TA Experiences...

I have been fortunate enough to be able to be a TA in clinic this semester. We have reached mid-semester and it has been a great experience so far. I am glad I have had this opportunity because I have learned so much by trying to help teach. Being a TA has really helped challenge my knowledge base and has shown me how much I really know! Not only has this experience been a great review to help me "fine-tune" my skills, it has also helped me realize how much I enjoy teaching. I might not be the best teacher, but I have truly enjoyed helping these first-year students understand these foreign concepts and skills. It has been fun getting to know them and helping them get through the battles of their first year. I can't believe how far along I've come in one year. This is REALLY starting to become real... there IS a light at the end of the tunnel!

MOCKBOARDS and LA! :)

Tuesday I had my first mockboards... and I survived! It was quite nerve-racking but I am so glad we have these opportunities so we can be completely prepared for the REAL DEAL. I was able to give 3 shots - PSA (I did the left side which is SO hard for me to get the angle...more practice needed!), MSA, Infiltration. I was proud of myself because I finally wasn't shaky - yay for a steady hand! :) I was at the VA today and I saw three patients for the first time today. I could not believe how tired I was after! It made me somewhat nervous for private practice but I just have to remind myself that it is all a PROCESS and I'm not quite there BUT I will be there someday! ENJOY THE JOURNEY :)

Dear Mock Board Patient... I'm Happy to Treat You?

Yesterday afternoon in clinic I saw my mock board patient. This should be a good thing right? See your mock board right before the test, get a feel for their anatomy, calculus, etc... sounds great - I know, but boy was I wrong! Let me start out by stating that I am very grateful I have a mock board patient that is reliable...I am just not so thrilled about his tenacious calculus. :) Before yesterday, I never truly understood the term "tenacious calculus"... but, don't you worry - yesterday I sure learned QUICK. My patient had the most tenacious calculus I have EVER felt. I swear I could have scaled ONE tooth for an hour at a time and still would have missed spots - no kidding! I have never been so discouraged before... I could feel the calculus but NO MATTER what instrument, lateral pressure, chair position I used it just was not givin' in! I finally had to cut my losses and call it a day because I felt like I wasn't making ANY improvements. On top of the evil embedded calculus, my patient's gums bled like there was NO tomorrow - I couldn't catch a break. After instrumenting ONE surface of a tooth I'd have to hold a 2x2 on the gums for a minute just to get the bleeding under control. So, to make a long story short, I left feeling discouraged about taking my first mock board. Even though I felt discouraged about my efforts yesterday, I am grateful for the great learning opportunities it presented. I learned a lot of new "tricks" to help defeat evil tenacious calculus so I am excited to bust out these new approaches for mock boards and see what kind of results I get. WISH ME LUCK -- SERIOUSLY! ;)

IMPLANTS!!

Last Thursday at the VA, I had quite the patient! I saw a man who had a FULL dentition of implants EXCEPT for THREE molars... for me, this was a remarkable site! I literally scaled his three remaining teeth and then polished and flossed. It was probably my quickest scale time EVER! ;) However, I was very grateful for the experience. This appointment truly portrayed the significance of providing effective and INDIVIDUALIZED OHI to each patient. I spent the majority of the appointment reviewing OHI with this patient and identifying/demonstrating the use of specific aids that would be beneficial to his homecare regimen. All in all, it was a great experience that helped remind me of the importance of determining and providing PATIENT SPECIFIC OHI. Hopefully through this experience I will be able to better focus my oral hygiene instruction to each patient.

You Win Some... You Lose Some!

Today I was at the WSU clinic and, let's just say I haven't had the best of luck there so far! 8 o'clock came and went and my patient did not show. I tried calling her multiple times and could not get a hold of her so I went straight to the resource list. I found someone to come in at 9:30 and, just as I had them confirmed, my patient called and said she was lost on campus trying to find the clinic. So, I ended up doing a screening on my original patient and an OD on the patient I found of the resource list. At first, I was a little flustered. But, I was determined not to let this get the best of me. I just had to tell myself that I was doing the best I could do and the rest was out of my control! I was hoping that my first patient would qualify for mock boards, but she did not have adequate calculus. I was feeling discouraged that I would not find a mock board patient, but my second patient (off the resource list) qualified - this made my hectic morning totally worth it! This was the first day of second year clinic that I did not clean any quads and it was somewhat weird to be in clinic all morning and not clean any teeth! However, I was able to get two sets of BWX and 2 PAX. So, some progress was made. I have really tried to focus on keeping my emotions in check this year and "controlling the controllable" and letting the rest be. Through focusing on this, I have found myself learning and enjoying clinic a lot more because I allowing myself to be comfortable within this setting. Can't wait to get some teeth clean Thursday at the VA! :)

There is ALWAYS something you can do... You can ALWAYS make a difference!

Last Thursday at the VA I saw a severely disabled patient who had several health complications. He only had two fingers on his left hand. He discussed the extreme difficulty he had with brushing his teeth due to this disability. Due to his numerous meds, he had severe xerostomia. Along with his xerostomia, he had a geographic tongue. The combination of these two conditions made it impossible for this patient to use toothpaste as it burned his mouth and tongue. After hearing all of the complications my patient was fighting, I was determined to do what I could to help! As he opened his mouth, I discovered severe plaque accumulation and bright red, raw tissues. To make a long story short, I decided to use a toothbrush and the rc polish with water to debride the teeth. After, I then hand scaled. Upon reflecting on the experience, I was grateful for the challenge to think "outside the box". I think it is very easy to get into 'routine' and forget to PERSONALIZE pt. treatment - today, however, I was forced to do so. It really opened my eyes and made me more aware of the need to find ways to personalize each patients treatment - not just severe cases. Everyone needs something a little different to be successful! All in all, lesson learned - there is ALWAYS something you can do to improve a patient's health. Some patient's baby steps are just as important as major goals of others.

CALCULUS B.R.I.D.G.E...!

This afternoon I saw a CL III pt. with a calculus bridge on her mand. ant. linguals. I decided to tackle it with my triple bend ultrasonic tip first. I was having a little bit of trouble making progress at initially. I felt like I was going to be scaling JUST the lower linguals for the whole appointment at the rate the calculus was coming off! BUT, then I learned a GREAT trick. Well, maybe it's not a trick, maybe it's common sense - but today is the day I learned this wonderful lesson. I learned to use LATERAL PRESSURE when instrumenting with my ultrasonic. I know this may sound like a basic concept, but when I have used my ultrasonic in the past, I haven't had to use much lateral pressure to get the calculus off. However, with the amount/tenacity of the calculus I was dealing with today, it was basically IMPOSSIBLE to remove without using lateral pressure. As soon as I used some lateral pressure, the calculus starting breaking right off... coolest. thing. ever. Today I also focused on using more of an exploratory stroke with my ultrasonic to feel the calculus before activating it. This was very beneficial in helping me both detect/remove calculus effectively instead of just "going through the motions." I also noticed I was able to use my time more effectively by using an exploratory stroke before engaging my ultrasonic/hand instrument. I think sometimes I forget to actually detect the calculus BEFORE I use a working stroke - I'm just so excited to scale! :) However, as I have tried to focus more on this important aspect of instrumentation, I feel like my time management as well as my calculus detection/removal skills improved.