:S

Today I had a very class II patient. Any by very I mean it was almost class III but not quite. I took 4 digital BWX with that chunky sensor. Then got through everything with the help of Mr. Solomon translating for me. I scaled the 2 lower quads (which apparently I forgot, you're supposed to scale an upper and lower in the same side. whoops) and then had about 7 missed areas! I seriously thought I got it all when I explored. Prof. Costley showed me that I wasn't adapting enough to feel properly. So I rescaled and still missed 4 areas. She said I was able to make the deposits smaller but I didn't get rid of them. :S I need to use more lateral pressure and get more subgingivally.

2 in 1

I had 2 patients today. My friend came in at 8 and I took a FMX phosphor plates on her since my other pt wasn't coming in until 9. She needed to be done my 10:30 for a test so I just got through the OHI. She is a class V so I'm excited to get those requirements.

Completed

Today I started and completed my patient all in one appointment! She was on time which was nice. We got started right away and she had a very small HHX. Then she had an incredibly healthy mouth with hardly any calculus. We took 4 BWX with phosphor plates and I handscaled and ultrasoniced the lower anteriors because of the lingual bar. I missed 3 areas of calculus which is ok for me considering I scaled the whole mouth.
Then at the end I was rushing through the walkout to get her out on time. I accidently added the BWX on the statement twice so Mr. Solomon had to change it in the computer. Then he told me my patient wanted to talk to me. She said she wanted to reschedule for her 6 month cleaning. I was kinda in shock cuz I was expecting her to never want to come back since its such a long appointment...and I was like...you want to reschedule with me?! ha ha whoops...she said yeah so we scheduled for next semester. I'm kinda surprised that someone would want to come to a three hour appointment. But thats cool

I'll never get my requirements at this rate!

Pt came in and hadn't filled out his HHX yet so he took 20 minutes to fill it out. Meanwhile he told me he needed to leave at 2 even though I had told him it would be 3. So basically I had 1 hour to do everything. I got through OD and took 4 digital BWX. He has 2 quads of class II so that will be nice if I could ever get to the scaling!!!!! I'm so frustrated! I tell them when I schedule them what the time frame is and they agree to it but last Monday my pt was half and hour late, today my pt needed to leave 1 hour early, and next Monday my pt will be 1 hour late!!! AH! When will I ever get it all done!?
On the plus side...I feel like I was able to get a lot done in just that one little hour that I had. I feel really good about my OD and probing. (Probably cuz that's all I've ever done so far!)

473

Today was 473 thousand times better than Wednesday! yay! My patient was 30 minutes late...which isn't a good part...but even though she was I still got all the way through scaling the LR quad. I was excited because I didn't miss any calculus on my scale check. My patient was kinda miffed because she has to come back which I understand, but she was late, and I'm new at this stuff. We didn't take any x-rays today though.

Can someone remind me why I want to be a hygienist?

Well today was the first patient day. My step-dad was my patient which I thought would be ok since he's family. I guess its good he is family because I messed up so much!!! ha ha (I laugh to keep from crying) Well I already had his HHX done beforehand and his BP was ok so that was a relief. Then I thought I'd get some requirements in and do a FMX for him. He already had his BWX taken 4 months ago so I just did 16 films without the BWX. Well...I think he was trying to lighten the mood with all his joking around but it just made me even more nervous. Then...A HORRIBLE THING HAPPENED. I went to develop my conventional films and they came out and 9 of the 16 were processed together because I forgot they were double film packets and didn't separate them!!!!!! Horror! So I had to retake 9 PAs. By the time I finished I had been taking x-rays for an hour and most of them were only so-so. AH!!!!! so then I had just enough time to do the extra, intra, dent, probe (which acutally went really well. Inst. Haffen said I was one of the most accurate she had seen.), and OHI. Not a single quad. Still!!! I've had 2 patient days and no quads. Hmm...stressful? yes. Annoyed? yes.
OK...good things that happened today: My step-dad's BP was good. I finished 16 PAs. I was accurate at probing. I got my chart in on time. and...thats about it...
*sigh*...why do I want to do this? This is extremely stressful. I make stupid mistakes and I forgot just about everything. It would have been nice to have one mock patient day before we jumped in from the Christmas break. It would have been nice to refresh all the things we need to do.

Gracey's and Ultrasonics

Well today we talked about Gracey's and Ultrasonics. I love that ultrasonic. And I feel really good with my Gracey's. However...the big stress for me is finding patients. I have been calling a lot of people from the call list and none of them will call me back. I don't have much family or many friends who can take the time off from school and work to come in. Luckily I'm not the only one with this stress...but still...I'd rather not have it. I'm also pretty worried about my time management. I don't really feel like I can get much done in the time that we have which sounds ridiculous because we have 3 hours!!! but I am worried that I won't be able to feel the calculus and get it off.