Fulcrums I Wished I Knew

Today was a good day in clinic. My pt came on time and ready for the cleaning but because I didn’t look at the health history before his ride left, I ended up waiting for the bottom signature before I could even start. So it did take me an hour and a half before I got the signature and could finally start. He was a really cool kid and was totally patient about the whole situation. Anyways, I learned that I really need to consciously start using extra oral fulcrums. We learned about them that one day in clinic but I have yet to incorporate all of them into my cleaning routine and today it would have helped.  I am super excited to go to the VA on Thursday to get to practice what I have learned today! Lab was also very fun and I learned to use Oraqix and Arestin!

At Least He Didn't Pee In The Cup!

So my morning pt was the sweetest little old Spanish speaking man. He has been to the clinic multiple times before and when I brought him back he was responding to everything i was saying in his broken English. After the extra oral exam, i handed him a cup of Listerine and told him to rinse with it for 30 sec. and he said ok and seamed to understand. Thirty seconds later when i go to collect the cup, the Listerine is not in the cup or in his mouth. He totally swallowed it all! I asked Dr. Naylor who was in my pod if he was going to be ok because i was kinda freaking out. Ha ha, at least he didnt take it to the bathroom and bring it back with a urine sample like that story of the other Spanish speaking pt. Overall it was a wonderful day in clinic! I do think that i need to step up my scaling times because i am still very slow. Goal for next week is to make sure i have a translator if needed, and to speed up my time.

Patient Hug Day!

Today was a good day, I got a lot done and I did well :) I saw a returning pt this morning and she is just the cutest thing ever, when I walked her out she gave me a hug :) It made me feel like i had accomplished making the patient feel happy and loved! I really do wish i had more time to get to know my patients because most of them are amazing people! Then this afternoon i saw my cousin and did the spit PE on him. He has nice spit, and was at a very low risk for caries so that was good for him to know. Anyway, I learned today that i want to try and get to know my patients a little bit more even if its just an extra five min at the beginning of the appt.