April 23

I was kind of nervous for my patients. I had two children scheduled and then I was going to stay for the afternoon and do one quad of a patient that laura was cleaning. My patients were late, and then the mom said that they could only afford to have one of the kids cleaned. Luckily, they brought both of them so I told them that I would pay for one of them. It went good. Kristi took the x-rays for me, and I just went fast, because our afternoon patient came in the morning, and I had to clean him too! I was totally stressed out, but my friends help me and it went well. I was so glad to get it all done.

April 18

Today my patient who is half of a 2 and half of a 3 came back for me to finish the right side. She told me she had to be to work by 2:00, so I got started to get her out of here on time. When I asked for a scale check I felt really confident, but I missed tons of calculus everywhere interproximally. I was so frustrated, and my professor said to just have her come back, but I have no time at all!! So, I convinced her to stay, and she said it would be okay if she was a little bit late. My instructors helped me a ton to finish, because I just could not get it off!!! It was so frustrating, and I feel like I will never be able to be a confident dental hygienist!

April 16

Today my patient was a spanish speaking patient, and I was hoping that she would be 4 quads of a two. I got her from a second year who had screened her and said that she was a 2. She actually ended up being a three, and i am still using her for my class 2 exam. If anyone else knew that, they would kill me because there are still some people looking for a class 3. I got through the OD and then I also got one quad cleaned. I felt really good about it.

My first kid patient

Today I had scheduled 2 children. They were both spanish speaking, so Lily confirmed them. My first one didn't show. That was so frustrating. I have never had a patient not come, and it really screws you up! At least I still had my second patient who did show up. She was a cute 9 year old girl who was really fun and easy. I had to retake my x-rays because I tried to use size 2 films, but I should use size 1. It went good. I am glad today is over!

April 9

Today my patient from last time came back to have me start scaling. Instructor Carter was very helpful. My patient did good, I didn't even need to get her numbed. Her small mouth was difficult, but it was better than I thought it would be. I kindof struggled with the ultrasonic today. Sometimes I just feel lost when I am using it. I finished her left side, so I feel good about that!

April 4

Today was a great day! My patient was one I got from the resource list that was in about a year ago and was a class 2, so I was hoping for that this time too! The down side is that she had a really small mouth, and she gags easily. I took bitewings, which were difficult, and then I got all the way through the OD. I didn't get to scaling because she is such a hard patient, but I focused a lot on OHI. She actually classified as half of a class three and half of a class two! Yeah! That is great news for me!

April 2

Today did not go very well. I was hoping that my patient would be a class 2 because the person who gave her to me told me that she hadn't had her teeth cleaned for awhile and she is from Brazil. I was disappointed that she was only a class 1B, and she had to leave early to go to school (which I didn't know about) so I didn't even get to start scaling! Rough Day!

March 28

Today I had a 12 year old girl who I have already seen come back to finish. I scaled all 4 quads and also did some more sealants. It took a lot longer than I thought it would, because I let some other girls do sealants on her. It went well though. She was my class 1B exam, so it was good to finish that up.