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.