12/2/10

We have made it another semester! The last day of clinic was an interesting day for me. My first patient's #24 had a class three mobility. I think if he sneezed it would have fallen out. It made it almost impossible to fulcrum, because I like to fulcrum on those bottom teeth. Instead I used some advanced fulcruming so that was a good experience! My second patient had a tooth that was oozing with pus and it was a twelve mm pocket!!! I cleaned it out with the slimline as best as I could and then placed two arestin in the pocket. I'm excited to see her next semester to see if we get any more attachment with the antibiotic. Although, professor Perry said that is probably would not do much and it would be best for her to see a periodontist. I hope you all have a great christmas break. We will need a good break before next semester:) Good luck with all of the studying!

11/18/10

Today went pretty smoothly. My patient had an upper denture and a lower partial with 5 teeth:) So i got him done pretty quick. Luckily, he let me take a pano on him so I did something that was a little more productive. I was hoping that another patient I called was going to come in for a full mouth series of x-rays. I'm in desperate need of PA's. I'm not having the best of luck at finding patients that will get PA's and local anesthesi. I know I'm going to be stressed out next semester trying to meet those requirements. It all works out and I just need to keep that in mind. Also, we still have one more clinic day, so hopefully I will get the opportunity to do some of these requirements then!:)

11/16/10

Today I went to the VA and cleaned two patients this morning (seven quads of a class 5). I don't need anymore quads, I was hoping to get some class three's of four's today, but turns out I don't have the best of luck:) My patient this afternoon is probably another class 5. He had to leave at two to get a heart monitor and is going to try and come back on time! I did have one of my patients that wanted nitrous so I got to get that done. However, I forgot to pass it off as a PE. It is the last day at the VA this semester. I have really liked the VA, but have not had the best of luck. I hope I have better luck next semester with classification requirements!:)

11/11/10

This morning went smoothly, that is probably because I only had a patient with the classification of 1B and the OD was done:) She did have a lingual bar with sheets of calculus under, so that was a good experience to clean. It had been two years since she had a cleaning so she had moderate calculus, but no pocketing. The lingual bar was difficult for me to get right under. I found that the ultrasonic worked best right along the bar. I also passed off the caries risk assesment PE. I'm very glad to have that PE out of the way! My patient had low buffering so I recommended that she just use prevident 5000. My patient this afternoon is the patient I had my first day of clinic. He is a class three and was Megans mockboard patient. He has very tenacious calculus and lots of it. Wish me luck! :)

10/21/10

Wow today worked out perfectly for me. I scheduled a patient at the first of the semester and then I could not get ahold of him to confirm the apt. I knew he was going to miss, but I couldn't schedule anyone else just in case:) Turns out he didn't show up. My patient that was suppose to come in next week came in on accident! It worked out perfect. She was a class three and my mockboard patient. I was feeling a little discouraged from mockboards, so I was really motivated to do a good job today. I got two quads done with just a few calculus errors:) I used my periodontal file on her and placed arestin. I'm excited to see her in 3 months to see if the arestin worked. My patient this afternoon was a 1B and flew by. Overall, today went pretty well.

10/18/10

I think that the patient education projects have been very beneficial. I think it is important to go over the most frequent questions that our patients will ask so that we can be prepared to give an educational and complete answer. I really liked going into more detail on flouride. I think that some patients are very hesitant to the effects of topical and systemic flouride. I thought it was nice to go over this so that we have a better understanding and can educate our patients about the benefits and risk if it is not taken properly. Also, it was nice to review the aids that we could provide our patients with that have xerostomia. I think it is important to recognized that xerostomia is not a disease but a symptom. I feel much more prepared to help my patients that face problems with xerostomia and feel that I could recognize it much better after discussing how it looks.

