this stinks!

this morning my pt was a six year old boy. He was a bit grumpy and wouldn't really talk to me. I went to get a professor's signature and when i came back my operatory stunk! I didn't know who let one but it was bad. I took this little pt to get some xrays done and when i came back from processing the radiology room REALLY STUNK!!! This little guy was letting them loose!! Unfortunately we needed to do retakes and so i was stuck in there with him.. I invited Jessica to come in and smell and it made her gag!! haha.. My afternoon wasn't so stinky. My pt was early and ready for tx. She was willing to have Blood Glucose taken on her. And the LA went smoothly. I was grateful for such a trooper of a pt. She wasn't a jumpy person at all and that got her out early. Love it!!

mock board miracle

Last week was mock boards. At 3pm the day before, I was crying to my husband because i still didn't bave a pt. By about 5pm, a fellow classmate called to say that someone was coming in at 8am to be my pt. I was relaxed and happy. I got to clinic the next morning a tad late and felt super unorganized. By 8:15am, that pt still hadn't shown up. I was panicking inside. Prof Alexander said to start calling people to be my pt in the afternoon. As i went to the locker room, i could feel tears starting. Luckily, Camille came up and told me to find a pt in the foyer of Midtown. I was doubtful but I went out and told the three men there my story. The 26yr old said that he could stay as long as i took a pano on him. I gladly agreed and we got started... I sat him in the chair and realized with only being in the mouth for about 20sec that this kid was going to have plenty of calculus for me to remove and might even qualify for Boards!!!! I rushed him to be checked and he QUALIFIED!! everyone was amazed.. The calculus seemed to come off with such ease-we were chatting and laughing together and pretty soon i was finished and had 30 more min to go. I probed and then sent him on to be checked again.. oops.. i didn't do any of the paper work!! I only missed 3places of cal. and with having no xrays and no probe depths i felt good about that. I got my score back.. 72/100 wow.. that was exciting to know even when i didn't do the paper work. that was a great experience and i felt that this pt was a miracle.. ps.. the pano turned out great too.

Extra VA day

Prof Hanson was feeling sorry for me and, with some luck, got me in for an additional day at the VA. I was sosososo grateful to have someone else on my side. I was able to get so much accomplished too!! The morning consisted of 2quads of a 2 and 2quads of a 3.. and I got to do Local Anesthetic on both the UR and UL.. then the afternoon was pleasant Mr. Hogge with 3 quads of 3 with 11 injections!!! what a day.. I was so happy and grateful for prof hanson and besides that, she was an absolute delight to talk to at lunch. She made the whole experience positive, open for learning and organized.

my professor is worried

I just had my semi semester interview with my professor and she is worried about me. I haven't seen very many pts with perio and we are running out of time. I am super excited about my two pts today. both of them have perio to some extent and i am grateful. My after noon pt was 2/3 and I got to use local anesthetic on her ur quad. It made me super nervous but with my prof's help i got through. I think i was a little shaky. She was super numb though.. so that felt good..

just as planned

OH.. I am so grateful for good days like today. My sweet pt came a little late-but she came!! She was very patient and kind and we had a good time communicating in broken spanglish. She didn't have #30,29,28 nor 19, 20, 21. So instead of BWX we took 4 PAs. The first set were going to be perfect but the film that was set out for us to use was duplicating film and so didn't create an image. SO the second set had to be taken. They were pretty good considering the missing teeth-but not perfect. Because of time, I was only able to get 1quad done.. but because she is so relyable, i was ok with it.
My afternoon pt was right on time, and when i went out to get her she was gone!! The clinic manager had sent her to get a parking pass and she got confused and didn't come back for 30 min. Finally we got started and since she was a recall pt, I got right in the mouth and cleaned her up. It went pretty smooth. I was amazed at how much better I am adapting the ultrasonic and using the gracies... i saw several large pieces of cal removed by hand scaling. she was out the door in just a little over an hour.

VA day

I finally had a really great day at the VA. Not to say that all the other times that i have been there have been bad.. just that i finally saw some perio! it was a relief to see some pockets deeper than a 4mm and I got a really awesome view of calculus coming off in chunks. I was really grateful for the lesson we had on ultrasonic instrumentation. I was able to better adapt the insert to the tooth and the calculus removal went much smoother. Both of my pts there were considered class 4 perio pts.. because of the gravity of their situations, i was only able to complete 2 quads on the first and 1 quad on the second. I also had a good learning experience; i broke an instrument tip in the sulcus of 2D. I was totally blank as to what i should do. all i could remember is what i shouldn't do.. don't get the suction, don't stress out.. I had him keep his mouth open while i went to get an instructor. she tried many instruments, including the proxy brush and finally it came loose.. wow.. we were just about to take a PA too. I was glad for the learning opportunity..

interesting afternoon

Last week's morning appt was a stress. The pt couldn't find the parking pass ticket box and ended up being more than 45 min late. we rushed to get her started and in the chair. her 4bwx went smoothly-we took a supplimental to get the very back of a 2nd molar. then she was dx as a class 2. Because i know this pt is reliable, i made it my exam pt. it went pretty well.. i did miss some spots which is hard to take sometimes. My afternoon pt was a 16yr old and her mother was my pt in 3 weeks. after several conversations about fees and bleaching, i went to set up the xrays and came back to see that the office manager had given the mother to another student without any consent of mine.. I was furious and it showed in my scaling of the daughter. the mother ended up being a class 2 which is what i needed. During all this, I also had a first year student observing the clinic session.. she learned a lot!