How am I going to pass boards?!?!

       Ok so this week has not been my week.  I seriously felt like everything I have learned has gone out the door today.  I was not feeling normal while I was scaling...my positions, my angles, everything just felt awkward and not familiar to me.  I felt like I could not get calculus for the life of me.  I could definitely feel it, and i tried hard lateral pressure and I still could not get it off.  I started to wonder if I had dull instruments so I hurried and sharpened them and still ....no luck.  I was getting so frustrated!!! I wanted to give up.  I asked Marilyn to come over and see what I was doing wrong and she says... well its not your instruments so just use more lateral pressure.  I seriously could not get it.  It was my class 3 but still.... I felt I should not have struggled that much.  So she sat in the chair and tried to get it... she made it look so easy almost just with one stroke!  She gave me some good advice one how to get it better and was like o duh why didn't I think of that!  I got thinking, uh o what if it is like this for boards, what will I do?  I guess I will just keep getting better and only hope for the best.  I think I was just exhausted and had not slept very much.  Lets hope next week is better and I will have better lateral pressure and the strength to get tenacious calculus off! 

First Mock-Board!!! Ahhh...glad it is over!!!

Ok so today was SOO stressful!  My patient was so nice, I was glad to work on him.  It made it difficult because he only spoke spanish, but I was able to get by, I had Lizzy's husband be a translator for me and I am so grateful that he was there to help.The flow of mock boards was stressful and I always felt like I was missing a step and I felt like nothing was making sense to me because I was so nervous.  It went well, but it seemed like it just flew by.  Two hours goes by WAY faster than I wanted it to.  Before I knew it it was almost time to get my patient out of the chair.  I am so glad that we do mock boards to help me get the flow of things and then I will be more prepared for boards. It is crazy how you feel like you got everything but still manage to have missed some spots.  I only missed two spots so i was glad about that, but always room for improvement. I still passed that is all that matters.  Half way through the appointment and relaxed and went over what I had done with my explorer really light to help find anything I missed and I sometimes I noticed I would tense up and when i relaxed i was able to have better tactile. 

You would think that scaling one quad in two hours would be less stressful, it is crazy how fast the time flies by.  After I as done scaling I allowed myself 20 minutes to probe and do recession and I think it was enough time to not feel rushed to get him out the door to be checked.  After today I felt a ton of stress was lifted off me.  What a relief to have it over with..... only 2 more to go and then the REAL DEAL!!

I can't control my blood glucose...how come?!

    Ok so today at the VA seriously was such a good experience!  So for my research project our group is doing the relationship between diabetes and periodontal disease and how many patients are aware of the bi-directional relationship.  Well so today my patient had diabetes and periodontal disease as well...when I was asking his our routine questions about his blood glucose number I was in shock at what he said...... 260 I believe is what he said.  I said um.... is that normal for you and his response "ya its always high lately I haven't been able to control my blood glucose and I don't know how to fix it"  So first thing that came to mind, I asked him, how is your oral hygiene?  He was honest and said horrible, never floss, or brush.  I asked if he was aware that diabetes and periodontal disease had a bi-directional relationship and he said he was not aware.  So i educated him about how perio is making it hard for him to control his blood sugars and his diabetes is also making it hard to control his perio if he is not controlling his diabetes as well as not having good oral hygiene.  He was so impressed that I knew all this and had educated him.  It really made me feel good to be able to help him better understand and it motivated him to step up his home care and he promised that he was going to floss and brush properly so he could maintain better health and control his diabetes.  What he found weird was that his doctor had never mentioned this to him and so he had not clue about it.  My patients experience went along perfectly with my research project and I was able to see hands on exactly what my patient knew, and how he reacted after he was educated.  It really did motivate him to have good oral care because he wanted to control his diabetes and I told him it was going to be difficult if he didn't control his mouth first.   It is kind of sad that patients like mine today are not educated about their diseases and complications come from lack of knowledge.  I am glad that I have the knowledge so I can help educate others who are in need!
      

