Casing on our house

In response to numerous requests I am going to post some pics of the house and give a little update. Here are some pics of the casing around our doors. I absolutely love it! Of course there is a lot of patching that still needs to take place but at least we are seeing some progress. I tried to take a picture of our windows and the casing around them but the sunlight outside the windows distorted the picture and you couldn't see the casing at all. I will take pictures of the windows when I am up at the house at night. I also just realized that I forgot a pic of the baseboard so I will take one of those too. With the casing and baseboard all done we are now moving onto the floors. We have been refinishing the original hardwood floors and it has been a very hard and long process. We will hopefully be staining them soon so once they are finished I will post some before and after pics. We are also starting to tile the floors in the bathrooms and kitchen. It is exciting to see our house finally coming together!

April 17th

I finished my 1A's today with my little nephew Logan. He was way cute and was a really good patient. I then tried to see the class four from last week but his blood pressure was too high this week to be seen. I was able to take some x-rays for him but that was all. He was a lot nicer to me this week. I could tell that I had gained his respect. I was dissapointed that I couldn't clean him today but not very disappointed because he was so hard to clean. I hope that next year he will want to be cleaned by another girl so his disease state can be under control. I am done with all of my requirements and I am now just working on getting extra quads. I can't believe this semester is almost over!

April 10th

Today was our last mockboard exam before the real board exam. I was nervous for this one because I wanted to be sure that I got the paperwork right and everything in the right order. My patient was the patient who had canceled last minute last week and I was just hoping and praying that he would work out for the exam. I couldn't even find his chart with his x-rays at first but after a lot of searching I found it and there was only one quad good enough to clean. My patient came late and he couldn't even speak english. Pretty much this was a horrible experience but in the end I guess I did learn something. He was a class 4 and didn't want me to touch his gums when I was cleaning him. How can you not touch their gums!?! It was a very difficult quad to clean and I pretty much just ultrasoniced the whole time. although it was hard and exhausting, i learned a lot. Unfortunatley for me though, he is not complete and I have to see him next week.

April 3rd

I really need 1B's! How funny is that? I am glad that that is the classification I am having trouble with because they are a dime a dozen. I had my sister in law come in and she was a 1B of course. I then cleaned a class 5 in the afternoon because my other patient cancelled last minute. I was so frustrated at the end of this day because my scaling time is crap! I should be so much faster by now but I am not and it is making me crazy! I think my main problem is that I am so used to cleaning harder classifications now that it am used to going back into a pocket numerous times to get all of the deposit. With easier classifications I don't need to go back in. My first stroke should have been effective enough. My goal now is to get faster at scaling easier patients. At this speed right now I wont be able to survive in private practice.

March 27th

Nothing too exciting still. Just more cleaning of class 3's. I did have my board patient in again to clean the absess and another quad that won't be able to be used for boards. I feel like this experience cleaning him was a little easier than cleaning him for mockboards because I knew what to expect with his calculus load and how hard it was to get off. i also timed myself to see how long it would take me to clean a quad. It took me about an hour so I feel that I will be able to do a good job in the time I have at the WREB board. I hope that the absess will clear up so it doesn't bother anything during the exam.

March 20th

Now that I have found my board patient I don't need to OD as many patients so now I am focusing on getting my requirements done and also keeping up my skills for WREB. I had two class threes come in today and I was able to do more injections as well. Not too much to say but I do feel that my skills are very much improved from just the start of the semester. I sm glad I have these patients to get in to clean because they are similar to my board patient and they will give me the best experience in cleaning. One thing I need to work on now is my PE's. Goal: Do more PE's because the end of the semester is coming fast!!

March 13th

ANESTHSIA BOARD EXAM!! I PASSED!!!!!! It was the hardest thing I have ever done! Holy cow it was so stressful and scary but I did it and I am still alive to tell about it. What a relief to have it all over with!

March 6th

Today I had my board patient come in to do a thorough OD and to get all of the x-rays needed for WREB. It was exciting to get all of this done knowing that it is a huge step in completed my education by having a board patient. My patient is such a sweet guy who is so willing to help. I am getting a little nervous because he has some sort of periodontal absess that is in the quad i will be cleaning for boards. I will get him back and clean those two teeth to help it heal and I will just have to submit extra teeth for the exam. I also saw my board patient's wife in the afternoon. I was able to give her an injection which is good because real anesthesia boards are coming up!! My goal is to practice injections as much as I can so I feel more prepared for the real boards because I would really love to pass!

Feb. 28th

Anesthesia Mockboard Day!!! I was way nervous for this day because I have only given a few injections since learning how to do them last semester. I just had my peer pal come in and gave them on her. I failed the PSA and passed the IA. I have the hardest time with the PSA!! In the afternoon my patient no showed so I decided rather than getting in a quick 1B it would be more beneficial for my time to practice injections so I am more prepared for the real anesthesia board exam coming up in two weeks. I practiced on a peer and instructor P. helped us out. He explained the injections in such a way that I was able to understand them more easily and I feel more confident and prepared to take the real board exam. I understand them so well now that I feel I will be able to give injections on anyone in my chair now. I am so happy I decided to use my time that way because I am ok with my requirements and it is more important to pass the anesthesia board exam than to get extra quads. I feel relieved after today but my goal is to go home and practice the angles on my hubby with a cotton tipped applicator so I can make sure I get the angles right on him since he will be my patient in the real thing.

