Pictures

Class Picture

Fall 2011

First day practicing local anesthesia.  This day was so much fun.  Thanks for being my patient Heather.

Class Picture

April 2, 2012

Excellence In Service Luncheon

Thursday April 5, 2012

Emily Petersn, Whitnee, Kayla Whitney, Jodie Story, and Heather Tau'a

Before the Welcome Event for the new Junior Class

April 9, 2012

April 9, 2012

Pregnant Girls

April 9, 2012

Tanya Stephens, Julie Barneck, Michelle Bott, Marianne Moody, Kelsey Romph, and Whitnee

Graduation!

     On Friday April 20, 2012 I graduated from Weber State University's Dental Hygiene Program.  I can't believe the two years of the program are over.  It all went so fast.  I had great professors who prepared me to work in a dental office as a dental hygienist.  Now I just get to find a job!  Here are some pictures of the big day. 

Outside the Dee Events Center

The College of Health Professions Graduating Class

The Dean said there were over 900 graduating from the College of Health Professions!

Top: Whitnee, Kayla Whitney, and Adrienne Warner

Bottom: Karlie Nichols, Sam Lindeman, and Ashley Nelson

All Graduated!

David and Whitnee

Thanks for all your support Babe!  I couldn't have made it through the past two years without you.

Riley, Whitnee, Mom and Dad

Thanks for all the support you guys gave me while going to college and especially while I was in the dental hygiene program!



I Can Do Hard Things

     Now that I have completed the dental hygiene program I have learned that I can do really hard things.  The past two years in the dental hygiene program have probably been the hardest years of my life so far.  Some days in clinic I just wanted to give up.  I feel like I had a lot of no-show patients and last minute cancellations but even with all the frustrations of finding patients and having to count on someone who you don't know at all I was able to complete all my requirements both junior and senior year.  I'm grateful that everything works out, just like the instructors always tell us they will. 
     The last month and a half of clinic I really felt like everything clicked for me.  I felt more confident about going out into the real world and practicing dental hygiene in a dental office.  I even started to get really excited to be done with school and move on to a real job.  Now I just have to find that "real job."
     As I have gone through all my stacks of paperwork and power points of all the information we covered in the dental hygiene program, I have realized how much I learned during the past two years.  I know that I don't remeber everything but I feel like I remember the majority of it.  I'm grateful for the great professors that teach dental hygiene at Weber State.  You prepared me so well for the national board exam and for the dental hygine profession. 
     Thanks to all my classmates I was able to make it through everything.  I loved that the Class of 2012 was so united.  We all wanted to help everyone succeed and help everyone in the class feel welcome.  I'm glad it took me four tries to get into the dental hygiene program because I got to go through it all with you.  I will miss all you girls! 
     Graduation is tomorrow and I can't believe it is finally here.  I never thought I would finally be graduated from college.  I think I will miss school a little bit but I'm sure I will be able to find something else to fill my time with.  Thanks for all the memories and I look forward to creating more tomorrow at graduation!   

Requirements DONE!

     After a day of late arrivals and last minute cancellations from my patients I have all my clinical requirements complete!  It feels great.  I just wish that today was my last day in clinic but I have to come Friday since my VA group is short a clinic day.  I really wish it didn't matter I was short a clinic day.  Oh well, once last thing and then GRADUATION! 
     Last night was the Welcome Night for the class of 2014.  It felt so good to be sitting in the auditorium as a senior.  I can't believe that just two short years ago I was there as one of the new people.  I didn't know anyone and felt really awkward.  Last night I was surrounded by 29 other seniors who I have come to love and respect.  After the meeting it was a lot of fun to sit together and eat and just chat.  I love when we are all talking and laughing together.  As excited as I am for graduation and to be done with school, FOR-EV-ER!, I will miss all you girls a TON!!!  Thanks for all the support you gave me and all the memories we made together! 

