Wishes do come true...

Today I stopped by Albertson's pharmacy to see how everyone was doing. Jeff told me the best news ever! He said he was watching the top 40 videos of 2007 and Matchbox Twenty was on. I was not surprised:) Anyway, Rob Thomas was talking about the video for 'How Far We've Come'. In the video there are clips of Obama and Hillary Clinton. At first I was heart broken because I am not a fan of Hillary. I don't mind Obama. I think he is a good man. Hillary on the other hand is not on my top 1 billion. I don't want to get into it here so let's just say that I was a little sad when Hillary was on MB20 video. But since I live in my little world I chose to believe that Rob was trying to show the world that we have come so far because we have a black man and a woman running for presidential candidacy. So now my heart is happy and my love of Rob can continue. It has been a long time joke at the pharmacy that Rob is my husband. I only have to overcome 2 obstacles. 1. He needs to get divorced. 2. He needs to meet me. Once those two things are done he will be mine. I know this is a unattainable goal, but it is sure fun to dream!

Ok so the news Jeff gave me....He said that Rob said that the music video is not about politics. It is not about Democrat or Republican or Catholic or Mormon. Then Rob continued to say that religion would should not have anything to do with who becomes president and that we would all have to wait until we die to find out who is right, but for him his money was on the Mormons! How funny is that? I just love Rob more! He is the best! Jeff was so thoughtful to think of me! Now this goal can be maintained....to bad Rob's wife is wonderful:(

Closer....

My tree is up, my decorations are out, the lights are on, the cocoa is made, the marshmallows are melting, Christmas cards have been mailed. I am starting to feel better but it is so forced. I am thankful for all of the advice! You guys are the best! After that post I watched the Polar Express on TV with Kaden (2 yr old boy who I babysit) at the same time Monica did. How coincidental is that? I do like that movie and it was wonderful to watch it with a child who is new to this Christmas thing. I think that explaining to him who Santa was and what a jingle bell is helped me more than anything else I had tried this year to get into the spirit. I am still striving to be more giving and charitable and I know it will come I just have to work at it this year. I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas season!

Sad Days

Today southern Utah is supposed to get snow. It is not 5:12 pm and all we have had is rain. I am not sure when the snow is coming but I was actually looking forward to it. It makes me feel more Christmasee when there is snow falling. I am struggling feeling the spirit this year. I don't know why. I thought a little snow and drive through the neighborhood to see the lights would put me in the mood but alas there is no snow. I hate feeling like a Scrooge! But today I feel like why do we need presents? I have enough crap sitting around my house and I truly do not need more. I don't want any gifts but I know I will receive some and therefore need to get some for them. What am I going to do? I have listened to Christmas music and it has not helped-it fact it is doing the opposite...making me hate the season. To top it off I get to speak in my church in 2 weeks about neighborly love. This is impossible to feel neighborly love when I have such a closed hard heart. I really need to find the true meaning of Christmas fast so that I can enjoy my holiday season-not to mention the people around me- Sad days.....

T-day wishes!

Well, I hope everyone's Tday was spectacular. Mine was pretty good. I have to admit. I was surprised that I survived the whole experience.

So work has been amazing. Yesterday I saw a patient who was last seen 12 months ago. She had pretty significant interproximal calc on her lower anteriors. She also had been to the periodontist and had a gingival graft on 23-26 on Halloween Oct 31. The tissues looked alright. They were a bit errythemic and bled easily. I did not dare probe. I did not dare scale to aggressively. Am I wrong? I am kind of surprised the periodontist did not scale up the teeth really quick before doing the graft. Anyway since that was my first recent graft I kind of made up what I was supposed to do. Does anyone know for sure?

Better than Halloween!

The Utah Dental Hygienist Association annual convention was this past weekend. It was the best one I have been to yet! I LOVED it! The vendors were generous, the speakers were informative and a pleasure to listen to, the lunch was alright, the company was SUPERB! It was great to see everyone! From catching up on the latest from WSU to seeing Megan Howell and her super tiny pregnant belly--I realized I am fatter than a 8 month prego lady. But never fear my self esteem is still intact. In out registration goodie bag we got shower water piks. I have not hooked mine up yet but I thought it was pretty cool. I also scored several syringes of bleach and fluoride as well at the usual prophy paste, toothbrushes, floss, and toothpaste. It was wonderful!

So to the best part ever....the 3 hour lecture on how the tooth tells the truth. It was given by a cosmetic dentist out of Sandy (Dr Faddis) He is a forensic odontologist. His lecture contained pictures gorier than any Halloween movie. There were pics of plane crashes where body pieces are scattered everywhere (like ears, faces etc) There were drownings, burnings, bodies cut up by boat propellers, shootings, car accidents and every other grotesque way to die. It was amazing! I admit it was disturbing. I definitely did not fall asleep during this lecture and was a little sad when it ended. I could have listened to him for another hour. Anyway it was such a great lecture and am so glad I was able to attend. GO DENTAL HYGIENE!

Utah Dental Hygienist Association....

Another week has flown by. I am impressed by how smoothly it went. I have been very busy and was worried that I would not get everything done. I admit my dishes have piled up and that my laundry basket is overflowing but all in all I got all major commitments completed.

I am looking forward to this weekend which is UDHA. I like going to this convention. I like the speakers and camaraderie with other RDH. I like to remember why I am a member of ADHA and that membership dues are very important. Going to these meetings recharges me. I love learning and being reminded of things that are important to my profession. I love seeing all the professional people who care for their patients and work hard to give them the care they need. I also like going to SLC and eating at all the places Cedar does not have. I am really excited to go to the convention! See you there:)

How mean am I?

Time sure does fly when you are not paying attention! I cannot believe it has been so long since I last wrote. I really am surprised about my lack of posting! I mean this is my 'out'. This is where I come to dump all my emotion and frustration and triumphs! The only thing I can think of is that life has been life.

So down to business. This past weekend I went to Delta to help my parents move to another house in Delta. It was hard! My parents have lived in that house for 25 years and have accumulated a lot of stuff. It was funny to see what they held onto and what they let go. My mom was cleaning out our food storage room and found a apple box full of bread bags. Yup that is right bags bread comes in from the store! I just throw mine away but not my cute mom! She saved them! We convinced her to throw them out as well as the cottage cheese containers. Our winning moment was when we told her she would buy more bread and cottage cheese and could start her collection all over again! Really my mom is the cutest! My dad is just as bad. There were little boxes of .22 shells and washers and bolts etc that probably cost 78 cents all together and we just threw it out. Man it was like we (my brother Brent and I) had thrown away $100 worth of stuff. On our way to the dump Brent and I were laughing about how each generation looks at money differently. So bless the baby boomers who were raised by parents who had lived through the depression and saved every scrap of everything!!!

