One more final to go I am so looking forward to Christmas break. It will be nice to study for boards without having to worry about all my other courses. I haven't done so well on my finals other than Human Sexuality because my professor didn't feel like writing a final so she gave all of us 100%. I did pretty bad on Professor Alexanders final. I studied really hard but her questions didn't really come from her powerpoints or what we learned in class so I don't know what I could have done any better other than be a hygienist that has been practicing for several years and it is just common sense to me. I just hope everyone else struggles as well and she raises all the scores.

Last clinic day

Had our last clinic day but due to the fake big storm we sent our afternoon patients home early. I wish I would have had about 30 more minutes with my patient to get x-rays and probe depths to know what class he was for next semester. Oh well can't complain to much about a really long Thanksgiving break.

Injections

I finally gave injections today at the VA. I was so nervous but with the help and encouragement of Professor McConaughey I made it through the scary experience. My legs were shaking like crazy my patient was laughing at me afterwards because he could see the nervousness in me but I am happy my first time on a patient is finally over.

Frustrated!!!

Today was a bummer day. I think I a the only student in our class that hasn't given injections yet. I set up a patient for today that has always had injections in the past so I knew today would be my chance. I watched the LA video three times last night and practiced on my skull and husband so I would be more confident for the injections. When I told him we would give him some injections today to numb him so he would feel anything he said he would be fine but would like some topical numbing. I couldn't believe it. Why is my luck for injections been so bad. My class IV pt a couple of weeks ago also refused injections and also just wanted Oraquix.

Completed all the required quads for fall semester today, what a relief. Now I just need to magically pull a bunch of class III 's out of nowhere. Hopefully they start coming along. Otherwise I am feeling good about clinic.

Cleaned Brittanies teeth today and she was a good sport and let me do blood glucose and diagodent on her as well. I didn't get as far on my mockboard pt as I would have liked to because she showed up late. My class 3 this afternoon went well got her finished and placed a lot of Arestin in her mouth. I wish LA was as easy to administer as Arestin is. I am looking forward to having tomorrow off to catch up on some sleep, house work and homework.

Mockboard

I had my first mockboard today and it was very humbling. I missed ten sites of calculus. I really thought I got everything. I felt around with my explorer before I submitted her and I obviously didn't know how to feel for it. Prof. Hanson said she was a hard patient but I think I really just suck at scaling. In my defense though she bleed a ton and I couldn't see a whole lot with the hand instruments. She told me I wasn't going deep enough. So I failed my first mockboard and got a really low score. The only positive part about this is I hope I can only get better.

VA

Quite an interesting day at the VA, both my patients were anti-fluoride so I had to remember all my teachings from Prof. Costley on the benefits and have good explanations on to the importance of fluoride. I did convince one guy to do the varnish the other was pretty hard headed. They were both very nice guys I had great conversations with both which made the day go very quickly and with ease. My second patient was very set on me leaving the church and believing in the apostasized church. He was very knowledgeable so I wasn't about to disagree with him so I listened to all his stories and he seemed pleased to have a listening ear.

Class IV

I saw my first class IV today and it wasn't so bad, my class II I saw in the morning was harder b/c of his tenacious calculus. My class IV has been coming to Weber for a really long time so his calculus hasn't gotten to hard but he still isn't maintaining his bone levels so I am glad I got him as my class IV. My class II on the other hand has been one of my hardest pt so far. I had to use the file on his lower anteriors because nothing was coming off with the ultrasonic or graceys.

Yesterdays clinic was much better than the previous week. My patients showed up and I was finally able to see a class III. This is the first time since I started the program that while I was probing the probe dropped into a pocket. This lady had a 12 mm pockedt. I couldn't believe how the probe just kept going and going. Cleaning it on the other hand was not as exciting. It was difficult to get a scaler to go down that far. I used my file that we had just been taught on Monday how to use and then went in with my ultrasonic. My instructor said I got all the calculus so that made me happy.

