Another 1B

I had a patient today who had a lot of calculus, on every single tooth, but she didn't have any bone loss so she was a 1B. She had a tooth that had A LOT of recession so that quadrant was a Class II. I will take a class II! I passed of my diagnodent PE today. I am not a fan of the diagnodent because it is so inconsistent. I did the same tooth 3 different times and got 3 different numbers. I think it is good when you use it to just see if there is decay, but not to tell how far it is into the tooth.
I was a little frustrated today because I feel like I would have been able to complete my patient if I didn't have to wait for so long. I waited for about an hour for my scale check to be complete, so I couldn't go on and do anything else and my patient just had to sit in the chair. This is frustrating because first of all, it means the patient has to come back for another appointment and it also means that you have another day where you can't schedule another patient. We all feel stressed because we are all worried that we aren't going to complete our requirements due to the time, and having the same patient need another appointment takes that slot away.

Just another manic...wednesday

I don't usually like working on people I know (unless it is my mom or sister), but today a lady from my ward came in and i didn't know who she was until I called her back. Then we made the connection. I get nervous working on people I know because I feel bad if I accidently poke them or I have to take retakes with xrays. It is just easier when I know somebody if I am not being critiqued all of the time by instructors. I am glad the instructors critique, I just feel uncomfortable when it is people I know because I want them to think they came to the best and I don't feel like the best when I miss spots or have to redo things.

Goal:  Be faster in the xray room. Conventional take a lot longer so take conventional on people who you can finish in 1 appt. (Thanks to Marianne I have added goals to my blog).

Happy Valentines!

It is so nice when your patient is an easy 1B with hardly any calculus! It seems like time flies and you do really well when there isn't much to get off in the first place. Professor Costley helped me a lot today with the ultrasonic! I haven't used it very often because I am trying to use mostly the hand instruments so I can get a feel for them, but I think I need to start using the ultrasonic because it takes a learning curve as well.
I cannot stand schick xrays! It seems like everytime I use it I have horrible xrays, well not horrible, but I usually need to retake at least 1 xray. Hopefully I can go through the learning curve with that also in case the office I work in only has that, I prefer phosphor plates to everything! Fast and they are convenient. It was a good day overall!

what the CEJ?

My patient that came in today is so funny and he has a great sense of humor and he keeps me laughing the entire time. He was a class III and he had a lot of recession. I am having problems getting the feel for the difference between calculus and the CEJ and root surface. I am nervous about removing cementum by being to aggressive. Even after my scale check I still felt like there were areas where the tooth felt rough, but it wouldn't come off! This was a great learning experience for me for trying to feel the difference between different structures. Another issue was that his gums were tight instead of "flappy" so it was harder to get under them with bulky instruments. I just need to get over my fear and get them down there. I only finished 2 quadrants on him, and I wish I could have completed him today, but I just didn't have the feel for it. I get scared that I went over it too fast and that I am going to have errors.

Day from HE double hockey sticks

I hope as long as I live that I never have another day like today. Talk about stressed to the max! I had a patient and a back up patient and they canceled the night before at 10:30 pm, that didn't give me very much time to find another patient. My back up patient was my original patients husband, and he left a message and said he could come if I could get him out early, I tried calling back 4 times to tell him that he could come in, and they never answered or called back. So I called another patient when nobody showed up and she said she was on her way and she would be to the clinic by 9:00am. I waited around until 9:45 and she still didn't come...Finally at 10:15 a walk-in patient came and wanted to be seen. So I was able to complete an OD and have him scheduled.
Good things that happened today:
-Passed of peer calculus PE since I had a no show
-got another patient.
So I guess today was not as bad as I thought. I can always use new patients.

Keep bringing on the 1B's!

So far I have had every classification except for 1A. But I need more 1B's! I am starting to feel nervous that I am not going to have enough time to finish all of my classifications for this semester because I still take 2 appts to complete a 1B. I thought I was going to be able to complete my patient today, but I ended up taking x-rays and he was full ortho. I think that if he didn't have braces I would have been able to complete him today. I am going to make a goal that if I need two appointments for a 1B then I will schedule another patient because it doesn't take me that long to complete scaling (OD's take forever!!). I still need to get  better at recoginzing stuff in people's mouths, I thought my patient demineralization, but it ended up being sheet calculus...way to go Michelle. Lesson learned for next time!