Green plains and Whitney

So we drove to Green Plains and got to see a commemorative plaque that is actually in memory of my great-great-great-great grandpa William Warren Taylor who died here before his family came to SL. He was buried about 300 feet from where this plaque was.


And then as we returned home, tired and hungry at least we had a pretty Nauvoo sunset to enjoy. This is the view from the house we stayed in over the Mississippi River. Pretty cool!
The next day we went on a wagon ride throughout old Nauvoo. I learned a valuable lesson on this wagon ride. Whitney says to me, "hey Jenny can I use your camera to take pictures of things?" Upon the return of my camera I learned that by "things" she meant about 20 pictures of herself among some other interesting snapshots. Here are a select few.
Yep, she really enjoyed taking pictures of strangers.
Some more of herself....
Oh and a few of Evan. It's funny she didn't take any of Taylor though.
Grandma's purse. Perhaps one of the greatest things to children on Earth.

Awww! Just look at that face. Just cute enough to keep me from strangling her!

Carthage Jail

Carthage Jail was one of my favorite experiences in Nauvoo. Of course it is so sad and everyone cries, I am sure. But wow, I don't think I will ever forget that. When I actually walked up to the window and looked down, it was just one of those moments that became imprinted on my mind forever. But before we went into the home, Eric and I posed in front of Joseph and Hyrum.This is a picture of two of the actual bullet holes in the original door. Unbelievable!
Whitney was always willing to pose for me, such a natural! I was really surprised to learn that the jail wasn't really so much of a jail as just a home that an entire family lived in with a small dungeon-like jail cell upstairs. However, the room where the martyrdom took place wasn't in the jail, it was in the homeowners' very own bedroom.
Whit took this picture of her family. I just noticed Tay's face in this! That is hilarious, he is such a devil.

Nauvoo Temple Night

So the first night we got to Nauvoo we decided to go see the temple at night. Let me tell you that was a really fun thing to do. The temple at night looks a little bit like its on fire in the pictures but in person it just looks beautiful. This temple is the most beautiful temple on the inside in my opinion too. It was so surreal to do a session in there. I just kept thinking about how there must be so many spirits everywhere in there. It was such a cool feeling.
Eric didn't know that you couldn't feed these horses. These statues are of Joseph and Hyrum as a commemoration of when they left to Carthage jail and they looked up at the temple and said something like they'd never known a more beautiful place with a better people... that is not word for word but it is written on the plaque.
Eric sat down at the gates of the temple to take a picture from a different angle but I just thought he looked like a homeless man (with a pepsi).
As we walked around the temple grounds it was so quiet you couldn't hear a thing except for the soft buzzing of the lights. It really was a very special experience, outside of the little bit of irreverence Eric and I provided. I am so thankful to have been there.

Minnesota

Thanks a bunch to Rob & Mandy for hosting our awesome trip to Minnesota & Nauvoo. The first full day in Minnesota was filled with adventure. We started out at the Mall of America where Aaron & Eric really enjoyed spending their time in Victoria's Secret. Hey, they were having a really good sale and I just couldn't miss out on 40% off. Then, that evening we went to a Twins game and had really good seats. We were on about the 6th row back the only downside was that we were sitting in front of some really loud Canadians that were cheering for the Blue Jays and people kept throwing things at them, only they kept hitting the people around them, namely Whitney and my dad! And then the Twins lost after a 13-inning game. But that doesn't keep us from having a good time.This is Evan just amazed at the bright lights! He is so cute!

Eric carting around after the game Whitney. This happened a lot on the trip. Mostly because Whitney would ask for me to carry her and then I'd get tired and Eric would take over. He's my knight in shining sweatsuits! This was so cute, we went home and watched the Jazz game and as you can see, the couch was full with Eric, my dad, and Aaron but Evan climbed up and decided he would squeeze himself in there too!

Minnesota was a really great place and I really loved it. I just kept reminding myself that I don't want to move there because of the FREEZING cold winters. But really, it was gorgeous, green, and full of lakes. We ate a really good place at Lake Calhoun called the Tin Fish. The drive there was so pretty and I just stared out the window coveting all the lakeside home owners. But then I would remember the winters are sooo cold!

Birthdays and Kites

Just to show how exciting life has been this spring now that school no longer takes up my whole life, I now have time to do really fun things like fly kites. This Sunday was perfect kite flying weather so Eric, Kent and I headed out to the park by their house. Eric's kite is a jet and Kent's is a box kite. Kent's kite was better to fly but it kept breaking. That is, until the engineers put their heads together and made some duct tape modifications. You can see from the pictures though that in the beginning Kent was very dejected about not getting his kite into a successful flight. However, once we got it into the air, it flew for about 5 minutes before we had to pull it in for "game" time. Go JAZZ!!

Just a few weeks ago we celebrated my dad's 52nd birthday! Way to go dad!

And I am so proud of my nephew and my husband for learning how to mimic one another. I'm really not sure who did the face first but they're both special in my eyes.

Corinne brought her bike to grandma's house to show us all how she'd learned to ride it without training wheels. So we all ran out in the freezing rain to watch her ride.

I passed!!

95 on my clinical exam. I think I missed 5 points on recession but who cares because I passed and I am going to DOPL on Monday to get my license!! About one more week and I will be an official RDH.

Pictures

Okay so I got these pictures to upload and then my internet connection got lost so I couldn't upload anymore but here's a few good pictures!

We did it!

Today is one of the greatest days of my life because I graduated from the Dental Hygiene program! Wahoo! That is not to say I won't miss the professors & my friends in the program but hopefully we will all still be able to keep in touch. I plan on blogging as long as people keep in touch! Anyway, I am trying to put some pictures on but its not letting me right now so I will try later. I have a bunch of pictures from the banquet, a barbecue at Aimee's, and graduation.

