6 months from today...

Perhaps this doesn't belong in my clinic blog, but I had an "Aha" moment today.

Six months from today is our commencement. Six months from today it will not matter how many errors I had on that last quad of class III, it won't matter that my instructor downgraded what I thought was a class III to a class II,  and it certainly won't matter that I didn't make my 4.0 this semester.

What WILL matter, is that all 30 of us will walk and receive our diplomas. All 30 of us will enter the workforce and get to do what we love and make a good living doing it. That's what matters.

Until then, I will try to keep things in perspective :)

Requirements

This morning I saw a class II pt and was only able to get through the OD and 1 quad. I felt soooo slow but I knew I was finishing both my class II and Class III this afternoon so I was ok with it. I finished the remaining III quads of my class II and waited for my Class III to show up... she didn't. This is SO FRUSTRATING. Grand total of 4 quads class III today. I don't feel like I am going to be able to meet my requirements so I'm freaking out a little. The class III that was supposed to come today is my mock board patient! I needed to finish up her x-rays before mock boards and I'm CA next week. Whine whine whine... I guess I should just be grateful for what I do have done, and pray my mock board patient is more reliable in two weeks!!!

Local Anesthesia

I remember being in school one day last year, and hearing news that the seniors were starting local anesthetic  that day. I remember thinking how scary that would be, and how glad I was that anesthesia would be a whole year away for me! Well... today that day came! I spent the better part of yesterday after school reading, studying, looking at pictures of nerves and their locations, and even prodding my poor husband with cotton application sticks! 

I came to school today with butterflies in my stomach, so nervous to poke poor Misty! Once I began, it was like all my studying clicked. I thought to myself "Aha! Maybe this is something I can do!" I loved it! The insertion points and angles were not nearly so hard to find as I thought they would be, and I felt like it went great for my first time! I was shaky because I was nervous, but now that I feel better about it I know I'll be more stable. I can't wait to start administering LA to my patients! 

No shows and progress

I called my first patient 15 min after her appointment had started, and she informed me that she wasn't coming. I called my back up pt and got her in the chair an hour and a half after clinic had begun (yikes!!!!) She was a class V, so I got to work! I busted my buns and got her finished and walked out on time! (woot!) and didn't get any errors!

My second pt was a harder 1B, and I had no errors on her either! I think my aha moment today was actually feeling good about everything! I felt really good about getting no errors, passing off a PE, and even staying calm losing an hour and a half of clinic time and still getting everything done! All in all, I love second year!!!

Facing fears

Today I faced my greatest fear practicing dental hygiene; treating a patient with HIV. In my mind, I was a little freaked out. I tried to go to all the alterations in treatment in my mind when I realized... there are none! We already treat each patient like they have everything, and if we follow the guidelines we have been taught, we are perfectly safe. I was only able to scale 1 quad because they had to go an hour early :( I missed 3 spots on that one quad because I wasn't adaptiing distally enough on the lingal maxillary posteriors, but such is the price of learning. 

My other patient was a class V and I finished him with no errors (hurray!)

All that for 1 quad class III?

Today my goals were....

1) To get my OD done and scale one quad.
2) To hopefully class my pt as 4 quads class III

Well... my day didn't exactly turn out as I had hoped. I had to take retakes on conventional film which takes forever because of processing, and spent time rationaling my patient as a class III. In the ned I was only able to classify 1 quad as a class III. I did, however, have an "AHA!" moment when it comes to x-rays. I guess I am just able to better visualize how to open up the contacts (about time, right?). I didn't get to scaling at all, he is coming in next wednesday morning and I need to scale all 4 quads on him in that one morning, but I think I should be able to do that.

FINALLY!

Finally a perfect day (well almost anyways)

My goal: Get my 1B done in 1 appointment

I got my 1B done, missed no spots AND didn't have to take any retakes on my x-rays! I was SO HAPPY!!

I didn't pass off any PEs today, and I've been sort of neglecting them lately, so I need to get to work on those! But overall I was pleased with today!