MY LAST SEMESTER OF COLLEGE STARTS TODAY!
Today I learned an important lesson about patient positioning.
My morning patient was a cute young girl who was referred to me as a possible board patient by a former graduate of my program. Unfortunately, she had a probe reading of 7mm, which exceeds what we are allowed, and her calculus was not tenacious enough. Even more unfortunate was the fact that I bombed in calculus removal today on the lower molars, but Dr Hanson helped me to realize why. She said she was having difficulty reaching the areas that I missed because of my patients head position. Due to her thick ponytail, her chin was down throughout the appt and it made it harder for me to scale those places thoroughly. I will not allow that mistake to occur again.
I paid more attention to my patients positioning in the afternoon and while this patient had calculus that was a thousand times more diffuse and tenacious than my morning patient, I missed ZERO spots! I was able to pass off a root debridement PE on this patient. That felt nice!
At least I ended well! Great lesson to re-learn on the first day of Spring Semester 2012!
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