Feelin Better!

Well today feel better about being an imperfect hygienist. Today I saw 2 horrible overhangs. Seeing these 2 imperfections really hit me. I know that not everyone in the dental field is perfect so why do I expect myself to be? I can now hold my head up high and say I am a dental hygienist....ha ha ha! Happy Easter everyone!

Practice does not make perfect!

So I cleaned this mans teeth. It was pretty much interpoximal and sub. So I used the cavitron aka ultrasonic. I know I was rushed to finish his cleaning in the time allowed but I felt that I did an alright job. That was 2 months ago. He came in yesterday and had to have a partial root canal tx. I was curious to see what that entailed since I have not been an assistant and am pretty clueless when it comes to dental work. So I pulled up his digital xrays and guess what was right under the contact of 30-31....yup calculus! I immediately pulled up the first BWX I took 2 months ago and the calc was there in that one. I thought I had removed it but guess what....I suck! I need to go back to remedial scaling school! I am so embarrassed. I want to go to that man's house and clean that calc off there. It has taken me over a year to understand why WSU professors required me to go to extra VA sessions to get more practice. When I asked the professors what I needed to focus on to improve my skills I could not get a straight answer. They seemed unsure why I was in extra sessions and to take it as a gift for extra tutelage. I did. I am really grateful for the opportunity I was given in school. Today I realize why.

Exiled in SLC

Last night I went to see my boyfriend, Rob sing at the E-Center in Salt Lake. I am so glad I took your advice and got the tickets. I cannot believe I even considered not attending. This concert was the best so far! I love Matchbox 20 so much. They sang ALL my favorites. They sing with such passion and enthusiasm. I totally enjoyed myself. The guy behind Rob with the longer hair has some killer vocals! I was quite impressed with his talent! I am not really surprised because this band is so full of talent that adding one more thing is no big deal. Oh, you play guitar, piano, drums and you sing; of course you do...

Alanis Morissette was touring with them and she did a great job as well. It was really nice to have a little dose of angry girl rock, although most of her new stuff is really quite normal. She did some weird moves on stage that weirded me out but she made up for it with her amazing voice. She is really quite talented. Mutemouth also opened for MB20. I only knew one song from them and they were a little stray--or I am a little old either one--so they were not my fav of all time but they did a great warm up act. All in all it was the best night this year!!!!!

One drink cant hurt....can it?

Well, time has gotten away from me again! I cannot believe it. So what have I been doing? Well, I have been trying to avoid temptation. For some reason lately I have that these uncontrollable urges to drink alcohol. I want to have a drink right now in fact. Each day after work I sit and imagine what it would be like to be able to have a glass of wine to relax. Now if you do not know me personally and do not know my personal values they are....No drinking, smoking, drugs. So for me to be sitting here imagining drinking to get the edge off of my life is amazing. I have never tasted alcohol. I think I would really like it and therefore be a drunken whore. I have the type of personality that if there is food or drink in front of me I MUST finish it. I am not sure I could nurse a drink for hours. So that is how I know I would be a drunken whore.... and that is not who I want to be. So I abstain......

Work has been fun. I meet such nice people. I cannot believe it has been 2 years since I was panicking over boards and trying to cram info in my head for that 8 hour written exam!!! Man if those days did not make me drink I should be fine right now. What is the deal....dang the devil...

UDA

To begin my adventure I must rewind time a bit. I live in the basement apt of Joe and Sara Melling. Ok so Joe and Sara own several houses and one is in Riverton. They needed a dining room table and 6 chairs to me taken to Riverton house. Since I was going to the Utah Dental Association dental convention on Feb 14-15 I said I could take it. So Tues night Sara and I loaded the large table and 6 chairs into my little Ranger. We tarped and it and tied it down.

Then Wed morning I woke early because I needed to get to West Kearns elementary to teach my friend Andrea's 6th grade class about biofilm, bacteria and brushing by noon. I start on my way and got to Parowan and needed to pull over and adjust the tarp because the wind was so bad it was wipping it off the chairs. The weather forecast stated the probability of snow so that is why we tarped it. Then I had to stop and Panguitch turn-off for another adjustment. It was so annoying. So by time I made it to SLC I was tired of the table and chairs, the wind and not being able to see in my blind spot.

I get to the elementary school and had school lunch with Andrea. It was so fun! I have not had school lunch for such a long time. After lunch I presented my lecutre about brushing flossing and overall good oral hygiene as well and the evil caries causing bacteria. It was a lot of fun. Her kids were so great. They listened and showed respect. In return they got toothpaste, floss and toothbrush. I really enjoyed teaching them.

After school Andrea and I headed down to Riverton to deliver the table. I had to go from 3600 S to about 12600 S so not too far. Well just at that moment SLC was experiencing a severe blizzard. The wind was horrific. The snow drifts were deep and I was sliding all over the place. At one point I was merging onto Bangater Highway and I fishtailed. I knew I was safe but worried about the table and chairs falling out causing an accident and hurting someone else. So I swore and prayed to God in the same breath. I hope He understood. After a white nuckle drive and 1,000 prayers later I made it to Rivertong and unloaded the table. The table and chairs--which had soft suede seats, were covered in snow. Throughout the day with all the wind the tarp had ripped. The gaping holes and continued wind allowed 5 inches of snow to fall onto the fabric charis. I was freaking out. Now Alethea (Sara's sis) is holing up in the Riverton house for a little while but has not supplied. I could not find a towel or anything to dry the table and chairs off with. So I ended up leaving them dripping in the garage. The ironic thing here is all the time I spent adjusting the tarp and making sure it was secure and it ended up being ripped to shreds anyway...ha ha ha.

