HARD

I had a class 2 patient who seemed to have an opinion about anything and everything.

Not super excited to see him, since it is hard to get him to stop laughing while in the chair.

On the other hand, I am excited to get another class 2 done. :)

It was a great lesson on patients and how they are all different personality types. With all patients, you have to be nice and try to keep your fingers in their mouth so they can't talk very much. :) ha ha

I missed 3 spots but I was able to feel all of them... after someone pointed them out! :) YAY!

My Cute Niece

After finishing up a sealant on my nephew, my niece was able to come see me.

She is 3. I used a scaler on her and it only took me 1 hour to finish her completely.

She was so cute! 

She enjoyed getting her teeth cleaned.

Her father has pretty big hands so it is hard to floss a 3 year olds mouth.

I gave him a Reach floss holder to help him get in there a little better.

I also told him how to get her to hold still while you floss your teeth...

[[you'll have to come see me if you want to know this secret!]]

Overall, a pretty relaxing day. :)

My Best Friend!

He is cute. He is funny. He is smart. He is 6.

He is my

Best Friend.

I wasn't nervous because he is always really nice and listens really well.

I didn't use and scalers on his teeth because he didn't have any calculus on there.

Anyway, when the Instructor came over she asked me about using one, so this made me think about being ready next time.

I finished him on about 2 hours. This I thought was really good.

After him, I was able to take a pano on one of my friends.

There is a lighter spot in the middle of the jaw, this is because of the shield.

I am going to try really hard to find the exact point to put the shield in the perfect place.

Class 2.

Another family member came to help me out and let me clean her teeth. I struggled a little with it because I kept hitting calculus when I was trying to probe. I really wanted to get out the ultrasonic and just blast the few chunks away so I could get accurate readings, but I pushed through and even felt myself starting to pull away and go around them.

It was interesting telling my own family member she is a class 2. I felt bad because it is a very sensitive subject and It is hard to tell someone you love that they aren't taking good enough care of their teeth. She is just fine at brushing, it is flossing that is a problem.

In the end, I finished at OHI. I really wanted to teach her why it was sooo important to floss. Her X-rays were a big help in educating her on the bone levels and how it is important to keep it from getting worse. From what I have learned about Dentures, I would not like to have them ever. I know she wouldn't either. As this disease keeps progressing, it will eventually turn into that. That is why we need to get a hand on it now.

It was interesting to see the bone loss on the x-rays and to diagnose her as a class 2. It was a great lesson on how to be compassionate while teaching the important facts about periodontal health.

Hey Hot Man!

I know what you are thinking! "Who could Leisa have possibly brought that was a Hot Man?"

That's Right! RYAN J. ALSOP! My one and only husband!

He was such a great patient. I took 4 BWX on him and passed off my Anterior Scaling PE.

Instructor Jeff V. taught me to use the nevi. and I LOVE IT!!! It will help me to become faster at what I am doing.

Ryan had a blast with me cleaning his teeth. I didn't get too far because I ran out of time. I will bring him back in March to finish him up.

Ryan is my little Muffin! :)

Sick....

Feb 1st.

Today I woke up and was super sick.
I had my brother coming in to help me.
It was going to be an OD with Quadrant Scale.

I called professor Costley around 7 and tell her I couldn't come.
After that, I called my brother and freed up some time in his schedule. :)

I layed in bed the rest of the day. I was better the next day.

Lame post I know! but that is what happened. :/

ANOTHER CANCEL?!?!?!?

RIGHT?! Can you believe someone would cancel again on me this week?
[[I understand that you have other things to do, but we have been planning on this since December and you knew what you were getting yourself into]]

That being said, I am sooooo happy that my family lives close!

I would be lost without them!

Crazy Crazy Day!

I had my neice Kaitlyn come in and cleaned her teeth.
[[she is 3]] [[and the cutest thing you've ever seen]]

She was soooo good and sat in my chair the whole time!
I didn't know what to expect with a child. It was nice to do everything and then get a Scale Check all at once.
[[No OD Check Necessary!]]
I like children. Kaitlyn was in and out and she even took 2 BWX.
[[I had to re-take one because she moved on me, but she held really still for the second one.]]

After Kaitlyn, I had Ashley come back to finish her up. She only had one quad left
[[I know! She had to come back 3 times!!!! LAAAMMMMEEEE]]

I just wasn't fast enough the first two times. :\

Oh well, this was good to have a busy day.

Long story short, I finished Ashley and Kaitlyn up in one day!
[[however stressful the day was, I was very  happy to have this done]]

I also had my polishing PE done. It's going to be stressful trying to get all these done, you definitely have to plan for it!

Family, Family!

I am soooo lucky to have my family living close by so I can practice on them!

My brother came in and kept joking about how he can bite really hard!
[[ I just reminded him that I will have very sharp objects in my hand and he better be careful]]

I was not expecting to take a full mouth x-ray on him, but it happened. Honest, it did!

He was the perfect canidate for us to take a look-see at his entire mouth
[[which looked good, and I had to tell him that, :\ it just hurt my pride a little]]
ha ha

I had a really hard time actually taking a FMX on an actual person. Dex is all that I knew.
It is a little harder on a person because you are forced to move quickly and find the different angles by yourself. No more lolly gagging around and taking 500 on one Dex anymore. :\

Good News! I only had to retake 2 out of 20 so yay! AAAANNNNDDDDD I got all the way through OHI!!!! WHOO WHOO!!!! it would seem like I'm getting faster. :)

Patient Cancel

My pt cancelled on me today. Lame I know!

This was a very stressful thing to happen.

Good thing I have awesome family who will step up when I need them too! :)

My cousin Adam came back in to let me finish him up.

I honestly had no clue what I was doing.

[[I couldn't remember how to scale!]]

The instructor was very helpful and 're-taught' me how.

I finished Adam just in time for him to leave at 1045.

That wasn't the hard part.

We have to have all our paper work in by 11.

[[Yes, only 15 minutes to write up everything, less if you get your pt out late]]

This may sound like a lot of time, but it really flew by!

I was late with my paper work, but the instructor wasn't too worried about it.

[[after all, we are just learing and getting a hold of how things work]]

Overall, it was a very nice day. A big change from the last week where I felt like I was going to break down in tears at any moment!

Ultra Sonic Scaler

I was suprised at how easy this was to use.

*Continue to use a modified pen grasp and appropriate finger rests.

*Don't forget the light and mirror... yes, you still need to see.

*Suctioning is a must! No drowning patients at WSU on my watch! :)

*Get your water/air pressure right before starting.

[[you want a constant drip]]

*Adapt to the tooth, without puting the tip right on the tooth surface.

[[ putting the tip on the tooth will ruin the enamel, so don't do it.]]

*Always keep the Ultrasonic moving.

[[vertical, horizontal, and oblique as needed]]

*Check your work with an explorer

Well, there you  have it: A few things I have learned about the Ultrasonic. :)

We only worked on our typodonts, so I'm not so sure about how great it will go on an actual patient, I guess only time can tell. :)