Now saving stuff is not all bad. I think I am very wasteful. I could definitely learn from the waste not want not theory! Reusing things is wonderful and very productive but I think there is a line that each of us need to draw for ourselves. Personally my line is drawn at bread bags and twisty ties....where is yours?

So needless to say I was a grade A witch! I snipped at everyone and hurt every ones feelings! I am cruel and at the time I was too mad to realize how irrational I was being. Moving sucks and I do not have to take it out on my family! To them I apologize and beg their forgiveness! I am so sorry I was mean and snotty and snippy! I am sorry I was not patient and understanding. I am sorry! I love you all very much and cannot wait to see you next weekend for round 2!

Life

Is Better!

Life

is Hard!

Diagnodent quandries

Ok so my office has a Diagnodent. It is a great tool! I really like using it and think it helps the dr out while deciding between incipent and full blown decay. I do have a few questions/problems.

1. How important is it to calibrate with each patient? The instructions say to 'set' it to the patients specific enamel by placing it on 8 or 9 and then proceeding. One of my Drs does not do this. He just picks it up and uses it. I may have used it 10 min earlier or another RDH used it or an assistant grabbed it to use on a restorative patient so there is no telling who used it last. This brings up another question...once the machine has 'timed-out' and turned off does it remember the last calibration or do you have to reset it each time you turn it on?

2. How accurate it is through sealants? Again same dr has told me twice now that I need to be going over sealants because there could be recurrent decay under them. True. But I was under the impression that the Diagnodent read false highs when in contact with plaque, calculus, debris, restorative materials-including sealants. So here are all my patients having high diagnodent readings under sealants and I am afraid there is nothing there. Since I am not on the restorative side I am unsure if these teeth are truly decay free or not.

One of my drs has me write down the readings on each tooth after I have completed the cleaning and then he does not do it again he trusts my readings and then uses the xrays and explorer to decide what to do. I think he is the example for the office---I just wish he would tell his brother (who has me write the numbers down and then he gets the diagnodent out and does it again-I am standing there wondering why I took the time to do it in the first place).

I have read the instruction book and in my little world the Diagnodent is to be used along with xrays and other diagnostic instruments. Sealants give a false high reading and each time it is to be used it needs to be set to the patients specific enamel. I do not know how to tell the dr he is doing it wrong. I dont know how to bring up the fact it cannot go through sealant--maybe it can let me know...I just feel bad because the patient can hear the siren and know they have a cavity but I want it to be a true cavity. Maybe my concerns are not a big deal...like polishing-it does remove enamel but not enough to freak out about (according to me and my own research-not ADHA). Let me know what y'all think.

Still alive...

Thanks everyone for calming my fears of being infected! I really feel fine and still LOVE being a dental hygienist! I am still thinking about pharmacy school but the thought of FIVE years of school just makes me vomit. I do not know what I am going to do, hopefully I will figure it out one day.

My life has meaning again:) Rob Thomas and most of his old gang got back together and made a greatest hits CD to be released on October 2. I am already counting down the precious minutes before I get my hands on that lovely piece of ecstasy! It will be glorious! Almost as good as keeping the shaded safety goggles off my Hispanic patient with the best green/light brown eyes I have ever seen so I could stare at his eyes for an hour! I know y'all are thinking Damn, she needs a man-and you would be RIGHT! But alas, I do not have the joy of having one so I am forced to seek other venues such as music and eyes! Well I am off to learn about the exciting world of Invisilign-at least I get free dinner.

Stay tuned for some diagnodent quandaries......

1 Year 1 Month 23 Days Later

Ok so it has happened. I have been working as a dental hygienist for 1 year 1 month and 23 days and I have just received my first needle stick. I am so bugged!!!! It was a busy Monday. All 13 opertories are full and we are short an assistant so.....I am waiting for an exam and I cannot start my next patient because there are no ops available. So I decide to go in the back and start cleaning instruments. There was a mountain of trays. I started on top and worked my way down. On the bottom tray there was an uncapped needle and I did not see it and punctured my finger. I was MAD!!!! I ripped off my glove and looked at my finger. There was no blood so I milked my finger for 5 minutes and could not get the pink dot to bleed so I guessed I was alright. One of my Drs was standing there watching me trying to make my finger bleed so I explained the situation and he said the assistants should not have brought the tray back without capping the needle and one assistant said the Drs should not leave the needles uncapped! So we found out whose tray it was and which Dr was responsible and which patient I needed to go check out the health history. To make the drama short....my Dr was sorry and apologized to me and the patient was 17 yr old healthy one. So I hope it is alright. I feel ok about it. Should I be worried? Should I get my blood tested? Should I loose sleep? Should I become a pharmacist? These are all my questions.....1 year 1 month and 23 days later:)

No Adventure...Just Life

Well it has been a relatively calm week. I have worked like 1 minute. For some reason now that school is in parents are not coming in for prophys. I have worked 10 hours this week already and it is Wed...How lame huh? Well I should be grateful for this respite but I know my paycheck will suffer!

So unlike Kami I have been on the contact lens hunt,while she has been on the eyeglasses hunt. I want colored contacts that I can sleep in. They are available...the Internet does not lie. But I have been to two offices in Cedar and they do not carry them-and the contact lens website specifically told me that they were providers of the lens. My next option is to go to the Walmart vision center and just in case you missed this vital piece of info about me....I HATE Walmart. I will pay more money, I will drive farther away, I will pretty much do anything than support Walmart. So that is just not an option for me. How do I get these lenses....1-800-CONTACTS is a great option but I just do not know what colors I want. I don't want to look like freaky green eyed girl so I would like to try a sample lens. Is this so hard to ask for? I mean really.....Why am I getting so frustrated and irritated over a contact lens? I just need to get Lasix! Where is Melissa W when I need her....Oh that's right living life in O-town--I think.