Teeth just flapping in the wind!!!

      Today was such a good experience and I was able to see it all!! So today I saw my first class 4 patient and he was something.  I really enjoyed my experience.  So first off when I looked at his x-rays I got a little nervous because I knew that by the look of the bone loss and bridge of calculus on the x-rays.... his tooth will be gone.  I sat him in the chair and when i looked in his mouth.... BIGGEST CALCULUS BRIDGE!!! I was so excited to get started. I talked to him about his hygiene and before I started I warned him that his lower anteriors may not be there anymore because they are only being held in by the bridge of calculus...he said to me "well then lets get started" When I started with the ultrasonic i had to hold the tip on the bridge of calculus for several seconds until it finally shattered the bridge.  After an hour my wrist was so tired I didn't think I would be able to continue, I needed a break.  His calculus was so tenacious.
      When I got to his molars he had class 2/3 furcations and I have never had an experience with them and Professor Alexander gave me some good tips on how to scale them and she let me use curved tips for the ultrasonic and let me tell you...THEY WERE AMAZING!! I was able to really get in the furcation and the tip fit perfectly and made it so much easier!! So when I was all finished with the quads I did today, sure enough his tool was flapping in the wind and am almost positive it will be gone when he comes in next week for his visit!!

Already having to use my back-up patient...my mom!

    So today went really good for our first day back scaling teeth.  I had my brother scheduled Joel to come in and he agreed that he could a few days ago then I got the call....the call we all HATE!! Yup, Joel was calling me to cancel his appointment 10:00 last night saying he was too stressed with his test the next day and can not drive up because he needs to study instead.  I understood where he was coming from so I told him I would just find someone else so he could get his stuff done he needed.  I was hoping I wouldn't have to use my mom already because she is a good reliable fast back-up patient but after calling several people that night I had no other choice.  I was glad I saw her though because she has braces and i feel like she needs to see the hygienist every 3 months instead 6 because she build calculus more than I expected and i had only seen her 4 months ago.   When I saw her 4 months ago she had just barley gotten her braces on and had minimal plaque and calculus, but this time the amount of her calculus was a surprise to me.  It was good having my patient be my mom on the first day because I was able to not stress as much worrying and my appointment went smoothly.
       I was a little shocked at how natural scaling felt to me and how everything came back to me so easily.  I was expecting to feel way out of my ordinary and not remember positions.  There were times that I felt a little handicap but then I remember the correct way it made sense.   I can't wait for this last year and the experiences I will gain!

Class 3 COMPLETE!! and My mom came in with braces!!

So today was so fun being in senior clinic!! So much more laid back and easy going.  I loved having leigh perry there to help me with tips and any questions that I had.  I was able to finish my class 3 and get him our of there in enough time so that I still could see my mom!! My mom just got braces so it was a good experience! I loved it, it was good practice and it certainly was harder.  It was funny to have my mom in there she kept making me laugh cause she would imitate me.  Leigh taught me way good tips and I felt so awkward doing things but Leigh said I was doing just fine and that I will get used to it but that I look good.  It was stressful today because I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to finish him and then get my mom in but I did!! I was so glad it all worked out!

I HATE MONARCH DENTAL!!!

So my class 3 pt came in today and he had just had all his x-rays done from monarch dental so he had them  fax them to us and we could not see what was going on at all so we asked them to e-mail them to us and they said they would but really i waited around for my whole appt waiting for them to do so...and never got them!  I wasted all that time and only got an OD done.  I was so bugged.  I felt bad because we couldn't do anything on him.  So when I went to schedule his next appointment he informs me that he is going out of town so the only option is for him to come in on the senior clinic day.  Luckily it works and I can see him then!! I am stressed out..hopefully I can get him done it that day! Leigh Perry is going to help me and watch me and give me tips so I am excited about that!  Wish me luck :)