Gross debridement

Grrrrrr Arggggg! I hate having a class II patient in my chair and I didn't get any calculus off.  Really?  I guess I should stop thinking that I am amazing and can get a class II done in one appointment.  Emily is reading this right now and laughing at me.  It is one of those bad days that I hope that I learn from it.

bilateral leukoplakic lesion and Nitrous PE done

I have to say that today was one of the most interesting days I have ever had.  The one piece of advice that I would give to everyone is do not pass off PE's with Prof. Perry especially when you have a first year watching you.  It is the most embarrassing and difficult moment in my life.  I have realized that my mind doesn't think under pressure and I somehow just give up.  At one moment, I was hoping that Prof. Perry would stop quizzing me but he would just get even crazier with the questions.  The other thing that happened that was interesting was the two leukoplakic lesions that I found on the floor of my patient's mouth.  One was 12x12 mm and the other was 12x8 mm.  I never thought that I would see something like that.  My poor patient has already had a biopsy done on her tongue but not in the same area.  I don't think that she really understood the seriousness of the whole situation. I tried calling her after to let her know that I really think that she needs to see a oral surgeon but I don't think that she will listen to me.  I really hope that is benign.  Poor thing really wants to try and take care of her teeth but she really doesn't understand what smoking 1 pack of cigarettes is doing to her mouth and her health.

I received flowers from my patient and it wasn't my husband

I kind of had an interesting day today.  I am actually suprised to say that but it I thought it was going to be bad. My first patient was coming back to get three quads cleaned and would have been a good mockboard patient but she needed her teeth clean so that she could get some teeth pulled.  She had some awesome radiographic calculus that would make everyone jealous.  She was a difficult patient and it was difficult cleaning her teeth with her little boy telling me "no" every time I put a scaler in her mouth.  The older daughter told me that I was lucky that the little 3 year old didn't try to beat me up.  After I was done my patient gave me flowers.  I wasn't expecting that today.  I definitely need to work on trying to get into pockets better.  I don't know why it is so difficult for me to get my Gracey's into 6 mm pockets but somehow I don't get the instrument down far enough. 
My second patient was one of the sweet ladies in the Radiology department.  I am so grateful to her and spending many hours with me.  It pays to just see who from campus can help you out. 

count down: 3 more clinic days!!!!

Herpes breakout and 4 clinic days left

Well it is the story of my life.  My patient didn't show up this morning and when I called her to find out where she was she said that she was staying home because she heard last week that we couldn't see our patient when they have a cold sore. So, it was a fun morning.  I volunteered to take Bitewings for a  walk-in and happy that I did it because the conventional x-rays take for.....ev......er.  Then I had another walk-in ask how he can get his teeth cleaned.  So I was able to get his OD done but my instructor did not have enough time to do an OD check so I have to wait until the next time he comes in.  I am hoping that he has at least 1 quad of a III.  The morning wasn't a complete waste of a morning but I wish that I could have at least got one quad cleaned. 

The afternoon wasn't a waste of a day.  My patient showed up which is pretty exciting and I was able to clean 2 quads of a III.  I probably could have cleaned another quad but I was waiting to pass off some PE's.  I don't know why they have to watch us pass off the Root Debridement PE.  I am doing Root Debridement on almost every patient I see and I am always doing calculus removal.  When they do the OD check they feel for calculus and when they come back there isn't anymore calculus.  It's not just falling off by itself. 

The one thing that I am wondering is when are they going to start pressuring us to go faster.  I don't know if I am going at the right speed or not but if I am not I wish that they would start pushing me now rather than later.  I just have 4 more clinic days until the end of the semester and 24 more PE's to do altogether.  This semester has been going by way too fast.  I am definitely not ready for this semester to be over with because then we are closer to having to be ready for Boards.