Last day at the VA

Today was my last day at the VA hospital, hallelujah!! I really didn't mind the VA itself, but I hate the commute. Getting my butt out of bed to drive to SLC was torture. I am so glad that I don't have to do that anymore. I saw three patients today, all of them were pretty easy. My last patient was super nice, what a way to end my experience at the VA. My very first patient that I ever saw at the VA was HORRIBLE. He was so mean. My last patient was the complete opposite, what a nice guy. He is taking his dog to get it's teeth cleaned tomorrow, I thought that was cute. I will miss the VA for some reasons. I like having my patients scheduled for me, but that will happen when I work in an office. I will miss the VA staff. Connie and Katie are amazing, I have learned a lot from them. I hope that when I find a job I will love the staff that I work with. Although I am sad to leave my VA friends, I am psyched that I am DONE!!!

I PASSED!!

I found out today that I passed the clinical board!! HOORAY!! I almost had a heart attack though, the results said that I failed, but it is because they have not posted the process of care exam results yet, geez. That stupid test is ruining my life! Hahaha. I just don't understand why it is taking so long to receive the results for that exam, so dumb. All I have left to do is write my TA paper, pass of one more PE, take Alexander's test and meet with her for my end of semester meeting. I hope that I have not overlooked some silly requirement that interferes with graduation. Here's hoping. Wish me luck, I am so close to the end!

Busy day..

I saw five patients today. Three kids and two screenings. I was trying to find Julie a board patient, but I failed. I did find her three quads of a III though. Kids definitely wear me out.  The first girl I saw was a challenge. She did not want her teeth cleaned and would not open her mouth. I did end up getting her to open and was able to clean her teeth, so it ended well. I also saw my two year old niece, that was fun. She bit me a couple of times though, haha.  She cracks me up. I also saw my friend Madi's little boy. He was amazing. He did so well throughout the cleaning. I wish all kids that came in were like him! It would make my life a lot easier. Kids are so difficult sometimes. I am glad I got that requirement over with. Now, all I have to do is finish my PE's and assignments for class and I am DONE!!

Crazy patient

I decided to help out a first year student and take her crazy patient off her hands. He was super hard to work on and was only classified as a 1B/II. She was taking a whole appointment for each quad, he was tough. In first year, every clinic session is precious. I did not want her to sacrifice any more clinic session to finish this guy. He tried to cancel on me last minute, but I told him that no one else had time to see him for the rest of the semester if he did not come to his appointment today. So, he came, but was 30 minutes late. This guy has some issues. He acts half his age and loves attention. He keeps his bitten off fingernails between his front two teeth, gross. I am super glad that he came in and got his cleaning finished, he really needed it. I really tried to stress home care to him. He is not a big fan of brushing his teeth. I feel like the appointment went really well. I think he felt pretty comfortable with me. I hope that I made a difference in his knowledge about taking care of his teeth and mouth.

BOARDS ARE OVER!!!

CLINICAL BOARD ARE OVER!!!! What a huge relief! I passed my local anesthesia exam! Woot woot!! I also found out the other on Monday that I passed my National board exam! What a confidence boost right before clinicals! Everything that could have possibly went wrong, went wrong. I dropped the needle cap on the floor, I knocked the other one over, the examiner bumped me, they made me aspirate a bunch of times, I stabbed myself in the finger, and I had to redo the PSA on the dreaded left side.... I ended up using four syringes!! I thought for sure that I had failed. When I opened my result envelope and saw that blessed purple paper, it was the best feeling ever!! The clinical board went pretty well too. My patient was on time and my first submission qualified. I was crunched for time, I have no idea where that two hours went, but it flew by! I checked my patient out with one minute to spare. I messed up on probe depths, but caught it last minute. I really hope I fixed my errors. My patient's calculus was TOUGH!! It would NOT COME OFF. I have a callus on my thumb from instrumenting. He was a trooper though! I was able to give him injections all by myself. I felt like I was being naughty and giving him the shots behind my instructors back! Once I got over that, it was really cool. I can't wait until I can do that all the time.  Too bad we have to wait a month for our results! I am going to go crazy! My patient is going to the clinic tomorrow to have more of his teeth cleaned by a first year student and Jenn is going to check the quad that I cleaned. I am nervous, but hopefully it goes well!

Easy day

I saw two very easy patients today. My brother-in-law came in hoping to qualify for boards (which would have been awesome for me!) but he was a 1B. Oh well, it was nice of him to try. It was kind of nice to have a relaxing day today, but boards are next week!! I feel like I should have had a harder patient so that I can practice for boards. Oh well, if I am not ready now, I never will be. I just hope it goes well for everyone. I am not really nervous yet, but I might get nervous when it comes to the exam day!! Wish me luck!

End of Sealant Clinics

Our last sealant clinic was today. It went by really fast. The sealant clinics have been really fun and the kids are all so much fun, but I am kind of glad that they are over and I will have Fridays off from now on.  I need an extra day off, these long weeks are killing me. School is almost over, I can't believe how fast it has gone by. I am excited and sad at the same time. I am not sad about not coming to school or having homework, but missing all of the wonderful girls I have become so close with. What am I going to do without them??

Process of Care

Today, I took the process of care exam. What a fun thing to do on a Saturday! Haha.  I feel like it went OK. It seems very redundant. The second half of the National Exam is very similar. Like all of the board exams that I have taken, I don't feel super confident about it, but oh well. We don't find out how we did until we get our clinical board exam results, so about two more months! Our clinical boards are in less than a month, I can't believe it. I am so glad to be done with all of my written exams though, it is such a relief. I just hope that I passed them all!!

