I didn't say it was easy

Ok, so comparatively speaking this was a rather easy semester. We rarely had class and the most exciting part of this semester was giving each other injections. Happily things went really well and I met all of my requirements and I wasn't scrambling at the last second to finish my quads. So, three semesters down and 1 to go! I can hardly believe it! I just want to focus on really understanding what I am doing and what I will be doing for the rest of my career so I can be great in this field. I definitely don't feel ready to graduate at this moment, but hopefully I will be ready for it by the end of next semester.

Looking Back

Well, as I look back over the last semester I realize that the beginning was a lot smoother than the end. The last two weeks of clinic I was really scrambling to fill my schedule cause people just kept canceling or not showing up. I tried to call my mom for the last day of clinic and she absolutely would not come. I begged her to come and let me practice injections on her and she wouldn't even do that! Can you believe it! But thankfully things went rather well and I did finish all of my requirements. All in all things turned out very well.

One week to go!

So today was pretty uneventful, Raphael cancelled again so I had a child this morning and a tissue check on Manny. I was very pleasantly surprised because we placed Arestin in his 10mm pocket and today when I probed it had improved to a 6mm pocket. It was really neat that he ended up healing that well, I was very pleased with the result. This afternoon I finished Rosemary and she was tough. I had a hard time with her! She had the biggest chunks of calculus I have ever seen! It was fun to get them off. Anyway I am excited that we only have one more clinic session left before the end of the semester.

I'm having a little trouble

Ok, so I scheduled my patients for today Amal in the morning and Adam in the afternoon. However, I saw Raphael, and he only needs one quad scaled and he is done and he could only come this morning - so I cancelled Amal. This afternoon I had scheduled Adam and Bryan needed to get in - so... I cancelled Adam. Well, when I called to confirm Raphael- he said he couldn't come today and I couldn't get a hold of Amal so I had no one this morning. Luckily Jim needed a caries risk assessment so I got something done. However, after jim left I got a call from Mrs. Campbell saying that Bryan had called to cancel. :( Not good, he promised me he would be here so I was basically screwed out of a day. As I was searching for a patient however, a miracle happened. I got a call from one of my flyers from a patient who wanted to get in right away. SO... I got one quad of a class 1B scaled and that was it. I did my best and said my prayers and payed my tithing and things worked out.

mock board

Well, this was an experience. I had so many mixed feelings coming in today that it is hard to even describe what I was feeling. I was nervous about getting x-rays done cuz I had to take 9 PA's before I even got started. So I barely finished those and then I had to rush checking my patient in, which I was 3 minutes late, luckily no more! After that I was concerned that he might not qualify in the single quad and that I would have to do more teeth, luckily he qualified and things went well there. So I got out my heavy duty ultrasonic and started blasting the heck out of this guys calculus because it is some of the most tenacious stuff I have ever encountered. It was amazing, I just saw chunks of it flying off. So then I went back in with my graceys and fine tuned. I thought that I could feel this massive chunk between 30 and 31 so I was just going to town there. Finally I pulled out my probe to check probe depths and I felt a few more clicks so I went back in for those and then I felt confident enough to send him for the final check. Luckily I passed, I only missed one spot so I felt pretty good about what I had done. I didn't know what to do with all the paperwork however, so I'll have to fine tune the little things and get more signatures, but it sure was a confidence booster to pass the first mock board. I just need to focus on honing my skills.

Down to the wire!

Ack! It is getting close to mock board! I had been calling my patient nonstop for a week, with no success, and so have been a little stressed. But a miracle happened yesterday. A patient of mine that qualified as a mock board, couldn't come on the day of mock boards so I had him scheduled to clean this morning. Well, yesterday when I called to confirm him, he said that he thought we had scheduled him for a mock board and he could come on that day! What a miracle! I had been racking my brain about who to get for mock board, and here was my answer! So today I cleaned a woman who was a 1B and my grandma who was a class V. It was a great day!

labs are good, labs are great

I liked labs when I was 8 (Labradors that is!) Today was a fun experience, very calm and unstressful! We learned about right and left ultrasonics, sonic scalers, glucose testing, caries rick assessment and placing medicaments. I liked using the hot dogs to place the medicaments! It was a fun object for our lesson. In the afternoon I actually got to place a medicament on my patient with a 10 mm facial pocket. It was great! Today was an all around great day.

