10-28-10

I'm not going to write much because I think I'm coming down with something and my head kind of hurts. I still have a couple more PE's left. I need to do one more 1a and 4 quads of a class 3 exam. I'm getting nervous because it is the end of the year, but I'm not quite freaking out yet. I think I'll make all of my requirements okay. We'll see. Today went smooth. I usually write what I need to work on in my notebook, so I'm not even going to waste my time here right now.

I haven't been very good the last couple of clinics with writing in the blog. I still don't know how to respond to others blogs either, but the instructors haven't really told us how, so I'm kind of not worried about it. Clinic has been good for the most part and I feel like I was improving a lot to begin with, but when the instructors switched pods I feel like I haven't learned as much. The one over our pod now doesn't come around to help us with technique and she takes her sweet time coming over if we need a scale check or something. It is kind of frustrating, but I'm learning to deal with it. In a way it is making me be faster because I know I won't have as much time to get the patient out because we have to wait longer for the instructor. I just wish someone would come over every once in a while to check up on my skills. School will come to an end quicker than we know and I want to know what I can do to improve know so I don't look like an idiot when I get out into private practice. I've had pretty good luck so far with finding the right patients with good classifications, but as school is rolling on I'm getting worried about finding the right patients to meet requirements and I haven't passed off nearly enough PE's. I feel like there is just no time for that. I feel like there isn't time to prepare because who knows when the perfect patient will walk in that is good for a certain PE. I just have to be ready on the spot. Anyway, I'm kind of getting nervous about requirements, but what good is life without a little stress. How boring would it be to get to heaven and talk to people who went through hard things and tell them that life was easy. I'm grateful for my challenges. They help me to learn and to grow. I just hope that I can live up to the challenge and push myself so that in the end I come out successful.

9-16-10

Today was relatively easy. I got some PE's done and one exam. What was really cool is that I didn't miss any spots in both my appointments! This could also be a bad thing though because now I have raised my expectations of myself and I think the professors have too. I found that the biggest thing I have improved on since school began is my confidence. And it isn't something that comes during the appointment. It is simply a conscience decision that I make before I come into clinic and it makes all the difference. I found that my back was hurting quite a bit today. I don't know what the deal was! I was trying so hard to keep my shoulders down, but it didn't hurt in the spot it normally does. This time it hurt everywhere. I don't know what I can do to make it feel better. I may have to refer to an ergonomics book or something. It mostly happens when I am in an 8:00 position. I don't know. Anyway, today was a good day and really there isn't a whole lot to write.

Sept. 9, 2010

I know that I am writing a little late, but I was just so frustrated on Thursday that I didn't want to write. Things went a little less smoothly than last week, but I'm glad because there are many lessons that I learned. One of my patients was coming back for me to clean the other half of his mouth. He told me that he had never hurt so bad before. He had hurts for weeks after. I felt so bad. Prof. Alexander told me to make him own it. I should've said, "that is good, that means I did my job and that healing is now able to take place." I learned that to hurt for a while is normal and that I need to suggest advil and a warm salt solution rinse. If I make it sound like it is going to be worse, they will love me when it isn't that bad. I also learned that I need to be conscience of what I am saying around my patient. Instead of saying, "I haven't used this instrument as much" I need to say, "can you help me with the angles on this instrument." I have to act like I know what I am doing even if I don't. I have to be confident. I also need to remember that I am still just a student. I can't expect myself to be perfect, especially when I just came back from a long summer break. Bottom line, I need to have confidence. I should be proud of myself. Thursday I had really hard patients, and I finished them in one appointment. I am improving of my instrumentation and I really feel like I know what I am doing now. I'm going to be okay.

First Day at WSU

It's the first day back and it actually felt really good! I went to the VA on tuesday and that was just a mess. I felt like a took forever and everything was just so new that it was frustrating. I was mostly frustrated for my poor patient that had to deal with me taking time to learn the new system. I just felt like I needed to work on everything because I didn't know what I was doing. I need to work on digital schick and time managment because it seems like I just scaled and checked and scaled and checked over and over and it just wasn't all that necessary. Anyway, I think I learned a lot from the VA because today felt so much better. I was a lot faster with scaling because I didn't check again and again. I probably still need to work on digital, but I don't think I will do that here until we get the new pixie xcps. I've been trying to Pro. Costely to get them ordered. All of us were kind of jealous when all the first years got them and non of the second years did when we all wanted one. Anyway, we are working on getting those in and I think that will help a lot. I still probably need to work on technique with scaling. Today Pro. Hanson helped me with getting the distal of the last molar. I think I have a hard time using my mirror back there so that is something that I want to work on for next time. Anyway, today felt good and I just hope that I don't get to prideful because I'm sure if I do I will be humbled with new experiences next week. But you know what? That is okay with me because it seems like I learn the most from those harder experiences.