Just one more day...

Here's a fun story for you... Today I was trying to get my board patient in to take so xrays when her phone number wasn't working. So I tried to call her again, and again. But it didn't work. So I looked up her address in her chart and during lunch Erica and I drove to her house and we got her to come in for xrays this afternoon! Yipee! So now after all that stress I feel like I definitely need to call her and arrange for me to be her personal chaparone for boards.

Today I had a pretty good day considering it went nothing like how I had planned. In the morning I was going to take xrays on my board pt. and in the afternoon I was going to see Ashley's class 3 pt. I ended up finishing Ashley's class 3 pt. in the morning and taking xrays on my board pt. in the afternoon while simultaneously cleaning a 1A patient of Ashley's. It ended up being a pretty crazy day!

Gettin' down to the wire

Two more weeks to go! I have some mixed emotions about being at this point in school. First, I am SO over with this stuff and ready to move on to the real world and get a paycheck. On the other hand, I am really going to miss seeing everybody and carpooling with Des and Jalene. The past two years really have just flown by and it is a little unbelievable that we are almost finished. On the other hand, I am really grateful that we still have two more weeks left because I still need about 6 anesthesia experiences, 4 quads of a class 4 pt. and some major PE's. I am seriously praying that I can get it all done... I HAVE to get it all done. Today I took xrays on a patient that needed a physician consult and it looks like I can probably get at least 2 quads of a class 4 out of him. He's coming back on the last day of clinic so at least I can count on that! Well, what else can I say besides... see ya!

2 cents: The National Dental Hygiene Board Exam

Today is a very good day because it is the day after National Boards!!! This means I am sitting at the VA without a patient and I'm not spending my every free moment anxiously studying. No more quizzing each other, no more andyrdh or amyrdh, no more late nights at Jalene's, no more fighting over anesthesia math problems and no more worrying and stressing over it! And if the ADA wants my honest opinion of that exam, it is crap! I mean, it seemed to me more like torture after the first 100 questions or so. It is completely unneccesary to give a 7.5 hour exam. I got to a point where my eyes were so sore, I had a headache the size of Texas and I was ready to scream andI still had like 7 more case studies. And when a person gets to that point, you can't expect that they will be able to perform as they should on a rigorous exam. Thus, I strongly believe that the National Dental Hygiene Board Exam is completely unethical due to its grueling demand on my mental and physical health. But that's just my 2 cents, for what its worth.

Maui Pictures Finally

So here are some of my favorite memories of Maui (at least the ones I can show! ;)

This picture cost us $6 because some "professional" photographer pilfered it out of us. But the bird sure are a nice touch!



















Whale watching was really nice too. We just went out in a little raft kind of boat for about 2 hours and some of the whales came really close to us.... like this one. An interesting fact about humpback whales is that every whale has different fin markings, they're like fingerprints!
















This is a black sand beach with some ferocious waves. It is amazing to see such contrasts on one small island. One hour we are on a sunny beach with calm, if any waves, the next we are witnessing a furious ocean in a totally different environment. Did you know that Maui is home to one of the driest and wettest places on earth simultaneously?!















Here we are on our big night out. We dined at an ocean-view table (too bad you can't see it since its dark) but it was paradise... Although, Eric did get food poisoning from the clam chowder.





















This is a funny picture of us. We went up to the dormant volcano that is believed to have formed Maui. It was a 10,000+ ft mountain that we took a tour drive up the mountain and then biked our way down. I thought it was very nice and the volcano was pretty cool to see. When you go to a volcano crater you expect to see this perfect circle with molten lava inside but this crater was over 7 miles wide and you couldn't even see most of it from the lookout point.
















I just had to include this one as our classic beach photo. We rented some boogey boards but the waves were pretty mild. It was the beach in Maui though so you can't complain! I think I am still getting little grains of sand out of my ears though. That stuff just sticks everywhere!!

Hey now, hey now don't dream its over!

Today I felt like I was done with school and out in the real world... until I didn't get a paycheck. Today was my clinical simulation day and it was pretty good. I felt like I could have squished in another patient which would have made for five but I still don't quite get how private practices see like 10 patients a day. I guess I will learn one day soon. Anyway, I really liked being busy and having that extra push of knowing the next patient was coming soon. I saw pretty easy patients and didn't have to do any xrays which I am sure would have made it more hectic. Probably the worst part was the paper work. I got way behind in the morning and the afternoon I found little times throughout the appointments to work on it so I wouldn't get behind. It was a really good learning day.

Mockboard Exam

I have two words: I passed! Sure, it may have been BARELY, but it is a big boost to have not failed miserably like I did last time. I feel like I learned from the places that I missed and I will be able to do it better next time. Before school started I would have never guessed cleaning teeth would be this hard. It really is a lot harder than anyone would think. Hopefully the next mock board just goes even better than this one and then I'll be ready to take on the real deal. At least I will keep telling myself that!

All my patients are going to show up for the rest of the semester

I know my title is really long but it is going to be my new mantra. I just need to stay positive and keep thinking "my patients are going to show up." Because a consecutive streak of no-shows this year I am done with them and I am ready to start having patients show up. Both of my patients this session failed... I was able to move one patient up and found a 1B at the last minute but, if I don't graduate, you can't say I didn't try! One thing that is good is I am noticing that I am getting better at patient treatment and OHI. I am getting better and communicating with the patient what they need to do and just little things are getting fine tuned. So it is okay~

Just another day in clinic

So I just finished another day here at WSU and I am getting more and more confident. It is good. I had a class 1B and a class 5 so the classifications aren't coming along as I'd hoped but it is nice to know that at least some people are getting the patients they need. Although one of my patients cancelled on me for the third time so I was left in a scramble for my second patient today but that trusty resource list pulled through in the end.