Well this is my third clinic day and it is my third clinic day that I have had a pt cancel on me. I found out last night that my patient wouldn't be here so I lined a new one up and he showed up, unfortunately he was only a 1B. Then my afternoon showed up and I was very happy about that but she had a cold sore so I was told I couldn't work on her. I am so frustrated this semester it seems everyone else has patients on time and they are harder classifications so they are getting their requirements and I'm not. I feel like God hates me because this is happening to me. I have a class 4 and 3 scheduled next week, if they don't show up I will be so upset. I hope my next post is more promising.

PRE-MED

Today was definetely one I hope I don't have again for a while. This morning my 8am pt didn't show up so I finally got a pt at 10 am, one hour before I had to walk her out. I thought my afternoon can't be this bad, well it was worse. My pt was on time but she was on five meds she had just had stints put in her heart and she had high blood pressure. She was an amazingly sweet lady but trying to get through her health history was exhausting. I made it through the day though and I learned a ton about meds and pre-meds.

Senior Clinic

Today was the first day of senior clinic where we saw pts. I was so nervous not knowing if I would remember what we learned back in April. It went suprisingly well. I had two class 2 pts and was able to finish one of them. Today I really felt like my positioning was working for me. I was able to have access and see what I was working on. By the end of the day I was feeling a little more confident in myself, like I can do this. It was a great way to start out my senior year. Hope I feel this happy at the end of all my clinics.

I just typed a really long post and it deleted it. I bought a seniors flash cards to study for boards so I am going to set a goal to study at least 1 hour each day so that when next semester rolls around I will feel like I remember some of the stuff I learned junior year.

Finals

Well I just finished my stats final which means I am officially done with all tests for spring semester. I am so happy to get a break. I feel I've worked so hard this semester. I have studied every night hardly watched any TV and really neglected my house and family. I am so looking forward to spending the summer with my husband and kids and getting my house and yard emaculate. It was a great semester but also very stressful.

Junior Clinic

I can't believe its over Jr. Clinic. A week ago I didn't think I would complete it and now its over and I met all my requirements. Lets just say prayers really are answered. I didn't know how I would ever come up with some class 3's and they really did just start falling into my lap. I am so happy and thankful it all worked out. I just took my second to last final, hopefully tomorrow I will take my last and start my summer vacation.

Class III

Yea!!! I did 2 quads of a class III today and now I only have two left to do and I meet my requirements for this semester. I also did my peer calculus removal PE and was CA so I am feeling much better this week other than the million finals I have to take this week.

So I have been fiddling around with the settings on my blog site, I think it looks better. It was fun to change things up a bit a customize it a little more today.

Class III, on my way!

Just got two class III's with two quads each to start on this coming Monday. Nothing like getting down to the wire. I hope I can do well and finish them up. Talked to a dentist today about working this summer for him, he said he can probably use me. If I get this job then at least I will probably get better at x-rays and polishing. Well hopefully next week goes well. Only two more weeks of school, yeah!

Well today I finished 8 quads so that is good, but I still don't have my class 3 and if he doesn't show up next Monday I wont pass clinic. I haven't slept in days I have called anyone I can think of that maybe a class 3 and they are all class 2's and now I have only 2 clinic days to go so I am really going to be in trouble.

Disappointment

My class 3 that I had scheduled did not show today for his appointment. If I can't get him to come in I don't know what I am going to do. I am afraid I will fail clinic. I got to clean a kid by chance though so that was good.

PE's

Passed off two PE's today and finished up Brittanie so I am happy. I only have 4 more PE's to go. So as long as I can get my class 3 in I think I will pass clinic. My class 3 is suppose to come in on Wednesday so I am praying he will show up and he will be a class 3.

Class 1A exam

I did my class 1A exam today. I think it went well. At least I finished him up. I am starting to get really worried about completing my requirements. I keep screwing up on my charting. I feel like I have so many things swirling inside my head that I can't do anything right. I am going to bring my instruments home this weekend I feel I really need practice. It seems like everyone else is improving and I am getting worse. I hope I pass and can get better.

Denture Patient

I did my denture patient on Monday. It was probably the worst day I have had so far in clinic. It was my father in-law. He has 4 of his own teeth left and he is so proud of them, while I was giving him his pano one of the crowns broke off. The rest of the appointment went horribly. He was upset my mother in-law that has Alzhiemers would not stay out of my pod so it took me the whole appointment just to do Dean. I was planning on finishing up Brittanie but all I got finished were her x-rays. I am really starting to lose confidence in myself.