9/30/10

Today was a crazy day, with class three patients all day. :) I found a mockboard patient that will be a little easier to get a good grade on! One of my patients had not been in for 20 years and had calculus overhanging on the gums and some crazy spurs. I finished two quads on him today and my hands are pretty soar. I need to make sure that i'm going along the linguals and buccals to get under the calculus. Also, I used my orange ultrasonic and loved it. I'm becoming more comfortable with using the ultrasonic and blue boa. I still have some major difficulties getting to the wisdom teeth! I took some PA's on my patient this morning to assess the bone levels. She had a hard time and had a bad gag reflex. I have the hardest time getting the second molar. I have heard it is a good idea to have the patient slightly open and push the x-ray back further to get that second molar. I'm going to practice getting the second molar and really going interproximally with the tip of my instrument this next week. As the instructors would say, "Today was a good experience.":)

9/16/10

Today went pretty good! I had a class 5 patient and a 1B patient. So it was not a very difficult day. My 1B patient had marginal gingivitis and the tissues were pretty inflamed along the linguals. I got to practice adaptation.:) I did miss one spot on the interproximal surface. I noticed that when the professors explore they tilt the explorer back and so it will angle more into the interproximal surface. My patient also had alot of psuedopockets, that had moderate plaque. I have been trying to keep my instruments more organized as i clean. Also, I have been trying to scale in a routine, so that I don't have to keep picking up and putting down instruments. My goal is to keep organized this semester and have a routine that I can use for calculus removal!:)

9/9/10

Today went pretty well. I saw a recall patient that was generalized maitained perio. I did learn that when seeing a diabetes patients there are many questions that we can ask to make sure we are thorough. I asked my patient when he last took his blood sugar, and what the reading was. Also, you can ask them their target range. If they don't know it, the manuel states that average target range is 80-120. Another question we should ask is if they know their A1C. This is an overall reading of how their blood sugar has been for the past 3-4 months. When scaling I missed one spot on the lower linguals. It was under the gums. Professor Perry showed me that you can use a horizontal stroke with the sickly scaler to get the calculus. I usually use my indiana which is a toe and think that works pretty well! Overall, today went pretty good so far. I hope the afternoon goes just as good:)

8/26/10

We had our first day back to clinic for second year today! It was nice to have a day to get back into the swing of things. We got alot accomplished today. We went over the diagnodent, intraoral camera, and radiology. I was glad that we went over the cordless diagnodent, because I had no idea how to use that one. We learned that the cordless diagnodent can detect caries interproximally! We also reviewed the instruments and I learned that the Indiana was one of Professor Alexanders favorite instruments. I don't think I used that last year. I will have to remember to give it a try this semester. We also went over sharpening and passed off that PE. We practiced probing and exploring on each other. My goal this year is to be more speedy and efficient when seeing patients so that I can meet all of the requirements. I'm very nervous about getting all of the requirements done and my first patient just cancelled on me. Bring it on second year!:)

4/14/10

Yeah!!! I have finished my first year of dental hygiene. It is such a relief to have all of my requirements done with. My patient today was a class 2 and I just had to finish 1 quad. Her gums were very inflammed and the calculus was very subgingival so it made it lots of fun. There was quite a bit of bleeding. The key was adapting very good! I asked my patient if she had noticed anything different in her mouth and she said that the quads we had cleaned were bleeding alot less especially when she flossed:) That is good to hear. This summer I will be doing full time summer school so that I can get my bachelors. Over the summer I want to focus on studying a little bit each week so that I can keep the knowledge that I have. I will definitly have to push myself to do it, but I know that it will be best for me and will start preparing me for boards!!!

4/1210

Wow is all I have to say for today. Dental Hygienist make deeper cleanings look so easy!! I had my class three today and just felt so confused and lost. My patient had some three and four mm pockets on bottom that I was comfortable with. When it got to the pockets that were six and sevens it got a little bit crazy. My patient had wisdom teeth which made is especially hard to get all the way back. Also, her teeth were extremely sensitive to the cold water, air, or even touching them. I was glad I had Angelique helping me. I got all three quads done that I needed to. I hope that It will come to me next semester. We gave her la and oraquix so I got to see how both of those worked. This Wednesday I just have to finish 1 qaud on my class 2 patient to finish the semester. Today I finished all of my requirements and so I'm happy about that just hope i can figure out how to do those deeper cleanings efficiently!!!

04/5/10

Today was a pretty crazy day. I practically just did a full mouth today. I had problems with scan x and my patient had a gag reflex so that made it even more difficult. I'm happy to say that I finished my full mouth of x-rays and I passed off air powder polishing and another sealant today! It was a crazy day and I wish I would have been more organized so that I could have accomplished more. I didn't even get to the cleaning and she was a 1B luckily it was my mom so she was easy going:) I hope this Wednesday goes well. I'm crossing my fingers for a class 3!!!