A Day of Class 3 Patients

     Yesterday was a very tiring day.  I still needed 11 quads of a class 3 patient.  I had 5 quads scheduled yesterday and was planning on just getting as much done as I could.  My day in clinic went differently than I had planned, but it all worked out for the best. 
     At 8:00 I had a class 3 patient coming back that needed to have 2 quads finished.  Michelle ended up coming to clinic to make up for a day. She had a class 3 patient that still had 3 quads that needed to be cleaned.  Michelle only needed one more quad to finish her requirements so she was kind enough to offer the other 2 quads to me.  That really pushed me to finish the 2 quads on my patient so I could hop over to the other chair and finish Michelle's patient.  The timing was B-E-A-utiful!  I was able to finish Michelle's patient, which dropped me down to  needing 7 quads of a class 3.  A little more manageable. 
     Heather had seen a class 3/4 patient last week and was kind enough to reschedule him to come back this week for me.  I wasn't really looking forward to seeing him because she said his calculus was so hard but beggers can't be choosers at this point in the semester.  He ended up cancelling his appointment right before lunch.  I wasn't really too disappointed but slightly stressed about my requirements now. 
     Kayla had a patient coming in at 1:00 that she was pretty sure would be a class 3 and since she already had her requirements she gave me the patient.  When I pulled his chart I noticed that he hadn't been in in about 4 years and they had mentioned in his chart that he was going to have artificial heart valves placed soon.  That means he needed to have pre-med which I found out he didn't know about before the appointment.  I eneded up waiting until 2:00 to receive a physician's consult back and then had to release him because it would be 3:00 before I could even do anything on him. 
     What a waste of an afternoon...not completely.  While I was wondering around waiting for the physician's consult Marilyn called me into the instructors pod and asked if I had seen any class 2 patients during the semester that we could possibly bump their classification to class 3.  I logged into Taleval and started checking.  I found one of my mockboard patients that was classified as a class 2 but was extremely difficult.  I had to bring him in 3 times to finish everything on him.  Marilyn pulled up his x-rays while I went and got his chart.  As soon as she opened the x-rays she said, "He is a class 3!"  She looked at the probe depths and ended up changing his classification to 4 quads of a class 3.  YES!  That meant I only needed 3 more quads of a class 3. 
     My board patient was waiting in the waiting room for his wife so I decided to go out and see if he wanted me to clean the rest of his mouth since I didn't have anything else to do for the next hour and a half.  He agreed.  I brought him back and took the chart to Marilyn to review and sign.  He was classified as a class 2 but she checked his probe depths, recession, and x-rays and changed his classification to a class 3 patient!  It was my lucky day!  I was able to finish 2 quads on him and am planning on bringing him back to finish the last quad.  That means I will have my class 3 requirements finished! 

Feeling More Like a RDH

     I'm really starting to feel more confident with my dental hygiene treatment.  Each week after clinic I'm actually excited to be working in a dental practice in just a few short months (hopefully I will find a job anyway).  I feel like I am getting better at feeling calculus and removing it completely.  When I do miss areas of calculus the instructors stay and help me feel it with the explorer and then give me great tips to get the remaining calculus off.  I'm also learning that I can use instruments in different areas of the mouth than what we learned in first year.  Today I used the Nevi on the premolars and on the line angles of the molars...AMAZING!!!  I felt like I removed so much more of the calculus in those areas.  I can't wait till I will be able to just treat patients and not worry about requirements and who I can and can't see.  Only 3 more clinic sessions and then GRADUATION!  I can't wait. 
 

Clinical Board

      I am so glad boards are over!  I hope that I never have to go through that stress again.  I keep telling my husband that if he wants to move somewhere for work it has to be a state that accepts WREB results.
     I really wasn't too worried about the clinical board.  I felt like I had a patient that had more than 12 solid clicks of calculus and he seemed really dependable.  I found him about 3 weeks before boards and I was able to get in contact with him each week to make sure he was still able to be my patient Saturday morning.  He always told me yes and seemed really excited to get his teeth cleaned.  The Thursday before my boards a Spanish translator came into the classroom and asked if anyone wanted him to call their patients for boards.  I wasn't going to have him call because my patient spoke and understood English pretty good but I figured I might as well have someone who spoke Spanish get in contact with him since boards were only a day away.  The translator texted me a few hours later letting me know my patient would be there for my boards.  That was good to hear but I was still worried about him really showing up on Saturday. 
     Friday night I didn't sleep well at all.  I was laying in bed running through the process of what I was going to do with my patient for boards.  My phone rang at about 7:45 and my heart dropped when I saw the phone number.  It was my board patient.  He told me that he couldn't be there at 11:00 anymore and wanted to meet me at school right then so I could clean his teeth.  I explained to him that this was an important exam and I could only take it at my assigned time.  He still asked me just to clean his teeth earlier and I told him I couldn't because of the time schedule.  I asked him if he could still be there at 11:00 and he told me he would try.  He hung up and I started to panic.  I started trying to remember who had taken their boards on Friday so I could see if there were any back-up patients that I could call.  My patient called me back again and told me he could be there at 12:30 and asked if I could just see someone else at 11:00.  NO, I CAN ONLY SEE YOU AND I NEED YOU TO BE THERE AT 11:00!!!  I stayed relatively calm while I was on the phone with him and I explained again how important this exam was.  He still wouldn't tell me for sure that he would be there at 11:00. 
     By about 8:15 I had sent text messages out to everyone that I could think of that took their board Friday.  I also called the translator and asked him if he would help me out and call my patient again and see if he could get a "Yes, I will be there at 11" or "No, I can't be there at 11" out of him.  The translator called me back and said he had called him twice with no answer but left him a message about the importance of this exam and reminded him that he had been telling me for 3 weeks that he would be there.  He said he would keep calling him throughout the morning and let me know if he heard from him. 
     To make a long story short I got the name of one of the Friday back-ups, had the translator call him, he couldn't come in because of work.  Finally the translator and Ashley's husband was able to get a hold of my patient and he finally told them he would be there at 11:00.  I could calm down a little bit.  I had my husband drive me to school because I was in no condition to be driving.  When I got there my patient was already there waiting for me.  THANK YOU!  The next stressful part was submitting him and having him be accepted.  He was accepted and I got to work cleaning the quadrant.  The two hours flew by!  I felt like his calculus came off pretty easy (I just hope that it realy did and that I didn't leave a ton of calculus behind).  Now I just have to wait about 3 more weeks for the results.