A lack of patience

So the night before our last clinic session I called to confirm my appointments for that session. So first I called my morning patient. "Oh, dear I really need to reschedule," she says to me. This is her second cancellation so I go into my schpeal about how it affects my grade and I will try to fit her in and such but it is very important that she keep the appointments. Just then she stops me and tells me and incredible story about how she accidentally poisoned herself with toxic fumes when she was tiling her floor! What are the chances? So then I have my husband call my second patient because he speaks Spanish. At first I didn't believe him when he got off the phone with her and said, "Your day just got a whole lot worse." My second patient was sick! Dang Flu season! So there I was without any patients for the next day and having a 2-4 record of patients over the last 2 weeks. Things are not looking well for me! I begged and pleaded and called everyone I could think of but alas I could only get my dad to come in for the afternoon. And things don't get better by any means. I mean, I still only have like 2 more patients scheduled for the semester and there is no patient pool for me to draw from. I know I am not alone in this total lack of patients. So, consider this my formal call to action. People, we need to really get into gear and start soliciting patients. Everywhere we go, everyone we see, consider them a potential patient. If anyone out there is reading this, please come into the Weber State Dental Hygiene Clinic for a cleaning. Please!

Clinic Week #2

So, thirteen weeks left to go! I had a no-show this morning and this afternoon a class 1B from the resource list. Right now I am a little worried about getting my classifications just because there is no resource list to draw from. I really think we need to go out advertising for some patients. Anyway, my class 1B today was pretty easy. She was a little heavier because she hasn't had a cleaning in 3 years. She also had some recession and sensitivity so I applied some of the Vanish Fluoride varnish, which she seemed happy with. She said it really helped with her sensitivity last time she came in. I just hope I helped talk her into beginning to floss because her poor gums were bright red in some areas. Ya, I know this is compelling stuff... you just can't beat the life of a hygienist.

Intimidation at its best

Last clinic session I had a cancellation in the morning and sat around all morning trying to find things to keep me busy when a certain professor, okay a certain department head wanted her teeth cleaned... and I just happened to be ready and waiting. So, you can imagine how my head was spinning, not to mention it being the first day back in clinic after a month long break. Anyway, all I can say is, if I didn't totally act like an air-head, I did it!! And without missing anything either (whew!)

So in case anyone was wondering, over the break I did some exciting things. One, I got a cyst from my left wrist removed, which left behind a pretty good scar. Please don't hesitate to ask if you are interested in seeing it. The second thing, maybe a little more exciting, I got hitched on Dec 29, 2006! I went to Maui on my honeymoon and now I am back in full swing just getting ready for the next big thing... boards!

Last day at the VA!

I bet that is a popular dental hygiene post title because it is so exciting. I guess its not truly my last day, but it is my last day until the end of February so that is pretty exciting. I have really actually enjoyed my time here at the VA. In fact, I definitely prefer this environment to WSU clinic just because you don't have to do forever-long ODs. But it makes for a super long week when you have class Monday, VA Tuesday, TA Wednesday and Clinic Thursday. It is really nice to be completely done with that busy, busy schedule. Today my patients weren't too exciting. I saw a 1B in the morning and a Class 5 in the afternoon. My class 5 patient admitted to not really doing any OH ever until yesterday. That's right, he started brushing his teeth yesterday, folks! As I hygienist I just think, how could this happen? And now I hope he is motivated enough to keep it up so he can keep what teeth he has left.

TA the day before Thanksgiving

Message to Prof. Costley: Do not forget that you need to change the schedule next year to cancel clinic on the day before Thanksgiving. It is the absolute worst day of the year to be in clinic. And another thing, with the students working on each other it was really hard to stay occupied as a TA. If you really wanted to be nice you could give the TA's this day off to work on their papers. :)

Okay so moving on... in clinic it was the student treatment day so I mostly sat around with loads of time on my hands. It was really boring to say the least. I thought everyone did a really great and thorough job on their student treatments. One thing everyone seemed to forget was filling out the patient encounter forms but that will probably get easier, especially when you are seeing real patients. Otherwise, good luck to everyone on their first day of real patient treatment. I am so excited to be able to see ya all in action actually applying everything you've worked your bums off to learn this semster.

3rd to last day of clinic

Today I am on the verge of completing my 3rd to last day of clinic and it feels great. I am going to be totally honest when I say that I really don't enjoy cleaning teeth. I enjoy the end product and sense of fulfillment in having cleaned a patient with perio or bad ginigivitis. I enjoy interacting with the patients and getting to know them. I also enjoy feeling like I am helping each patient and doing something good for someone else. But I really don't like cleaning teeth. I guess the other parts of the job are just more rewarding so it all equals out in the end but day after day I dread seeing another tooth covered in plaque and calculus. On the bright side, the aches and pains in my back seem to be getting less severe as I am getting used to it.

Radiology TA, again

Yesterday was my last experience as radiology TA, thank heavens! Nothing against the teacher or any of the students of course, you are all excellent, it is just a very boring subject to be a TA. However, I was thankful for my experience today as it was very enlightening. We were using the bisecting the angle technique and PANOs. It was a very good review of bisecting because I really didn't feel like I got a really good experience with it last year so I was learning more than I was teaching or assisting! The PANO was also a good review because our learning how to use the PANO machine was very basic last year so it was helpful to watch the video and see all the basics of setting up the Frankfort plane and everything broken down again. Its amazing how much I've learned, but at the same time, as I am reviewing things in first year clinic, I am seeing a lot that I have forgotten. So even though it has been painfully boring at times, overall it has been an invaluable experience.

