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.

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.

February 26

Today I had a patient that Kim gave to me. She had talked to him on the phone and asked him all the medical questions, and he said that he didn't have any problems. Then when he came in and filled out the health history he marked that he had a heart murmur. This was frustrating to me. I had to do a physicians consult, which I had never done before. everything went fine though. I only got through OD, but he is a Class II so I am glad. I was just so glad when clinic was done!

Febraury 21

Today I had my Spanish speaking patient back to start cleaning his teeth. It seemed strange to me when my instructors told me that I would probably only get one quadrant done per appointment, but now I know how hard it really is to clean a Class III patient. We started off by taking a full mouth set of x-rays. I did really well. I didn't even need any retakes. Jeff was my instructor today, which was great because he speaks Spanish. Although the son was there, it was nice to have Jeff be able to explain dental things to him. I was worried about my patient needing anesthetic, but he was tough. I am sure it hurt him. I started with my ultrasonic hand piece. It was awesome to see how they really work on patients with a lot of calculus. It was blasting all sorts of crap out of his pockets. I wasn't sure that I was getting everything, but I went back over and handscaled. My patient was bleeding like crazy. I mean, incredibly amounts of blood! I really didn't think that I had gotten everything, but I asked for a scale check anyway. Jeff was so impressed. He couldn't believe what a great job I did. I missed some places on the wisdom tooth (that I could barely see) but he didn't count that against me because he could hardly get it. I felt so good!! I am finally seeing some progress in my skills! Yeah!

February 14

Today is Valentines Day! Yeah! It was also a no-patient day. We learned how to use the ultrasonics. It was a lot of fun. I was kind of nervous to use them, but they are a lot easier than I had anticipated. The instructors say that there is less of a learning curve. They just blast calculus off the teeth. It is great! We got to practice on each other, which I didn't like because our tissue is too tight to fit the ultrasonic tip into, and I got nervous to put it into the sulcus, especially the col area. It was fun though. We also passed off the intraoral camera PE and learned how to use the Diagnodent. It was a really good day!

February 12

Today my cousin came in and was my patient. She was about 30 minutes late, so we got off to a late start. Everything went well. She is a class 1B and everything was normal. I didn't get to scaling her teeth, because she was late, so she will have to come back. Oh well!

February 7

Today I was Clinic Assistant again. I made sure to be on time (because last time I was late) and I felt a lot better about things. Everything went more smoothly because I kind of knew what I was doing. I didn't have to ask very many questions, and I had a really fun time. It is nice to be the clinic assistant, because then you get to know what goes on behind the scenes. You get a feel of how things run in the office, which I think helps me work better as a hygienist. It was a lot of fun!

February 5

Today my patient was a man that I got off the clinic resource list. I was really nervous because he is Spanish speaking, and I don't speak any Spanish whatsoever. He came with his wife, who saw Valerie, and they brought their son who could translate for them. It was an eye opening experience for me. This man had never been to the dentist before, and never had his teeth cleaned. When I looked in his mouth, I thought it looked relatively clean, the gums were just really inflamed. Little did I know what was really under the gums. This patient had never flossed before, and when I flossed his teeth, I pulled out stuff that had been there for years, and it was absolutely disgusting. He is a class III and I am so glad to have found one.