Well Candice and I went to Lend Me a Tenor:The Musical and enjoyed it very much!! I have such admiration for actors who do 2 plays a season. They learn the lines in just a few weeks and remember which play they are in. I would get mixed up all over the place. Anyway they are amazing and talented!!!

I hope everyone is enjoying the last few days of summer!!!!

Where to begin....

I know I have been gone forever! I am not sure why I have stayed away so long. I could be due to the lack of cool things I have been doing or lack of time to spend at the computer or I am just lazy. My vote is for the later.

I hate to admit it but I have not placed blogging in my schedule. I am a lazy slacker:) All joking aside, I have been procrastinating writing because I just don't know where to begin. July was a great month. One of my Drs worked 5 days in July so I got a lot of time off. It was nice. I really liked having the break. It has made me love hygiene with a deeper fervor. I have had interesting patients with super fun walls of calculus! I love it when the ultrasonic tip hits it just right and you get the whole shelf to come off in one piece and you pull it out and show it to your patient....it grosses them out but a great teaching moment! Now I am wondering-how gross am I? Well besides work going well I have had some fun on my days off as well.

Candice Norris and I went to dinner and a movie the other day and it was great to sit and have 'nerd talk'! This dinner prepped me for getting together with my girls from hygiene school....Korbin, Natalie, Melissa-yes she was up from AZ, Heidi and Maria! We had promised to get together once a year and catch up. It was so nice to get together and hear about everyone's crazy drs and interesting patients and ethical dilemmas and how they set up their treatment plans for perio. I learned so much from these girls in school and the learning is still happening. I am so grateful for the weekend of nerd talk!!! Thanks ladies!

My friend Andrea and I went to Twelfth Night at the Utah Shakespearean Festival. It was amazing! I loved it! Once again I am in love with Cedar City in the summer. Tomorrow Candice and I are going to Lend Me a Tenor: A Musical. We both have heard so many good things about it and I am excited to go!!

Well I know y'all are leading such productive--Bre is on a crafting mania, and busy lives--Crystal can barely keep her feet on the ground:), and here I am just being lazy....as a new friend of mine put it....'I want to live the life of a cat'!

Cementum or Calculus

Today was Janette's first day as a dental hygienist. Who is Janette you ask your computer screen....well she is the newest member of the Cedar Dental Center's team. She graduated from Dixie State College in May and has successfully procured a job at my office about 1 day before I knew Candice was moving down (but do not worry about Candice-she beat out 4 DSC girls for a job at a really good office here in Cedar! Way to go girl!). Back to Janette; since today was her first day it reminded me of July 6, 2006 which was my first day. It has been a great year. I cannot believe how fast it has gone. I have had so much fun at work that it does not seem like I have spent any time there at all. I have had backaches, finger cramps, wrist throbs, neck tweaks, shoulder twinges and my share of bad breath....from my patients not me.... but it has been a great 365 days.

Even though I have graduated and passed all the board exams I learned more this year that I ever thought possible. Luckily I have had some great mentors and friends who have helped give me advice through this blog and over the phone. Thank you to all you ladies who have helped me. So here is yet another question I have been trying to deal with. I had a patient who had 11 mm of recession on the palatal of 15. Pretty much that whole palatal root was exposed. The pocketing was 9mm on distal and mesial with 4mm on straight palate. There was not any mobility-HUGE roots. Anyway the root surface was covered in this soft substance. It did not look like calculus or feel like calc but I did my best to remove it anyway. I fear that I was removing cementum. This brings up the quandary of when are we removing cementum-which the PDL needs to reattach to the tooth- and when are we removing calc? I know we have all seen the aggressively scaled root surfaces and know that we can and do cause damage. So when do you leave that roughness on a root surface and when do you scrape that root smooth? In school I was taught to remove EVERYTHING, to get the roughness off and to have perfectly smooth teeth before getting a scale check but in perio class we were taught that Scaling and Root Planning was a procedure that could be too aggressive and going out of popularity.

Today I clean teeth to the best of my ability--which is SO much better that when I was in school! I try to get every deposit off of each tooth and I try not to be too aggressive on those fragile root surfaces. I hope I am doing an ethical and professional job.

A Month Later

You know nothing takes makes you appreciate the goodness of life like a vacation. I just got back from 5 days in Savannah Georgia and 2 days in Las Vegas and Mesquite. So now here I am in the cold Cedar City summer....95 degrees. And thinking to myself how I used to think it was hot here....


Ok so here is a little bit about Savannah. First it is full of trees. Kylie (my brother Dave's girlfriend) asked me it I was afraid to trees because I kept talking about them. I laughed and said if you had been to Utah you would understand....there are no trees. Anyway the trees all have this spanish moss growing on them and it is spokily beautiful!
We took a tour of the Sorrell mansion that was in Ghost Hunters tv show on the Discovery channel. It was cool to see the old house and hear about all the spooky things that happen there. Savannah is the most haunted city in America and there was always someone ready to tell you about their sighting of little girl ghosts etc. We even did a haunted Savannah tour! The drivers laugh was annoying but it was really pretty interesting hearing about murders and suicides and mayhem!!!





This is the Savannah River. Yup I said RIVER! The cargo ships come right from the ocean and ferry up the river. It is not a very wide river but it is pretty deep!

Since Savannah is so close to the ocean and shrimp boats they have the most amazing seafood. I ate so much shrimp, flounder, crab, etc while I was there I swear my pores smell like seafood...just kidding. I did eat a lot of seafood though!

This pic is of Dave looking off into the distance as all Jones' do. Kylie saw my blog and laughed and asked about the Jones pose. She did not know what it was so when Dave struck the pose in his army pics she wondered what he was smoking in Iraq. Now all his army buds do it and the wife/girlfriends laugh because now they know where it came from. So in the background is a bridge over the Savannah River.

This pic is more straight on of Kylie, Dave and Karla. Karla is Dave's other mom. She is affectionately called our 'dirty mom' because she is as sweet as our mom but dirty:) All kidding aside...she is a wonderful person who I have grown to love and respect! She lives in Panguitch and met Dave when he was working at Panguitch Lake.

This pic is of Fort Pulaski. It is the east wall-toward the ocean. It was build to help defend America during the Revolutionary war. The holes are actual cannon ball holes. This fort oozed history. It was humbling to stand on the same ground and touch the same bricks that men of honor did so many years ago. I am so thankful to them for fighting for our independence! I took so many more pics of this great fort but will spare you the boring history lesson! I just thought this east wall--surrounded by a real moat--was blog worthy.