Thank heaven for the VA!

I got another class 2 at the VA and it is so nice because without the VA there is no way I would have seen anywhere close to twenty quads of a class 2. I also got to take another pano and BWX. I love taking digital xrays and I never want to manually process another film as long as I live. To put it short, I love the VA. Except for the smell, I hate the smell.

Sharpening - TA

Today we did instrument sharpening and I felt really confident in my ability to instruct them on this thankfully! It is funny how last year I really didn't know how to sharpen or feel confident in it at all and then after the clinic we had this year I felt really great about it... plus I got a Gleason Guide which is AWESOME! I also am a big advocate of sharpening because I hate working with instruments that aren't super sharp so I sharpen frequently. You might say I am a sharpening queen. Totally kidding!

CLiNic DaY... A day of stain

Today was a very productive day and I feel really good about it. I got a class V in the a.m and two 1A this afternoon. Wahoo! I am closing the gap on these "requirements" quickly... they don't stand a chance. ;) (I know I am a dork). So anyway, my morning patient was a pretty standard class V perio maintenance patient and he was doing a pretty good job maintaining his perio as far as I could see. Looking back at some of his old charts, his probe depths had improved significantly and he was generally healthy. The biggest project I had on him was the heavy stain from drinking black tea & smoking a water pipe. He was from India and explained to me how it was a very big social custom... fascinating... but still not good for your health!

THEN, this afternoon the first 1A patient I saw was an 11-year old with black line stain on the lingual and facial surfaces of her lower anteriors. Crazy, huh? It was hard work hand scaling all that. Luckily, her younger sister didn't have any stain so it was a little easier. Only 4 weeks left!!

Party at the VA!

Today we had three no-shows, hence, here I am blogging my little heart out! We studied the AndyRDH board quizzes, which makes me really wish that boards could be taken as a group, and studied some of the hygiene decks too. I thought the AndyRDH site was a really good quiz to go through for sample board questions.

Mockboards... glad that is over!

So, lets just say that 37.5/100 isn't exactly a good score on mockboards so you can imagine how I was feeling for the rest of the day. I can comfort myself a little by knowing that Prof. Hanson told me he was an incredibly difficult patient that she wouldn't put in front of anyone as an exam patient but still... I only got like 2 areas completed and he has to come back for completion of the quad that I worked on for mockboards. I just can't help but think, what the heck is my problem? I feel like 2 hours should have been more than enough time and yet I know when I was working on him there was still a lot of work to do after 2 hours. So I guess I'd just like to know how much of it was him being a hard patient and how much of it was just my own inefficiency?

And even though I went home with a horrible feeling of dissappointment after this mockboard I am looking forward to the next one hoping that I will be able to redeem myself, at least somewhat. Anyway, it was a good learning experience and I'm glad I had a hard patient instead of an easier patient because I wouldn't be as aware of my limitations if that were the case.

The happy couple

This is me & Eric... I just thought this was a cute picture of us! :)

My engagement ring

By request here is a picture of my ring. My fingers look really big and fat in it though! I love it... Last night I had a horrible nightmare that I went to show it to somebody and all the diamonds had fallen out of it! Luckily when I went to check it this morning they were still all there.
And this is a picture of Eric, me & the "Doctor", whom I later found out was just an orderly,at the official proposal.

Universal imstrumentation TA

Today in clinic we covered universal instrumentation and I found myself getting a little frustrated sometimes because I felt like I would offer a suggestion to a student a either they wouldn't really understand what I was trying to say or they would try it and it wouldn't work for them. It wasn't something that was constantly happening but it did happen a few times and I just wanted to say "okay don't listen to me because I don't know what I'm talking about!" Anyway, hopefully I am able to give them answers which are consistent with what other TA's and instructors are giving. Otherwise, it was just another great day of Clinical TA-ing! Only 5 more weeks left.

Clinic TA - 10/18/06

I was the radiology TA for the second time today and today was really good for me. Mostly it was a good learning experience for me but also I think I was a little bit of help for the junior students as well. I learned how to do digital xrays, which I'd never done before and even got a chance to play around with it a little bit. I learned how to write on the films and put graphics on them (like circling a spot of calculus or something). Anyway, it was also a good review of technique for taking PA's. I think I'd kind of forgotten the proper technique for the canine film and as I was helping the students today things started coming back to me.

LAB & CLINIC

The lab this morning was really fun & as crazy as this sounds, it made me a little nostalgic of the good ol' days of first year when we didn't have the stress of patients and classifications and requirements. I heard we got some really good pictures of everything.

This afternoon I saw a class 1B patient, which is okay but I'd rather have seen a class 2 because I haven't seen any so far!! Eeks! Better luck next time. Anyway, my patient experience was good because he hadn't had his teeth cleaned in over 4 years. There was a lot of plaque and quite a bit of decalcification along the gumline. I encouraged him to buy Prevident but he wasn't interested so what can you do. It is hard to understand why patients don't take up these great offers we can provide especially when I understand how much he really could've used the Rx toothpaste.

Clinic TA

Sorry I missed clinic on Wednesday, I was home sick! But I made up my questions for my survey which will be handed out next week and I was thinking about which questions to ask I just realized that this experience has been really beneficial for me! I am also nervous about the responses I get on my survey because I don't know if the first years think I am stupid, too aggressive, too laid back, or what but hopefully I am helping them in some small way! :)

Mockboard patient

Yeah, I finally have a mockboard patient so I feel good about that! I was sick in clinic so it was nice to know I could just hurry and clean one quad of my class 3 patient and then schedule him for mockboards. I was totally stressing about it so I feel much better now... other than this nagging cold that just won't subside. But thanks to whoever gave me the tip about the cotton rolls up your nose, it really works! :)

Dent: 3 cavities

Today for the first time as a TA in 1st year clinic I got to be the patient. This was because we were doing Dent screenings and 3 of the 4 students in my pod had mouths full of virgin teeth. (I am insanely jealous.) So I let them practice charting my teeth and they all got to see/explore 2 of the 3 cavities that I was diagnosed with yesterday. :( It was somewhat difficult to act as patient and instructor because when they would ask "What is this?" I would have to strain to look inside my own mouth to try and tell them what they were seeing. Anyway, it is really a good experience to review this stuff each clinic session with the 1st years.