Feb. 21st

I am kind of a slacker when it comes to finding patients. No one off my list wants to come in and it seems that L. is having a hard time calling all of our patients. I think she is a little overwhelmed because both us and the first years are seeing patients now and she has so many on her list to call so I feel bad. Other than my list I really don't have any people to call so I am just getting easy patients back. This morning I brought in a 1B and breezed through him. My afternoon was promising. My board patients wife came in and I was hoping to screen her for another potential board patient but she didn't qualify. She was still four quads of a class three and so it was good requirements for me. I didn't get to scaling today but I got her OD done. She was a little bit of a talker and I also just want to get her back since she needs to be numb. The more times she comes back that more anesthesia experiences I get!! Woohoo!

Feb. 14th

Today was UDA. Not too exciting but always fun to get free stuff. It was good to have a break from clinic though.

Feb. 7th

Today was my birthday!! How lame that I had to do the Mockboard exam on this day. I was so stressed out about getting a patient and then a small miracle happened. I was given a name by the clinic and I just decided to call the patient and see if he could come in for some x-rays before thursday. He came in on Tuesday and I only had time to do x-rays because he had to leave but he had radiographic calculus inbetween each tooth. It was great! He qualified and I almost past the exam but I didn't have all the x-rays I needed so I lost 4 points and was bumped .25 of a point under passing. Frustrating but I was ok with it because I learned so much! I will use him as my board patient and now I know how his calculus is and how I need to get it off. It was hard but in such big chunks that it came off in big pieces. I also only missed two spots so I know that if I have the x-rays done right then I have a good chance of passing. I am so releaved! I was able to cross two things off of my list: My mockboard patient and my board patient! I also got to do some LA. I got such a big positive aspiration but I still did a good job. I can't beleive how much I have learned since I started school. If I had seen this patient a year ago I would have cried and not known what to do but today I was able to do a good job. It feels good to see my improvement and to know that I am not that bad of a clinician after all.

Jan. 31st

I had an OD today! It was the wife of H.'s board patient so I had high hopes for her! I was hoping to use her for mockboards next week and for the board exam as well. Unfortunately she didn't qualify even for mockboards so all I did was the OD and she will come back for 4 quads of a 2. I also had an OD on the patient that cancelled on me last week. I knew deep down I shouldn't have rescheduled him but I was desperate. Anyways, he cancelled last minute with a lame excuse and I once again was left patient less. Luckily another classmate came to the rescue and had a patient I could call. She was 4 quads of a 2 and I was able to finish her all at once and even had a decent scaling time. At least I am improving my times somewhat. So now I am practically done with my class 2's but have no mockboard for next week. I am pretty stressed about it! I don't even have a patient OD'd who doesn't qualify to come in for the mockboard. I am not sure what to do but I guess I need to figue out something. My goal for next week.... FIND A MOCK BOARD PATIENT!! Easier said than done!

Jan. 24th

Today was kind of a bust of a day but I did make the most of it. My morning patient no showed me, he forgot about his appointment (he didn't get the message I left the night before) and he couldn't come in when I called because he was already at work. Lucky for me a sweet friend had two children scheduled for the morning and let me see one of them. I was able to get a 1A and take a PANO. It was a pretty good morning and I had been excited to see my afternoon patient because he was a new patient but then he called and cancelled last minute. I couldn't find anyone to come in but another friend of mine was having her sister come in to pass off PE's so she said I could pass them off on her sister as well. I was able to pass off so many PE's! I did sealants, air powder polisher, caries risk assessment and desensitization. I also was able to get both of my sealant requirements done as well because another child needed sealants and I was able to do some one him. It was a pretty good day but still no OD's to be found. I need to find a board patient, a mock board patient, and get LA experiences! I need to get into gear!

Jan. 17th

So much for my getting in harder classifications! I tried so hard to get a hold of patients I had gotten from the midtown screenings but no one wants to come in. I tried and tried but to no avail. I had to last minute call a class 5 I saw first year and a class three that I didn't get to finish last semester. It was still a productive day because I finished a class 5 exam and got a quad of a three. I even got my first of the fifteen experiences needed to LA. It was a left PSA and I had no idea what I was doing but Professor Alexander was a huge help and me and my patient survived. I wish I was able to OD some patients. I realize I am now searching for a board patient so the more new patients I see the better. It is harder to have L. call spanish speaking patients for me because now clinic is on thursday and I am only up at Weber on monday for a short time and then I have to rush off to get my daughter. I feel like I am starting the semester out crawling and I should be running! I already feel so behind and it is so frustrating! Hopefully soon I can get the hang of doing all this with a small baby around!