This is the flag from one of the stairwells at Fort Pulaski. It was very emotional for me....sniff sniff. God Bless America!!!!! God bless the soldiers who are fighting for freedoms all over this world!

This next one is of Dave. How cute is my brother in his full gear? Man we are lucky to have him and his friends serving for us! LOVE YOU DAVE!!!

Teton Extravaganza

The Tetons rocked! I had so much fun! This is me and my sister Jo Ann. We are riding the ferry across Jenny Lake. My brother Brent's friend works at the dock at Jenny Lake and he gave us the hook up-free boat ride!!! If it looks cold that is because it was!

Then my brother Daniel wanted to pick up Jo Ann like the Jeep commercials! We were right on but when I took the pic a huge gust of wind came and the alignment was off.

This one is of my brother Brent. He is such a character! We were hiking to Hidden Falls near Jenny Lake and saw the boulder and had to take the opportunity for a great photo op!

Now this picture is a typical Jones look-into-the-distance pose. The man taking our pic asked us if we were going to look at him. We all said no and kept gazing off in the distance. Just a side note Daniel is wearing my WSU DH jacket-he forgot one and submitted to wearing mine-ha ha ha!

My high school friend Shawna works at the Pioneer Grill at Jackson Lake Lodge and got us a great cabin at Coulter Bay. It was not even like camping....2 double beds and a twin (so my bros did not have to be Green And Yellow--G A Y). We had our own bathroom and shower with actual hot water! It was so nice. THANK YOU SHAWNA! We ate breakfast at the Pioneer Grill the morning we left the park. It was delicious. We were not adventurous enough to have the trout breakfast which my Dad claims is the best Well he claims that fresh caught trout eaten for breakfast is the best, he is not too sure about the restaurant. She drew us about 4 different scenes with moose in them. Which rocked because my number one goal was to see a moose!

Luckily after breakfast we went to Signal Mountain and Jo Ann spotted this moose having breakfast. I was so happy! Up to that point the closest I got to a moose was a pencil Jo bought for me! Later that day as we were coming down Provo Canyon we say another moose just past Park City. How ironic is that. I leave the state to see a moose and I could have just gone to Park City!

Overall my trip was a blast! I love vacations with my family! There were hours of laughter, peeing (Daniel did the marathon 6 minute pee one morning--dang 2 gallon sized bladder), buffalo spotting, picture taking, game playing (I am the champ at speed;)), cell phone withdrawal, Jazz game missing, and driving! I am so glad we went even though my stomach is still in a knot when I think about Daniel and the old man at the park entrance; deaf people and old people struggle to communicate-I curse you old man.....

In less than a month I get to go to Savannah Georgia to see my other brother Dave while he is on leave from Iraq! I am quite excited for this summer!

Pirates, Tetons, Flower Covered Cemetaries....

I am so excited for this Memorial Day weekend. This is my favorite holiday. It is the time of the year when spring and summer collide! Schools are out, families are getting ready to vacation, grave sites are decorated with lovely flowers and memorabilia, flags are placed to remind us that freedom is not free. I love this holiday!!!

I am leaving in about an hour to go to Delta and pick up my sister Jo. Then we are going to Provo to meet my brother Daniel. Then we are picking up my brother Brent. The 4 of us are going to Malad Idaho to decorate the graves of my grandparents, cousins, sister, uncles etc. Then we are going to spend the night in Pocatello. Sat morning we leave for the Tetons! I am so excited to go to this park! A high school friend works at Jackson Lake Lodge and got us the hook up for a cabin in Coulter Bay. I am so excited I could barely sleep....that and the fact I went to see Pirates last night and had a big Diet Pepsi! So for those who will be seeing Pirates this weekend....I loved it. I have never really thought Orlando Bloom was all that...but this movie made me change my mind! He is my new flava of eye candy.

I hope everyone enjoys the weekend and please take a minute out of your life to remember someone who has passed on or who has given their life for the freedom you enjoy!

PS-I hear some WSU class of 07 already have their license! Man that was fast! Congrats everyone

Packing Cord

After working full time as a hygienist for almost a year I think I finally understand what tissues go through when packing cord. The other day this 14 year old kid came in for a cleaning. I was on my way out the door when Alisha one of the assistants in my office came up to me and said "Could you get some of this stuff off--I know I won't be able to get it all." She was cleaning aka polishing this kids mouth. Now Alisha is amazing. She knows when there is tarter that needs to be scaled and will get a hygienist or instruments for the Dr to get it. So in my head I am thinking that this kid has a little bit of tarter on the linguals of 23-26. No big deal. So I jump in and start asking the kid how often he brushes his teeth and he told me it was hard to remember to brush. So now I am thinking now wonder he has tarter. I pop my mirror in and see the great wall of china! Holy abundance of calculus! I stop right there and start OHI. Then I moved him to my room I had just shut down and got the ultrasonic out and proceeded to torture this kid. He winned and complained the whole time. I got out the patient mirror and showed him when I had half of the mandable done, he was amazed at the difference. I kept going on about OH and that he needed to see a hygienist from now on. After I cleaned Alisha came in a flossed and polished. When she was describing the tissues on linual of 23-26 she said it was like they had just done a crown prep and the tissues were pulled away from being packed with cord. It was a perfect visialization. I have never packed cord or seen cord packed and always wondered how it was done especially when Heidi Melissa Natalie and Korbin always told me it was their favorite part of being an assistant. I am sure you RDH know the look of the tissues when you removed the great wall of calculus! It was an awesome experience because I think the kid really learned something about brushing and flossing and I learned about cord:)

365 Days Ago

I cannot believe it has been 365 since I took WREB! One year ago today I walked into WSU Dental Hygiene Clinic with Alfonso Cardenas. What a fun time we had! I remember freaking out because it took me over 2 hours to clean 12 teeth! Guess what I did today...cleaned 32 teeth--yup thrid molars were fully errupted--on a mod/severe case of perio; aka heavy calculus (heavier than my board) and gen 4-6mm pocketing. Ok back to the cleaning 32 teeth in 3 hours!!! I have improved so much over this year! I am so glad to be done with school and living life! Speaking of living life....I ate some astronaut ice cream the other day. The package as silver and all vaccuum packed like space food. The ice cream itself had been freeze dried. It was actually pretty good. It was neopolatin. The vanilla was a bit chalky and the chocolate was alright but the best flavor was the strawberry. I am not usually a strawberry ice cream fan but it is pretty good space food.

