pal gave me.
My goal was to finish him and I totally did it!! So excited!! The best part was that he told me that he had been flossing since our last appt! That made me so happy! And his PFI improved so so much! I felt like what I told him at the last appt really sunk it!

Vining helped me a lot his appt. It is crazy how such little things (secrets) makes things so much easier! If you can't see the maxillary molars... switch chair positions!

He is such a nice guy! And I'm so excited that he has a dentist appt in few weeks! He really needs it cause he's got a lot of cervical caries. I can't wait to see how his mouth changes next time I see him.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Thank you Karlie! (Cline)

My patient today was given to me by my peer pal, Karlie Cline. He's a class 5 and she didn't have time to clean him. He is a super nice man! Easy going, very cooperative and complimentary! I enjoyed seeing him today.

I didn't know what to expect when he came in because I wasn't able to look at his chart until this morning. Nothing too crazy though! He's been coming to the clinic for a very long time. His chart is thick!! Since I didn't know what I was up against as far as x-rays and dent I had no idea how far I would get today. I didn't need to do x-rays, which was nice!

I got all the way to scaling today, which is such good news!! I didn't think that would ever be possible! He had a lot of restorations to chart too. I feel very good about how far I got today. We spent a lot of time on OHI and I did pretty well with my probe depths, dent, and perio.

Stuff I learned.... it is good to get out of the norm. He has been in a lot and I'm sure he has had "c-shaped" flossing crammed into his head a million times. He still isn't flossing though. So I flossed all his teeth and explained what I was doing, but instead of having him demonstrate the flossing technique to me, I gave him the easy flosser things for him to try out. He really liked it and I think that he'll be more inclined to floss with those. So hopefully that will be a help for him!

I don't know what else I learned. I feel good though! I hope to finish him on Monday!!

Monday, February 7, 2011

Finished with my father

Hey!! Today wasn't so bad. I only had one more quad to go on my dad and then I finished him up and sent him on his way with fluoride on his teeth.

My goal was to get my dad finished and out of here early. I do not need the full 3 hours to scale one quad, polish, and fluoride. I made my goal!! I got him out of here at 2:30. I hate that he had to come back 4 times!!! I am feeling more confident everyday though. I can't say I'm comfortable with everything, but it is getting easier.

This time I did OHI quicker because I didn't brush, I only flossed and then got the rest of the color off by scaling and polishing.

It feels so good to him him finished!!!

Today I tried to be more confident with the work that I was doing instead of taking forever in one area being unsure if I got everything.

This stresses the heck out of me.... but truth be told, I really like it!!