Last Day!!!

It has been crazy trying to meet my requirements for this year. I haven't struggled too much besides the fact that I couldn't find my class 3 patient for the longest time despite my best efforts. Well, last minute I got it and I passed!!! I'm not going on academic probation!!! Now that all the stress is gone, I'm honestly kind of sad to leave clinic. I really love school and I think it is fun working on patients everyday (when I don't have to worry about if they are the right patient or not. I'm feeling pretty good right now. I got two quads down in and hour and a half, which I'm thinking is pretty good. That is kind of how long it took me to do my first class 1b forever ago, so I know that I've improved a lot. Now it is time to go celebrate with icecream! Yeha!
Sharli

Class three frustration - wednesday, thursday, and friday

I think I must have the worst luck in the world. On Friday of last week I scheduled four people to come ot a screening. I was hoping that they would all be good class three canadits, but unfortunatley I just got some difficult class twos. Wednesday I screened six more people. I found a patient for me and one for a friend, but in order to clean my patient I was going to have to work with my schedule. He was leaving on Sunday, so I had Thursday and Friday (off clinic days) to clean him. I got everything worked out with teachers, and unfortunatley there was some miscommunication on Thursday and he didn't come. He did come today and I was able to finish two quads, but now I'm left to find a couple more quads with moderate perio. It has been a mess. I'm sure trying, but things aren't quite going as I hoped. Monday I'll probably screen a few more people. I learned a lot today and now have a lot to work on. I don't think I'm instrumenting as well as I should. I definitely don't know how to get tenacious calculus off and I don't know how to get in teeth pocketss. I need to go over tooth anatomy and I need to take the time to do things right and have some instructors help me before I move on. My goal for Monday is to find a class three patient. My goal for Wednesday is to clean two quads of that patient. My goal Monday (when I see my class two) is to pass of all of my PE's and work on instrumentation. Hopefully I can get done with everything. I'm cutting it close, but I'm trying as hard as I can. I don't know what more I can do. I'm doing be best and working my hardest and yet things just aren't working out for me. It is difficult to stay positive, but I'm doing my best.

No class three again!

I had a patient come in today and was hoping that he would be a class three since that is just about the only requirement that I have left for this year and if I don't get that requirement, I'm going to have to be a first year next year until I find my class three. My future mom-in-law Cynthia is going to call an elderly man tomorrow and see if he would like to come in on Wednesday for a screening. Hopefully he says yes, and hopefully he is my three. It could be scary. I try not to worry about it too much though. It sounds like everyone else is in the same boat as I am in one way or another. I was foolish and didn't make any sort of goals or progression today, mostly because I was worried about this being my class three. Next time I see a patient and do the OD I will be sure to check on how fast I am probing. Another goal I have is to practice leading with the toe of the instrument and removing all the calculus before the teacher gets over. I'm good at finding it for the most part, but not all the time. I need to get better at it. Anyways, that is all for now.

3-22-10

Overall it was a sucessful day. I finished my exam class 2 patient and got a PE done, and it is monday. I think scaling took me just under an hour, so I know have a mark to beat the next time I have a class 2 patient. Maybe my goal will be 45 minutes. That would be good. I'm really worried at this point in time whether or not I will be able to find my class 3 patient. Everyone is kind of desperate in that way. I will be seeing 3 patients next week just to do a screening in hopes of finding my three I think I will make a goal of getting to the OD in less time than the previous patient. My main goal is to get all 3 of them in before the day is over. It will be a big task, but hopefully it will work. That is all for today.

03-08-10

Today was just easy going to and normal. I did better at my goal of not getting frustrated with myself and things went smoother than usual. I also went five minutes faster on my scaling and I didn't even ultrasonic that much. I still haven't paid much attention to how fast I probe, but it feels like I'm getting faster anyway. I got done with my patient quite quickly actually. I don't really have much to say. This wednesday I'm going to do my second 1B exam patient and hopefully pass off PE's. My goal is to pass off a couple of them, maybe three. I'm getting really worried about finding my class three patient and also having enough patients to do bitewings on. That's all.

