HALLOWEEN PARTY

I love how crazy our class is. People had some serious costumes. I think the pictures speak for themselves. Also the doughnut eating contest was pretty funny to watch, and Maddox rolls are delicious. That is all.

Local Anesthesia rap

Driving in the car was a bit tricky with our hats

Clue!

Quote of the day

"You don't want to marry your denture pt!" --Dr. Naylor

VA coolness

Today I saw some new and really neat stuff. My first pt. had to have nitroglycerin out which was fun. He was a cute little chatterbox. I got to place arestin in one area on him.
My second pt. came from Idaho and needed everything done so I had to clean pretty quickly. He had some crazy things. He was relatively young but had a serious brain injury in the war. He has pretty severe seizures that have taken a tole on teeth. He has bad back pain and problems and this gums were so red and inflamed from the last apt. from stress and his systemic problems. He was also trying to quit smoking. He had loc. aggressive perio which I had never seen before. And oh my files. I had never used the files that effectively. He had a 8 mm pocket on #27. the files are the only thing that would fit in that tiny loc. area. And when I put it down in the pocket the pus just popped right out. I had never had that much pus. So in case you haven't heard that systemic and oral health are related I am hear to tell you that it is! I got to place arestin in 7 spots.
With my last pt. I learned that I am too nice about plaque scoring. The endodontist also came in and I learned how you test to see if you need just a filling or a root canal. He had some endo-ice, which I had never seen before. It's cool. If a tooth is has caries and is sensitive to cold you test it by putting some endo-ice on it. If the tooth is painful for only a second before it goes back to not hurting than you may only need a filling. If the tooth has a lingering pain after exposed to cold, or spontaneously hurts during the day with for no reason then you may be in root canal territory. Also there was an instrument I have never seen before, 2 probes, and no barnhart, fun. (my 1st pt. had a few implant scalers and a million graceys, weird).
It was quite a learning experience. I also hit my requirements for class II's! Very productive day. Love the VA (except for the instruments ha)

IVs anyone

Cool cool cool, LA is so cool
I like when I can do it without looking like a fool
Today was like a party
11 injections makes me feel like a smarty

Today was fun. I finished my Eaglesoft IV pt. in the morning. She was so sweet. When she got to the clinic she told me how much better her teeth have been feeling since I cleaned them. Her tissues on the quads I had already cleaned looked so much better. I LOVE when you can see such a huge difference! I got to use my right and left ultrasonics, the files, and gracey's. It was good to feel a little bit better about them. Then since Todd was conveniently there translating like he always is I made him chew on a piece of wax so I could pass off my saliva PE.
The afternoon went well too. I got to give my pt. 8 injections. They went fantastically. I felt so much more confident than last week. I seriously love injections.

1B

Today was an interesting day. My first pt. came in to get a good thorough cleaning before leaving on a mission next month. He was a 1B, Horray I thought. Guess what I kind of stink at them. I kept poking him with my scaler because I am so used to the pockets being deeper that I was confused by the lack of depth. I felt pretty bad for him. I took as long to clean him as I did to clean my class IV pt. in the afternoon. I kept thinking I must have missed the calculus because there was none. I think I need to get a few more 1Bs in to practice on. My afternoon pt. was the nicest older man ever. I got to do some injections on him too! He opened his mouth and my mind went blank. His mouth looked nothing like the girls I had practiced on so far! Made me look pretty dumb but I am glad for the experience. I will always review right before clinic now so that even with the variations in oral landmarks I will be able to find what I need and look competent!

Disaster Lab Day

Can I just say how happy I am to be a hygienist and that I don't have to take impressions often? The Local Anesthia lab in the morning was so fun. We got to give all 7 of the injections and are now free to give them on pts! I kindof lied to my pt. I will see next tuesday. I told him that I had no openings over a month ago until tuesday because I wanted to be able to do the injections on him. I think it will be worth it. Whitney was my partner and she was a pro. One thing I need to remember is chair positioning. It was a pretty fun morning.