Mairs Pitty Party

I am ridiculous! I cannot believe myself. Less than a month ago I got a 20% raise and life in the dental world was amazing! Yesterday I had to fight all my emotions and instinct not to quit. Right now-this very minute I feel like the worst RDH in the world. I feel like my Drs are less than satisfied with my work and that I am leaving deposit everywhere in the mouth. So in honor of Crystal I will start my pity party with a list....
1. My doc told me I had left plaque on the last couple of patients!
2. I could not remember how to use the Diagnodent!
3. When I see a patient I saw 6 months ago I wonder if I left stuff and that is why they are so heavy this time
4. When a patient request a RDH other than me I get all butt sore-why?
5. I had to look up what familial tremors were on my patients Hx!
6. I had to give my first wisdom tooth extraction injections and had to ask which ones and how many carps go in each spot.
7. I had to look up how to do a buccal injection!
8. I need to go BACK to remedial scaling school right now!

Ok the party is over. So don't cry for me hygienists! ha ha ha. No really I have had these enormous almost debilitating emotions of inadequacy. I hate that I am not perfect. I hate that my brain cannot recall everything I stuffed into it during school. I hate that have to be called on the spot for missing plaque. I hate that my logical brain that tells me I am doing alright is quieter than my emotional brain which is loudly pointing out my faults and failures. I hate that I feel like I cannot get all the calculus off and therefore should not be a RDH-I am doing more harm than good. I hate that these feelings are lingering and have not receded!

I know tomorrow is another day and that I can and will do better tomorrow! I know I graduated from WSU, which means I was fully trained and taught to be a great RDH. I know I will rubber cup better tomorrow and NEVER leave plaque again! I know I will give each patient my best effort to clean their teeth! I know these feelings of failure will end and I will be right as rain again soon! I know I have bored you to tears with this post but it has been very cathartic for me!

A REAL Callus!

Yesterday I went to see 'Disturbia'. It was a great thriller of a movie with the right amount of gore for me. I enjoyed the movie immensely. As me and my friend were leaving the theater and were in her car I started to relax. I had not realized that I was so tense-a sign of a good thrilling movie. As we were discussing the movie I realized that I had been picking skin off of my finger. I examined the ring finger on my right hand and realized that I had unconsciously picked the outer layer of skin off-another sign of a good thriller. I sat there looking at my finger wondering how I could have picked skin off my finger when I realized it was my fulcrum finger and that I had a real life callus! I remember being in school and looking at my fulcrum finger wondering when I would get a full blown hard callus. Well that day has arrived! As I am typing right now I am acutely aware of the callus on my finger, how did I not notice it before? Anyway I just wanted to share this momentous occasion with you!

My Grand Adventure

I just got back from 5 days in California! My dearest friend Andrea and I went to Disneyland for 3 days. We got the Hopper pass and hopped around all weekend. Here we are eating Churros! I have been to D-land 3 other times while this was Andrea's first time. We maximized our Fast Pass capability so we avoided a lot of the holiday lines, which were GINORMOUS.

I was the designated photographer for other people. I was laughing as about the 10th person asked me to take their photo. I laughed harder when a little Oriental woman told me I did not take the picture right and I had to do it again. I guess I was still glowing from my fabulous victory in the workforce so I was extra easy to approach.

Speaking of being easy to approach, Friday night after the electrical parade at California Adventure a man came up to me and gave me 7 fast passes for California Screaming-the big roller coaster that is amazingly fun, breathtaking, ear splitting, stomach lurching! Sadly, I was too tired and so we passed them on. Then on Saturday another man approached me and gave me 2 fast passes for Indiana Jones! How great is my life?! Let me just tell you. I had so much fun in Disneyland! I have such great memories of this icing on top of the already triple layer chocolate cake of a week!!!

CDC has come through. I will be staying in Cedar and will be working for CDC. Breanna told me that 1 of 2 things would come out of this situation. She stated that "1. decide you are happy where you are at, and enjoy it even more. or, 2. Recognize there is more out there and gives you the guts to try something new." Luckily I learned both! Working at the other office for one day I learned that I do work in a great office with some great assistants (Alisha!!). After working in that office and being offered a job at the wage I desired gave me the 'guts' to apply my money making skills and earn a raise. I have always been told that the first year of practice is when you learn even more that you did in school. Well, it is true. These past 9 months have been the best textbook ever! I have learned that I have been trained to be a great RDH, that I have the personality to deal with all patients, that I have an enormous earning potential and that I have tons more to learn.
Thank you for reading.

Another update

Today I presented my plan for a larger raise from CDC. I went in and talked to one of the three Drs at CDC-the other two were not there. I had prepared a spreadsheet documenting my production for the last 7 weeks. I had a column for prophys, bwx, fluoride, what the % of my production I earned etc. My doctor was so impressed! I proceeded with the speech I had been practicing for days. He liked my plan-which is to sell at least 2 fluoride tx daily. By doing fluoride tx I would be earning my own raise; my Dr liked the idea and the fact I had 7 weeks of proof that I could do it! He asked my if I thought of this plan and speech all by myself. I am proud to say that I did! I am on such a high! I do not have a final decision yet because the other 2 Drs need to be consulted but I have such a high right now that I am fine waiting until Monday to hear. My initial feeling is that I will get what I want. Who is the Dental Diva now?!? I AM!

I want to thank everyone for helping me with this hard decision and giving me the strength to present my plan like a man! Thank you Thank you Thank you!!!!

And The Verdict Is....

This morning I arrived at Dr ? office for a working interview. I was told that the day started at 8:30 but to come early to see where things were. I arrive at 8:10. No one is there. I wait around until 20 after. I am told that I am too early because my first patient is not until 9. So I am thinking why am I here so early? I chalked it up to miscommunication-minor irritation. This office is small. There are 3 chairs. That is it. It was amazingly clean-which is a plus. So I get my tray and proceeded to prepare for my first patient. Now it went as planned. I had to take regular BWX with tabs which I have not done since school and guess what I cone cutted! (I have digital and use XCP holders to line it up). So my first 3 patients-I had a no show- went fine minus cone cuts and not giving fluoride treatments because I could not find the fluoride-the office just does not do this-weird. I got a 30 min lunch because I went over on a little bit harder patient to get him finished. I went out with the front office girl. It was nice.