Probing with the first years

I have been dreading teaching probing since I became a TA but honestly, it wasn't bad at all. It is a lot better to teach probing than to actually probe anyway! The thing I really enjoyed about it was going over all the little technicalities because after a year, my grasp and fulcrum and all has gotten sloppy. Also, I passed off the afternoon sessions Explorer and Instrument Grasp PEs and they did awesome. It was also a food review for me because I honestly had forgotten that in the modified pen grasp your fingers are supposed to be in a "c" shape. As little as this seems, now that I am working on that habit I noticed my fingers aren't as sore today! :)

Whadda day!

Today in clinic I saw a class 3 in the am & my first class 4 in the pm. As tiring as it was, I actually really enjoyed the class 4 especially. It was really rewarding to be able to feel definite clicks with the explorer and then actually see the huge chuncks of calculus come out of the pocket after a successful stroke. Today I actually had the thought, "Yeah, I think I can do boards." Whereas, up to this point I've been like "I am never gonna pass boards!" Anyway, I am glad today is over but I felt really good about everything. I am anxiously awaiting my next class 4 patient... but not until next semester hopefully!

36 xrays later...

It's the lastest title of my new horror film. It's about me having to take xrays all day long on both of my patients and it was horrible. But what can you do? I finally get that thing that Prof. Alexander is always saying about how the xrays are like your bright lights when you're driving at night. My patient had some real issues and I really felt like I needed the xrays to see everything that was going on. It was difficult to tell whether his pockets were pseudo pockets or how much bone loss he actually had without seeing the xrays because he had a lot of gingival inflammation. Anyway, I got my xrays done and I hope to see some easy patients here pretty soon. The sad thing is, I've seen a few difficult patients so far, but no patients for mockboards yet.

Just like riding a bicycle

So hygiene is just like riding a bicycle... I was amazed at how it all came back to me on the first day of clinic. I thought I would forget a lot more than I did, however I did forget to probe the entire maxillary lingual quad of my patient. :) But really I think I did pretty dang well. I got a FMX done on a class V patient and I completed all 4 quads on that same patient. My class III was a little harder and I got a late start so I only got one quad done but still I am amazed at my progress from last semester. I'm not really sure what the difference is but I feel a lot more confident this semester than I did last semester too which makes a big difference. Hopefully it stays that way!

Instrument sharpening... I get it!

I am so so soo glad that we had that instrument sharpening review in our first clinic session on Thursday because I felt like I had no idea what I was doing beforehand and now I'm thinking, "Wow! Instrument sharpening really works!" I know its a very important skill to have and I honestly felt helpless last semester when I knew my instruments were dulling and I would make my best attempt at sharpening (which was TOTALLY wrong) but it didn't seem to work very well. :( Maybe it would've been good to actually check out that video last semester when Costley asked us to! Woops!

Orientation, CPR & Parking Pass Night!

Today was the "unofficial" first day of school. We had our orientation and CPR certification. (Hopefully someone finds that test that is lost! EEKS!) Anyway, it was fun to see everyone again. As you can see, we got some good experience in CPR!
I realized that there really were things that I've missed over the summer and today really helped calm me down about the next year. I guess it doesn't really count that one of the things I missed was hearing Jalene's "The Final Countdown" ringtone! :)
Oh yes, I am also posting some pictures of the good times some of us shared when we slept over for A6 parking passes a couple of weeks ago. I hope Aimee, my love, doesn't kill me for this next one! I just thought it was so cute that Eric was looking down at her. I know she's gonna be angry because I took this picture at like 1:00 a.m. And then Candance and Steph thought it was pretty funny that when their fingers and toes meshed together they were two very contrasting shades so we took a photo of that too. I think it might have been one of those "it's only funny at 2 a.m." type of moments.

Back to school

Wow! Summer of '06 flew by way too fast. Are all you ladies ready to start up hygiene again? I surely am...not! I have had a great summer though. I went to Chicago, saw a White Sox vs. Cubs game, went to some awesome concerts, had a delicious sno-asis snowcone, watched She's The Man about 10 times, finally got carpet in my newly remodeled bedroom, got a new bed, went hiking, running, fishing, river-rafting in MOAB, slept over night at Weber for a parking pass... and lots of other cool things. Alas, it is all over for the next 9 months of my life and I will learn to only care about teeth and gums once again! :0) But hopefully I will get lots of good pictures to post on here. P.S. I took this pic at the spectacular Indepence Day fireworks show in Chicago.

Andy Warhol

My favorite flower!

Have a great summer

Hey everyone, just wanted to say that really has been an awesome year getting to know all of you. I honestly never imagined I would have this much fun. The carpool has been awesome and I am totally looking forward to it next year. Carpool 4 life! Sitting on the back row of class with Aimee, Des and Jalene feels like a second home to me now. I can call same seats next year! So, I'll see you next year, or during summer classes, have a great summer, don't change. Have fun in the sun, get laid in the shade. Call me!

Class 3 done!