3/31/10

Today I was done by nine o'clock and had time to pass off PEs! Now I only have air powder polishing to pass off:) I cleaned my patients dentures today. It was a good experience and a more layed back day. When cleaning dentures you put them in a tartar and stain remover rinse. You can scale with your instruments (toe is best). I learned that you can use the ultrasonic on the dentures but only if they really need it. I had to take part of the liner out of my patients dentures and it was very tenacious. Afterwards, you should rinse with a baking soda and water to buffer. Overall, it went pretty well. My goal for the next few weeks is to find two more quads of a class three. I have a patient that has never been in coming on Monday. So i'm crossing my fingers. I also need to get PA's and then I think I will be good to go!!! Lets hope it all works out perfectly:)

3/29/10

Wow! I forgot how tired I got after a full day at clinic! I was CA this morning and everything went pretty well. Checking in and out can get pretty hectic, especially when you are on your own! Overall, my day as CA went pretty well. I almost finished my goal for the day. I finished two quads of a class three and one quads of a class 2. My back is hurting me so that is telling me that I really need to work on my posture. Luckily, my patient is willing to come back for a third time. I finished the ultrasonic, universal and area specific PE's today! I think it will be a good idea for her to come back so that we can evaluate her tissues and make sure everything is healing up right. Then I just have to finish up one more quad. I felt like I was all over her mouth while I was instrumenting. I want to come up with a pattern so that I can be quicker and more efficient. Overall, today went good and I think I accomplished quite a bit!:)

3/23/10

Today was great! I got two more quads of a class five! Now all I need to do is get two more quads of a class three! That is if my patient shows up for Monday. I accomplished my goal for the day and got all of her cleaning done and I finished early! It helped that she she didn't have a lot of calculus. She did have some pocketing in the molars, which classified her as a class five. I'm mainly worried about next Monday. I'm CA for the the whole morning and then I have my patient that is a class three and class two coming in. I tried to finish one quad last time and it was just so tenacious. I hope that I can get her all finished up and that my day will go ok! We will see:)

3/22/10

Today started out miserable and ended out great. I had my patient cancel on me an hour before her appointment so I was freaking out. I ended up getting my brother-in-law to come in and got his cleaning done. I also finished the diagnodent and sealant PE. That was my goal and I got it done for the day. I was a little worried, because he has down syndrome and I didn't know if he would be able to stay open that long, but he did awesome. Next week I have another patient coming in that has not been in for a year. I hope to get her cleaning all done and some x-rays done. Wednesday's go by so fast, but I know that I can do it!

3/10/10

Today went pretty well, I had another 1b patient. I passed off the selective polishing PE and then got all of her quads done. Her x-rays had some very small incipient lesions. I thought the films turned out pretty good. They were just regular films. She did have a permanent lingual bar that had some build up on it. It was actually quite fun to clean off.:) It was definitly more of a challenge, but when I have enough time I love to learn new things. I got my goals done for the day. If I stay up on my goals, and all my patients work out I think I may pass with atleast the minimum requirements. My main worry is just finding another class three patient with two quads. My goal next week is to finish up my next 1b patient. I have one quad done and she was pretty clean! Then I wanted to pass off the diagnodent and a sealant. Hopefully, I can talk her into getting atleast one done. She has never even had a filling. We will see!!!

3/3/10

I had my patient today that has not been in for 8 years and my instructor classified her as a Class three on bottom and Class 2 on top. I could see spurs on the x-rays and thought it would be lots of fun to get them off. Her calculus was so tenacious! I had to keep going over each tooth. Next time I may get her numb and that may make it a little easier. I didn't even finish the lower right quad. I was not very happy about that. I really want to get her finished up next time I bring her in. I hope that I improve enough so that next time that she comes in I can get everything done. I really thought that I was instrumenting correct and everything but I could not get the calculus off. I just need some stronger hands:) Overall, I didn't love how today went. I need to improve my speed when taking x-rays. Also, I need to be more organized in my scaling. Make sure that I get the calculus off one tooth and then move to the next. I hope next time she comes in it goes a little smoother. I have her coming in on a Monday so I will have more time.

