First PE passed off

Today I passed off my first PE.....Selective Polishing. Don't congratulate me yet...it's pretty easy!! But Professor Wold had me work on holding my suction in my left hand, while holding the prophy paste, and then polishing with my right hand. It was really uncomfortable at first, but I'm going to give it a try and see how it works for me. It was really nice that I didn't have to keep stopping to suction! I have really enjoyed having Professor Wold help me and I'm kinda sad that this is her last week with us....for now. She has helped me work on the lower lingual anteriors, scale the distal of the 2nd molars, work with my suction, and helping me out with my health histories.

Mockboard found......CHECK!!

So last Thursday I had a patient come in and I was just figuring it was going to be a 1B. Well it turns out that she is my mockboard patient and possibly even my real board patient. I went through the OD and she had a couple 4's and 5's, then looking at her x-rays I could just see the calculus on all of the posterior teeth. We haven't been over the qualifications yet, but Professor Wold suggested that I hold on to her for my exams. I went through and did a calculus evaluation and there was a quite a bit present (there must have been for me to be able to detect it). She only has occlusal fillings, so that's a bonus!! I think I will be able to do a pretty good job on my exams with this patient. I am really excited that I was able to find this patient so early on in the semester, and I am really looking forward to mockboards now. I'm still a nervous wreck for the actual day, but at least I don't have to stress about finding a patient. PHEW!!!!

Women's Health Connection

Friday I got to go help at the Women's Health Connection and it was so much fun! We found a lot of women in the Ogden area that are in need of a very thorough cleaning.  It was interesting to see how many people are in need of dental care right here in our own community. It was a little hard to communicate with the women because the majority of them only spoke Spanish, but we did alright with it. Brooke and Jenny picked right up on it :) We had some main questions written out on the board so we could ask the patient about their oral health, but since we would ask them in Spanish they would answer back and for the most part we had no idea what they were saying. It was a really good learning experience and I'm glad I was able to go for at least one of the days.  

Jenny and Emily are having SO much fun!!!

Emily, Brooke and I doing a screening

Brooke and KaDee on break :)

Anesthetic

For our first anesthetic lab we got to inject LA into a chicken. It was interesting to me how little pressure you actually use when you are injecting. It seems like it takes forever, but the carpule isn't that big. We practiced aspirating with red colored water so we could see what it would like if we had a positive aspiration. I like this first picture because I look kinda scared....and I really am nervous for when we start practicing on each other :)

I feel bad for her practice partner :)

FINISHED!!!!!

So today I finished my Class III patient and finished passing off all my PE's. FINALLY!!! I feel very accomplished this semester and I'm really starting to get the hang of things....just in time to head off for summer break :( All in all, I think this semester went very well, and I'm pretty excited for our long break starting next week. I'm a little nervous for next semester just because of the requirements and being able to find the right patients, but I'm sure it will all work out in the end.

Class 3!!!!

I started on my class 3 patient today and got all done with the OD and 2 quads. I'm finishing her up next Wednesday and then I'm all done with my requirements!! I had a pretty easy time working on the mandibular anteriors. I love using my 1/2 Gracey and I was very productive with it this time. I am so excited that I was able to find a class 3 patient and I found out that it's not nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be.

X-Rays and Screenings

I finished my x-ray requirements today and found my class 3 while doing screenings. I had my grandma come in and it turned out that she was a class 3, but we had to take x-rays to confirm it. She needed 7 PA's, Emily needed 6 and I needed 1 so it worked out perfectly. The instructors classified her as a 3 so I have her coming back on Wednesday. I'm a little nervous, but after I'm done with those 4 quads I'm all done with my requirements for this semester. YAY!!!!