Its the last day of clinic and I finally got my class 3 patient finished! I enjoyed this time a lot more because I knew I only had 1 quad to get done and I really focused on my instrumentation. I don't feel like the ultra sonic did anything for me and part of that problem is maybe I wasn't going deep enough with it but its okay because I got to hand-scale some huge black chunks of calculus and that is pretty rewarding for me at this point. I hate class 3's because they are VERY hard work but it was a great experience for me to learn A LOT about calculus, instrumentation and clinician fatigue!

Pretty good day... for learning, not so much for me

My patient today was pretty difficult for 3 reasons: 1)she was a mouth breather so her max anterior tissues were swollen out to Texas and bled like a stuck pig 2)she had a lingual retainer that was covered with calculus and 3) she was EXTREMELY sensitive. I would just like to pat myself on the back and say I did okay. The only thing that is keeping me going at this point is knowing I only have one more day of clinic for the next four months!!

Busy Day!!

Holy cow! I saw two patients today and it was crazy! I had to set up my clinic area 2x plus set up/clean up radiology 2x. I saw my niece, a class 1A and my friend, a class 1B (I think) but I'm not sure because all I did was a FMX and BWX on her. I am now officially done with my PA requirements, my class 1A requirements and I only need 1 more set of BWX! 3 more clinic days left... good luck everyone!

Children's Health Fair

Last week we went to the children's health fair at the university and it was pretty fun. I had never done anything like it before so I just wanted to go and get a feel for it. I enjoyed watching how some of the second year girls interacted with the kids and I got a better idea of what to expect at something like that.

Done with class 2

I finally got my last two quads of class 2 done!!! I will be sure to pass any extra quads I come across on to someone else if I can though. I am very nervous about seeing my class 3 patient again though because the last time I saw her I had one heck of a time scaling her. I kept being told to go more apical but there was so much bleeding and I was just so nervous that I was gonna tear her gums right off. Wish me luck!

Back to school

How was everyone's Spring Break '06? Mine was great... I missed you girls in Vegas but I myself went to Wendover Friday night on the "fun bus" and who doesn't love Wendover? Today in clinic I got another Class 1B done with Bwx and I was happy that the BWX only took me about 5 minutes to actually expose... then there's developing, cleaning, etc. But I feel like I am getting better. I kept on schedule and the only thing I didn't keep my goal time was on scaling which was 30 minutes or less and I think I took about 45.

My first full-mouth

Holy crap! I got my first FMX of the semester done and it was HARD! It took me a whole hour to do the FMX and 4 BWX without any retakes. My patient had a really small mouth so I had to use size 1 films on all of the anteriors but it feels good to have one done. I can't believe I have to do another one of those. At least I have one under my belt so hopefully I will feel more confident with the second one.

Two quads of class 2

Well today I finished two more quads of a class 2 and got done early enough to have started a second patient but I didn't really have a patient that wanted to come in just to get started today. It was a pretty stress-free clinic day and I got three PE's done! I felt confident in my scaling today and I am getting more used to the Ultrasonic but I just don't feel like it gets rid of that much calculus and I am having a little trouble not causing a little bleeding.

Darn physician consults!

Well, today was pretty much a waste of a clinic day because my pt. had to have a physician consult and I couldn't get a hold of anyone so all I could do was the intra and extra oral screening. :( At least I know next time he comes back we are ready to scale. Hopefully Wednesday will be more successful.

Only one more appt. in Feb

We only have one more clinic day in February!! Yay! But also crappy at the same time because I feel so stressed about getting my requirements. Especially for radiology because it seems like most of my patients don't need xrays or some that do refuse to get them... ugggh! Anyway, today I did my class 1B exam and I think I failed it because I missed so many areas. I really feel like I can't do a decent job without taking a lot of time to do it. I tried to follow the instructors' advice and "risk" a few mistakes to speed up but then I just ended up missing what seemed like every single tooth in my patient's mouth. I just want to feel like I know what I am doing and be able to do it in a reasonable amount of time. One good thing is that I did get this patient done in one appointment (without xrays) and he did have a lot of stain from tobacco. So I feel pretty optimistic about that.

The day before Valentine's Day

I couldn't think of a title for this blog so... there you go! Today I saw my first class 2 patient but he was a light class 2 with a bit of recession. The hardest part of scaling today was distinguishing CEJ from calculus deposits. Professor Alexander helped me learn how to distinguish the two by sound because the deposits have a scratchier sound to them whereas CEJ is just more of a definite clicking noise. Everyday I am getting more and more comfortable with things. One thing I am worried about is xrays because I haven't taken any PA's or Panos, and I have only had like 4 BWX patients! I better start getting patients that need xrays. Happy Valentine's Day everybody!

Classifications?

Today I finished scaling my patient and I realized that patient classification often depends on the instructor you have. When I started my patient she was classified as a 1B but I thought her probe depths and tissues were more of a class 2. She just didn't have enough calculus to be a class 2. So the instructor put her as 1B. Then today the instructor I saw wanted to put her as a class 2 but couldn't because she didn't have the chance to see her initially... so she ended up being a class 5, which is probably about right. Either way, I took a whole hour to scale which means I am SLOW!!! My goal is to try and speed up just a bit. Maybe get my class 1B scale time down to 45 minutes.

No Habla Espanol!

On Monday I treated my first spanish speaking patient and today I did my Class 1A exam on a patient with ADHD! Its been a pretty interesting week. Monday I realized that I really should learn to speak Spanish because I am sure that in the future we will be treating an increasing amount of Spanish speaking patients. Luckily, my patient was very nice and understanding and Midtown was nice enough to help me out with translation. Oh and I borrowed Jalene's patient for a minute to help translate too! The good thing is she is supposed to come back at the end of March and she's a class 3. It was pretty fun probing around and feeling tons of calculus. I don't think I was able to get totally accurate probe depths though because it kept getting caught on the calculus. McConaughy suggested that when she come back I clean one area and then reprobe it.
The Class 1A today was pretty simple. I really liked not having to probe. My patient was very shy and didn't say one word to me but other than that, it was okay. I felt kind of rushed knowing that he was ADHD and worrying that he might freak out but he was really still for a 5 yr. old and I was able to get everything done just fine.