3-1-10

Today was frustrating, but not as much as last monday. This was the first patient I had that I've never seen before, as in he wasn't a friend or family. It was really weird and I kind of felt nervous and unprofessional. Again, I need confidence. He came a little late, so I didn't finish him on time, but I did finish him. I'm pretty sure I was the last person with a patient in the chair. I made a mistake today that was stupid and I should've just fixed it from the beginning. I probed his whole mouth, but got things a little mixed up and backwards on the green sheet and had to probe him all over again. What a waste of time. Next time I really need to pay attention to where I am writting the numbers. Other than that things went well. There are just a few clicks that I missed. I'm still not really sure of how to look and feel for calculus on the lower anterior teeth and everywhere else for that matter. I know I could save so much time if I knew what it felt like instead of just cleaning everywhere and hoping that I got everything. I guess my goal for next time then is to have one of the TA's help me. Or maybe it goes back to confidence. I'm so scared of missing something, but maybe I need to just trust what I am feeling and take chances. If something feels clean then I need to skip it and move on. I'm just so worried that an instructor will come over and say that I missed everything. I've got to take my chances. Maybe I'll ask the TA to help me with it first before I have it officially checked. Yeah, that is a good idea. My goal for wednesday is to pay attention to the time it takes me to probe so that I can make a goal to become faster.

2-24-10

Again, I am writting this post a little late. This is for Wednesday. It was awesome. I had a class 2 come in that I am going to use as my exam patient. I was able to do the blood glucose PE on him as well as get a full set of X-rays on him. Things went really smoothly. Once again I failed at my goal of how long it took to probe, but it would've been a little skewed anyway because I can't lay the patient all the way back. That was an experience. I was a lot slower and my arms are so sore now! I learned at the end of the day that I can use an assistance chair to get a little higher so that I don't have to give up my posture so much. I think that will really help, so I'm going to try that for next time. I won't be seeing this patient again until the end of the month, but it will be interesting trying to clean his mouth while he is sitting up. I will try to scale in under an hour, but we'll see how it goes. That is just the goal.

2-22-10

I know I'm writting this a week late, but I still remember the day all to well. the worst day of clinic yet. But I'm not going to focus on the negative. It is one of my new goals to only focus on the positive and only learn from the negative, not dwell on it. I learned that no matter how prepared you are, there is always a chance of something going wrong, and part of being a professional is handling it in the best way or making the best out of the situation. Last monday I kind of froze up because the unexpected happened, I wasn't able to see my patient. I learned that I need to calm down and keep my head on straight. I need to have confidence that I know what I am doing. I need to not second guess myself. I guess the biggest thing is confidence. I get to realize that I am still a first year student and as such, I'm not going to be perfect. I need to have confidence in what I can do and learn from what I can't do. Anyway, I think that is enough murmuring, which is not why we have these blogs, so moving on. I was able to get an exam patient done today for a 1a and now I am done with 1a's. I don't feel like I did my best simply because I got frustrated. I guess that is what I was trying to say earlier. I can't function when I am frustrated, so maybe in the future I just need to take some time to maybe wash my hands and calm down before I continue and rather than loose my head, I need to draw on the knowledge that i have to fix the problem. There was just a piece of calculus that I couldn't get off. I know how to remove calculus, but I was getting so frustrated with the time limit and the fact that it was an exam that I kind of gave up and had the instructor finish getting the calculus. Why do I get so nervous? I think in the future, when that happens, I just need to take a little break and calm down and think about the situation logically before I continue. Time does matter, but quality matters more. So, bottom line, this is my new goal. When I sense that I am nervous or getting frustrated, I need to take a break to wash my hands under cold water and think about the situation and reasure myself that I know what I'm doing. I don't know what my last goals were as far as a 1a, but I think it had to do with completing the OD because last time I wasn't so sure about that. So, that goal I completed. I don't know how long it took me to clean the kids mouth. he did have a tone of plaque and calculus for a little kid though so I'm sure I'll be faster next time. But there won't be a next time until next semester since I am done with class 1a's and don't plan on having any more. I also have a goal to be more fun with them. I'm not the best at knowing how to handle kids in the Hygiene chair. I can play with them outside the office, but in the office it is still a little weird for me. I've got to work on that. I need to listen to Sarah because she always has cute things to say to the kids to make them feel comfortable. Okay, that is all. This blog took way to long.

lab day

Today is pretty simple. We are learning of few new things like the diagnodent, checking blood glucose, and removable appliances. So far so good. Today is pretty layed back and easy. I guess my goal for next time, because if have a patient with a lot of calculus, is to do the air powder polisher PE and also just get to work at cleaning his mouth. It might also be a good idea if I have time, to use the diagnodent on him. That is all. Talk to you later.

