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!!
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Saturday, March 19, 2011
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!!!
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!!!
Saturday, March 12, 2011
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.
My first Class 4 Patient
I finally got a Class 4 patient at the VA last week!!! He only had 2 quads left to finish so that's what I did, but it was so nice to finally start those requirements. It wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be, but I know that every patient is different so hopefully I'll be able to do well on the next 6 quads. And I really hope that I'll be able to get 6 more quads!! I only go to the VA two more times and I've had ZERO luck finding a Class 4 patient at Weber. Other than the 6 quads of a Class 4 that I need, I need 3 more of a Class 3, and a IA. The only thing I'm worried about is the Class 4's, but I think there's a lot of people in our class that still need them too, so hopefully I'm not the only one stressed about this!!
LA Mockboards
Well my LA Mockboard exams didn't go as well as I was hoping. I thought I did great on the IA but the examiners said I was a little too deep and I need to make sure I'm over the opposite pre-molars instead of by the canine. I thought it was a great injection :( On the PSA I hit bone so I re-directed and then the second time I got a positive aspiration. I kinda freaked out cause I've never had one before. I announced negative aspiration because it looked negative and one of the examiners said okay, but the other one just kept waiting and then said that I had a tiny amount of blood show up. This wouldn't have been a problem because I would have been able to see another one, but they had me withdraw anyway. When I did it again it was fine, and I even used the same syringe so it was kinda pointless for me to start over, but whatever. I also need to work on my second 45 degree angle a little more!!
I barely failed the written mockboard, but I'd only studied to chapter 2 by that point. I mostly missed all the questions about which drugs are amides and esters and the others names of each drug. I've read all of the chapters now and made my own notes so I feel a lot more comfortable with the information and hopefully I'll be able to pass both the exams this time :)
I barely failed the written mockboard, but I'd only studied to chapter 2 by that point. I mostly missed all the questions about which drugs are amides and esters and the others names of each drug. I've read all of the chapters now and made my own notes so I feel a lot more comfortable with the information and hopefully I'll be able to pass both the exams this time :)
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Class III's
Both my patients on Tuesday were Class III's, and I didn't miss any spots!! Now I only need 3 more quads of a Class III to finish those requirements. I also had my husband come in so I could practice injections since he's going to be my Anesthesia Board patient. He said he felt a ZING when I did the IA so I was pretty excited that I hit the nerve right on. He wasn't too happy about it because he was numb for about 4 hours and I had told him he wouldn't be because I was barely depositing any solution. He had great landmarks so I was way excited about that!!
Saturday, February 19, 2011
What a Week!
This has been a crazy busy week for me. Class on Monday, Mockboards on Tuesday, National Board Exam on Wednesday, VA on Thursday, Sealant Clinic on Friday, work on Saturday. I am really looking forward to having Monday off!!
I didn't do great on Mockboards, but suprisingly I still feel pretty good about Boards coming up. I missed 3 spots in the UL quad, and I'm submitting the UR quad on the same patient for real boards. I feel really comfortable with this patient and I'm so glad that she's willing to come back in March. I'm also very glad that she speaks English. I added teeth 25, 26 & 27 to my submission and I missed the facial on each of them. I think I was mislead by the probing depths. I only got 1/2's on the anterior teeth and they seemed pretty healthy besides all the supragingival calculus, but I must have been hitting calculus when I probed because I didn't even know there was calculus there until Dr. Hanson pushed my explorer down further and I went right over top of it. I really need to work on exploring and working from different positions so I can feel everything. I gave a PSA injection for the first time and I still need to work on those. I was happy that I didn't need any help on the MSA and ASA though, and I found the correct spot the first time. I really enjoy giving injections while I'm doing it but it scares me to think about it before.
I thought the National Board Exam went pretty good. I finished the test at 1:45 so I was really glad to not be there all day. My favorite part was the case studies and I think I did really well on them. I sure hope I get at least a 75%!! My reward for taking the test was a Butterfinger Blizzard and fries from Dairy Queen and then watching the Bachelor. What a great night :)
At the VA on Thursday I got 6 quads of a Class V and 2 quads of a Class III. The patient with the 2 quads of a Class III was just there in October, but he must have had some major residual calculus because on the distals of every posterior tooth in the UR quad it was SO tenacious. There's no way it could have built up like that in just 4 months. I really need to get some Class IV's. It seems like the same students in my group are always getting the harder classes, and I always get the 1B's and V's. I feel pretty good about my requirements. I need one more 1A and 1B, 6 quads of a III and 8 of a IV. I know the Class IV's are going to be really time consuming so I sure hope I can find one soon!!
I didn't do great on Mockboards, but suprisingly I still feel pretty good about Boards coming up. I missed 3 spots in the UL quad, and I'm submitting the UR quad on the same patient for real boards. I feel really comfortable with this patient and I'm so glad that she's willing to come back in March. I'm also very glad that she speaks English. I added teeth 25, 26 & 27 to my submission and I missed the facial on each of them. I think I was mislead by the probing depths. I only got 1/2's on the anterior teeth and they seemed pretty healthy besides all the supragingival calculus, but I must have been hitting calculus when I probed because I didn't even know there was calculus there until Dr. Hanson pushed my explorer down further and I went right over top of it. I really need to work on exploring and working from different positions so I can feel everything. I gave a PSA injection for the first time and I still need to work on those. I was happy that I didn't need any help on the MSA and ASA though, and I found the correct spot the first time. I really enjoy giving injections while I'm doing it but it scares me to think about it before.
I thought the National Board Exam went pretty good. I finished the test at 1:45 so I was really glad to not be there all day. My favorite part was the case studies and I think I did really well on them. I sure hope I get at least a 75%!! My reward for taking the test was a Butterfinger Blizzard and fries from Dairy Queen and then watching the Bachelor. What a great night :)
At the VA on Thursday I got 6 quads of a Class V and 2 quads of a Class III. The patient with the 2 quads of a Class III was just there in October, but he must have had some major residual calculus because on the distals of every posterior tooth in the UR quad it was SO tenacious. There's no way it could have built up like that in just 4 months. I really need to get some Class IV's. It seems like the same students in my group are always getting the harder classes, and I always get the 1B's and V's. I feel pretty good about my requirements. I need one more 1A and 1B, 6 quads of a III and 8 of a IV. I know the Class IV's are going to be really time consuming so I sure hope I can find one soon!!
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