March 26

I was really worried about today because I couldn't find a patient to come in, so my husband ended up coming in. Even though I already cleaned his teeth, I figured that I could pass off some PE's and take some x-rays. It went really well, I passed offmy diagnodent PE and my air powder polishing PE. They were both tricky ones, but I passed them off. Then I did 3 sealant on him which went really well. Then because we had more time left, I took a full mouth set of x-rays. They turned out awesome, no retakes. Even though I didn't get any quads from the appointment today, it was a very productive day!

March 21

Today I brought back my cousin to finish scaling her. Because we had some extra time, I passed off my removable partial cleaning PE using her retainer. I also passed off my ultrasonic instrumentation PE and I took a pano on her also. Everything went great. I felt good about everything that I accomplished. I really did a lot!

March 19

Today my patient was a teenage girl. Everything went really well. She didn't need any Bitewings, but she hasn't ever had a Pano, so I took one of those. It was my first time really taking one at the clinic, so I was a little worried, but it went well. I had to retake it once because the lead vest got in the way, but the second one turned out great. I even finished scaling her today, and didn't miss any spots. I love days like this when I feel very competent.

March 7

I was pretty anxious for today. I brought back my class II patient to start scaling his teeth, and I had to get done today too, because he can't come back anymore. I was nervous that I wouldn't finish him, so I knew I would have to really bust my butt. I finished him, but it was so hard. It wasn't hard to be fast, but his calculus was incredibly hard and it wouldn't come off no matter how hard I tried. Even my instructor could barely get it off. It took so long trying to scale forever. I finally reached a point where I just didn't care anymore, and I wanted to be done. My instructor was a big help. She encouraged me a lot and also told me that my adaptation was great because I wasn'causing any tissue trauma. I am just glad to be done with him!!

March 5

Today went great! I brought one of my cousins back in to finish scaling her teeth. It took me awhile, but it was fine. I was glad to finally get her finished, and I also passed off a lot of PE's. The one thing that I had a problem with was my posture. My instructor told me that my patient was too high, so I lowered her and it was really hard for me, and now my back and neck are killing me. I don't necessarily think that the instructors know how you should be positioned. Especially because I am taller. Anyway, I will try to focus more on my posture and patient positioning.

February 28

Today was an okay day. I was hoping to complete my patient in one appointment, but it didn't happen. My patient was a 14 year old girl, and everything went pretty well, besides the fact that people were butting me in the x-ray room, so I had to wait for 25 minutes with nothing to do. It was terrible. I did get to do a sealant on my patient, and I even passed off my PE, so that was good. But... I will have to bring her back to clean her. Bummer.