Will work for 1 perfect board patient...

AM: Had a recall patient from last semester.  He is a sweet, old, 85-year old man.  When it was time for him to go I just felt so sad thinking I might not see him ever again.  He wished me and my husband the best on our future endeavors and I told him I was so glad I got to know him and that I would refer him to a good student next year.  I love this part of my job.

PM: Saw a 15-year old.  She was fun.  Did 5 sealants on her (all by myself, might I add)...assistants?  Who needs 'em!

I NEED A BOARD PATIENT, ANOTHER MOCKBOARD PATIENT, SOME CLASS IV's....
That's it.

So...what's calculus?

AM:  Finished my patient from last week.  She was very sweet and tolerated injections very well.  Note on the PSA injection:  come in to the penetration site with the correct angles.

PM:  I'm trying to look for another mockboard or board patient for myself or someone else with every patient and I really thought I found one today.  Nope.  What the heck does calculus feel like?  THIS IS MY 4TH SEMESTER!  I should know by now!  I think I have a pretty good idea, maybe it just wasn't enough areas....I don't know....
OH well.
Finished a class 2 in 2 hours. (She had to leave early, but it tested my speed skills that is for sure!)

The VA...kind of like a re-occuring bad dream

I just can't seem to come to love the VA.  I love a lot of the people I meet there, but the clinic is just disorganized and some of the people are just not very understanding to us students!  I'll choose to be optimistic!!!

Two great things of the day:  I may have found oral cancer.  The doctor wants to do a biopsy and took a picture.  Wow-scary stuff.  (Obviously this is not a highlight for the patient, but it is great that I am able to see that it DOES happen and all those cancer screenings we do that come up negative are worth the one that comes up positive).  Also another patient helped me to feel peace during my super busy and stressful day.  He is a very selfless man who takes care of his wife who just had her 2nd stroke.  He talked about how much he loved his wife and wanted to take care of her.  He spends a lot of time in the temple volunteering and is a scriptural genius.  He taught me some very insightful things about Isaiah.  Although this isn't dentally related, I just love the part of my job that gets to meet amazing people like this who help me realize what is really important.

First of the Last

AM: We didn't start clinic until 9 today so we could get a hang of TalEval.  Still pretty lost...
My patient was very sweet. A class 2/5.  I missed a very obvious piece of calculus...oops!  Luckily she is coming back (since I didn't finish) so now I know what kind of deposits to look for.

PM:  A FOUND A MOCKBOARD PATIENT!!!! I am so happy!  I found a very sweet man with plenty of calculus who very kindly agreed to be my mockboard patient.  I am so grateful I kept offering over and over again to pay for his treatment, but he said even though he had no money, it was his responsibility to pay for his treatment.  Talk about an angel.

MOCKBOARD

FAILED...dangit.  It was very good to go through how the board procedures will go.  The paperwork was so confusing at first but is a lot more clear, now.  It was also good to experience what my stress levels would be like.  My professor talked to me after the ordeal to let me know how I did and what I could work on.  He complimented me on my probe and recession measurements, but told me I missed one spot and burnished a few more. :(  We talked a lot about improving my exploring skills.  He said to explore as if you are looking at someone else's patient, because when you think of them as your patient, you rationalize saying "there can't be anything left there, I spent forever in that pocket".  I think it will help me a lot.  I haven't really focused on exploring a lot because it is so time-consuming, but it is definitely worth the time if it is the difference between passing and failing.

You've gotta pay for what you want!

Had another class 3 patient.  He said he didn't have the money so I paid for him.  :(  Lame, but it's my grade so I guess it's worth it.  Quite the experience cleaning a real class 3.  

September 30th

Another day of class 3 patients!  YES!  My first patient has been a class 5 for years but hasn't been in for a while now so there were signs of infection and some calculus deposits.  I didn't feel like she was a well-maintained perio patient so I took a chance and explained her case to my instructor claiming I felt better about classifying her as a three.  Maybe a tiny portion of that was that I need this classification, but I really did feel like she was not a 5!  End of the story...got a class 3 exam done. :)  My afternoon patient was incredible.  He had never had a cleaning before and displayed the worst infection I've seen yet.  He even had occlusal calculus!  And tons of it.  He requested some x-rays so it was a good opportunity to get some periapical x-rays done.  I took a lot of pictures with the intra-oral camera as well because I thought it would be neat to see before and after pictures.  It also helped to use for educational purposes since he didn't speak a word of english.  I put him on a chlorhexadine rinse to reduce the infection and bleeding before I attempted to clean.  I'm looking forward to him coming back. It should be a great experience.