The final Mockboard!!

Hooray! Today was our final mockboard! It went really well. I am so glad that it is over. I hope that my real board goes just as well. I found a board patient yesterday, which is a huge relief!! Everything is starting to fall into place. I need to take the process of care exam, and I will start to feel like a normal human being again. I haven't even started on my projects for school due to boards. So, after Saturday I need to get my butt in gear and work on all my papers that need to be written. I can't believe that school is almost over. It is kind of bitter sweet. I am so excited to be able to work, but I will miss my classmates so much. I really hope we stay in touch after we graduate!

National Board Dental Hygiene Exam

I took the NBDHE today. What a long test! I took about 4 hours, but they allow you to take up to 7.5 hours. I feel alright about the test, but you never know. I really hope that I passed. The second part was really frustrating because the x-rays were HORRIBLE! They were so hard to read. I guessed on a lot of them, because I really couldn't tell from the quality of the film on the computer screen. I hope that they get it fixed for future tests. I am so incredibly relieved that it is over though. The only written test I have left is Process of Care, and then I am done with written exams (as long as I passed them). I have mockboards on Thursday, luckily I found a patient at the last screening who seems reliable. Now, to find a Board patient!!!

LA Mockboards

Today we had our local anesthesia mockboards. I was the last person to go, which was a bummer. I wish that it would have been first thing and I could have just got it over with. My patient was my peer pal, Karlie, and she was awesome! I was so worried that I was going to make some dumb mistake and fail, but I ended up passing both injections HOORAY!!! I did make a few mistakes, but it was a really good learning experience. I hope that boards go as well!!

LA written board

Today I took my LA written board exam. Man was it tough!! It was nothing like I had expected it to be. The questions were so weird. I don't feel confident about it at all. I feel like it could easily go either way. I could have failed and I could have passed. It is so frustrating not to know my score right now. I hate that we have to wait for 15-30 days. It is so nerve racking. I would rather know right now what my score is, so that I can either keep studying or move on. For now, I am going to move on. I need to start studying for the National exam. Wish me luck!!

Farewell

Today we had a farewell lunch for Dr. Hanson. I cannot believe that she is leaving us! It doesn't seem real. I will miss her. I wish that I had more time to work with her in clinic. She always has the best advice. She is an amazing clinician and has lots of tricks and helpful hints to share. She will truly be missed by our class. The lunch turned out great though. Our class presented her with an engraved clock for her desk and a dental hygiene scrapbook. I hope that she likes them! I am so glad that I got the opportunity to get to know her and to work with her.

Mockboards!

MY MOCKBOARD PATIENT CANCELED ON ME LAST NIGHT!!!! I felt like the worst had happened!! My heart sank when I heard the news. I was devastated. I have only cried once in the program, until last night... Luckily, I have AMAZING classmates. When I posted the news on facebook and sent out texts to all my classmates about the horrible news and asking for help, so many people replied. It is so amazing to have so many wonderful people on your side. I love all the girls in my class. LUCKILY, Jodie's patient that she saw on Tuesday came in for me today and AMAZINGLY enough, the quad I picked qualified!! HOORAY for Jodie!! She rocks so much! Today ended pretty well. I passed my mockboard and survived the day. Now, on to tomorrow.

Having a hard time...

Today I had a class three patient. He was a really sweet guy. He rode the bus all the way from Salt Lake to come to the clinic. I scaled the lower right quad and gave him 2 injections. I had a difficult time cleaning this quad. Finally, I went over to instructor Wold and asked her, "at what point do I just give up?"  I did not feel confident about this quad at all. It still felt rough to me, but no matter what I did, I wasn't making a difference. Dr. Hanson came over to do my scale check, and while she was checking she said, "you're having a rough time aren't you?" My heart sank. I thought she was going to ask me if I had even scaled anything. I looked at her and sunk my head down and replied, "yes! I really am." She looked at me, with a confused face and said, "I wasn't talking to you, I was talking to the patient." Then she started to laugh. She told me that I did really well, I didn't miss any spots at all. The patient on the other hand, was having a hard time keeping his mouth open and probably would have benefited from a bite block. WHAT A RELIEF!! I am glad I did well, but I need to work on my confidence level obviously. We joked about that for the rest of the day!

First year clinic

First year clinic is so fun! I love seeing the Juniors make so much progress. It has been a really cool experience seeing how far they have come from the first day! I remember being in their shoes. OD appointments were so crappy, but then the scaling appointments were so fun! I remember how happy I was to finish a 1B in one appointment, what an accomplishment!! They all want to be at that point already, but it will come. It is so hard when you want to be advanced already, but it takes time. All of the Juniors are so nice! They have such a great class. I love working with them.

Sealant Clinics

We had our first sealant screening today at James Madison Elementary School. We go to the school and screen first and second graders to see if they need sealants or dental work. It was a lot of fun!! The kids are hilarious. It was so fun to ask them about Christmas and see what their favorite gift was. The screening went by so fast though! It felt like we barely started and then we were done. I am excited to see the kids again up at Weber State to place sealants.

Back in Action!

It's the first day back to school and I had a class III first thing! She is the sweetest lady. I gave her two injections, and they went pretty well! Maybe I can do this whole anesthesia thing! I did my ultrasonic PE today, (look at me go, it's the first day back and I did a PE! Last semester I waited until the last three weeks to pass any off, NOT a good idea!!). In the afternoon, I saw a 1b and got a PANO. Overall, it was a very productive first day back.