Hard lesson

So my patient presented with light pink gingiva, little to no bleeding, and very little calculus. I thought to myself, I will breeze right through this and then catch up on other things with the rest of clinic time. So I get done and ask for a scale check, I had missed like seven spots! They were all very little deposits subgingival. I just couldn't believe how deceiving her gingiva was. Well lesson learned and its time to start being careful and always check subgingival and interproximal even when the tissue looks really healthy.

Last Clinic Day

Woo HOO!! Last day of clinic! I am so excited to be done and I ended it with a really hard 1B patient. I was working the lower anterior teeth for ever!! I am getting better everyday and I am very excited to start my second year in dental hygiene.

I need to learn Spanish Desperately!!

I really feel like I could be a much better clinician if I knew how to speak spanish. I have had atleast three patients that could not speak hardly any english so it was so hard to talk to them about OHI and diseases. I am going to make that my goal this summer, and atleast learn some dental terms. I really feel this will increase my confidence with my spanish speaking patients.

Presentations

We have our table clinic presentations this Thursday and I am so nervous! I hate speaking in front of people and it is going to be 10-15 minutes long. I put together the powerpoint last night and I feel really good about that, but when it comes to talking in presentations, I swear you would never know that I have taken a public speaking class. But I do feel I am improving there as well. I love that this program is constantly sharpening so many different skills like research, speaking, study habits, instrumentation, and even patient communication.

Feeling comfortable

I am really starting to feel like I know what I am doing, which is great. I am doing much better with my angulation of xrays and using my instruments. The only instruments that I feel I have not practiced with enough are my graceys. I don't think I have used them once. So I will make sure to always bring them out first thing next semester.

Getting Better

I am so horrible at blogging. Let me just say that this is not because I don't have anything to talk about, I just forget to do this. So yes, I am going to have to post like ten at the end of the semester. I am getting better though, I actually feel like I know what I am doing FINALLY! Its so exciting sharpening my technique and even though I still make mistakes, I now know how to fix them.

Almost Finished

I am so excited to be almost done with my first year! All I have left is 2 quads of a class 3. Today I finished my class 2 exam and did a sealant and it feels great. I am struggling with my class 3 getting here. He has cancelled on me twice now and I don't know if I can count on him to get here. Do I try to find another one?