1/31

Today I saw a patient off the resource list. I got the patient from a fellow class mate who was seeing a mother who wanted her daughter to come in as well. I made an opening in my schedule because I really need kids! So I saw a cute little eight year old and it was great. I decided to count her as an exam and I was a little nervous since I hadn't cleaned a child before but it went well. I also did sealants. I had the goal to pass off a PE and I did the sealant one. It was a good day.

1/29

Today I saw my neighbor Jeff. I really wanted to get to scaling today and I was hoping he wouldn't mind coming back. Suprise!! I finished it all today, in one appointment! He doesn't have to come back at all. I could barely beleive it! Except I can't take all the credit, he had almost no calculus. So it was so fast and easy to clean his teeth. I was very proud of myself. I set some specific times that I wanted to have certain tasks done by and I stuck with them. I now know what I am capable of and can continue to improve my speed.

1/24

Today I saw my grandpa as my patient. I was a little nervous but it turned out to be a great day. My grandpa was a class 5 and it was so interesting to see and measure his recession and to actually feel some of his furcations. It was very educational for me. He used to have perio but now takes very good care of his mouth. He had very healthy gums so it made it easier to probe and scale and see the pathology that he had. I actually got to scaling beleive it or not!! I got one quad done and I only had one missed spot! I was so proud of myself today.

1/22

Today I saw my first new patient that I didn't know previously. I was really nervous but it wasn't bad at all! My goal today was to get to scaling at least a quad. of course it didn't happen. I will make that my goal everytime i guess until I get to it. I don't see how it is possible to finish a 1B in one appointment! I get really discouraged. I see my grandpa on wednesday. I am excited but I hope he is ok with coming back a time of two because I am so slow! I hope all goes well next time!

1/17

Today I had the goal of finishing my patient in a reasonable amount of time. Needless to say, I took about 2 hours to clean her teeth. She had a lower anterior AND an upper anterior lingual bar. It took me the majority of my time to clean the lingual bars. The rest of the mouth didn't take very long. When I got my scale check I had missed five spots!! Most were under the lingual bar but still! I felt so stupid! I don't know if I can do this. I hope things get better next time!! I am so frustrated! I hope my patient can forgive me!!

1/10

Today was our first patient day of the semester. I had my friend melanie come in who has been a patient at the clinic before. I was hoping to get a lot done on her today. My goal was to just get to scaling. I wasn't able to get to scaling on my first patient I saw last semester. I reveiwed my clinic manual and prepared myself as best as I could to move as quickly and as efficiently as possible during the appointment. There was one thing I forgot to take into account though. I forgot how much a patient can talk! I am friends with her so she wanted to talk a lot! I enjoyed talking with her but I wasn't able to reach my goal of scaling. I only got up to OHI. Another problem was I had a hard time remembering what steps to take when and how to use the computer. Now that the crash course of today is over with I feel like I can do a lot better next time. I will see her again this coming wednesday to scale her. I hope all goes well!!!

1/8

Today was the first day of the new semester and the first day back at clinic. I am excited to be back but I seem to be getting more nervous by the minute. We learned area-specific instrumentation today. It was nice to learn how to use our gracey's. I like how we don't have to angle them ourselves. It makes it a lot easier to instrument since they are self-angulated. I am excited to start seeing patients but very nervous! I hope wednesday goes well!!