Today was our "second day of clinic" as far as seeing patients go. It turned out really good BUT it definitely had its moments of stress! I decided to see two patients today. At first, I just had a 1A patient scheduled for the full three hours. I later learned that this patient was only 3 yrs old and realized it wouldn't take me three hours to treat this patient nor would a 3 yr old sit in my chair for three hours willingly! So, I scheduled my 1A patient for 1 1/2 hrs and scheduled my Husband, Austin, for the remainder of the clinic session.
In my mind, I imagined 1A patients to be SO easy. You don't have to probe, you MIGHT have to scale. Piece of cake - right? Well I was in for a treat! My 1A patient was great but loved playing with all my instruments, telling me stories, and taking the chair on rides! I was SO happy this patient was comfortable in the dental setting because I truly believe it makes the BIGGEST difference on oral health behavior BUT...I was truly exhausted by the end of that first appointment. However, I am grateful I had the opportunity early on to treat a 1A patient, it helped me to TRULY UNDERSTAND how different it is to treat a child vs. an adult. I am glad I have come to this realization so that I can better plan for and treat my 1A patients. I want to be able to provide them with the best experience possible to reinforce good OH habits. Hopefully I did so today.
All in all, I was happy with my efforts. I gained some great experience and can't wait to apply it to my next patient. LET THE FUN BEGIN! :)
No comments:
Post a Comment