2-10-10

I forgot to look at probe time again, but I'm pretty sure that I went faster, and I didn't even have anyone assist me. I also went about 10 or more faster on scaling the mouth. I also passed off two PE's and did sealants. So, I accomplished a couple of goals anyway. I will continue to try to increase my scaling time, though next appointment I have a class 2, so I guess that won't count. Maybe my goal for him will be to get done with 3 or more quads. I felt pretty good about today. I just felt bad because I forgot to do a flouride treatment, and he really needed it. All well. You live and you learn and most of the time you learn best from mistakes. That's all.

2-8-10

Today was the first time I finished a 1b in one appointment. Granted, she didn't need x-rays, but I felt really good about it. I finished scaling the mouth in 1 hour and a half, which I think is a half hour faster than last time! My goal for wednesday is to finish the patient, and also be able to do either x-rays or sealants. I probably could've done sealants on this patient, but she wanted to wait. I think she was just a little tired of being here. That is too bad because I really need to get sealants out of someone. I shouldn't pass that opprotunity by anymore. It was kind of past time to leave anyway. Okay, well that is all. I forgot to time myself on probing so I will have to do that wednesday. bye

2-3-10

Today went so good. I had my first exam patient. Well, I scaled my first exam patient anyway and I did so good. I also had the TA's looking over my shoulder to make sure I was doing everything right, which was one of my goals. I felt like I went faster too. It took 2 hours to clean the whole mouth, which is an improvement I think. I also passed my shappening PE with flying colors and I'm sure it is thanks to my studying. My goal for Monday is to time myself on how fast it takes to prob a mouth and then wednesday I am going to try to beat that time. That is all.

2-1-10

Today was pretty easy going. I scaled one quad of a class 2 in about 30 minutes, which is probably how fast I need to be able to do the whole mouth. I haven't really gotten how to feel for calculus yet so I don't have to go everywhere. I passed off my sealant PE. I think I did really good at positions today. I tried really hard to be in the right position, and it did help visibility a little bit. It definitely helped my back. Then again I can't really tell if it helped my back seeing as I only did one quad. I'm still a little confused as to wear to do folcrums sometimes because it just seems to get in the way. Lately I've been favoring folcruming on the lower arch while working on the upper. Every patient's mouth seems to be different too as far as where to place a fulcrum. Some people are easier to see. Anyway. My next goal for scaling one quad is to do it in 25 min. while still maintaining the right positions. I also have a goal to be able to feel the calculus so I don't have to scale everything. I'm going to definitely need some assistance on that one. That is all.

First 1A

I got to see my cute nieces today! It was my first time seeing a 1A patient and I tried my best to look up what to do, but there really wasn't any information about what to do. Long story short, I missed a couple of things on OD and now I have learned that you OD like an adult. I'm a little worried about seeing the next 1A because I don't no how to get kids to do things. My nieces will do whatever I ask, but what if another little kid doesn't open his mouth. I also learned today that I have been more worried about getting things done on time and not enough about doing it right. I need to fix that. I need to realize that things will go faster for me if I do them the right way. I don't want to get fast at doing things wrong. My goal for my next patient isn't necessarily to take my time, but to do things the right way. And if I have a question, I need to ask for assistance to learn how to do it right. I need to learn self-master, not speed. That is all. It has been a rough day, but many lessons learned.

1-20-10

It was my goal to be faster at probing, which I was, but unfortunately I didn't keep track of my time to go faster next time, so now my goal for next time is to look at how much time it takes me. It was also my goal to scale a quad, which I could have done had my patient not been a half hour late. I'm sure I would've gotten to it had he been here on time. So in a round about way I made my goal, but not officially. So I guess my goal for next time is the goal that I set last time. I feel like I'm improving though, so that is good.

1/11/10

I have already forgotten to do two blogs. Already behind, yikes. I had a goal for today to finish my class two patient, which I new was kind of a long shot, but I did pretty good. I finish doing 3 of his 4 quads and and that was good experience. I thought I went pretty quick and I probably would've been able to finish him if her weren't a half hour late. Traffic was bad today. It took me from 8:40 to 10:30 to finish the 3 quads, so I guess that is a little less than two hours. It has been a long day and I can't really think so I will have to add up how long it took per each quad later and then make a goal based on that. I have a class 1b patient on wednesday so it will be my goal to get her whole mouth done in time. I don't know though. I don't think she will be as cooperative as my patient was today. I'll just make my goal to finish her anyway, and no big deal if I don't because at least I tried and hopefully I am getting faster. That is all for today.