Stressed/Relieved

Last night my patient for today canceled on me. It was about 10:00 PM so it was too late to really call anyone. I was so stressed. I called a few people this morning and was not able to get anyone to come in. Then I remembered that Stephanie said yesterday that she had more patients than she was going to be able to see this semester, so I gave her a call. Stephanie got the idea that since she was seeing a patinet with dentures today and would probably finish early that maybe she could call a patient with a child and she could see the child and I could see the parent. She found a lady for me named Kim. I was so grateful. Kim was not able to come in until a half hour after clinic time started today so I was not able to scale her at all ,but I probed her full mouth and took her x-rays. She is comming back next week with her other son so that I can finish her cleaning and clean her other son too. I was excited because I ended up with an extra patient out of this stressful situation.

1st Patient Finished

Today I finished cleaning my patient from last Wednesday, Adam's Teeth. I was a fairly easy day and my cleaning went well. I only had one spot that I missed on the two quads that I did. I wish that I would have taken the extra time and passed off some PE's but I didn't. Maybe I can pass some off on my next patient.

Interesting Day

Today I had a special needs patient named Chad. He was a little mentally disabled and had epilepsy, so he was on a lot of medications. It took me a little a few minutes to look them all up. Also when I was taking x-rays he kept biting so hard that he would rip through the bite tabs and the film would move out of place. I ended up only taking one retake but I had to put new bitetabs on the films a couple times. For the most part he was compliant and would move where I needed him to as I was probing and doing the extra and intra oral exams but occasionally it was hard for me to get him to open his mouth far enough for me to get in there. It was a very stressfull day for me. I did not even get to cleaning his teeth. But his mom was very nice and helpful and she is going to bring him back for another appointment so that I can finish cleaning him. On a good note he had enough calculus that they are going to let me count him as a class II patient.

First Patient Day/ First CA Day

So this morining I was assigned to be the clinic assistant which meant that I had to check people in and make charts, fill the ultrasonic baths, sterilize instruments and put them away, and cash people out and take payments when they were done with treatment. It was crazy. We had had like a fifteen minute orientation on it at the end of last semester but I had forgotten tons of stuff. Also this afternoon I had my first real patient that I was able to scale on. A guy I work with named Adam came in. I only scaled two of his four quads because the health history, extra and intra oral exams, x-rays, and oral diagnosis take so stinking long to do. But he was cool about it and is comming back next Wednesday so that I can finish his cleaning. I was stressed to whole day and my shoulders were still tense even after I got home. I am glad that it is over. I wish however that I did not have to find patients for the rest of the semester.

Ultrasonic Scalers

Today in clinic we learned more about the ultrasonic scalers and how they work, it was quite interesting, then we practiced on our typodonts a little. Nothing amazing.

Last day of clinic

Today was the last day of clinic. We rotated through different stations in groups. One was learing about the emergency kit that we have in the clinic, one was learning from Mr. Solomon about CA duties, and one was learning the PSA module. It was a pretty relaxed day. I feel like I have learned alot this semester. I am really enjoying the program. I am looking forward to the break for the holidays and I do feel very nervous about having to find people to come into the clinic next semester. Hopefully all will go well this next semester.

My First Patient

Today was our first day with a real patient. I had my brother Chris come in. I was supprised at how long I was waiting for an OD check before I could move on. This was kind of frustrating becuase I didn't even get to scaling. I did do a full mouth prode, extra and intra oral examination, did a treatment plan, and took x-rays and the rest of the time I was waiting. When I took X-rays one of the developers was not working so professor Mcconahay developed my films for me. She was developing all the conventional films. That made me nervous because if I needed retakes I would have to reset up everything. (Usually you don't have the patient leave the x-ray room until you know that they don't need retakes.) But alas I was lucky and my x-rays camne out wonderfully. I hope waiting for OD checks will take less time next semester.