My afternoon rocked! I had a 3 year old which was hard because I do not currently see children. I made it...barely. Then my next two were fun patients and I had a blast talking to them. I did fluoride on 2 out of 3 afternoon patients. I think that this surprised the Dr. So I get ready to leave and after filling out W4 etc Dr ? asked me how I felt. I told him I would need a day to think about it. He agreed. Then he said that he thought about my compensation and he said 'this morning I was solid on $__ an hour but after working with you all day I will agree to what you want'. I am so honored! He is willing to pay me what I am worth! Amazing!

So the verdict is....I am not sure. I just do not know. I am going to have to think about this hard. So the saga continues. As a funny side note....Instructor Jennifer Wold's sister works at this office...ha ha ha

The Plot Thickens!

Monday the first miracle happened. My 11 & 12:00 patients were husband and wife. At 11:15 I tried to call them to find out if they were on their way and I did not get an answer at home or on their cells. So I proceeded to do what I always do....clock-out and have a 3 hour lunch. So I tell my dentist that I am leaving and he looked up and said 'why don't you stay. I am sure you can find something to do'. I almost fell over. There has been this unwritten law that the RDH clocks out whenever there is a no-show or cancellation and he has been the largest instigator of this law; so when he told me to stay I almost passed out. So I stayed on the clock until lunch at 1.

Today the second miracle happened. I got a raise from CDC. It is not as much as I wanted but it is definitely an improvement. Now these two miracles have started me thinking that maybe they know that tomorrow I am having a working interview....I guess we will see. I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow!

I hope National Boards went well for everyone! Thanks Breanna for the vote of confidence!

Hello Spring!

Last Saturday was my last day at Albertson's Pharmacy. It was a bitter-sweet day. I do miss many of the patients but I do not miss working every Saturday. So today is the first Saturday I have not had to work or had plans! It was luscious to sleep in until 7:50 this morning! It was the best morning! I had pancakes for breakfast, watched some Saturday morning cartoons, did laundry, loaded dishwasher, organized my room-especially my dresser drawers, made my weekly menu, and went grocery shopping. It was such a nice day I decided to drive up Cedar Mountain. It is one of my favorite places in the world. Isn't it beautiful? Cedar Breaks is not open during the winter so this is as close as I could get. It was worth it though. I always feel so rejuvenated after a drive up the mountain. Especially with some Fall Out Boy on the stereo. While FOB sang 'this aint a scene' I was enjoying this great scene!

After I came off my high mountain top I decided to go to a movie. I saw 'The Last Mimzy'. I thoroughly enjoyed it! It is going to be on my list to purchase. It is a great family movie with a sci fi theme-my fav! I love a good clean movie even though I did enjoy the hottie-filled bloodalicious action packed movie, '300' I have had my boob quota for the month-for some reason they do nothing for me....anyway back to Mimzy. It truly is a great movie full of imagination. It was the perfect topper to my Saturday off.

What Have I Done?

Well without saying too much because I know there are some people who read this blog who work with me; but I have been offered another job. Now this is not new. I have been offered two other jobs in addition to the one I have at Cedar Dental Center (CDC). This will be three. I was honestly surprised when I got the job offer from this Dr ?. When I interviewed I did not feel like it was going well. I figured that he just did not like me. Then on Saturday I was working my last and final shift at Albertson's Pharmacy (sniff sniff) when the front office girl from Dr ? came in and told me that she told him to hire me and that he would be calling me. I was shocked. So I was not surprised when I got the phone call. What I am surprised about is that I told him I wanted more compensation. He asked me how much money I would need to leave CDC for two days a week and I told him. He said he would think about it. So I guess I have to wait to find out if Dr ? is willing to pay me what I am worth or not before I tell CDC that I have been offered a job for more $ and that I am seriously thinking about taking it. The kicker is that the job is temporary until Dr ? assistant graduates from dental hygiene school in Dixie so it would be until June/July. What should I do? Do I stay loyal to the office who gave me my first job? Do I take the job from the Dr who is willing to pay me what I am worth? Do I compromise a full time RDH job for a 2 days a week job that ends in a couple months? Do I play the Drs against each other in a strategic plan to increase my wage? Should I just relax and stay with the secure low paying? Once again I need y'alls advice. Please help me!

Ooops!

Today my third patient of the day was a woman who had a full upper denture. I had her remove it and then I went to the back to start the fizzy cleaning. Once I had finished cleaning the mandibular arch I went and retrieved her denture. I rinsed it off in the sink in my op. then went to place it on the patient tray so the Dr could look at it and her tissues when I dropped it on the floor! I was so embarrassed that I had dropped such an important piece of dental work!!!! I look around trying to locate it when I realize it had rolled/bounced under the patient chair! Freak! I had to lift the chair up and consequently the patient so I could achieve access to the piece of platsticy resin. I immediately retrieved it and ran to clean it again! I am such a klutz. I am pretty sure she hates my guts! What is even worse is that her husband was my fourth patient. He and I had a great hour flirting and chatting about life. So when I walked him up front she is there and he is still flirting away and I am sweating because the wife is on the other side of the counter. So when you hear about the skanky hygienist who drops dentures under the dental chair and then flirts with husbands you can say.....'Hey I know her!'

Next subject is Oraqix. I want it in my office. My dentists will not get it. They do not think that it is something worth investing in. I think I want to get it myself but since I am a greedy person I want to charge my patients a fee for the use and then I would get that fee. What is y'all's opinion about that? Do you think it is something I should look into? I am pretty confident that i could 'sell' it. I have become very good at it. For the second day in a row every adult prophy I have completed has chosen to have a fluoride treatment which insurances usually do not pay for and my office charges $21--pure profit for my Drs. I have already had several SRP patients who do not want to become numb, they would rather have something to take the 'edge' off without receiving a full block. I know I could get my money back, what I am wondering is what you guys charge in your office. Is is already part of your SRP fee? Does anyone out there charge for Oraqix? Anyone? Bueller?

Thank You to all the Moms out there!

