Last day of clinic!

So this afternoon was okay. My patient did not end up being perio like I thought she would be. She actuall had really healthy tissue considering that she smoked. I thought that she was going to be a 1B. After taking x-rays, she did have some bone loss and ended up being a class 5. I have realized this semester how important x-rays are. It makes it so much easier classifing patients. I would have never thought this patient had bone loss just based on probe depths, and looking at her tissue. Little did I know she did. I also learned this morning with my terrible patient, that I need to make the decisions and do what is best for the patient. Sometimes I think I need to be a little more agressive and not be such a push over. If I would have just told my patient this morning that having anesthesia would make the process less painful, and help me do a better job I would have finished scaling the 2 quads I started. Instead she is coming back for me to finish them in January. I think overall this semseter has been a success, and I feel my skills have improved.

Frustrating Morning

Lets just say that this morning was not the best. My patient that came in was referred from her dentist for scaling and root planing. She was a class 3 on the top and 2 on the bottom. I decided that I would start with the top. The entire time, she would complain that I was digging into her gums and it was hurting. I told her we could get her numb, but she said she did not want to because numbing hurt also. She was very unreceptive to any instructions, and told me that she had been going to the dentist for 2 years. She was a know it all, and was probably one of the rudest patients I have ever seen. So I scaled as best I could, and when it came time for my scale check, there was calculus on every tooth. I informed the patient that in order to adequately clean and remove all of the deposit we would have to get her numb. By this time we it was almost patient walk out, and we did not have time for that. She will be coming back in January for me to "restart" again. I just hope I can do what I need to do without her giving me problems. Hopefully my patinet this afternoon will be nicer and let me do what needs to be done. I still want to get the last quad of a three that we were supposed to get for this semester done. Hopefully I can get one this afternoon!

Last Day of VA

So today was the last day at the VA for this semseter. It went pretty well, I got class 5's again as usual. I was hoping for a class 3, but am ok now that I know the requirements are combined. I am glad that they did this. I am just one quad away from the requirement this semester, but it would still be nice to start next semseter knowing I am not behind. I have some perio patients scheduled for thursday so hopefully they show. Anyways I am glad that this semester is almost over only one more to go!