November 6, 2007

We had another lad in the AM this morning. We learned how to transfer a pt. who is a wheel chair. We all had to be a pt. being lifted out of the chair and be the clinician doing the lifting. We also learned about desensitization. I was the patient for that in my group. I had four different materials placed in all four different quads. My faviorite was the Gel Kam. It tasted like metal for a few minutes after application but it went on clearer and looked a lot better as time went on. The second favorite was the varnish and the other two where awful. They gouped after a bit and my teeth didin't feel clean.
Than we learned about taking impressions again and emergency scenerios. It was a fun morning. I didn't have to worry if my patient was going to show or not. In the after noon my patient did NO SHOW. Luckily there was a patient waiting in the lobby wanting her teeth cleaned with no appt. She was hoping someone's patient would no show. She was a class V but I was sure glad she wanted to wait to get her cleaned. I didn't do too bad on her. I missed two clicks of calculus. I seem to better here in clinic than I do at the VA. One Wednesday I missed 9 clicks of calculus. I have never missed that much before. I need to try and adapt to new environments better. Or go slower and become more persice on my scaling technique.

Oct. 30, 2007

Today is mock board day. I saw my patient at 8 since I wanted to get it over with. This morning I was thinking maybe I should have gone second so I could see how things were ran. But once I got the paper work figured out and I read over my WREB manual a couple of times I felt like it was any other clinic day. I was really watching my time and I had all my instruments ready and bibs and everything else that needed to be done. When I finally got my patient moved from the chair of the examiners back to me and I could start cleaning I felt like it was just another clinic day.
We had 2 hours to clean one quad and mark recession, probe and back up to the front so we wouldn't get docked for time. It sounds like a lot of time but I used every minute. It really was plenty of time but I really wanted to make sure I got him cleaned and the probe depths and recession.
I didn't do too bad. I was ok with the score I recieved. Next time I will know my occlusion better and check for recession a little better. That is where I missed a couple points on. I also missed 1 click of calculus.
I am really glad this day is over. I couldn't sleep last night thinking my patient wasn't coming or had completely failed the calculus removal. Until next mock boards.

Oct. 23, 2007

Today I had the pt. that was 1 hour late last time. She was only 30 min. late today. Since I did the OD already I was able to finish all four quads. I only missed 1 spot. They always seem be the distal of teeth. I think I even missed sheet calculus. I am so focused on trying to get interproximal cleaned I forget about supragingival sometimes.
My afternoon patient was another patient I had who was late the first time. He luckily came back and was on time. I finished the class II pt. and he was so excited. I have never had a pt. be that excited for a cleaning. He was very nice. I want to schedule him back for a 3 -4 month recall. He told me he will call around that time since he didn't know his schedule.
Sometime I forget to tell these patients when to come back for there next cleaning. They know they need to return within three to four months but I forget to schedule them before they leave. I have a list so I will call them next semester.

Oct. 16, 2007

We had lab in the AM this morning. So we didn't see patients. Now we can pass off a couple more PE's. In the afternoon I saw another new pt. He ended being a mock board pt. to and since I didn't need one I gave a quad to another student who was looking for a patient.
I got one quad done on him since I didn't want to take any more areas so Holly had more to choose from. When she is finished with him on Mockboard day I will have him back and finish the rest of him.

