Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Keep Trying

Yesterday I was able to work in Duchesne. My first patient was 36 yr old woman with zero interproximal restorations, generalized 4 mm pocketing and xrays showed calculus wings on each tooth, there was a lower anterior calculus bridge and rings around maxillary anterior teeth.  I looked at her and said 'Hey do you want to go to Ogden, SLC or Rangely Colorado and be some lucky students board patient?' She did not. She is getting married soon and wanted clean, bleached teeth with fresh breath. So I had all the fun! I worked and worked. I checked and checked. For my own peace of mind I took post cleaning xrays. They were clean! I felt good. It was nice to have a little good luck and

Second patient of the day was a 44 year old man. He had a lot of vertical bone loss, not much radiographic calculus, a lot of gumline stain. His previous cleaning was about 25 years ago. I was able to clean one quad followed by dentist doing work in the same quad. I did another good job.

Last patient of the day was the dentist's mom. She is a dental-phobe and wants nitrous. Dr T did not tell me she needed nitrous and he was in the nitrous op! So I did not have access to it. She had no pocketing but lots of green line stain. I was sweating bullets! I got the Cavitron and went to work. I finished and as she left she told me I did a good job. So that felt good to have such a picky patient like the job I did.

I am sure Emily is right in her comment on my last post when she stated my patients probably needed a periodontist. I know they did. The hard thing is that the closest periodontist is in Provo-2 hours away. It was hard to get my patients to go from Cedar City to St George (45 min) away to visit a periodontist. I am not sure how willing these farmers will be to drive to big city and get their teeth cleaned over several visits. I hope they do. I hope Dr T remembers this when he sees that I did not get that tooth clean. . . until then I will keep trying!

2 comments:

cheeks said...

I had to read your last post...wondering why you were needing reassurance. YOU, MY FRIEND are an amazing clinician! We all come across a pt like that every once in a while. There's NO WAY you can clean a 15mm pocket and know you got everything... definitely needed a specialist. Next time ask your dentist to lay a flap for you! lol! It's so hard though to get people to understand why they need to go elsewhere...especially when nobody has really pushed it before. Don't be too hard on yourself! You're awesome!

About Swiss Days....next year you need to be there at 7:30 am on Friday!!!! Booths open at 8. Get there early...you can park close, not deal with a shuttle. Beat the crowds AND the heat. See all the booths before lunch, have lunch, then bail (ok, that's coming from a nazi)! Of course, there's lots of fun things going on in the town that are fun (parade, etc..) I've never really stayed for the festivities! I was laughing that you said you got stuck in a booth....it's so true! It's maddening, people just don't move!! haha!

The girls on my dad's side have been going for years, so we've learned lots over time! We actually weren't able to get there till about 10 am this year and it was already too crazy for me! I'm glad you enjoyed a carmel apple at least! I love those, and always have to get a bag of warm cinnamon almonds :)

Is everything ok with your dad? Sounds like a long, restless weekend :(

Melissa Rees said...

Man i got so behind! You are a great hyienist and we all have those days. I doubt myself and i dont even work! And I totally agree withthe post about morning prayer during huddle. So weird! Prayers are private! He should do that on his own time in his office.