Goodbye

wow... What a great program.
I am SO proud that I was able to get into the WSU DH program.
I sincerely believe that we are the most qualified dental hygienists and that we will be the greatest assets to the dental community. The professors are great and teach us SO much and they are knowledgeable in everything.

I would hope that anyone that can't get in the first year, would continue to work and work to get into this program. DON'T SETTLE FOR LESS.

Last day - sad sad sad

I am mostly working on eb and flow of the dental appointments. When the patient first sits down, vitals are taken and oral screening is done. After that, I find a routine that will be best to get everything done efficiently and quickly.
There are certain things that you want done before the dentist comes in and you definitely want time to look through and make sure that you know if they have cavities so the dentist doesn't go, "did you see this on the distal of 3?"

I want to be a wonderful hygienist and I want the dentist I work for to look at my as a valuable asset that he couldn't do without.

What a crazy day

Today was crazy. I scheduled a family two weeks ago and I went around and asked people to help me see these patients. one was a class 3 and as people met their class 3 requirements, they let me know that they did not want to clean this person...
It was a little bit frustrating because I counted on certain people to clean these patients. I learned that I probably shouldn't employ the help of others - just get it done myself so that I know that they will be taken care of.
I also told myself that in the office, I will NEVER say that I don't want to do something. This can get you in SO much trouble. I don't want to be the person that is titled, "lazy."

Family make the worst patients

My mother came in to see me today. What a brilliant lady.
I found out though, that family make the worst patients!
She was complaining and saying, "AND WE DONE YET?" over and over and over again!
But I still love her.

I think that it was a great test of my ability to work under pressure. She would ask what I was doing all the time and tell me when I hurt her. I just have to be confident in times like these and get the work done.

Class 5

I had a patient come in that I've seen three times now. She's a great lady. So funny and punctual and just reliable!
I didn't need class 5s but I was happy that she came in because I was able to complete 2 PEs on her. It was also nice to have a patient that actually listens to what you tell them and implements it. LAst time I taught her to adapt to her lower linguals and this appointment they looked great!!! It's good to know that we do good in the world.

Boards

Boards went great!
Anyone reading this will probably get upset but I'm just telling how it really went for me.
I picked up my patient that morning and I suggest that those taking the exam in the future should do this because it guarantees that your patient will be there and be there on time.
Her first submission went through, which made me happy and the funny thing is that I didn't check which teeth I added as an extra submission but I started cleaning the wrong tooth at first!!!
Despite this, I think it went really well. When I checked her at the end, everything felt very smooth and I'm pretty sure I did well on probing depths.

SO if I end up failing I'm going to delete this post because I will be so embarrassed. And if I do fail, I deserved it because I really did think that I got off all of the calculus!!!

Screenings are important

Today I told myself that I am ALWAYS going to do oral health screenings.
If something is missed, there will be lots of problems for you as well as your patient.
We've talked a lot lately about legal issues and I don't want to be involved in any legal issue. I will always do what I'm supposed to and DOCUMENT what I did and what was said.