Thurs and Fri were much better. Thrus commute was a little iffy but I made it! UDA put on a good convention. I was planning on going to the lecture given my Ester Wilkins. Ester is a guru of Dental Hygiene. She is 400 years old and instead of a power point she used an overhead with tranperancies that she had written on. I was taken back to dental meds class with Dr Soderberg and after a moment of respective silence I got up and left. I just did not have enough love for this dear old woman who has been a pioneer for dental hygiene.

As I left I realized once again that I am a dental hygienist freak. In school I felt this way. I am older. I am fatter. I dont wear Dickies scrubs. I dont have cute hair--just a pony tail or french braid is my style. I dont have the cute silverless smile that the traditional dental hygienist does. When I was in school this really bothered me. I was nervous about getting a job because I did not look like a RDH. But I did get a job and while one my Drs would not have hired me because of my looks, luckily the other two out voted him! I feel like I have contributed to the dental profession. I have worked hard and treated a lot of perio. So it was wierd for me to feel this insecurity again. After I relaxed I laughed and chalked it up to Mair being Mair. So the classes I attended at the conference were very rewarding for me and I enjoyed them very much. I learned a lot and so even though I was one of the few RDH in attendance I got my moneys worth...

Severe Perio

Ok, so I guess my life is not as boring and lame and I thought. I still feel a little weird when I sit and knit.....Leslie is a RDH in my office. She is great. She graduated from Dixie about 5 years ago and still does everything like in school. Which is good. So we still take blood pressures, pre-rinses, and barrier EVERYTHING. Anyway Leslie saw this patient who has the worst mouth ever. I have seen more calc but not more infection. His tissues are so inflamed. Parts of the gingiva are shiny red. Everything hurts. So I did one quad of SRP--LR. #30 was so mobile I could not believe it. I left calc on because I knew that if I scraped harder I would extract that thing. When I had 5 min left of my time I probed and freaked out. I was sinking that probe as far as it would go and was not touching bottom. so who really knows what the probe depths are. I immediately took a PA of that quad and saw the extensive bone loss on this 30 yr old hispanic male who had never been to the dentist. I tried to explain with my 7 words of spanish that he needed to go to a periodontist and even then I did not think many of the LR teeth could be saved. It was really hard to explain this to him--hence my need for a spanish course. Leslie saw him for the next 2 quads and then I was supposed to see him for the final one today but my Dr had an emergency and needed to leave town so he was rescheduled. Anyway his tissues look amazing. I popped in while Leslie was treating him and the quads that were done looked amazing even though we both know we did not have time to get all the calc off and know we missed some-which is another reason I am grateful for the 4-6 week reeval appointment!!!! Anyway I have enjoyed this challenging patient. He is so nice and worried about his teeth. I honestly think that he just had lack of education in the past and did not know how to care for his teeth. His homecare has improved and it really shows in his tissues. I love patients who challenge my skills and who are proactive in thier treatment/recovery.

Well, again it is Friday night and I am sitting home alone wondering what to do with my night....do I call that cute patient who is 8 years younger than me but who was obviously flirting? Do I just pull out the knitting? Do I finally give in and purchase Matchbox Twenty tickets for Vegas? Who knows maybe I'll just eat a bowl of cereal and call it good.....

Blogworthy???

Lately I have felt that I have not had any blog worthy experiences so I have not posted. I have pulled up my blog and logged in and tried to write something and just have not been able to get my fingers to type any word. I am ashamed to admit that I have become boring. I cannot believe it. I get up in the am, go to work, come home, fix dinner, and knit the end. How lame and boring is that? I am sure the cold snowy weather has something to do with it, but sheesh.....

Actually I am remembering some fun things I have done lately. I went up Cedar mtn. There is a cabin aka super nice home owned by some Vegas bar owners and my friend has access to it (after saving their lives in a snowmobile accident). So 2 weekends ago we go cruising up there to spend the night. We get there and the driveway had not been plowed so George hikes in through waist high (he is 6'4") snow and gets a snowmobile. He makes one pass and is coming around for another when he gets stuck. So we end up all wading through the snow. I was soaking up to my thighs. We get inside and the furnace is not working and is tripping the breaker everytime we try to turn it on. So the guys are trying to figure that out and us girls make a fire. Thank heavens for starter logs!!!! It was about 30 degrees inside the cabin. The water in the toilet bowls were frozen and ice was hanging from the kitchen faucet. George was a little worried because the guy who used the cabin last obviously did not drain the water out of the pipes and the possibility of broken pipes was very real. So after several hours we find out the furnace had experienced a fire and was out of commission until Mon so we heated up the stew we brought and made hot cocoa in the microwave and snuggled in all our clothes and blankets. It was very chili. The next day was much better. With the sun shining in the windows and the fire going all night we got the cabin up to 74. It was rather toasty. So we got the snowmobile unstuck and had some fun. We made snow caves, jumped off the deck into the snow and had all sorts of fun. Then we cleaned up the place and left. It was quite the weekend.

Last weekend I worked at Albertsons pharmacy. It was really quite fun to be working there again. I really do like working there--now the pharmacy school bug has me by the throat again....Will this bug ever let go. I guess I will just have to do something about it.

Hey does anyone know of a good program to learn Spanish?