Oct. 9, 2007

I had a pt. from mid town today. He needed a lot of work done. He was from Cuba and was very nice. I was able to start a full mouth set of xrays since I and midtown needed the xrays. I ended up paying for them. He couldn't afford them (which I found out after I had taken him up front to check out). But he needed them so I was happy to help out and now I am poor. I was hoping he would be a mockboard pt. but he had too much decay and too many missing teeth.
I had to have him come back since midtown took him for about 1 hour. And since he just had a tooth extracted I couldn't really do much on him. He had to stay biting on the gauze to help stop the bleeding and form a clot.
He was a little more difficult scaling. He had quite a few restorations everywhere and it was difficult for me to tell if it was calculus, plaque or just the boarder of the restoration. I had to look at the xrays quite a few times and go back over areas. I ended up missing 3 areas but I thought I didn't do too bad.
My afternoon patient was a great patient. He was a little late but he ended up being ok for my mockboard. I was thrilled. I actually had a returning patient in his spot but since he was new and I was told he never had cleaning than I wanted to hope and pray that he would qualify. I took xrays on him and I have never seen that much radiographic calculus. I was a great learning experience. Than I went in with an explorer and I could really feel the calculus. He had all four quads that could qualify so I wanted to share him with another student. I got to clean one quad to experience how difficult he was and than we scheduled him back on mock board day.
I am relieved I find a pt. for mock boards. I want to improve on scaling and try to prevent tissue trauma better. I missed 2 spots and damaged an area of tissue. I must have been alittle too aggressive.

Oct. 2, 2007

Today I had another pt. decide to show up 1 hour late. Ahhhhhhhhhh. She had to do an errand before she came to the clinic. Maybe I need to emphasize more how important it is for them to show up, be on time, or call if they have a problem. I got xrays and OD done. At this rate I will never get any quads done. She was 2 quads of a II and 2 quads of a V. I started one quad but didn't get finished. I had to take another day and schedule her back. My days are filling up with patients that should have been done by now.
Her mom hasn't been able to come in so I can finish her last quad either. She no showed on me and now she wants to come in so I can finish her. I am running out of room but I need her she is a class III. So if I can juggle a couple of patients maybe I can finish her and see an easier pt. in the same appt. I'll have to check my schedule to see where I can fit her in.

In the afternoon I had a class V. I got a full mouth series of xrays and all of his teeth cleaned. He was brand new today and I got everything done because he was on time. I love patients like that. He did have one interesting thing about him pallet. He had a bad tooth that was broken and needed to be taken out. He has an appt. to do that but what was interesting is that I could see the root of the tooth on his pallet through the tissue. Like the bad tooth was eating away at his tissue on the pallet.
I sure hope these days get easier. I need to get my quads done. I have never had a class where my grade depends on things that are out of my control. That is so frusturating. But you do what you can. I am still looking for a mock board pt. Since it will be here in about 3 - 4 weeks I sure hope I can find a reliable pt.
My goals to work on are my technique. Since I haven't had a chance to work on a difficult pt. I hope I will be prepared for when they do come in.

Sept. 25

Today I had a class III scheduled. I was looking forward to practice with her for mockboards. Since I don't have a mockboard pt. yet I'm hoping she will be able to qualify for me. But I didn't get a chance to check. She NO SHOWED on me. It seems to be typical of my patients. She was 1 hour and 30 min. late the firs day she came and all I had time for is xrays and OD (and I barely got that finished). So when 8:36 came around I figured she wasn't coming. I called her several times and than finally she answered and said her 2 year old was sick since last night (she didn't tell me this when I confirmed her last night) and she wasn't able to be come in.

I scrambled to find another pt. Every day counts and if you have several no shows than you will not get your quads done. At about 9 I finally found a pt. who I had scheduled next week. He was available to come in. He was a new pt. so I had to start with xrays and OD. He showed up at about 9:30 and again all I got done was xrays and OD. He is another class III but again I didn't have time to start him. I scheduled him to come back but knowing my luck I have a feeling he won't show.

My afternoon pt. was my brother. He was on time and he was of course a 1B. But I am very glad he came in. I got a full mouth xray and all 4 quads done. He is a great pt. I forgot to put eye wear back on him when I was polishing and I got prophy paste in his eye. I felt awfull. So, note to self ALWAYS make sure your pt.'s eye wear is on.

My goal is to try and get faster if I have pt.'s that show up late (even thought that is a little tough since you have checks all the time so you can't skip anything).
Try to come up with an idea to make sure pt.'s show or at least tell you the day before they are not coming. It would make it a lot easier on me if I knew Monday night that my pt. is coming.