11/6/12

I have come to find out that if a pt will not answer their phone when you call to remind them of their appointment, and won't call you back it means that they are going to be a no-show. Plan on it. Instead I found a diff pt last minute to finish with. I also had a new pt that ended up being a class IV.  YEH! I was needed one of those. It was a good experience also because he had a really high bp reading, so we carefully monitored that throughout the appointment. He was surprised to find out that it was so high since he had not had it read in a  long time. He promised to go get it checked with a doctor so he could take something to control it. When he opened his mouth he a ton of sloughing. I asked him what tp he used, and he said it was crest pro-health. We talked about changing brands.  He was happy to learn that.  I get the sloughing too and it is annoying. He said he was just trying to get the best newest kind that would do the most good. Sorry crest, but I recommended Colgate total. What I enjoyed today working with my pt is having enough knowledge about products and home care that I could use that to help someone else. He was a good pt because he wanted to learn. My goal over Dec. break is to make up small hand outs for home care items and information that is useful to a pt. for example diabetes/perio, chx rinse, tb/flossing skills, prevident, and oral cancer self checks. It would be nice to send it home in writing because it is hard for the pt to remember once they are home everything that you said.

10/30/12

I didn't get a chance to blog for these weeks so I am back tracking a bit. I had 1A pt's today. The one was old enough to do just fine, but the other was nervous, and anxious most of the time. It was the first time she had xrays so it took some effort to get her to cooperate. I am finding there is some skill to entertain children, and what ever it is you do, do it fast, because if they are willing to cooperate it doesn't last long. It turned out good in the end.

10/23/12

Today I had my first clas IV pt. He had 9-10 mm pocketing. The first quad was the lr, which I felt I had an easier time at then on the ur. Access and using indirect vision made it harder to scale. I used my ultrasonic a lot, along with files. This was a good experience. Completely different when they have such deep and easy access pockets compared with a class II. His next visit I plan to place arestin to help with healing in these pockets. Instrumentation is difficult when it is that deep, due to lack of vision, and crown/root access. The crowns feel like they are in the way to place the instrument sometimes. Good experience, as now I see the difference, and severity of this classification.

10/16/12

Today is Mockboard. I was  a student examiner first, which was very helpful for me to observe the procedures and practice exploring for calculus. In the afternoon I was able to give an IA to my pt. My first experience with a real situation. It went well, but I was shacking when injecting....it seemed a very long slow process. But it did get him very numb. I missed three areas of calculus and 2 recession numbers. I realy felt this experience was helpful, as I now know what to expect, to put a 0 instead of 1 on recession, and to make sure all apex's are in the xray.

10/9/12

Still working on my calculus and explorer technique. My first pt was a class V, I missed a few areas, but learned that when the tissues are tight that the slimline ultra sonic is very helpful in getting under the tissue to clean off the calculus. On my second pt today I used it when I was going back over and saw that I had missed a spot on the anterior linguals, and maxillary anteriors, the ultrasonic helped to remove it quickly. I finished both pt's early today and kept within my time goal. I was also able to complete several pe's including a sealant. Yahy!

10/2/12

These next couple of weeks I am focusing on using my explorer better to locate calculus, and then instrument properly to remove it. This will help me to not miss areas. Our instructor this week, Lis is really good at this. She stands there and monitors everything that I am doing. This helps me to learn how it is suppose to be done properly. It has helped me feel more confident in this area.  THanks! to our instructors who care that we learn. I finished a class III, and a V today.

9/25/12

I have been working on getting better open contacts on my premolars during x-rays. Today my pt's mouth was crowded but they turned out pretty good. I like the scan-x, and enjoy being able use the same method each time so that I feel that I am able to master it, instead of jumping from conventional or schick just to meet requirements even when it wasn't the best option for my pt. It is much better this year the way it is set up. I had a class II pt today, but was disappointed he wasn't quite mock board quality.  Sierra and I are coming in on Thursday to screen pt's. I closed my eyes and pulled out three names, hoping that at least one will qualify. Maybe between the two of us we can at least find one pt to share..... I was disappointed today to miss so many areas of calculus. I felt that way because I thought I had been very thorough..ugh. I hate that! Mental note I made, especially after the lab today. Pull out the files.