3/1/10

My goal today was to get my patient done, take a pano, and pass off diagnodent and sealant. I finished my patient and took a pano, but did not get to the PE's. My patient had some subgingival calculus on her lower linguals that I really had a hard time getting off because her gums were so tight to her teeth. I need to work on going subgingivally. I always think that I'm going to hurt my patient. It was nice to have an instructor behind me telling me if my adaptation, and agulation were correct. Overall, the day went good and I got most the things accomplished that I needed to. This next week I have a patient come in that has not been in for 6 years. I'm hoping for my class three patient! We will see:)

2/24/10

Today went really well! I had my class 2 patient come in, and I already had his OD done so I just got to do his cleaning. I also passed off explorer, anterior instrument, and blood glucose PE. He had calculus on his lower linguals. He had quite a few restoration so there was not a ton of calculus on the molars. I did learn that I need to twist my instrument a little more between my thumb and index finger so that I'm always leading with the tip. My goal is to increase my speed on OD. That is what really slow me down. Also, I would like to be more comfortable with indirect vision of the lower linguals. I dont trust myself so I always end up compromising my posture to see those. I don't want to make that a habit so I need to start using indirect vision now.

2/22/10

Today was another stressful clinic day! I met my goal and finished my 1b patient (that has not been in for 2 years.) There was some calculus buildup, but he was still a 1b. It was so fun watching the calculus come off of the anterior linguals. I felt like I was hurting him every once in awhile though. I need to make sure that I have a good fulcrum. Also, I need to make sure that I'm keeping a 70-80 degree angle to avoid hurting the gums. My goal that I decided to do next time was to be more organized in my scaling. I kinda just go everywhere and then hope I get it all. I need to focus on the anteriors when I'm doing them and finish those before I start on the next teeth. That way I can explore and remember which teeth are clean and which ones still need it. My goal for Wednesday is to get some PE's done. I have my dad coming in again and I definitly need to pass off some PE's.

2/17/10

Today was a very layed back day. We did not have any patients today. We just learned how to clean dentures, take blood glucose, and to use the diagnodent. It brought me back to first semester and, now that I look back it was so easy compared to seeing patients! ha ha I have use the diagnodent and clean dentures before at the office I work at. It was fun to learn how to take blood glucose. They have really nice kits at Weber State that makes it really easy for us. My goal this week is to get more organized with how I'm going to pass of PE's and set goals when I want them done. I would like to finish my next patient in one day on Monday. We will see next time:)

2/10/10

I had my class 2 patient again today. I really felt good about getting the LL done because one of the TA's was with me last time while I worked on the LR. She really helped me feel the calculus and made sure that I got it all off. Turns out that I missed a few spots on the LL also. I think I really need to use my explorer like crazy. I kept thinking it was smooth, but the instructor would get in there and go even more subgingivally then I thought possible and find some. I need to make sure I'm using my probe depths while I scale so I know how deep the pockets are. I didn't accomplish my goal for PE's today. I wanted to get my second anterior and univeral PE done. I only finished the ultrasonic PE. When using the universal and anterior instruments I need to adapt alot more Make sure that the terminal shank is not exactly parallel to the tooth because then it will cut the gums. I need to focus on keeping it 70-80 degree angle. I think i learned alot today and hope that today will help me with my next patients and finding calculus. My goal is to keep giving 100% I also think its a good idea on 1b patients to just use the instruments on atleast half and not the ultrasonic so that I know if I can really do it with just the scaling instruments. I find when I'm running out of time I just want to use the ultrasonic and hope that it gets it all. I think I learned alot from today and think overall I have improved with detecting calculus. We will see next time:)

2/8/10

Today went pretty good in that I got all of the calculus off, but I only got 1 quad done on my 1 B patient. I was hoping to finish her, because she didn't need x-rays. She had to leave over an hour earlier then I expected. Oh well I can get in my sharpening PE for the day. I'm just really stressed about the requirements and hope that I can get them all done. Both radiology and my patient requirements. I need to work a little faster in order to get them all done. I did notice that this patient had overall pretty health pocket depths but her gums were inflamed. She was not a flosser. There was actually quite a bit of blood and I kept thinking I was getting her gums, but it is just one of those things that come when you don't floss properly. She also might have been pregnant. Bleeding of the gums accompanies pregnancy! My goal is to really plan ahead and make sure I can get all of my requirements done.

