First class III

Yeah a found 3 quads of a class III! Today I found that there is a big difference between a class II and a Class III. My pt today had the most tenacious calculus I have ever seen thus far! There was a lot of supra more way more subgingival calculus. I learned 3 big things: 1st That I must sharpen my instruments. Second, that I should slow down and take my time with harder pts. Third, That being a dental hygienist is tiring. After clinic today my hand, back and head hurt! It really was a lot more work to clean a class III. I wasn't able to completely finish him and will have to bring him back to get a few areas that had a lot of subgingival calculus! It was a good learning experience and helped give me perspective on how difficult calculus can be to remove. He was a great pt and I liked being able to give some new/more specific OHI. Next appointment I want to be able to detect all calculus and take 5 PAs on this pt.

Sealants!

I saw 3 pts today! It was totally crazy busy but left me feeling very productive! I managed to scale 3 quads of a 1b pt and complete/finish her in 1 hr!!! The best part is that I managed to do it with no missed areas!!! Next, I saw to little girls and completed 2 sets of bitewings! One set on a 5 year old (which was interesting and honestly more difficult then I thought but I managed to do it.) Another set on a 7 yr old that went great. I then placed 3 sealants on each girl with no do overs! I also loved being able to help put a fellow peer and let Marianne place one sealant on Kelsy the 7 yr old. Things went great and I felt it was a very productive day!!

Fast Fast Fast

Today I successfully completed an OD and scaled 4 quads of a class V! I feel like I'm finally getting faster. I wasn't able to take films because my pt already had them but I felt great about completing all quads will no missed areas!! I feel like I can more easily differentiate between root surface and calculus. All I progress I'm finding that I can more easily find/remove calculus. I'm starting to see that there is a change that I may meet all my requirements for the year. I'm getting close to passing off all my PE's as well.

Root Surfaces: Dominated

Today was totally awesome! I had a pt return that I had struggled cleaning at her last appointment. She had some difficult root surfaces to clean; what I thought was calculus was just soft roots. I was able to successfully detect calculus from root surface! I was able to complete the remaining quads by 2:45 and passed off my intra oral camera PE. I really like when I feel like I'm improving and learning.

Hard PT

My pt today was an older women that was a Class V. I'm a little disappointed with myself. Toward the end of the appointment after I had spent forever scaling 1 quad I realized I was removing not calculus but root surface. It was a good learning experience so now I know i will be better at differentiating root surface from calculus. I'm going to have the pt and I'm expecingthings to go a lot faster. I passed off my subgingival exploror and scaled 1 quad.

Pt Switch

McCall and I figured out that to help meet our requirements we could switch pts. I saw James and he was a Class II, He had adequate stain and I'm kicking myself that I did not pass off my air powder polish on him. Still I was a good experience to remove the stain. I scaled 3 quads and missed one area on the Distal of # 15 It was a really hard area to get but with great instruction I was able to successfully remove the deposit. At the end of the appointment I showed James His teeth and he said : I can't believe those are mine" We successfully removed most of the stain and his teeth look a lot better. It felt great helping someone!!!

Hard to be 25

My pt today was a 74 year old women that when I tried to give OHI told me "I don't Need some 20-something year old telling me how to brush my teeth" I was hard but a good experience to see someone who was not receptive to OHI. I tried my best and did not lecture. I found she was an Interesting 1B she had some bone loss but not enough to be a Class V. She had a lot more calculus that I would have expected for a 1B I also found that she had some enamel hypoplasia it was a great experience to feel with my exploror and differentiate between the hypoplasia and calculus. I scaled 2 quads.

Great Neighbors

Today my neighbor came in as my pt. She was a 1B and the scaling went well because my pt canceled she came in late but I was able to get 1 quad finished. She is pregnant and I was able to see that her tissues had a lot of marginal redness that was most likely a cause of the plaque biofilm and pregnancy hormones. I instructed the pt to try and be meticulous with brushing and flossing to help improve her oral health. I felt like the appoint went well and that I getting a lot faster with the OD and scaling times.