Kinda weird...

So, this didn't happen in clinic, but this is proof I've got dental hygiene brain 24/7.

I was teaching a tumbling class tonight of kids of various ages. I was spotting this one girl and looked at her teeth and they all looked really small for how big she was. So I asked her how old she was and she is 7. Then I asked her a question I already knew the answer to. She has lost no teeth and is 7 years old!!! Weird! She looks super cute cause her little teeth are all perfect instead of the crazy mouth that you usually see in a 7 year old. But that made me nervous for her! I sure hope she is seeing a dentist regularly! What if she has no permanent teeth?? I would be so sad!!!

A day of Weeks's and a gift from Heaven!

So day my life was being saved by the Weeks family. I planned to see my bro-in-law in the morning and then my sweet 3 year old niece in the afternoon.

So my AM pt had to be gone at 9:15-9:30. I was actually way excited about that because it would push me to get a 1B done in a little over an hour... which I have never done before. He had to fill out a new HH, darn, which took time that I could barely spare. We were hoping to do x-rays, but ran out of time, darn! But anyways.... It was a good experience I did get him walked out by 9:30. I think that if I didn't have to spend so much time on HH, scale checks, probing, and computer paper work then I would have had time to spare to do BXW's. Someday I will be faster! ha ha.

I used the ultrasonic on the mandible and only hand scaled the maxillary arch... I think that with an easy pt like that the ultrasonic makes me take more time because I always go back and check with my scaler. I am still trying to get in the groove with my ultrasonic.

My gift from Heaven came in the middle of my AM appt. Dr. Hanson walked over and says to me, "you are going to be done soon right? And I said yep and that he has to leave at 9:30. She says good cause there is a pt waiting in the waiting room that would like to get her teeth cleaned we think she is a "three or a four". Well Heck YA I'll see her!!!! So I get my first pt out and get the next pt in and guess what?! FULL mouth CLASS 4!!! Wahoo!! She is super nice too! The only english she knows is "my name is Amelia". ha ha. So fun!! I had a translator for a lot of the appt which was great! I only got the OD done, but I am satisfied with that. The best part of her appt was when I was getting ready to walk her out and she asked me to teach her how to brush her teeth!!! She seriously asked me to show her!! Best pt EVER!! We talked for a while about it and I gave her some auxiliary (I feel like this word should be spelled axillary, but I keep seeing is spelt the other way.) aids to help her out. I can not wait to see her again!!!

Then my afternoon was just amazing!! My niece did great!!! Never complained! Let me do whatever I wanted!! Perfect perfect!! It was a good day today!!

What does the VA mean to you???

I will tell you what the VA means to me.... Old men with fuzzy teeth!! ha ha I feel like this is all I get there. Plaque, plaque, plaque!!! Yuck, yuck, yuck!! Don't get me wrong, I have not had a patient there that I didn't have a blast with! I don't know why but I really love working there. My question is, Why don't they care that they have fuzz all over their teeth? I know you can feel it, taste it, and see it. Isn't it a wonderful feeling to slide your teeth across minty fresh brushed and flossed pearly whites??? I sure think it is! If I was the daughter of one of these men I would call my dad every morning and night to remind him to brush his teeth! LIFE IS BETTER WITH CLEAN TEETH!!!

Ok, maybe we can get into some reflection of the actually cleaning. I still don't love the ultrasonic, but it is handy to help remove plaque. I still need to remember to shove the tip all the way into the pocket.

My patients weren't too tough. The biggest thing I had to work around was personalities. ha ha but I enjoy that!

My PM patient kept hitting on me and grabbed me into a big hug when I called him out the waiting room... kinda yucky! But he kinda stopped by the end of the appt.

What? My patient cancelled??

So last week my afternoon patient cancelled and since I had already done the OD I had to get her back in so I scheduled her for my am patient. 8 0'clock rolls around, no pt. 8:15 rolls around, no pt and no answer on her cell. 8:16 rolls around and Karen lets me know that she called in and will not be coming. WHAT?!! I was not having that again! I called her right up and convinced her to come. haha.. I am so glad that she lives so close to the school!

