Finishing up those Class IIIs

Ill admit, I was nervous for a second that I wouldnt make it to that second and last quad that I needed in order to complete my patient today.  I spent a good portion of the appointment working on my patients UL quad.  Feeling pretty confident that I had removed all his deposits, I asked for Inst. Caldwell to scale check.  She found deposits on every tooth!  I wanted to cry and just about did.  She must have sensed that and told me not to be discouraged and that this would be a good learning experience for me.  She asked Inst. Hafen, a fellow leftie, to assist me in finding and removing said deposits.  Can I just say that Inst Hafen was a heavensend.  She helped me maintain optimum adaptation as I worked around the line angles of his anteriors.  I immediately felt subging deposits.  His teeth were significantly malposed on the lower anteriors.  Because of her advisement I was able to reach subging with my explorer, recognizing the anatomy of the tooth, and pull off deposits with my gracey that I KNOW i wouldnt have found without her advisement earlier.  She helped me utilize my graceys more efficiently.  I was able to feel a lot more comfortable with my scaling when in the twelve oclock and 4 oclock positions.  I used to struggle with getting stuck between the contacts, and she helped me to orient the instrument so that less of the blade reaches underneath the contact.  While I missed many deposits on the UL, I only missed two on the LL.  MARKED IMPROVEMENT.  Not only should we keep Inst. Hafen next year, we should send her a limo each morning.  ;)  I feel so ready for next semester!  Goal:  Dont forget all that Ive learned before starting up again next fall!  I cant believe Im going to be a Senior DH student! 

Finishing my class 1B requirements

Today Tim and Sharlene came in, and I am happy to report that I am getting faster.  I never thought Id see the day where I could finish 4 quads of someone in one day.  But alas, it has come.  I attribute it to better exploring, as I proved by passing off my PE today.  I was also able to pass off my blood glucose PE.  She handled the test SOOOO much better than I did when we practiced.  I admired her for that.  She had eaten recently and her glucose level was still within normal levels, which may indicate that her normal fasting blood glucose level is low.  This theory is consistent with her comments of getting dizzy if she goes too long without food.  I learned that lots of lingual bars are cemented only to the cuspids, rather than my case (where it is bonded to each tooth).  I thought Sharlenes calculus was the cement so I was careful to stay away from it, but it ended up penalizing me in my scale check.  I can now be aware of this.  Goal: try to fit two 1Bs into one appointment for next time, or very soon thereafter.

Impossible Things Happen Every Day

I love when life seems like a Cinderella story.  With faith and hard work, it seems that things just work out.  Today a senior student came into our class and asked if one of us needed a class III patient.  I have intended to bring in Henry for a month or more and he continually cancels on me.  Because I need him so much, I kept trying but something always comes up.  I tried to get patients to come in on our screening day to see if they meet my requirements but they all bailed so I was really stressing about getting two more quads of my class III.  I asked Prof Costley if I could take my clinic day that day and she thought it was a wise idea.  Angel Pichardo was a great patient, and I loved having the opportunity to sit in Senior clinic and associate with Prof Alexander.  It got me really excited for next year.  His tooth anatomy was rough and it made calculus detection difficult, but in the end, I completed two quads and only missed three places!  I was so excited!  It was a great experience, and Im grateful that the opportunity presented itself to me.  But wow, we need to take those scalers deep in to those molar pockets!  That was a learning experience! 

A day Lost

I gave up April 6th clinic day in liu of a pending extra clinic day in the future. 

Blanca, my second Class II

Kelsey needed someone to switch her clinic sessions so I took her morning shift.  Maren needed someone to see a class II patient for her while she treated their relative or something and I needed another class II so that worked perfectly!  Blanca was a great patient.  She didnt speak a lot of english but she got along okay with what I was saying.  My first three quads were nearly seamless...i did a great job.  I think I missed three spots between the three quads.  I regret to say that on the fourth I felt rushed on time and I TANKED.  Two other girls were in my same boat and we became a topic of discussion in podwrap that afternoon.  What we learned:  do not sacrifice completeness of care based on time...do our best work for the patient and take the knock on time utilization, rather than trying to pass off a half-baked job of scaling.  That hurts us more.  I learned my lesson for sure.  All that hard work on the first three quads got flushed down the toilet.  I owe it to myself and to my patients to be better.