The patient today that I thought might be a class 3 was a class 2 so I was bummed. He wasn't a very nice person he didn't want to be seen but his girlfriend set up his appointment and he wasn't very happy about it. I finished him up because he refused x-rays so at least he is not coming back. I guess this was good for me though because a lot of people hate going to the dentist. I really need to get harder skin and not let people get to me so much.

clinic

I can't believe junior year is almost over. This year has gone by so quickly. There have been times I thought I wasn't going to make it through another week but somehow I seem to continue on. I feel like I have really improved my skills during this semester. I feel like I am gaining more confidence in myself. I know I can do this and know that I chose the right pathway for my career. I love cleaning teeth, I love educating my patients on correct Oral Hygiene. I wish my hygienist would have taught me a lot of the things I am teaching my patients years ago. I believe I would have had less caries and less recession. I hope I can really make a difference in a lot of peoples lives. I chose this career because I truly want to help people and I know I can with dental hygiene.

Class II Exam

I finished my class II exam today, I did 3 quads and finished. I missed a few spots but today is the first time I really felt like I knew what I was doing with my explorer. I could really feel what I was trying to remove. I also passed off 4 PE's so that was nice to get done. I also just felt much better hand scaling today. I watched the video on line on instrumenting and I really tried to adapt they way prof. Hanson was demonstrating and I feel I did better.

Sealants

Did four sealants on my son today. I really need to practice this procedure. I enjoy it but I feel like my hands are full of so many instruments and I am all thumbs. I also finished another 1B today so that makes 30 quads for me. I sure hope I can get to 65 quads in the next month and a half.

Class II

I finally got my class II exam patient. I was so excited I wanted to dance in clinic. It was hard though her calculus was pretty tenacious. I hope to finish her up at her next appt. She was awesome though because she told me to dig deeper it doesn't hurt.

Blood Glucose Test

Today we learned how to do the blood glucose test on each other. I had to be pricked three times to get enough blood. It didn't hurt but made me very nervous. Got through it and did it to my partner.

Class 2

Wednesday I did cleaned a class 2 patients teeth. A second year student had started him and had 2 quads left to do. He needed to be numbed because his gums were so inflamed. He bleed a lot. I was very proud of myself for not getting sick or quissy. Got his two quads done which took the whole clinic session. It was a good experience to see the calculus, plaque and blood.

Frustrated

today was such a frustrating day I really wanted to finish my patient today but I didn't it seems like everyone else is finishing their patients in one appointment except for me. I am really feeling down.

Class 1B exam

I did my class 1b exam today. I did it on Randy I sure hope I passed because Randy had a lot of plague and calculus on his ant linguals on lowers. I did finish him up though so good day. One more patient down.

Another one bites the dust

I just typed a big long paragraph and there was an error and it erased everything. So as I was saying I finished Eric the football player today. He was a great patient. I should have had him be an exam. Next time is Randy.

Class V

I finished a classV today. I am so happy I finished her up today. She had some really hard calculus areas that took me a long time but I finally got her all finished up.

New Patient

I have a patient today that I got off of the recall list I am really worried that he might not show up. I called him a couple of days ago to see if he was coming and he said he would be here. He better show up because I don't know what I will do if he doesn't show up. I am so nervous because I am worried he is going to want his entire cleaning finished today and he may have to come back and I hope he will come back.

Today I did Morgan, Natalies daughter, I was able to do her whole appt in one day so they was good. She was in a lot of pain though so I feel bad. I hope Monday goes well because I don't know my patient.

Brock was my patient today and he kept gagging so I had to retake his x-rays and when I tried to probe his molars he really gagged a lot . He had a very overactive tongue either that or it is really big. Who's kid is this anyway, Ha Ha.

Full mouth x-ray

I got a full mouth x-ray done today and that was fun, I learned some new helpful things on making it so the film doesn't hurt the patient. I am excited to finish his appt.

Spring Semester

First clinic of spring semester and we worked more with our ultra sonics which I love. I love the power they have. Randy is my patient wednesday hopefully he still loves me after I am done with him.