Anesthesia Mock Board

Well, I thought the written part of the test went fine. I still need to study the MRD and the math equations. I think and hope that I will be fine on the test. I feel more nervous for the actual clinical part of the test after today. I feel like it will be okay though. I just need to make sure on the PSA to pull the cheek out and up. On the IA I need to get the syringe over the premolars and also make sure to get the needle far enough in the tissue.

I was kind of excited because I had people to come in for screenings, but that excitement was short lived. I really wanted to find my board patient. I guess I still have a little bit of time, but I don't know if I can take the pressure. I am getting so nervous. I will just keep trying.

4-7-09

I had the hardest time finding a patient to come in this morning. I wanted to get a new patient and screen them for boards, but I couldn't get anyone to come in so I got my little sister to come in. She has fabulous looking gums. She was generalized healthy without any gingivitis. It was awesome. It didn't take any time at all to get her done. It was kind of nice to have such an easy patient.

The afternoon was good though too. I had my class 4 patient back to finish up his cleaning. This patient was a good learning experience. I feel like I did a good job. I only missed one spot. I was excited for that. I went over very carefully to make sure I got everything. Now I am finished with my class 3 and 4 requirements finally. Yeah!

National Boards

What a long day! I am so excited to have that behind me.

I am so glad to be finished with national boards. It relieves most of my stress. I want to know how I did, I don't really want to wait over a month for our results, but at least it's over with. Now I have to get on board to study anesthesia. On to the next test to study for. I think it's kind of nice to be done with one so I can focus on the next one and not have to worry about two at one time.

mock board

Well, today went just fine. I don't have my score back yet, but I know I missed two spots that counted. I need to make sure all the teeth are amazingly smooth. I missed the spots because they were a little rough, not that there were big deposites. Hopefully, from this mock board I learned to go back and really feel for the rough spots so I don't have to miss any.

I am getting really anxious about boards. I still don't have a patient. I am going to teach some people at the Davis Behavioral Center oral hygiene and then do some screenings. I am hoping to be able to come across my board patient there. There's not too much longer until I absolutely need someone. I am sure it will come though, I guess I have to be patient and look really hard. We'll see how things work out next week at the Behavioral Center. I am crossing my fingers.

3/17/09

Today was a good day. Both of my patients showed up! I was able to see my patient that is coming for mock boards and that went very well. I was also able to clean 2 quads of a class 4, which was a challenge for me. The calculus was very tenacious, so I was able to learn alot from this patient. I think I am done with my exams for class 3's and 4's now. That feels good.

Last Class 2 exam

Today I had a good morning. My patient was a class 2 and I only needed four more quadrants of a class 2 exam. I am so excited to be getting close to be done with my class 2 and 5. I only missed one spot. My patient was very nice and so cooperative; that makes the appointment go by so smooth.
My patient this afternoon cancelled after I had called yesterday to confirm and made arrangements to come in the afternoon instead of in the morning. It was a little frustrating, but there was nothing I could do about it. I tried calling other people to come in, but didn't have any luck. At least my morning was successful.

Bad start day

Well, today was getting to be so frustrating.  I had a cancellation in the morning again.  I am getting so sick of people who say they will come and they end up not coming the next day, but today ended up working out better than I could have hoped.  I found another patient to come in in a hurry and I think she will be a good mock board patient.  She was in two years ago, but one of her quadrants has a lot of calculus.  I also took 4 BWX with the scan-x system.  It was my first time using the machine.  I think it worked out pretty well.

My afternoon patient ended up being a class 4.  I took a full mouth, which seems to take a lot of time and I cleaned one quadrant.  It was the toughest calculus that I have cleaned yet!  It was a good experience for me.  He'll come back in a couple of weeks.  I also got finished with my anesthesia requirements.  I still need practice, but it's nice to be done with something.  

Today ended up being a very productive day.  I felt like I accomplished a lot.  It was a long day though and I am glad to have this one done!

production day

This morning went great. Both my patients showed and I got done what I needed to. Then, in the afternoon, both my patients cancelled. I was a little stressed. I was calling people to come in and I was having a hard time getting anyone to answer their phones. I finally was able to round up two patients. They were the cutest patients. One was my cousins little boy, who did very well. I was very glad that they could come in on such short notice. Then I was able to see my little boy. He'll be two next month. I wasn't sure if he'd let me do anything, but I was wrong. He let me take him for a ride on the chair and show him all my fun things at the dental unit. I was even able to polish and brush his teeth. He did so good. He got a spin toothbrush that he just loves. It's easy for me to brush his teeth and for him. I really like this idea of the spin brush. It has noise so that hopefully when he goes to get his teeth cleaned again he won't be afraid or nervous with new noises. It was pretty fun to be able to see my little boy today.

Mock Board Disaster

My patient was so good and arrived early. I was getting started and then I noticed it.... a cold sore. I was so disappointed. I had just seen my patient last week and everything worked out so well. I just didn't think that this was going to turn out this way. I felt better knowing that I could make up mock board on another day in clinic, but I really wanted to be able to do something today. I was all ready. I even had all the x-rays, which I hadn't had at the previous mock board. I guess that's how some days work or don't work out. It's a little frustrating, but there's nothing I can do about it now.

1-27-09

It really stinks when patients cancel their appointment the night before they are suppose to be seen, especially when they are a classification you need. That happened to me today. I was going to have a good day of a class 3 and a class 2 patient. The class 2 patient cancelled and all I was able to see was a class 5 to take the place. It was okay because I still need almost all the classes of patient (not 1B's), but it was still a little dissappointing. I am hoping to reschedule and not have the patient cancel again.
My class 3 patient was a good experience. He is going to be my mock board! I was able to clean two quads today so I hope I am ready for next Tuesday. He seems to be a good patient. He remembered to come and was on time. Hopefully that is how it works out on mock board day. I don't want this patient to be half an hour late like my last mock board patient.

I learned what a pain it is to do a physicians consult. I had a pt. with high blood pressure that was deaf. It was hard to communicate just through writing things down. I was just having a hard time understanding who the Dr. was that I needed to contact and then I found out that the pt. was taking medications that had not been written on the health history that were important for me to know. I didn't get to see this pt. today. I know this was not a good appointment for me or the patient. Things were just a little confusing.

Sensitivity

Today I had a good 1B patient. The patient had some sensitive areas on the distal of teeth #2 and #16. I put Varnish on them to see if that would help with desensitizing. There was a tiny bit of recession on the distal of those teeth, but no where else. My instructor said that what might have caused that would be impacted third molars because my patient had the third molars taken out and didn't have recession anywhere else. I just had never thought that that would cause sensitivity.

Third molars

Today, I took two full mouth x-rays on patients with all of their wisdom teeth.  On the first patient I didn't really think I needed to get all the way back to the third molar on the PA, but I retook it to see if I could get it back there.  I took eight molar x-rays ( on two patients)  and it is possible to see all three molars on a PA!  It just takes a little effort to get the film where you need it to be.  

Remembering how to sharpen

I learned today that one month off will make me have to recall things like sharpening my instruments. I was trying to sharpen one instrument and it just didn't feel right and I couldn't think of how to make it feel okay. Finally, I switched my instrument to the other hand and I was able to get the job done. Little things can make a big difference.