Epic Fail...

You know those days when you have taken every step to schedule 4 people for screenings, planned your precious clinic time and knew everything was going to be alright and then BAM! ...... no one shows up..... Alas this has been the third time that my patients have decided to not come in, probably they couldn't understand or the translator didn't stress it enough but wow what an awful streak I have had. I try every time I have a translator by my chair to teach me different phases in different languages, with no success sadly. It's like my mind has closed off and can't incorporate any other words or phrases.

So I guess the only thing I have to report about today was I cleaned my first 1A of the year. She was the cutest little girl and she did such a good job but I thought it was really odd that her mom didn't want to come back with either one of her kids. I spent most of the appointment running back and forth asking her questions and explaining brushing and flossing. Her little girl thought mouth wash was good for some times when they didn't have time to brush their teeth. I explained that they need to be keeping their mouths really clean because her new teeth were coming in and we want to have no complications with her baby teeth and cavities. I definitely told their mom to please bring them into the dentist and stressed that baby teeth are important to keep and need to be watched and checked regularly. Her mom wasn't too concerned but I again stressed seeing their dentist. No scaling advice for her.... my instructor just reminded me to remember that even kids can have calculus.... which she did...

Well another wasted day I think in the future I'm scheduling two people at a time maybe that will work.
Until next time ...

UDHA convention 2011

It was that time of year again where we reunite with hygienists around Utah and go to the notable CE classes and spectacular vendors. Last year I really enjoyed my self, I think the convention really opened my eyes in the fact that dental hygiene is a true profession and it's not all just about people who are insane when it comes to cleaning their teeth but a career that has so many benefits and futures. Well with this expectation in my heart I went and attended this years convention held at the Little America hotel in SLC. To my surprise the convention as not at all up to my expectations. Wow not to mention names but the speakers in the morning of Friday were horrific not only were they very badly mannered or lacking in personal skills but they had no evidence based, clinically wrong, and opinionated information. I felt that I was being told that all evidence is wrong and the fast way is the right way. Ultrasonics were to be used on all patients including children and that hand scaling was a thing of the past. That if you are wasting a patients time doing a complete hand scale you are doing a disservice.   As I watched and listened I found that not all information is fact nor that every clinician who graduates from dental hygiene is perfect. It hit me that once you are in practice the patient is at your hands and knowledge and it is your duty to give the best care possible. Because the patient doesn't know the difference unless we teach and train them.

After the main meeting, I attended that student forum that was beneficial for the first twenty minutes but then went over how to be professional in the office. Well as you know Weber State has ground that into our heads and reminds us daily to be awesome clinicians so I didn't get too much out of that. The first day really had me let down I was even starting to doubt what the UDHA goals and plans for the future were. I seems that they don't even seem to care that more DH schools are flooding Utah. I'm all for being a member to help renew my license and attending regular CE credits but I wonder if things are taking a turn for the worst.

I had the pleasure of attending on Saturday morning to help with our SADHA table and happened to stay for the main speaker Betsy Reynolds and her lecture titled "Diet Wars." Wow what a speaker! She was phenomenal! The way she backed up all her topics with research and the way she related to the crowd was extreme entertaining. All the things she covered were great... from obesity in the office to how the patient can control disease with diet it was absolutely fabulous!  Her lecture also totally turned my hole perspective around about how there truly are good people and great clinicians out there. I hope that everything all works out for the best and that UDHA gets motivated to stop endorsing things that could be very critical to our careers.

Well I've blabbed enough about this so I'm signing out, VA tomorrow and the first time in the 5 weeks I've been in the program I'm actually excited for patients to come in.

Today was a good day.. who would have thought?

Well today has been better then all my other Thursdays! It has been the first clinic day out of three where no one has cancelled, no showed, or been late! Yahoo! and I even had a translator for the morning! All I can say was it was a worth while break. Yeah he may have been a class III and that was kinda hard but other than that today was perfect! Some times I wish I didn't stress so much about clinic, it really makes me crazy. So after my morning appointment I had a relaxing 1B patient who has been a good friend for a long time. It was nice to talk to my patient and be able to relate. I finished really early and so I decided to work up front and help out around the clinic well turns out there was a patient needing a cleaning for quite some time and had been calling the clinic for ever! So lucky me another patient to screen! So keep your fingers crossed for me I hope I find a Mockboard patient! WAHOO!

Oh wow! Sept 15th w

Gees I can't express my exasperation more than all my patients are fired! I swear if one more patient no shows or cancels I'm going to have a heart attack!..... OK maybe that's a little drastic but I'm serious I've had the worst luck this semester. I have found some good patients but I'm really mad when I have a schedule and it gets messed up. Anyways something on a lighter note we gave our first injections in on LA Lab! It was so much fun!   I was so excited ! I thought it was going to be really scary but I loved every minute of it. who would have thought I'd like to give injections. Well I'm done for today so until next time .. :) Later

CA then TA ha ha ha

Today was my first CA day of the new school year! It was alright I guess I think I ended up stressing for everyone who's patient cancelled on them at the last second. Which then caused me to be worried about my patients and if they both would show up to my appointment. It's so stressful sometimes to realize you can prepare as much as possible and still loose points because someone just decided to not come in. I hope this school year goes as smoothly as possible I need to schedule extra screenings when I have 1B's scheduled.

As for CA today it went well, I was happy to not be focused on patients for one second and help others. I think I did a good job today and it's one PE closer to being done so I'm all for it. FYI My Neck was still hurting all day right down to tonight went we were getting our new dishwasher. I'm hoping icing and resting it will help me make it better before my Clinic day this week! Yikes!..... Well more later, for now I'm crashin :)

Gotta Love the Clinic...

So my first week in clinic went fairly smooth.... wow I feel great! I can't believe how much more confident I am at scaling and treatment planning patients! I guess the work really paid off in first year. I was so happy to show off my X ray skills to the first years too! At first I as timid to show them how to take them but after I had taken a few I realized I have a lot to offer and I'm happy I can help.

On a different note I just got back from my long Labor day weekend and man does my neck HURT! In proceeding to tell what happened I was on a family outing in Provo. While there we stopped by this place that was similar to the junction in Ogden. It had arcade games, rides and other things to do. I willing participated in this interesting 20ft tightrope walking and laser darting but then there was the flow rider. The Flow rider is simulated surfing indoors and is something I had never tried before, and will most likely never try again. Ha Ha while I was learning how to surf and falling 10,000 times I finally did it! I mastered the Wave. Well come to find out an hour or two later I realized the mastering came with major aches and pains.Yikes it just makes you feel terrible and miserable when your neck is strained. It was killing me last night and this morning so I hope it feels better today and soon because when I get neck injuries it feels like it will never leave. So as for my relaxing weekend? yeah it didn't happen lol.

Later :)