Today we were at the VA hospital. I had a class V patient in the morning. It was the first heavy smoker I have worked on. He had heavy staining and malpositioned teeth on his mandibular left quad. I swear I could not see the lingual of #28 no matter how I positioned myself. I got as much off as I could and was not surprised when the only spot I missed was on that tooth. It is quite satisfying to get that much staining off. I love when you can tell such a big difference from the beginning of the apt. to the end.
After I finished my first apt. I did my chart and went to help someone else clean up their unit. My instructor grabbed me and said to follow her. So I did. Turns out another pt. needed cleaned before he could see the dr. He was awesome. He had the same name as me and had 4 purple hearts. His cleaning involved the most biofilm I have ever cleaned off. He had erosion on all the mandibular ant. and it was quite the learning experience. I love the VA.
I finished him and ran and ate a 10 min. lunch. After lunch my afternoon pt. had cancelled but they filled it last minute. He ended up being a class III. He had great homecare but deep deep pockets. He was by far the hardest pt. I have ever worked on. His calculus was so incredibly tenacious. I could not get it off. I have never had the experience where I knew exactly where the calc was but could not get it off no matter what I did. Prof. Mc. helped me so much on him. It also made me appreciate good hygienists. He couldn't understand what was taking me so long, I didn't want to tell him it was faster last time because they didn't clean any of his teeth.
It was a great day and I learned so much and experienced so many new things.
A class III? Imagine that. You are also the queen of class III's! You are awesome Leigh!!!
ReplyDeleteLeigh, I know EXACTLY what you are talking about with the calculus that you can feel, but can't get down to it. It doesn't help that I feel completely retarded with the VA instruments. I am starting to feel better, but I still wish I had my own sometimes. I have a class IV at the VA on Tuesday and I had this really cool chunk of radiographic calculus and I could feel it with my explorer, but he was a smoker so his tissues were extremely fibrotic and there was no way I could get a gracey that far subgingivally, I could barely get the explorer down there. Then Prof Bossenberger came in and she handed me the slimline (imagine that, I had been using the triple bend) and that chunk came flying out! It was amazing and it made me realize that I need to use my resources around me better and when I can't get something, that I need to find something that will help me get it instead of getting frustrated. Sounds like a good experience for you! p.s. I miss you in clinic!
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