Clinic 11/27

Today was my mockboard make up day. My goal today was just to do my best and to learn how the mockboard exam works. And if I pass while I am at it thats just fine! I was so nervous going into the experience because I missed the class day where we went over the paper work in depth. I wasn't as nervous about the calculus removal because I have done that before, it was the paperwork the was the unknown. I survived though and I even passed! My patient was a great patient with calculus that was even better! It seems that the bigger the chunk of calculus the easier it comes off! I only missed one spot and I didn't even use the whole 2 hours to clean the one quad and I even submitted extra teeth. I feel more confident about the board exams now. I hope when next semester comes I will be able to find a good patient that qualifies and I hope I can pass!

Clinic 11/20

I saw my challenging class 3 patient today and wow was it a clinic day like I used to have all the time! She has diabetes and we take her blood sugar everytime and today it was sky high. We have a physicians consult but it was so high the instructor still wanted me to get the physicians ok. Ittook about an hour and a half to get a hold of the physician and he said yes. So by the time I was able to actually clean I could only finish one quad. I had planned to pass off a lot of PE's on her but I didn't even have time to do one. I am especially frustrated because I have to do the periodontal medicament PE and I couldn't and I don't have another patient to complete it on so I don't know what I am doing to do. I didn't have time to clean the quad that needed the medicament because it obviously had some really deep pockets with a lot of radiographic calculus in them and I wouldn't have had time to finish it completely. It was a frustrating day but I still learned a lot. It was my first time cleaning teeth this semester without a big pregnant belly and it was different but a whole lot easier. The most interesting this about this patient is that I can really see the impact that uncontrolled diabetes has on the periodontium. She had moderate periodontal disease and her tissues were purple they were so inflamed. I made sure the patient understood how important it was to see her physician to get her diabetes under controll. I will have to find some literature on the impact of diabetes on the mouth to educate my patient on the problems it can cause.

11/6 Lab

Well, today was my first day back after having Claire! It was so nice to have a little break from clinic since I had worked so hard for so many weeks leading up to my delivery. The break made it that much harder to come back though. Our lab included wheelchair transfer, alginate impressions, perio irrigation, desensitization, and emergency preparedness. I feel like the perio irrigation was very insightful and I can't wait to be able to use it on my patients now. I feel like it can help to improve the tissues of many of my class 3 patients. Desensitization was nice to learn about as well. It help having learned about the different techniques and products in class beforhand and then being able to use them clinically. There are so many different products out there that it is so important to keep up on the technology and what is best so you can choose the best treatment method for your patient.

Clinic Week #7

We had a lab in the morning for clinic and we practiced our graceys, our R & L ultrasonics, blood glucose and saliva testing and the placement of perio medicaments. It was fun to have a lab to kind of change our clinic sessions up a little bit. This lab was so helpful! I feel like I really know how to use my R & L's and the graceys now. When I did my reading for class and came to the lab and worked with the gracey's I figured out how I could clean a furcation like the one I saw at the VA! Its hard to explain but it was such a simple and obvious solution but it didn't dawn on me until I saw a picture of it in my book. I was so excited that I told all my friends and Prof. Alexander had me talk about it in pod wrap up. It feels really good to be able to problem solve and enhance my clinical skills. It also was really neat to be able to offer my new found in sight to my clinic friends. The rest of the lab was fun. I really liked placing the arestin in the hotdogs! I saw my class 3 exam patient in the afternoon and she was so difficult! She hadn't been to the dentist in so long that her calculus was almost impossible to get off. She also had so much sub gingival calculus! I feel like it was such a great learning experience for me! I only completed 2 quads but I was really tired afterwards!

VA Week #6

This week at the VA was a different experience but I learned a lot. Prof. Hansons wasn't able to make it this week so I had the experience of working with professor Bossenberger. She does things differently but I really enjoyed working with her. I feel like I was able to learn a lot from her. It is nice to get to work with different clinicians and be able to gain from their knowledge. I had really good patients today as well. I had a really challenging patient with a class 2 furcation. I had a really hard time trying to figure out how to clean out the furcation and what instruments to use. I used my mini graceys and was able to access the furcation but I still feel like I wasn't able to clean it as well as I would have liked. I just couldn't quit get the cutting edge to adapt. I will have to ask some more instructors to see if they can offer any insight.

Clinic Wk #6

This week I saw my 1A's and my mockboard patient. Both my 1A's came in the morning and they were quick and pretty easy. It was kind of different doing little kids when I have been seeing so many adults with challenging teeth. I almost couldn't remember how to clean a childs mouth since they don't have much calculus. It was a fun experience and a great change of pace. After seeing the kids, my mockboard came in the afternoon. It was good to practice on her other quadrants so I know what to expect when she comes in for the mockboard. I feel confident with cleaning this patient. She is a good and reliable patient and doesn't have anything significant on her health history so that will make the paper work easier. Her calculus also comes off pretty easy and isn't tenacious so I feel like when I clean her teeth in the mockboard I will be able to get the calculus off without much force. I also got to be CA at Weber this week and it was lots of fun as usual :)