OD

Today was interesting. My first patient informed me at 8:15 that she needed to leave by 9:00 am, so I rushed through x-rays and did the best I could with the time I had. I think she may even qualify for a class 3 patient. Well Shandee and I then got to hang out and set up for the afternoon, which was a fun experience. We had 14 sealants that we shared on a great little girl. After that I saw my grandma for an OD check and I will scale her later in the semester. So it wasn't really a wasted day, but I really wanted to get some scaling done. Hopefully next week will be more productive.

Tenacious!

Hola! I am feeling um kindof different. I am having a really tough time getting tenacious calculus off of teeth. So today I had another really difficult patient in that the calculus just wasn't ready to let go of its ties to the tooth. I thought it would be, but it wasn't. So, my forearms now hurt from all the force I exerted, but the calculus finally succumbed to my way of thinking and left it's warm home for the wide open expanse of the garbage dump. Anyway, I just need to be a lot more thorough before I ask for my scale check. Other than that, my day was pretty good. I shared a class 5 with Tiffany and that was good gravy. I just want to be efficient, I want to be good, even though I know this is the time for me to learn, I WANT TO BE PERFECT NOW!!!!

blah, blah, blahhger

i enjoy getting my requirements! I am really excited and happy about the fact that I am already finished with my class 2 patients, thanks to today, and that I am almost finished with my class 5 and 1B. It makes such a big difference when your patients actually show up for their appointments! (knock on wood!) But I am really blessed this semester and I am very happy about that. It definitely cuts down on stress!

cold sores again!

Well another great day in clinic. My first patient had a cold sore right in the corner of his mouth, so I had to reschedule! oops! Luckily Shandee had overbooked her patients and she gave me a little 11 year old girl to clean. Thanks Shand! Everything went really well so I was pretty set for the afternoon. My patient in the afternoon was great, she was a talker however, so I was barely able to finish her before clinic got over. I was feeling pretty rushed, but things went okay. Hopefully next week runs smoothly!

Blah, blah, blahgger

Today went pretty well. I had an older grandma as my patient, and she was cute and very easy to work with. She had no problem laying back and opening wide. The only drawback was the physician consult, but it didn't turn out to be terrible. Later I had another great lady for a patient. The only problem I came across was the fact that concavities on the straight facial aspect of molar teeth are classified as furcations, something I didn't know. But I am a student so I can learn. I feel a lot better about clinic this year, and I am glad for all of the helpful tips that the instructors give this year. I feel like the help is available and much more willing to teach. I am by no means a great hygienist yet, but I feel that 2nd year instructors will help me reach that goal.

take 2

Well we are back to seeing patients again. Hopefully I will have more confidence with my paperwork so I can just focus on gaining and perfecting some skills. My first patient was a class 2, and she wasn't too hard, she didn't have much calculus so things went well. My second patient was class 1B, and he went really quickly as well. So far so good. I hope things continue to go well!

We're back

Well summer has officially come to an end cause here we are back to school! I am excited to be a senior this year, finally! One more year of headache and not seeing my husband and it's over! It's only ythe first week and I already can't wait for it to be over!

Last Day!

Almost! I just want to cry after today. It is the last day of clinic and I saw my class 3 pt, and I missed pretty much every piece of calculus in his mouth! I feel like I haven't learned anything if I can't even get al the calculus off in 2 quads in 2 hours! Yuck! I just want to crawl up in a cave an die!

Over kill

I got another pt with 2 quads of a class 2 and I am pretty excited that I will have extra requirements filled. I hope that things go well the rest of the week!

Class 3

Yeah! I have finally found all my required patients and I am so relieved. All the prayers and tithing have really blessed me to find this final patient. And thanks to Loni, yesterday I finished my requirements for pano's and I only have one last requirement for x-rays hopefully I will get them on Monday. Do you believe that things really do work out! I can hardly believe it. I'll be saying some pretty hefty prayers of thanks tonight!

Class 2 take two

Yeah! I am finished with my class 3 pt's! Hallelujah! I am breezing through my patients, I hope wednesday is a class 3. I guess we'll see!

class 2

Thanks Shandee for giving me a class 3! That was fantasticlly kind of you. I am one step closer to being completed with my requirements for clinic! Yeah! Things went fabulously today!

Today I finished another class 5 pt. Things went really well, I was a little nervous as I was scaling because she has some sever recession and I didn't want to ZING her with my scalers or anything. So I tried to be as careful as I could be. I didn't miss any calculus again! YEAH!