Since I only had to scale I had a lot of extra time which I loved! I was able to talk to her a lot about what is going on in her mouth. We talked about perio, brushing, flossing, dry mouth, caries, bruxing, and how to take care of some huge fractured teeth with an end tuft brush and maybe a syringe. I know that sounds like a lot... but I know she understood and was grateful for the instruction. I felt like a pretty good teacher, it was fun! I like it when we can talk more during the appointments.

My afternoon patient was my miracle 3 found by Brooke. I really enjoyed cleaning his teeth too! I am learning so much about how to get angles right and how to ultrasonic correctly and how to use graceys it is wonderful! So the coolest thing happened! I missed the mesial of 18 and distal of 19... which wasn't the cool part. The cool part was when Dr. Hanson showed me that you can get the right angles by going to 12 o-clock and doing the "V- of the hand grasp". That was so much easier than reaching over and not being able to see it very well. I was so impressed when she had me move there! I hope I never forget that one! It was really fun to work in deeper pockets too! I was so worn out by the end of the day though! My fingers were about to fall off! One thing I know that I need to work on with harder patients is to make sure that the ultrasonic gets all the way down into the pockets. I am starting to like that thing... sort of. ha ha.

It felt like a very productive day! Dr. Hanson said she was impressed and could tell that I have been getting better, I finished both patients on time, got 2 PE's done, and finished my 3! Woo!

I like this cleaning teeth thing! :)

Lessons learned at the VA

So the VA was stupendous this week!! I loved it! I have been so lucky not to have any raunchy patients! I totally loved both my patients today! One thing that I am so excited about for when I actually work in an office are all the great friends that I am going to have! I would love to see my hilarious afternoon patient every 4 months!! I am excited about the future relationships made in the dental chair!

I did have a few great "ah ha" moments today!

#1 When your patient had nasty breath and brown coated tongue..... TALK ABOUT TONGUE BRUSHING!!! I had a nasty in the morning! McConaughy even gave me props for being able to stay in his mouth for that long! When patients have that nasty brown tongue I bet their mouths never ever feel or taste clean. How could they? That is actually quite sad!! I can not believe that I did not address tongue brushing with that patient! Slap my wrists someone!

#2 Talk quieter when you say dumb things like "potty break" to your 45 year old patient! You never know who is within hearing distance and who will rat you on her blog! ha ha ha. I was kicking myself the whole time he was in the bathroom about saying potty break!!! I am such a nerd!

#3 I guess I only had 2 "ah ha" moments. :)

I am liking the VA more and more. It is a bit weird with all the regulations and stuff... but those worries are paled by trying to communicate in Spanish with patients at WSU.

Halloween Party

Hey ladies!

I just thought I would pass on that Dr. Hanson said that our Halloween party was they best one she's been to!! Thank you everyone for all your help in making our party so fun!! I loved it!

"Someone took all my money" and "Oh! I forgot to call you!"

Words of both of today's cancellations! Dern it!!

AM: She said someone took all her money. I think this was a legit excuse too. She kept going on and on about it on the phone with me. I would freak if the bank called me and told me all my money was gone!

So I took MeChel's blood glucose and and did the Diagnodent on her as well. 2 PE's. Not bad.

PM: "Oh I forgot to call you!" Pah! It just so happens I found a great patient in your absence!

Well I should rephrase that... Brooke found me an amazing patient instead. Class 3 baby! Woo! I love it when patients fall asleep when I am probing, it totally makes me feel like I am doing a good job since they aren't going through the roof! But I think that my posture sucked partly because he was sleeping and not keeping his head in the right place. I timed my probing and today it took me 30 minutes! Where does the time go? It was harder though cause I had 3rd molars and deep pockets that I am not used to. But still. I need to pick up the pace. I didn't get to clean him today since he got there late and left early because Brooke finished much faster than I did. Just doing an OD at an appointment totally sucks though! If I had another hour though, I bet I would have gotten a couple quads done... maybe just one.

Anyways, today was pretty good, despite the disappointment.

Reschedule the no shows? or not?