No Habla Espanol!

Another Class 1B

I have finished my second class 1B patient for the semester... YEAH!!! I feel pretty good about that. I could definitely feel spots with calculus and I felt like I knew what I was doing for the most part. There was a LOT of bleeding which kind of freaked me out at first because I thought I was tearing my patients gums apart. But when I got my scale check done, McConaughey commented that she noticed that the tissues bled very easily and that she might recommend the patient use Prevident. I'm looking forward to seeing my first Class 1A patient on Wednesday. Everyone says it should be easy but we'll see...

Slow like a turtle

How am I ever going to get done with a patient in one appointment? I don't believe that it is really possible. I saw my mom in clinic on Wednesday and I had already taken x-rays on her in radiology. Given that I had that advantage I thought "No problemo, I will get her finished up, right?" Wrong! I didn't even start scaling. I think I spent the whole time probing. I honestly don't know what else I did. Oh well, I guess I'll finish her next time. Otherwise the semester is just going right along. My goal is to do the explorer PE next clinic. I just feel so intimidated by all this stuff so far like the PE's, the exams, all the requirements. I totally understand why everyone says this is the worst semester!

Like Harrison Ford I'm getting Frantic!

(To quote the Barenaked Ladies)... Anyway, I am good at making bad jokes! So speaking of frantic, today clinic was incredibly stressful for me. What I learned from clinic today is that if you don't start out calm and collected, your day is shot! First of all, I got a little bit of a late start and from then on it was crazy. I was working on a good friend so that helped me to stay a little bit calmer. I think my goal for the remainder of the semester is to be in clinic at least 15-20 min. early to be sure that I will have more than enough time to get set up and collected.

I made it!!

Today was our first day of patient treatment and I made it! I didn't have a nervous breakdown like I anticipated and I got my patient completely done by the end of the day, which he's very happy about! My back is a little sore but I tried really hard to correct my posture everytime I would think about it. Posture really is one of the hardest things to think about when you're probing and scaling. True, it took me almost an hour to scale 4 quads of a class 1B but I did it. So anyway, I am glad we did that today it was definitely a good experience. I feel like I am ready for next semester. Now I just need to find some patients... see ya next semester!

Radiology

I usually don't write about Radiology so I thought I'd just take a moment to say hallelujah- my x-rays are done!! It feels so good to be done not to mention now I don't have to come in next Wednesday. I liked doing the patient treatments a lot because now I am ahead on two patients that I will treat in clinic and it was good experience so I don't forget everything I learned this semester. I really wasn't nervous during my patient treatment but I did make a few mistakes... like forgetting to get the double film packets from Mrs. Campbell and just using our regular films... oops!! Hopefully that won't hurt me too much. Oh well!

Time flies when you're scaling...

How was everyone's holiday? Mine was the perfectly needed break before we finish up this mother of a semester. Wow! I can't believe today was our last day to work on each other before patient treatment next Monday. Unless we end up getting some time on Wednesday but still I can't believe the semester is almost over. It really has flown by. I was thinking today when I was doing the PSR that I really can't believe how much I've learned this semester. I've gone from not being able to probe to being able to do an entire mouth (without recording numbers) in like 25 minutes. Plus I feel like I can look in someone's mouth and actually know what I'm looking at and why it looks the way it does. I feel like even though I've complained a lot about specific clinic days I have really learned everything I need to know to start working on patients and now I just need practice.

What to say...

Today I really don't know what to refelct upon. Clinic felt a little confusing at parts today. At some points I felt maybe a little overdirected. Like when we walked out physically and me and my lab partner weren't sure why we walked out but then we just walked back in...??? Overall, days like these are good because it is just what I need- to go through everything from beginning to end. I am pretty sure that most of my patients are going to be coming back for a third visit because I am slow but I am determined to try and get them done in 2 appts. I am sorry to my loved ones that are going to have to suffer from my inexperience. Okay, well that is enough for today... only 2 more days until Thanksgiving!!

Only one more Monday until Thanksgiving!

I love Thanksgiving dinner and if you can't tell, am very excited for it! As for clinic, we did the air/powder polisher today. It was messy but my teeth felt clean. I can't imagine having to do that on a patient and not making them feel very uncomfortable. I think I prefer the regular selective polishing with a cup and paste as both the hygienist and the patient.

Week Eleven

This week in clinic was pretty good. I liked polishing and fluoride treatments because they are both simple. I need to work on getting the polishing cup right up under the gum line though. I'm glad that on Wednesday we didn't have to fill out our lab partner's charts. Personally, I've had it up to here with writing "HHX: No significant changes since..." It was a nice break to not have to worry about the chart anyway! Well, let's see here, what else to say? Oh yes, I did say to check back with me this week about posterior scaling and sure enough, I am so good at it! JK! ;) Really though, I have gotten A LOT better at it since I blogged last week saying that I had never scaled. Now I think over the last two days in clinic I've pretty much scaled all the surfaces of posterior teeth. One thing I noticed that makes a BIG difference in scaling is the patient position and chair position. If the patient is too high or too low or laid up or back too far it can make getting a good scaling position nearly impossible. So if you can't find a good position for a certain area of the mouth, try moving the patient a little.

