FINISHED FOREVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today was my last day in Clinic and I was able to get quite a bit done. Maybe I shouldn't have saved so much for the last day :)

This is what I did today:
Diagnodent
Sealant
Subgingival Irrigation
2 Injections
2 LA PE's
Curved Slimline Ultrasonic PE
2 Scan-X Pano's
2 Class 4 quads

It is such a great feeling to know that I have finished all my requirements for Senior Clinic!!!!

It's about time

Yesterday at the VA I ws able to get quite the variety of quads. In the mornind I had 2 quads of a Class V (which really should have been at least a Class II), and then 4 quads of a Class 1B. In the afternoon I thought I was going to get one quad of a Class III because my patient had moderate bone loss and was coming for SCRP, but he only had 7 teeth. He ended up not coming so I saw a different patient that turned out to be 3 quads of a Class IV and 1 quad of a Class II. I had to handscale everywhere and it took forever!!...That calculus was like cement!!! My patient was like 85 years old and had pretty severe Alzheimer's. He couldn't remember where he was and I had to keep asking him to open his mouth and explain what I was doing. It was really sad!! I was also able to do a Pano and 2 PE's today so that is going to make my life next week a little bit easier :)

So Close.....

I only have 2 more clinic days, one at Weber and the other at the VA.  I still need to do 5 PE's, 3 Pano's, 1 quad of a Class 3 and 4 quads of a Class 4. YIKES!!!  I was supposed to see one of my Class 4 patients yesterday morning but they cancelled so I ended up having my brother come up for x-rays and he brought my son with him cause I still needed a 1A.  That patient is supposed to be coming next week so I really hope that he does or I won't get my requirements. Maybe I'll get lucky and find something at the VA tomorrow, but that never happens! My other Class 4 patient is coming next week also, but he's really dependable so I know I'll get those 2 quads for sure.

I finished up my PA's yesterday so that was a relief.  I thought I was going to have an easy appointment with my son because he's been to the dentist before and he did pretty good. I think it's better to have someone else clean his teeth but I didn't have any other options because I still needed to see a child. I basically flossed his teeth and brushed his teeth with his new toothbrush and still had to pay $28. What a rip-off!!....but at least I got my requirements done. 

Emily and I did a few PE's on each other in the morning since our patients weren't there yet. It was a pretty good day, but now I'm just worried about getting all my Class 4's done. Only one more week :)

Wrapping Things Up!

Well I'm on the countdown now. I'm still waiting for my WREB results but everything else seems to be falling into place. I still need 3 pano's, 10 PA's, a 1A, 1 quad of a Class III and 4 quads of a Class IV...oh and 6 PE's. I guess I better get going on those!!

Today I had my dad come in for a FMX. It went really well and I didn't have any re-takes so I was pretty happy about that (and I think my dad was too). This afternoon I had a recall patient that counts for 4 quads of a Class IV!!! I think I have everything that I have left to do scheduled into the next 2 weeks of clinic. I'm so excited to be done and I can't believe that graduation is this close! One more time at the VA and 2 more clinics at Weber and I'll be done with patients for a while (at least until I get my license).

Good Day

Today was a pretty good day for me. I didn't have a morning patient but I ended up seeing one anyways. Ashley's patients girlfriend was there with him and she wanted a cleaning so I started working on her. I got through the OD and I scaled the UL quad. We got a late start and she had to leave early so I was pretty excited to get that far. She was 3 quads of a Class 2 and 1 of a Class 3 so I did the Class 3 quad first since I'm way over on my 2/5's. It turns out that Ashley's patient is going to count as a Class 4 so I'm going to see him in a couple weeks and clean 3 quads and Ashley is going to finish up the girlfriend. Kristen also gave me a Class 3/4 patient and he's coming next week. YAY!! I might actually get my Class 4 requirements done!!!!

My cousin was my afternoon patient and it went really well. He has full braces but it wasn't nearly as bad as my last patient with braces. He had pretty good homecare and it wasn't too bad flossing either. He was just a 1B, but I was pretty excited that I didn't miss anything!!

BOARDS!

Well Boards are over!! Wednesday we took our LA written test in the morning. I usually take tests pretty fast but this time I only had about 5 minutes to spare. We were all sitting down the hall waiting for them to put the envelope with our results out on the table. I felt physicially sick as soon as someone said they were out there; it felt like going over the railroad tracks or on a roller coaster and having your stomach drop. IT WAS HORRIBLE!!! I felt very prepared to take this test and I really felt like I knew the information well, but I was extremely nervous for the results. Everyone started opening their envelopes right there in front of everyone, but I had decided I was going to go sit in my car to open it up. If I passed I had to get my stuff anyway, and if I didn't I wanted to hurry and get out of there without facing anyone. Fortunately I passed!!! It was such a relief!! I also passed both my injections on the first attempt so I was really excited about that. I was a little bit shaky because I hadn't eaten lunch yet, but overall I did really well.

My clinical exam was Thursday afternoon and it was SO stressful. 2 hours seems like a long time to clean just one quad but the time flew by!! My check-out time was 3:05 and I think I checked my patient out at 3. I was the most nervous about my patient not qualifying. I was pretty confident that she would, but you just never know. Luckily, my first submission worked! I even got to do anesthesia and it was so strange to not have someone watching me the whole time. There were a couple pieces of calculus that I was really having a hard time with; I just hope that in the end I got them off. I explored each tooth so many times and I know I got the majority off, but I'm just nervous with what the examiners might have found. I was also scaling one of the premolars just to make sure it was smooth, and my instrument slipped and I cut her gums. She was numb so she didn't feel anything, but then I had to try and smooth it out. I've never done that before and I don't like the thought of trimming off tissue :(  I don't know the rules about tissue trauma, but I hope I smoothed it out enough that it won't count against me. I guess I'll just wait for my results and hope that I passed!!!

Hardest 1B EVER!!!!

My patient on Tuesday was a 1B but she was freaking hard!!! She had full braces, she hadn't had a cleaning in about 3 years and her tissues were SO inflamed. It was so hard for me to get around the wires and it was very frustrating because she would barely open her mouth and then she kept whincing every time I touched her. It would have been way better if she was numb but she wasn't interested in that. The good news is that I got to pass off my Air-Powder Polisher PE so I finally have that out of the way. I really enjoy using that now that I've got the hang of it, but I still don't think the patients really enjoy it. I was a little disappointed that this was my last patient before Boards, but I guess it was good practice and I really had to focus on keeping my instruments under the gingiva, especially on the pre-molars, and not just following the contour of the enamel and gingiva.