Finished Requirements?... CHECK!

Today I finished my requirements for clinic...wahoo! I finished my class 3 today and it was such a GREAT feeling! Looking back over this semester, I can't believe how far I have come. I remember receiving the requirements for this semester and thinking... how in the WORLD will I finish all of this?! It feels so great to be able to say that I actually did it! The skills and confidence I have gained over this semester have surpassed every expectation I have set for myself. I feel so blessed to be in this amazing program. ONE YEAR DOWN!... One more to go! :)

Class III Patient... Halfway Done = A GOOD DAY! :)

Today in clinic I saw my Class III patient again for a continuing care appointment. At his last appointment, I only got through OHI so today I started right in with scaling. Going in to those deep pockets were quite intimidating! But, after scaling the first few teeth I got the hang of it. I used the triple bend ultrasonic tip and my gracey's for the majority of pt. treatment today. I had a lot of success with the combo of the two. I definitely am starting to understand the importance of using both the ultrasonic and hand instrumentation. I was able to get off a significant amount of calculus with the ultrasonic. However, I was loving my gracey's for that tenacious calculus way down deep in the bottoms of those pockets!

I scaled two quads today and only missed one TINY spot. If I ever needed a confidence booster I got one today. Some days I feel like I'm never going to become a clinician worthy of practicing. But today gave me great amounts of hope! I know there are going to be days in the future that I miss more areas, but right now I am just going to enjoy my success! :)

One thing I can focus on for next clinic session is my time management. I am being effective in my instrumentation, however I am taking a TAD bit too long. I think I tend to doubt myself and keep going over areas that I am unsure of. Partly because I know I have enough time to do so and partly because I am still trying to decipher the difference between calculus and... other stuff! :) However, I do need to set "mini goals" for myself throughout the appointment to work on getting a little faster. But I know it will come with time so I just need to be patient with myself...easier said than done!

Started My Class III Patient Today - Exciting! :)

Today in clinic I saw my Class III patient. It was my first appointment and probing was quite the experience! It was so cool to actually probe a DEEP pocket! I felt like my probe was never going to stop - kinda scary. Even though I was a LITTLE apprehensive when I first started probing, it was a great learning experience! I can truly say I know what sub-gingival calculus feels like! When I was probing, I began to discern when I was hitting calculus and when I was at the junctional epithelium. I tried my best to try to go around the sub-gingival calculus and get the correct pocket depth. However, it will be interesting to re-probe after I scale and see how accurate I was.

I only got through OHI today. But my patient also had a partial denture so I was able to clean that and pass of my removable appliance PE also. I am done with all my other requirements and this is my last patient. I have three more clinic days left so I feel very confident that I will be able to get my Class III patient done with PLENTY of time. I am glad I am not feeling rushed as we are at the end of the semester...it is a nice feeling! :)

Class II Patient Finished!

This past Wed in clinic I finished my class II patient and passed off two PEs. Wednesday's clinic was a MUCH better day than Monday's - what a relief! I wasn't feeling very confident after Monday so it was REALLY GREAT to have a good day in clinic and regain my confidence.

My patient spoke Spanish and only a little bit of English and that was probably the hardest part of pt. treatment for me. Having a language barrier puts a whole new twist on things. I am determined to have Austin teach my how to teach OHI in Spanish. I think that will help A LOT. The rest is manageable but to be effective with OHI I am going to have to change my lingo! :)

What a Frustrating Day... Many Lessons Can Be Learned!

Yesterday in clinic I had an AWFUL day...probably my worst! I saw a pt. with special needs and that really made me really nervous because I didn't want to offend my patient or make him feel uncomfortable. My patient was blind and it makes sense but I didn't realize how apprehensive he would be throughout the appointment. I really had to shift how I approached the whole appointment - especially pt. education regarding OHI.

During scaling, my pt. fought me the whole time. This was really hard for me and made me really timid because I was afraid of my pt being uncomfortable. I definitely let me patient take control of the appointment and it kind of bit me in the behind! I missed eight spots and became really discouraged and somewhat questioned my skills. But I need to put this behind me and let it "roll of my back". I need to take the great learning experiences from this appointment and leave the rest behind!

Tomorrow is a new day and it is going to be great - I CAN DO THIS!!

REAL class II patient!

Today in clinic I saw my first REAL class II patient to meet my class II requirements. It was SO much different than cleaning a 1B patient (obviously) but it was a lot of fun! Today I began to truly understood the need for good OHI and patient treatment. OHI has a completely different meaning and approach when dealing with a perio patient as apposed to a healthy patient.

I also had the opportunity of using my ultrasonic slim line and it was AWESOME! Although I loved using the slim line, I now know the importance of using a combination of ultrasonic/hand instrumentation. The ultrasonic definitely helps but I am glad that I relied on my hand instruments as I feel that they are the most effective!

Today was a great day! I now feel like I can actually clean perio patients and do a good job. I know that I have a long way to go...but I am glad I'm on the right track! :)

Another 1B Finished in One Appointment - ALWAYS a GOOD Feeling!

Yesterday in clinic I saw my second to last 1B patient. I had to take 4 BWX and a pano using conventional film. This was a challenge for me! Now that we don't have a dark room in the radiology lab we have to load the film for the pano in the daylight loader. As the daylight loader box is maybe a inch or two wider than the size of the pano sleeve/film, you can only imagine how this can become frustrating! I was getting somewhat flustered because I was afraid of running out of time. However, I was still able to finish my patient in one appointment - great feeling! :)

I learned some valuable lessons in clinic. FIRST, BE PATIENT! The more impatient you are, the more flustered you are...the more mistakes you will make than if you were patient and in control - I think that one is pretty self explanatory. SECOND, it is OK to miss calculus! I had the BEST learning experience today as I learned a new trick to make sure I am accurately and efficiently scaling line angles. BUT, had I not missed these areas, who knows IF and WHEN I would have learned these valuable skills. Time and time again I am finding that sometimes the BEST way to learn is by mistake! I know it is not the most FUN way to learn... but I can tell you the things I have learned through my mistakes I will NEVER forget! :)