Me and Eric 

community health wiki

I don't know how many people will read this but our wiki is officially up and running so feel free to visit it at www.seedwiki.com/wiki/get_chapped. The title is Get CHAPPed (how appro) but it is password protected so unless you can guess what it is, then I guess you'll just have to wait until class tomorrow. I'm really enjoying working with the wikis and I like that everyone in the group can see everyone else's comments, unlike the blog which is more individual. I was thinking that it might be a good idea for community if we posted our weekly comments in a special section on the wiki that everyone would have access to. That way we could respond to one another and read each other's comments all in one location. I think we would format it different than the ethics wiki where all comments were listed on one page which made it kinda confusing. We could seperate the comments by week. Also, if the wiki ever goes public, I believe that we have the capability to hide that page. Its just an idea!

Polish and shine

At first when I started typing this post I was only a little mad but now I am super angry. First of all, this is the third time I have typed this post because I have lost it twice and I have no idea why so if I lose it a fourth time you might just see a post that says "THIS SUCKS!!!" Okay but now for the real stuff... Today was a frustrating day in clinic for the following reasons: 1) We were supposed to learn and practice polishing and by the time I got to polishing I only had maybe 5 minutes. So that was lame. Part of this is because I spent an hour doing HHX, intra/extra exams, dental screening and probing a whole half mouth. I just feel like I need to learn the new stuff more than I need to keep practicing Blood pressure, extra and intra exams and dental screenings. I do need more practice probing but that is just because I am slow, not because I am not comfortable with it. Also, I hope we will get to practice polishing and using our universal curets more because I have never even used a universal curet on a posterior tooth except for the first time we practiced on a typodont. This PE is due next Wednesday so we best get some practice on this before then. 2) I am frustrated that I am in a pod with only one other person so we do not get the same amount of instruction as everyone else. This was especially apparent today. The only time I saw an instructor was when I would call them over to check me off or if I would ask for help specifically. But even then it was like, they'd check me off or answer my question and then go right back to whoever they were helping. Either I am perfect and just don't need help or I am being seriously neglected. I hate to complain and I know it seems like its all I ever do on here... I really do like clinic! I just had a terrible, horrible, no good very bad day today. Plus it seems like everytime I complain about something on my blog, within a week, I feel better about it so just check back next week to hear me talk about how awesome I am at polishing and scaling posterior teeth! :)

Community Health to the rescue

Okay so I hope this post isn't too late because I totally forgot about having to make the post but I believe it is just due before the next class session, right? If anyone knows the answer for sure, help me out! But I just wanted to say that I am totally stoked for this class because we are actually going to make a difference. Or at least put forth a effort! I always feel like I get so passionate about issues like this but when it comes down to it I just don't know where to start. It feels really empowering to know that I do have some control over the situation and I personally can help to make a change.

Moving on...

Today was another day of review but to be honest I didn't feel like a lot of what we did was necessary. I really didn't need practice doing intra/extra oral exams or practice taking BP, Pulse and Respirations. I know I'll be doing this in clinic but how often do hygienists in the real world take your BP? Not often. Plus, when we get our first patient in the chair I'm worried I'll get through the HHX, and then come to probing and I'll only get a quad done in 30 minutes because I just haven't had enough practice. What I wanted to be doing was getting more practice doing dental screenings, probing, and scaling. We really haven't even started scaling. I'm getting a little nervous about how little I feel I know with the semester being more than halfway through.

Paperwork

While I now realize that I hate paperwork and am almost ready to quit because a new patient health history can make you nuts... today was a very good review of these things. We went over all the aspects of paperwork from beginning to ending (or at least as far as OHI). It really solidified and clarified a lot of things that I was really confused on. I feel like I have a much better grasp on health histories & charting now.

Blue gums... and a major vent

Today I learned that disclosant is messy. But a useful tool because I thought my teeth were so clean because I brushed and flossed right before class only to come in and see that I still had tons of plaque and basically all my lower linguals had plaque on them. It was so gross! I can only imagine what it would look like to disclose someone with marginal to bad hygiene... gross! I am going to post a picture of our whole clinic class with disclosant in our mouths.
I hope we work on exploring again before the PE is due because I'm still not real sure of which end to use in different spots and I feel like I need more practice with EVERYTHING.

Okay now I will vent for a minute about how poorly my time & money was used by attending the UDHA conference all day on Friday. If I have one big suggestion for next year's first year students it is please don't force them to attend this conference. I ended up losing over $170 in cost and lost wages plus driving plus time spent and I really didn't benefit that much from being there. First, I've only been in school for 6 weeks and I couldn't relate to anything the speaker was saying. I'm not a "bored" person typically and I can honestly say I can't remember that last time I was that bored in my life. It wasn't the fault of the speaker, she was great. It was just that I could not relate in any way. It was good to see the table clinics and we needed to be there to help sell but the rest of the day was, I feel, a total waste.

Fun with colors!

Today in clinic we went over charting the dentition and any restorations, recession, bridges, etc. I worked with Lindsey and she let me start on her. She had a few (wink, wink) composite fillings but most of them were really good. In fact on her right max. first premolar, the filling was so good, you could only see it when the light was just right so you could see the border. Good work! Then we went to charting, which is basically coloring in teeth with all sorts of fun lines and dots, which is awesome! Lindsey said that I have little holes on the occlusal margins of my molars and that she got them on her teeth from grinding. I think when we do sealants I'll have those sealed. Okay so my problem for the day is... I had horrible posture all day today and I wasn't really comfortable with my positions. Does it matter where we sit when we are examining the teeth?

Another day another probe reading

More probing today. I am getting better at it (at least I think so). I got to probe two different lab partners so it was good to get some practice on someone else and get a different view for part of the day. One important thing I learned today is that the plastic covers for the air/water syringe and the suction ALREADY have holes in them! I have been puncturing my own holes thus far so that was a good thing to learn.