I just got home from spending the last 48 hours babysitting a 13 month old boy, Kaden. He is adorable. I had such fun with him. We laughed and giggled this weekend while his parents wen to Vegas for the weekend. It was their first time away overnight. So while they were enjoying Phantom of the Opera I was getting chocolate pudding everywhere! Right at this moment I am so proud of the moms in the world. You all have had to work so hard to keep children fed, diapers changed, baths taken, bottles fixed, dishes washed, clothing washed, walls washed, walks taken, ball played, naps taken, toys picked up and 1,000 more things done daily. THANK YOU for all you do for your families!

Right at this moment I am also thankful I am not a mother. I know I am going to age without anyone around to care for me and that makes me sad but at least I get to sleep through the night! I am just not ready to be a full-time mom which is what you are whether you work or stay at home. It is a lot of work and I am not used to it. Well I am off to teach 3 year olds that Jesus made the night and day for us for 2 hours. I just hope I have enough patience, energy and love left to give.

Advice Needed ASAP

Hey RDHs out there in cyberspace, I need your help! I am still struggling with calculus deposits at the base of the pocket. You know the kind that is down there yet the tissues are tight and all your instruments are to bulky to get around the deposit to get underneath. I usually end up scraping the top on the deposit until I can get it broken down enough to get under it. By then I have purple tissue that is severely damaged and all I can think about is how glad I am that I am not taking my boards right now because the amount of tissue trauma I just caused would flunk me. So then I think I am a failure as a hygienist. So I really need some help from you guys. How do you get that deposit off. In this one particular case I have a 6 mm pocket and I have used every tip of the ultrasonic (like the pink and orange ones that are huge meanies). Then I use all Gracey's I have....the rigid, non-rigid, and the after 5 mini ones. I have used my Montana Jack subgingivally....ouch! so what else is there? Let me know what you use and I can purchase one. I could really use some ideas! I feel really bad about causing so much tissue trauma but I had to get that deposit out of there......HELP!!!!

Best Weekend Ever!

I just had a really good weekend. I went up to Salt Lake City for the annual Utah Dental Convention. It was a really good convention--mostly because I got to see tons of people! While I love living in Cedar City I miss my friends and associates that live in northern Utah. I hung out Thursday night with Aimee, Emily, Candace and Desiree and Pam. We went to The Old Spaghetti Factory. It was very yummy! We had great conversation and it was wonderful to hear about all their lives and what they are doing. Friday I went to the Happy Sumo with most of 'my girls'. We were missing Melissa and Maria! Korbin, Heidi, and Natalie were there though. I loved being able to talk to them about work and dental hygiene! We worked on fulcrums, instrumentation, when to refer to a periodontist, injections, and rates of pay. I am so glad that they were there for me! I really needed that time with them! There was one moment that outshines all the rest...it is when my girls told me that they all purchased one of the cute RDH bags WSU SADHA was selling. I almost cried! Realizing that they valued SADHA enough to purchase these bags without my influence is the MOST amazing feeling of pride! Way to go my B-to-the ITCH-As!!

I stayed with my dear friend Andrea for the weekend. I arrived Wednesday night. Andrea took me to Joe's Crab Shack for some yummy shrimp! We went to Macy's to get breakfast food and I saw my favorite treats ever....cinnamon hearts with sugar on the outside. I bought 5 million pounds! We then rented Nacho Libre! I have not laughed so much at a movie for a long time! It was amazing. Jack Black was freaking hilarious! The accents and phrases he used were too funny and I cannot stop quoting the movie!

Saturday Andrea and I attended a Mary Kay party. We received some beautiful make-overs! Anyway, I was looking good and to boost my self esteem a cute man followed us off the freeway. We were having such a fun time flirting but alas he turned a different direction. Later that night we went to a luau for single adults. It was a lot of fun! The dinner was amazing, the entertainment was top notch, and the dance was alright. There were a lot of fun people there having fun! Then on Sunday we attended 3 hours of church in the dark. The power was out yet the good 'ol Mormons carried on and persevered in the dark! It was intriguing to me that a whole congregation and I squinted at the finely types pages of scripture and kept our shoulders to the wheel....What a great experience!

This whole weekend made me want to move up north. The pros are a larger social demographic for me, my hair girl moved up there, Andrea, Korbin, Heidi, Natalie, Andrea and I would start a book club, and the hourly rate is higher. The cons are Cedar is my comfort zone, no inversion/air pollution, I guess that is it....So why am I living down here? Good question! Well until later x o x o XX oo xx OO x ha ha ha!

Yes, this is a fantasy...

Ok so I love the disclaimer on the new Ford Edge commercial. If you have not had the pleasure of viewing this commercial-or if you did and missed the note at the bottom of the screen, I will tell you. As the Edge is driving around on top of a building it reads 'Yes, this is a fantasy. Cars cannot drive on buildings.' I love it! I love that America can make fun of their own stupidity. I mean it is ridiculous to even have to state that cars cannot drive on buildings-I know it is because of the false advertising laws etc-I would really like to think people would have enough common sense to realize that cars cannot defy gravity in such a manner. The fact that Ford took advantage of the blatant obvious fact and had a little fun with it made my day!

Winter Wonderland

I went to Delta this weekend to celebrate my nephew's 5th birthday. He is such a cowboy now. It makes me shake my head and thank heaven he does not have or want a mullet! I have a cute pic but I cannot get it to rotate....man I wish I wasn't so computer deficient!

Delta also experienced it's usual fog. It is wonderfully thick which results in all the trees, power lines, fences and pretty much anything outside to become covered in inches of frost. It is really beautiful. This is a picture of the small lilac bush outside my parents house there are also some sage brush edging the field across the road.
This next one is of the other bushes in my parents yard. I am also not a herbologist...where is Professor Sprout when you need her? Anyway, I think it is so beautiful in the morning before the sun burns off the fog and melts the frost...if the temp gets above freezing which it hasn't for a long time (it has been -24) . The pictures have a bit of blue in them and it makes me shiver even now.
I had a great weekend with my family. My mom made a wonderful turkey dinner. Brent made the best mashed potatoes-these are the only potatoes I will eat, willingly. We then played Settlers of Catan. I ran out of road pieces so I could not steal the longest road card from Brent...arggghhh! Earlier that day we rented an old school VHS of Willow. I love that movie and had forgotten just how entertaining it is. Val Kilmer sword skills might not be as great at Vigo Mortenson but he looked good in a dress! I really could use a 'brownie' to send some fairy love dust my way. And how many Nelwyn's did they find to fill the entire village? That is a lot of height challenged people!

