week of Oct. 23-25

Tues. both my patients were Type II, and both had anterior, mand. supra. calculus. I used my universal ultrasonic on both patients with a lot of success, and it was very neat to see how the calculus bridge on the one pt. was destroyed by that instrument! What an excellent technique for pt. and operator!

Thurs. was first pt. day at VA. First pt. was a Type IB who had just had crowns put onto his implants. Seeing the implants on his dig. radiographs was very interesting. Second pt. cancelled at last minute leaving an opening for an elderly pt. to step in. This pt. had recently had implants placed and was looking forward to having more placed in his maxilla. He had traveled from Idaho for another procedure and his DDS suggested he have his teeth cleaned, so my cancellation was his good fortune. I'm looking forward to seeing more pts. at the VA.

Oct. 16-18

In the AM on Tues. we had a lab on medicaments, ultrasonics vs sonics, blood glucose testing, and, everyone's favorite, saliva testing. My group was brave, so we began with the saliva testing. I was the guinea pig, and it was determined that the pH of my saliva was slightly alkaline: Normal. Whew - what a relief!

In the PM, my scheduled pt. had cancelled due to illness, but I was able to call someone on the list. She was an excellent pt., had not had a cleaning in at least 5 years, and turned out to be a Type II with an ant., mand. calculus bridge. I looked forward to using an ultrasonic on that!

Thurs., Oct. 18 was VA orientation day. The VA is a big place with about 1100 employees. Next week we'll see our first pts. here.

Week of Oct. 9-11

Whew! It's after clinic Thurs., and I am tired but feel very positive about my progress. The system here works very well, is so well organized, and is well-taught. If only my former classmates at EPCC could experience this!

Tue., Oct. 2

hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Well, here's Trebuchet font. Above is webdings; it didn't translate. Oh well, I do like this color!
During AM I had a wonderful 79 year old man; when I told him I was going to take his vitals, he asked me to please be sure and give them back! He definitely was a breath of major fresh air. Some drama happened when I got a message that my PM patient had cancelled (for not a good reason as I found out later), but my wonderful fellow students came to my rescue. I was able to fill the PM slot with a 1B, my first, and I actually completed him. Prof. Alexander helped immensely.

Tue., Sept. 25

Hey, time to try something else new: Color! How fun!

Had a new patient this AM. Nice, a bit talkative, but good guy.

This PM I finished my second patient a Class V. He had a lot of supra calculus on his lingual, mandibular anteriors. The ultrasonic is a wonderful instrument!

Tues., Sept. 18

Well time to try a new font. I think I like it.

OK, saw a really nice lady this AM, and then in the PM I completed the lady who was my first patient. Whew! She was stressed at 3PM because she something cooking on the stove and wanted to go home. So, she left shortly after 3PM. I explained the benefits of fluoride, but I guess the pot cooking at home was more important.

Progress, not perfection.

Sept. 11

Second week of clinic. Things are getting better, though I know I have a lot of work to do in order to meet what is going on here at Weber. It's very different from El Paso Community College!