Journal entry #7 and #8
I had the coolest experience at the VA. I was able to clean the teeth of an evacuee from New Orleans. He was the nicest guy and he was so positive about his situation. He told me that he had already found his brothers but that he was still looking for his sister. He also told me that he wanted to get back to New Orleans as soon as possible so he needed to be totally cleaned that day and have an exam by the dentist. I had wanted to do something for the evacuees but I never really knew what to do besides send money so I was grateful that I had the opportunity to do some hands on helping of at least one evacuee. He said that he was really grateful for the "southern hospitality" that utahns welcomed the evacuees with. He was so nice, he even brought our VA group a pot of soup!! It was also a good experience working on a black person. I noticed the different color gingiva.
My second patient was kind of difficult because his teeth were very demineralized or had carious lesions all over them. On his back molar, one whole side had fallen off because he had a huge amalgam filling in the middle. There was a big whole where the root of that tooth had gone but had come out. It was obvious that he had very poor oral hygiene and didn't really care to improve. It is sad because both of the patients here were not eligible for further treatment so even if they wanted to get work done, they would have to pay for it. Our veterans need to be treated much better then they are!
My experience at WSU clinic was pretty boring, both my patient were class fives. One interesting thing was that my second patient had really close teeth even down by the roots they were really squashed together. It was difficult to scale because of the crowding.
Things to remember from WSU clinic:
For the anterior teeth, do the surfaces away in twelve o'clock and the surfaces toward from eight o'clock.
Do one complete stroke from the bottom of the sulcus to the contact area when I scale. Don't do mini strokes all the way up the tooth.
Become more confident in long strokes, have more control over my instrument and my fulcrum. Don't slip!!
My second patient was kind of difficult because his teeth were very demineralized or had carious lesions all over them. On his back molar, one whole side had fallen off because he had a huge amalgam filling in the middle. There was a big whole where the root of that tooth had gone but had come out. It was obvious that he had very poor oral hygiene and didn't really care to improve. It is sad because both of the patients here were not eligible for further treatment so even if they wanted to get work done, they would have to pay for it. Our veterans need to be treated much better then they are!
My experience at WSU clinic was pretty boring, both my patient were class fives. One interesting thing was that my second patient had really close teeth even down by the roots they were really squashed together. It was difficult to scale because of the crowding.
Things to remember from WSU clinic:
For the anterior teeth, do the surfaces away in twelve o'clock and the surfaces toward from eight o'clock.
Do one complete stroke from the bottom of the sulcus to the contact area when I scale. Don't do mini strokes all the way up the tooth.
Become more confident in long strokes, have more control over my instrument and my fulcrum. Don't slip!!
posted by natalie jones at 11:21 AM
1 Comments:
Ha ha, "don't slip". I had a professor once that told me that you were not a dental hygienist until you have slipped at least once in the oral cavity.
I like your comments about the Katrina victim that you treated. I like the VA because every day is such an unusal and different experience.
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