I have completed my second week of full time work. I do not think this trend will continue and it makes me very upset. I really want to work and it is frustrating to be denied....Who knows what my future holds maybe Boise will get me afterall.

What the hell?

Yesterday I had this patient that we in the dental world call a PITA (pain in the ass) patient. I was warned that he would start telling me dirty jokes. Now it is one thing to hear an off color joke from a friend but to hear one from a old trucker guy with an oxygen tank is totally disgusting! He starts to tell me a joke and I stop him and say 'Is this going to make my ears burn? Cause I do not do that.' I was dead serious. Luckily he did not tell me any dirty jokes just lame ones about politicians. Anyway I took the xrays and noticed radiographic calculus. I was pissed as hell. I was hoping that the xrays lied. I started probing and shit they were right! So now I have to bring him back for SRP for 4 quads! I am not happy! Well luckily I saw him again today. He starts off telling me a joke he told me yesterday while looking at my boobs. So now I am pissed....which surprises me because last night I went to a piano concert and wore a great sweater that screamed look at my boobs...I just do not understand myself....How dare this PITA patient stare at my chest! Sometimes when I start concentrating I have been known to close in on my patient and give them a free boob rub. Today I made sure that he was far away from me even though the mesial of 20 and 27 were buggers and had huge boulders at the base of the pockets. Then Mr Pita tells me that I could take him home and that he is an excellent chef and would cook for me. I told him 'no, I would get in trouble'. He was all of the sudden afraid and said that he would have to watch himself because we were both attached. I said 'Yup'. He asked if I was attached and I was a little offended. I mean he is alright flirting, telling dirty jokes, and boob drooling as long as I am not attached. I mean he is freaking married! So I looked him in the eye and said No I am not attached but YOU ARE! He started apologizing about being such a flirt. I just ignored him. I was done with him and his stories about how much he missed 'hanky panky'. Yeah...can you believe he told me that. I was instantly transported back to the pharmacy where I had to endure the details of a dirty middle aged man whose 'monkey' was limp. Damn. Why do people have to tell their health professionals intimate details?

Bre...funniest thing happened today. My third patient today was reading a book. Yup, she was reading Xenocide...book two of Ender's Game. I laughed and told her all about you! Then her husband comes in and we start talking about the books and he jokingly starts looking around for sand to comb straight...you will know what I mean when you read the rest of the series. I think the series are worth reading even if they are not my favorites. Thank you for the new books to read! I will be looking into 'Water for Elephants'!

And to my newest fans at CDC...welcome to my little world!

Vampires vs Lycans

I would like to warn you that I am a novice on this subject. I have not researched all the info pertaining to these great mystical figures but I have learned a few things. So what type of person are you? Do you love Vampires? Or do you love Lycans? I love vampires but werewolves are not too bad-I mean who did not love Teen Wolf...go Micheal J Fox! I am a huge 'Underworld' fan. I love that movie so much! I was not too big on Buffy the Vampire Slayer but I could really enjoy watching the hottie Spike.

I have recently finished reading 'Twilight' and 'New Moon' by Stephanie Meyer. I just want to tell you that if you have not read it you really should put it on your list of must read books. I do not want to brag it up too much but....I LOVED IT! I also do not want to spoil it for you so all I will say is that Vampires are so dang sexy!! Stephanie promises that the third installment of the series will be released sometime in Sept/Aug. I honestly cannot wait! Also she is going to write 'Twilight' again from Edward's perspective....the first chapter is online!! Check it out right here if you want...The book is titled 'Midnight Sun'. It is wonderful! I cannot wait to read it.

On Jan 26 the movie 'Blood & Chocolate' is going to be hitting the big screen. I am all sorts of excited. I think the title is a bit lame but what can you do....I am currently reading that book as well. I am not sure about it yet but I want to give it a chance.

It snowed again this weekend. It is amazing how much snow Cedar has! It is great! I heard a new song by Incubus called 'Dig'. It cracked me up because all I have done lately is dig dig dig the snow from my walk and driveway. I know the song does not mean to dig out of the snow but it released at a perfect time for Cedar!

This is after the second storm a week ago. Amazing isn't it?

Time flies

I has happened! I have worked for Cedar Dental Center for months! I did not realize it until a patient I had seen on my very first day as a real life dental hygienist came in for a 6 month recall visit. She was so nice. She reminded me that she had been my first patient and asked how I was liking my job. I was touched by her concern. I was also touched by the fact I had been working for half a year already! Time has just zoomed by me. I still feel like I have so much to learn. I keep making mistakes. I want to be perfect. I hate that I did not recommend Peridex to a teen in full ortho with some serious gingivitis and that I missed the occlusal calc on #23-I thought it was an old white filling stained from her 1-2 packs of cigarette smoking she did daily. I hope my next 6 months will be better!

So how about all this snow huh? It has been crazy. I love that there is actual snow on the ground! It has been so wintry this winter! I hope everyone is enjoying the new year so far!

New Year--New Office!

This is my nephew and niece, Ty and Shay. Shay konked out watching my mothers-aka Grandma's favorite Christmas movie....Christmas Eve on Sesame Street. Man these two are the best! I love them to pieces!
I am now in my new dental office. Today was the third day. It is still crazy. There are two computer monitors in each op. It is nice because we have digital xrays so I can bring up the images on the assistant side monitor and move the whole window over to the dr side monitor which frees up the assistant side monitor so I can chart any active decay, crowns, etc for treatment planning. It is nice. Only bad thing is the mouse in my room is still not working!!!! The TV in my room still does not receive all the channels. We do not have blinds yet and the sun reflecting on the snow is just amazing! We have had to crank the air conditioning-which is amazing because our highs have been about 32 degrees! Overall it is a really nice office and I am excited to be able to work a little more! I love being a hygienist. It is so rewarding to treat patients and build a bond with them.

Today I cleaned my dr's teeth. I was so freaked out. I kept thinking about Heidi Wilson who cleaned Kami's teeth and Dougherty's brother's teeth. I thought if she can do it, I can too. So I did it. He said I did a good job, but I wonder if he just said that. I wish I could read his mind just for this one moment.

Well that has been my new year so far! I am pretty excited to rock 2007!