2/1/10

Today went pretty smoothly. My goal was to get the Sealant and Selective Polishing PE done. It was hard because the instructors were always so busy. So i just passed off a sealant and will wait till next time to pass of selective polishing. I had my sister come in today and she was very easy. Did not take me very long to clean. I can't wait to get a patient with calculus so I can actually feel it with my explorer. I used the air on her lower linguals and found one little tiny spot of calculus. It is so exciting to see and then take it off. The things we get excited about:) My goal is to keep my tray a little more clean and organized so that I know where everything is and don't look like such a slob. I need to work on fulcruming and using a hand, arm and wrist motion to get the calculus off. Overall, today was great!

1/25/10

I got a lot accomplished today. My sister came in and I took bitewings and a pano on her, then did OD, and got all quads done for her cleaning. She doesn't have to come back!:) She was a 1 B. She did not have much calculus so it went very smooth. I was just so happy I got her cleaning all done. I noticed that her wisdom teeth were coming in at an angle toward the other teeth. I suggested she go talk to her dentist that it looked like they were about ready to come out. Overall, the day went really well.

1/27/10

I finally finished a full mouth of x-rays and think that they went pretty well. It is a relief to get some of those PA's done. I wanted to see the bone levels on my patient. He had some slight loss of the crestal lamina dura. My patient was fairly healthy, but had a lot of restorations and recession. Therefore, I put him in a class two. My teacher said I would be surprised at how much calculus I will find down below the gum levels. I didn't even get to the cleaning today and felt like I was going as fast as I could. I'm excited to find some calculus. My goal for the rest of the semester is just to be very organized. There is so much to do everyday so sometimes it just gets crazy. I think if I keep everything a little more organized and accesible I will get more done in the appointment. Next Monday I have my sister coming in. Pass of the PE for sealants or atleast get one done to pass off part of the sealant requirement.

1/20/10

Today was more of a layed back day. I just had to finish 3 quads on a 1B patient. My goal was to finish that, and atleast the anterior and universal PE. I need to adapt more then I think and continue using indirect vision. I also passed off the intraoral PE. That one is pretty easy to set up and everything I just had a hard time getting the right angle to get the picture I wanted. I learned that you should try and center the picture you are trying to get. My patient had quite a few feelings so when I was scaling I had a hard time distinguising that from calculus. I know that it is just experience that will help me recognize these. My goals this next week is to finish a full mouth series of x-rays with the schick and do a pano. I need to focus a little more on my radiology requirements. Overall, today was very productive!

1/11/10

My goal for today was to finish a 1A patient and get started on a 1B patient. I got that done, but I didn't get as far as I would have liked on my 1B patient. I still take forever to probe and have no idea if I'm getting the correct readings. I guess that practice makes perfect. I was about to put me down for an exam today on my 1A patient and get that done with. I should have because all of my charting was correct. I know this is only our second patient, but I want to start focusing on getting PE's done. My patient that is six had white remineralizing spots on her teeth that looked like feelings. They were actually due to high fevers when she was young. Those must have been the teeth that were developing when she got those high fevers. Overall, Today was good.

1/6/10

Wow today was a very crazy day, but I think it went pretty well. We had our first patient today. I had my nine year old nephew come in. I thought it would be a breeze, but there was so much charting to do. It was really good for me, because I was actually able to see where some feelings were and spotted a suspicious lesion. I'm so glad Trey was patient with me, and did so great. He had to sit there for quite awhile with me poking at him:) In class we have been teaching each other the etiology of cavities and gingivitis. It is a little harder to explain to a nine year old boy. I just explained to his mom what was going on and tried to explain it to him. My goal is to become quicker at probing. I still have such a hard time with that and I know my posture is horrible when I'm doing it!

1/4/10

Today is our first day back from our long wonderful Christmas Break. I just wish we had another month:) Today we went in groups around to different pods learning more about the ultrasonic, graceys, and doing case studies. It was very beneficial,especially since we really got to learn and use our typodont. From now on we have to do real patients and fill our schedules up. I'm worried for the semester, because I hear from everyone that it is the most difficult. I know I can do it if I have a good attitude and just always give my best effort. My goal in clinic is to learn something new with each patient and to also help each patient learn something new. I'm excited to get started on patients this semester and hope that I can do a good job!