Back to the VA!

Today was a pretty good day. I never really like going down to the VA in Salt Lake but we have to. I love the experience but the faculty down there treat us so poorly. That makes it hard to enjoy the neat experience we have. I was able to give some local anesthesia today and my patient didn't even wince! I LOVE giving shots!! It is the coolest thing ever. I feel super confident in myself and thoroughly enjoy doing it! I really like my new VA group of girls. I'm with Kara, Abby, Jen, and Brandy. We even carpool down together which really helps with the gas money! I think this semester will be a great one!!

Fabulous Day Back!!

WOW!!! Today was my first day back in WSU clinic and it ROCKED!! My first patient this morning ended up being my mock board patient. I was So happy! Mock boards are coming up in february and I was starting to stress because I didn't have a patient yet. Mock boards are basically a mock test of our HUGE clinical national board coming in March. It just helps us understand and feel more comfortable with the testing process. I'm so glad I found a patient! My patient this afternoon ended up qualifying to be my BOARD PATIENT!!! That is like 1,000 times better than finding my mock patient. I'm just on cloud 9 right now! I'm so happy and feel so super blessed to have both patients. Now, my next goal is to find the 2nd mock board patient for the end of february. Hopefully I'll be lucky again! What a Fabulous day back!!

Last day of Clinic!!

WOW!! The semester Flew right by! I can't believe it's already the last day! It was a super easy day today, which was awesome! I was supposed to see a new patient this morning who hasn't been seen in years but she didn't show up. So all morning, I just finished up other projects that are due and studied for one of my exams. It was really nice to have a slow morning and just finish up some odds and ends! As for the afternoon, I was scheduled to finish up one of my Class III patients and do some local anesthetic but she was sick and couldn't make it. I was bummed! So my cute little 3 yr old nephew, Tommy, came in and was a great patient! I was able to complete an assignment on him and we just had a really fun, relaxed afternoon. All of my clinic requirements for the sememster are complete and I even have some done for next semester. It's been an awesome semester and can't wait for my LAST ONE!!! College has gone by so quickly. I can't hardly believe I've been here for over 3 1/2 years! Crazy!! Dental Hygiene school is Amazing and it's the best thing I've ever done. I LOVE IT!!!

Last VA!!

Todayin was our last day at the VA hospital Salt Lake City. It's been over a month since I've been down there so I was a bit rusty but it was a great experience. My first patient had Hep. C. This disease is blood borne so I was a little nervous due to the fact that I deal with blood A TON!! He was SO nice and we had a great time. He wanted to be numb so I gave him 7 different injections which was really fun. I little nerve racking but I learned a lot! My afternoon patient was way super nice too. He was a little older and seemed quite lonely because all he wanted to do was talk to me. I really enjoyed the conversation we had. I did get a little distracted because he left without me getting a final scale check. OOPS!! My instructor wasn't too pleased with me but she handled it well. I was really grateful about that! I was also able to place some arestin for the first time, which is a local antibiotic. It was really fun and I really like arestin. I am SO HAPPY that today is our last day at the VA for now. It's been a great experience sometime but I'm excited to not be there for a while. :)

No scaling....

It was quite an interesting day today! I didn't scale either one of my patient's but I was able to get a lot done on them. My first patient was super nice but has some pretty extensive perio. He had ortho bands on every tooth but no arch wire. So... he was in limbo with his treatment. It was really interesting. He had a few mobile teeth so we decided to take a full mouth survey of xrays as well as 4 bitewing xrays. He had some SWEET radiographic calculus and would be Awesome for mockboards but doesn't qualify due to the ortho bands. I was pretty sad about that. But I was happy to get so many xrays done. He'll be back in a couple weeks and I can't wait to get scaling!!
My afternoon patient was Amazing as well. She is in her early 40's and has never had her teeth cleaned! She had some pretty extensive mobility as well so I took some xrays. Her radiographic calculus was incredible and I was so excited to finally have that much calculus. I'm thinking she might be my potential board patient! However.... when I went to go get Prof. Alexander to come do an OD check and classify her, she pointed out that my patient had a HUGE cold sore that was in it's earliest stage, meaning it was HIGHY contagious. Prof. Alexander didn't want to go intraorally due to the cold sore, so I'll have her back to be classified and move on from there. Oops... I totally didn't see the cold sore and that's a BIG TIME no no in clinic! Hopefully it will be gone by the time she comes back! :)

Back to the VA!

This morning was a lot of fun! I saw 2 class II patient's and was able to finish both of them! They were both very nice and I really enjoyed it! Connie really teaches me too. She makes sure I can feel the calculus and if I can't at first, she "piggy backs" my hand until I feel it. She helps me a lot with describing the condition of tissue and I really enjoy it! I love learning and I really love it when there is a professor or instructor who is just as excited to teach!

Instructor's Switched!

Today was a blast!! I was able to work under a different instructor, Prof. Alexander, and I loved it! She taught me so much and really helped me understand what I was doing or what I was looking for. This morning, I saw a class II patient and I was able to scale and root plane all 4 quads. She was originally from Peru and had some pretty crazy restorations from her country. She was so nice and was really interested in what I was teaching her about her periodontal disease. I really liked talking to her. I was able to see 2 patient's this afternoon. Both were 1B (easy easy) but it was still really fun! Like I've said before, I LOVE clinic!!