The afternoon took a bit of a turn for the worse. Poor poor Whitney, bet she was regretting being my partner then. I don't have much experience with taking impressions in private practice....and it showed. I think out unit was cursed as well since it took a million tries and people to finally get them. MeChel came in and saved the day. She was having a wonderwoman impression day and was running around doing everyones that couldn't get it. I hated the impression material we had. Curse those stupid bubbles. Then when we went to pour them up mine looked pretty funny cause I had no idea what I was doing. What I learned is that when my pt. needs impressions I need to find an assistant to do it!

I gave up and MeChel the pro took over

Still smiling

Payback time

First Mockboard!

Today was our first mockboard. I was scheduled for the afternoon and haven't been too nervous for it until I was assisting as the patients were being checked. I am so so glad I go to Weber and have teachers that prepare us so well for the board exams. I can't imagine what a wreak we would be without it. I had the nicest, most patient pt. ever and had my sweet husband there once again to translate. I didn't realize just how much I depend on the instructors. When I have a piece of calculus that is difficult or when I can't tell if it is calculus or irregular tooth structure I just do my best and say "oh well, I will see what my instructor says." This really opened my eyes that I need to ease off of that dependence. It will not be that way in the real world. Anyway we survived and the best ice cream pod wrap and will move on. Glad it's over.

Children's Health Connection and Sharpening Party

Today I get to hang out with Maren again. Yeah I don't think I have seen her since the Women's Health Connection because we are now in opposite clinics. It's a bit lame. We are doing x-rays all day today. Party. The little kids so far have been adorable. Some of them are pretty nervous but it always surprises me just how much they can do.

Today is the Children's Health Connection

Way better than any election

I get to hang with some pretty cool gals

I feel lucky to call them my pals

Good kids and bad there have been a few screamers

Maybe the next one won't yell, yes we are dreamers

Halloween costumes, I know them all

Talking about candy, makes them not bawl

Massages by Heather

Makes me feel light as a feather

Fun is had by all

What a wonderful event for the fall

Down time=massage time

On Saturday I signed up as hygienist. It was so much fun and I finally feel comfortable cleaning kids. I have only really cleaned two kids before and it wasn't my best day. Some of the kids had more calculus than some of the adults I have seen, it's pretty amazing.

Jen is so awesome and came up out of the goodness of her heart after work on Friday to help us sharpen. I love my Gleason Guide. It was a serious party. Thanks Jen!

VA CA excitement

Today was my first day as CA at the VA hospital. Wow the time goes so so much slower when you don't have a patient with you. The whole morning I charted and restocked and walked around. There was a few staggered pts which helped to keep me a little bit busier. The girls were rockin and flying through the pts. The afternoon was quite the adventure. Brooke has the most awful luck and always gets the problem patients. Her patient was, how shall I say it....not a very nice person. He came in and started yelling at her that he didn't want a student working on him. Little does he know that she is amazing and way better than any student that he would have had before. Anyway she had a little bit of a hectic morning and so this was the tipping point in an already rough day. She went and took a break and I tried to work on him. Not only was he not very nice but he was also not an easy pt. He kept telling me he was going to bite my finger off if I hurt him. It was an interesting experience and I am glad that I have been fortunate to have incredibly kind pts. most of the time.

Lab day

After a morning of seeing my class IV patient we had our first lab day. It was quite relaxing. We learned how to use the right and left ultrasonic, files, laser, saliva testing, and reviewed blood glucose. It was a nice day. I have experimented with my right and left and files in the last few clinics and it was nice to learn the real way to use them in a clinic setting. I am excited to try out my new tricks on my next hard patient, which seems to be every clinic day. Turns out I was using the files in the wrong direction, explains why they didn't seem to work too well. The laser is sweet. Joy let me use it on my patient the last clinic and it was fun. It was a good review and good practice. I enjoyed watching everyone's reaction to the saliva test. Lots of gagging. Emily was my favorite. I thought she was going to loose it. That is all