Jan. 10th

Today was the first day back at clinic since the Christmas break. I was excited to start this semester because the sooner it starts the sooner we are done!! Today I tried to get in new patients to do OD's so I could start out with the harder classifications. I had a midtown patient come in and she was four quads of a 2 and a friend come in who was also four quads of a class 2. One of my main goals this semster is to speed up. I was able to get both of these patients done in the time I had. I was so excited to leave clinic with 8 quads of a two done! I hope I can keep getting good classifications. In the weeks to come though I need to start working on more PE's. I am about halfway done with the PE's so I need to get everything into gear so I can finish all of my requirements before I graduate!

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 :)

VA #5

Today was a great VA day! I was able to get more quads of a class two and I feel like my scaling times and skills are deffinitely improving. I feel like at the VA I can really work on increasing my scale time because I am not so focused on getting the paper work and things exactly right because it is all computerized and I complete it after the appointment. I am really picking up the pace of my scaling but I still have a lot of room to improve. I also took some more digital x-rays today and I am loving digital. It is so nice to have the x-rays up on the screen seconds after the picture is taken. It is also easier to be able to do retakes immediately after rather than having to wait.

Wk #5

I had a goal to find my mockboard patient this week and I did!! I cannot beleive that I actually found one. I have been pretty lucky this semester. When I thought my patient would be a mockboard, Prof. Alexander had me sit down and feel for the calculus myself and then chart it on a calculus sheet. This was such a great learning experience for me! I hadn't ever really felt that in depth for calculus before starting to clean a patient. It was so helpful. I then took some PA's of the quad and teeth I was submitting. I only had time to scale one quad because her calculus was a little more tenacious than I am used too. I feel like I was able to learn a lot from feeling for the calculus first and then scaling it off. I had another goal this week to complete a class 5 exam. I found a class 5 patient and was able to get her OD'd and scaled in one appointment. I really am getting faster at this clinic stuff! It is pretty exciting. I also needed to find more quads of a class 2 patient which I also found this week. I got my class 2 completed in about one appointment. I am so proud of how I am picking up my pace and am able to complete patients faster each time. My ultimate clinic goal is to continue to be a quicker but just as thorough clinician. I feel like I get closer to this goal each clinic time.

VA #4

There was no VA this week. Secretly it was nice to have a little break in the middle of the week. Except, it will be crappy to make-up the day on december 5th.

Wk #4

Clinic was very successful this week! I did OD's on Tuesday and found 4 quads of a 3 and 4 Quads of a 2. I did learn a very valuable lesson on tuesday afternoon. I OD'd the four quads of a 2 and decided I had enough time to scale all four quads in the remaining hour of clinic. BIG mistake!! I got in and ultrasonic'd the whole mouth and then once I started hand scaling there was a lot more calculus than I had thought. When I had my scale check I had missed about a million spots! It was so frustrating! I learned that I need to take my patients that are harder 1 or 2 quads at a time and not try to hurry myself. I was trying to push myself and get a lot done and improve my scaling time. My time improved but my skills turned to crap!! Oh well, lesson learned. I will only scale as fast as my skills let me so I can still do a good and thorough job. I will work on improving me scale time but I won't try to push it too far. On thursday I had a patient that was 3 quads of a 3 and I was able to clean 2 quads today. I was so proud of myself because I took the appointment one step at a time and was able to do a good job and do it in a reasonable time frame. I completed my afternoon patient that was 3 quads of a 3 and I didn't miss any spots! I was nervous after tuesdays mishap because I really wanted to complete her, but I took it slow and I got done!! Over all I learned a lot this week!

VA #3 and Clinic #3b

VA was pretty good this week. I got to do some digital x-rays which I really need for my requirements. I did a full mouth and I actually didn't do too bad of a job. I was even able to get all of the apices in the films! There was no possible way I was going to be able to get the sensor to fit in the patients max. ant. to get the x-rays I needed so Professor Hanson taught me a new technique. I had the patient bite on the sensor like a cracker (not literally bite, that would have broken the sensor!!). I was able to get the shot but I forgot to increase the exposure time so the films were too light.
Clinic on thursday was such a nightmare! I had one of my clinic days from last semester. My first patient walked into the clinic and decided she didn't want a cleaning so she walked right back out. Then I couldn't find anyone at all to come! I even walked around campus to find someone!! Then my patient in the afternoon had too high of blood sugar so I had to send her home. Luckily I had a sweet patient who could come right over and I was able to clean 1 quad of her teeth and she was a class 3 so it wasn't a complete waste of a day!

clinic #3

Clinic this week was interesting. I found another class three and I declared her as an exam. It feels good to be getting these classifications in. I wasn't able to get to scaling on her yet because I have such a slow pace sometimes. I really need to work on speeding up my OD process and the HHX. If I was able to get these done faster I think I would be able to scale a quad before my patient leaves. That is my goal from now on, to speed up my patient process. I also need to increase my scaling speed as well. First though is making sure I am just scaling right. What good will it do me if I am scaling fast but not effectively and leaving burnished calculus everywhere? I hope I can be a little quicker from now on.