So proud

Today I had my brother-in-law come back in for scaling. Originally Instructor Hemsley classified him as a 3 on the upper quads and class 2 on the lower quads. I wanted a second opinion so Prof. Costley came and looked at the xrays and re-classified him as a 2 all over. I'm not disappointed because I wanted him to be my class 2 exam so now this will be easier to do it this way. I scaled the lower left quad first and was a little nervous that I would miss a few spots. I didn't miss any! So then I did the other 3 quads and had a scale check. I didn't miss any spots!!! That is totally worth blogging about! I was so happy!! I am also having him do the caries intervention project so I'm pretty excited about that. Today was a good day. Now I'm exhausted but it was a productive day.

I see it!

Monday I ANOTHER 1B patient. I am finished with my requirements for 1B's but I'm worried that's all I can get. I hope some dirty teethed people come my way soon! I was really excited with this patient though because I could actually see the calculus built up around her lingual bar! It was so cool. I told my hubby about it and he thought I was gross. :) I used the ultra sonic and it was coming off in chunks. This is the first patient that I felt I was actually cleaning something off. I wasn't able to finish her in one appointment but that's ok because I was so stoked about the build up!

Free day!

We had a whole week of no patients! It was wonderful!! We had President's Day off and then the Wednesday after that was a lab day. We learned 3 PE's. We learned the Diagnodent, Removable Appliance, and the Blood Glucose test. All 3 were pretty easy. The only one I'm worried about doing is the diagnodent. The other 2 shouldn't be too bad. I'm lovin this week with no patients though!!

I have to brush the lingual surfaces?!!

I had a 16 yr old girl today. She was super cute and way nice. She was just a 1B with a little calc on the lower linguals around her lingual bar. I was going over OHI and had her demo her brushing. Then I started teaching her and talked to her about having a system of brushing and going over all surfaces. Then she said, "Oh, I didn't know I had to brush the inside too!" She felt really dumb but I was like 'Seriously?' I didn't say that but it just surprises that hygienist out there aren't doing OHI. They must be totally skipping over it or something. OHI is something so simple and I think when we all are working in the real world we need to take just a few minutes and discuss it with our patients. You never know what they will learn!!

Kids

Today I saw 2 kids. They are my friends boys and they were sooo good! I wasn't worried about them being good I was just worried that it would be so different than an adult. I took BWX on both of them and I did the 4 yr old first. Right when I put the film in his tongue kept pushing it out. That's when I thought to myself, "This is gonna be a long day!" It turned out to be great! They are such good little boys. The only thing I struggled with is the OD. Their gums are bulbous, but that's normal. They have marginal gingivitis, but that's normal. It's just different than adults so I was just getting confused. Overall it was pretty simple and I didn't have to do much but I still took the full time regardless. I was able to do 1 sealant on the 6 yr old and I was nervous for that but it turned out good. Wednesday I see a 21 yr old so hopefully I can finish him too!

Crunch time!

Wednesday I saw another patient I didn't know. I was a little nervous when she wasn't there 20 minutes after she was supposed to be. She finally showed up. She was another 1B so I decided to do my second exam on her. She needed xrays so I did 4 BWX with the schick. I am so worried about the schick but one of the TA's helped me and it wasn't too bad at all. I didn't have any retakes but the TA pointed out to me that this patient's first year molars were all gone. I guess I should pay a little more attention when doing the OD. I was able to complete her in 1 appointment so that made me feel good. I think I am improving with my scale time but some days are harder than others because 1B's can be so different. Some more difficult than others. I have only had 2 quads of a class 2 so I'm getting a little worried about meeting those qualifications. I guess we've only been in school for 1 month so I shouldn't be too worried. I'll find them. Tomorrow I am seeing 2 kids. They are my best friend's kids and they are really good so it shouldn't be bad at all. I'm planning on using one of them as my exam and doing sealants so it should be exciting!

My father-in-law

Monday I saw my husband's step-dad. I knew he would be full of questions so I knew ahead of time that it would be a challenge to finish him in one appt. I planned on taking BWX on him with the schick, since I have only done scan x so far, but I found out that I have to do vertical BWX on patients older than 35. So once again I did scan-x. I was nervous to do the vertical ones but I didn't have to do any retakes. I might like vertical bwx better! He was a 1B so I was trying to hurry to get him done. When I had my scale check I missed quite a bit of sheet calculus on the lower anteriors. I wasn't seeing what my instructor was seeing. I was getting a bit frustrated. I need to use my air more because it is a lot easier to see the calculus. I think part of my problem is that I am horrible with indirect vision! That is another thing that I need to get better at. I ended up finishing him but I was rushing at the end. I just think it's stupid to have them come back to polish, floss, and apply fluoride so that is what I hurried through.