This past Friday and Saturday was the annual session of the UDHA Convention. This year it was at the Little America in Salt Lake City. The convention last year was really good but the speakers that they had this year on Friday weren't very good at all. I was kind of disappointed. The speakers on Friday weren't citing references for studies or anything. It basically seemed like they were taking everything as their own ideas (they were pretty dumb ideas/beliefs also).
Saturday morning I headed back down to Salt Lake to help at the fundraising table for Weber State. While I was sitting in the hall at the table I could hear the Saturday morning speaker on the speaker system. She was so good. I wish I could have been in the conference room to hear her better. Too bad they didn't have her speak on Friday instead of the other two ladies that no one was really listening to anyway. Hopefully the speakers at the convention next year will be better.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Catching Up
Today I realized how long it has been since I posted. Oops! The past few weeks in clinic have pretty much all been the same. My morning patient comes, then my afternoon patient cancels last minute or doesn't show up. It's so stressful. I always have a stomach ache on Tuesday because I am so stressed out about my patients showing up. I hope the whole semester isn't like this.
Last Tuesday I finally had a week when both of my patients came. That didn't last long though because today both of my patients cancelled. Yesterday afternoon when I was calling and confirming my patients my morning patient cancelled and I couldn't get a hold of my afternoon patient. I was able to find someone else pretty quickly who was willing to come in at 8:00 am. About 20 minutes after clinic started this morning the CA came and told me that my afternoon patient had just called and cancelled. Luckily David was able to come in for me in the afternoon.
On both of my patients today Professor Alexander gave me some good advice about using the ultrasonic scaler. I need to remember to roll the instrument in my fingers and move on my fulcrum to adapt to the interproximals and the line angles of the teeth.
Last Tuesday I finally had a week when both of my patients came. That didn't last long though because today both of my patients cancelled. Yesterday afternoon when I was calling and confirming my patients my morning patient cancelled and I couldn't get a hold of my afternoon patient. I was able to find someone else pretty quickly who was willing to come in at 8:00 am. About 20 minutes after clinic started this morning the CA came and told me that my afternoon patient had just called and cancelled. Luckily David was able to come in for me in the afternoon.
On both of my patients today Professor Alexander gave me some good advice about using the ultrasonic scaler. I need to remember to roll the instrument in my fingers and move on my fulcrum to adapt to the interproximals and the line angles of the teeth.
Friday, September 9, 2011
Hit Me With Your Best Shot!
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Calculus is REALLY Hard
What a day! Lets start out yesterday evening, I called my afternoon patient for today and they cancelled. I was in Kamas so I didn't have any patient's names or phone numbers with me. When I got to school this morning I asked the CA to schedule anyone if they called in. About half hour later she told me she had found someone. Yes! About an hour after that she came back to me and said the lady had changed her mind and couldn't come today. I finished my morning patient 15 minutes early and then headed into the office to start calling patients. Tori found someone that was willing to come in for an appointment in short notice. Thanks Tori, you're great!
My patient this afternoon was a really easy going, nice guy. He only had 9 teeth in his mouth and is in the process of getting partials. He had a lot of calculus on his lower anteriors that would have came off so easily with the ultrasonic scaler but I couldn't use that because he has hepatitis C. Today I found out how hard calculus really can be. My hand was cramping and it hurt so bad. I was getting really frustrated because I felt like I wasn't removing very much of the calculus. My instructor came and helped me use the Gracey instruments and the mini Gracey instruments. I need to remember that the Gracey instruments already have the correct angle so I don't need to open the instrument up to the tooth like other instruments. My instructor also helped me with correct instrumentation on the lower anterior teeth. I need to remember to keep my hand right over the patient's nose and pull the instrument up towards the tooth, not roll it away from the tooth. My patient had to leave early so I have him scheduled to come back in a few weeks to finish him. My goal for instrumenting lower anterior teeth between now and then is to always keep my hand over my patient's nose and pull the instrument up towards the tooth. I hope that will feel more natural when he comes back so I can get all the calculus removed.
My patient this afternoon was a really easy going, nice guy. He only had 9 teeth in his mouth and is in the process of getting partials. He had a lot of calculus on his lower anteriors that would have came off so easily with the ultrasonic scaler but I couldn't use that because he has hepatitis C. Today I found out how hard calculus really can be. My hand was cramping and it hurt so bad. I was getting really frustrated because I felt like I wasn't removing very much of the calculus. My instructor came and helped me use the Gracey instruments and the mini Gracey instruments. I need to remember that the Gracey instruments already have the correct angle so I don't need to open the instrument up to the tooth like other instruments. My instructor also helped me with correct instrumentation on the lower anterior teeth. I need to remember to keep my hand right over the patient's nose and pull the instrument up towards the tooth, not roll it away from the tooth. My patient had to leave early so I have him scheduled to come back in a few weeks to finish him. My goal for instrumenting lower anterior teeth between now and then is to always keep my hand over my patient's nose and pull the instrument up towards the tooth. I hope that will feel more natural when he comes back so I can get all the calculus removed.
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