10/25/12

I had some hard patients today, and I felt good about it. I had two class two patients and one class three. I got lots of practice with giving shots and removing tenacious calculus; my hand is feeling it now! It was fun. I picked up some instruments that I wasn't as comfortable with and starting using them, sometimes that's the only way you learn. I am very much a hands on person and learn best by doing. It was a good day!

10/18/12

I feel like I totally redeemed myself from my mockboards today. I had a hard patient today and I did awesome! She had tenacious calculus and it was hard to get off. I felt like I knew what I was doing, which isn't something I can say everyday. Sad I know. Some days I am on my game and others, not so much. Hopefully I will be on my game more frequently than not the closer we get to the end of the semester. Can I just say that I love Thursdays!

10/16/12

Today was mockboards! Ugh! What a freaking day! I had a patient scheduled that I had seen twice, and today was supose to be the day I finished her. Well that didn't happen. She didn't show up, I couldn't get ahold of her. And many tears were lost...I really hate crying in front of people. I had given two patients away to other students who needed mock board patients. One of them canceled last minute, I felt bad about this. The other one came and her son came with her, so we called to see if he would come back to the clinic and be my mockboard patient. He ended up qualifying! Crazy! I didn't do very well, as far as cleaning, he was tough. But I had a patient in the chair and I feel like I can handle anything that comes my way. Bring it on!

10/15/12

Today I had a couple of adult patients and then I saw a child that I placed 2 sealants on. I really enjoy doing sealants, especially when you have good patients. I also had a patient that had a partial that had a good amount of calculus on it and I was able to scale the partial. It was really good practice for me. I wish everyone was like that, in that you could remove the teeth to clean them. It makes things much easier!

10/7/12

This Thursday was a challenge. I had two adult patients that did not speak hardly any English. Due to the language barrier I feel like I don't completely do my job. Even though there are translators that help, it's hard to feel your patient out to see how they are doing with their home care and what I can do to help them better their home care. I tried really hard to speak my Spanish with one patient, we both were trying to communicate with eachother...but it just wasn't working. I also finally got some harder patients to work on and it was really exciting! I have had children patients for the last couple weeks and it was excited to have a challenge; both in hygiene and language.

9/27/12

Kids again today! I love the kids, don't get me wrong, but I'm ready for a challenge. I had really good patients today. They were great with the x-rays, which is one thing I find more challenging. They all seem pretty excited to be here as well. I had one that was really nervous about it, but by the end we were friends and he did much better. The thing about kids that I feel is most important is for them to understand that you are there to help them and will so your best not to hurt them. I do enjoy it. I don't know if I could work in a pedo office full-time. Maybe one or two days a week.

9/20/12

I absolutely loved today! It was really busy. I think I ended up seeing six patients…children that is. Even though it was crazy busy, I felt like it went well. I feel like I’m getting the feel for things, and more than that, I am gaining a real love for the Hispanic people/culture; being that that is the majority or who we see at Midtown. There are some that stick out more than others, but they all seem to have a great appreciation for the service we provide for them. It is really rewarding to be in a place that you feel appreciated and needed.
I really enjoy the group of girls I get to be with at Midtown, some of them I didn’t get to know as well last year. I also really enjoyed the change of instructors today, not that I don’t enjoy my assigned instructor, but every instructor is different and I enjoy the variety.

9/14/12

I had three patients today.  My last patient was the hardest by far. She was a class III on the top and I thought at first glance the distal of #14 was completely decayed. It was actually calculus, it was so dark and black and really fun to clean, but it was difficult in removing. I tired many different techniques in removing the calculus and learned a few different tricks that I can use. I have been trying to use my Spanish more. My Spanish skills are progressing slowly, I have a long ways to go.

9/6/12 wk 2

I had three patients today. Two adults and one child. I felt like I am getting into the grove. I finished all my patients today, it was a good feeling. My child patient was a little harder because he was a young little boy with lots of energy. It was just a but harder to manage him, especially since I had issues with the pano machine. It took a while to get it to work right. We figured it out and everything was fine.

9/6/12

First day at Midtown. I was surprised at how quickly what I had learned last year came back to me. I know my skills have a long way to go, but they have also come a long way.
My ultrasonic wasn’t working today so I had to scale my class II patient with hand instrumentation only. It made me really focus on my hand instrumentation. There is a good chance that once I graduate this same thing may happen and I will be expected to clean my patient’s teeth.
My patient was so nice too! It’s so much easier to work on patients that appreciate what you are doing for them. The majority are that way, but every now and then there is a patient that is not as appreciative. Not only are the patients really nice, those that work at Midtown were so helpful today. I am really excited for the opportunity to use this time at Midtown to excel in my skills and not have the stress of requirements.