Nitrous lab. Today we learned to use the nitrous. I had a bad experience with it before when I had my wisdom teeth removed. The assistant turned it way up and did not titrate it. I think that it is really important to always titrate it to be safe. I tried it again today and I still am not a fan.

So today my patient had to leave at 2:30. I cleaned his two upper quads and did not go far enough interproximally. I keep doing that and really need to focus on not being afraid to go down in there. I missed some spots. It was really frustrating for me to do that again.

In class today we were talking about a situation that happened at the VA where a patient fainted and luckily the student that was working on him was able to catch him. He didn't wake up for a few minutes. We have reviewed in clinic the things we need to do in an emergency, but I feel like I really need to go over them because it could happen at anytime. Tomorrow I have my last day in clinic for this semester! I am seeing my class three. My goal is to use all of the skills that the instructor went over with me on my scaling.

Yeah! I did my first injection on a realy patient today! I was pretty nervous, but after I was done I felt more confident about doing it. I did the lower left IA and Long buccal. His tounge was really big and so it was very difficult to do, it was totally covering my penetration site. The instructor retracted his tounge for me so that I could get to it. Before doing that I tried to have him move his tounge, he did not speak english and so I tried and he flexed his tounge and it made it even bigger. The tounge really is your enemy! Anyway it went really well. What I learned is that when you get premature osseous contact don't withdraw just redirect and go from there.
He was a very difficult patient to clean and it was a great experience once again. My instructor showed me how to use a new instrument and I loved it. I had a lot of one on one time today and it was so helpful. She showed me how to really use an accessory fulcrum, stabilized, to help have more force and control. It helped my hands not get as tired.

We have had all three local anesthetic labs and now we can anesthitize our patients! Tomorrow my patient will need local anesthetic and so I will be able to do it on him! I am really nervous because I really don't feel completely confident in doing it yet. But, I guess that will just come with time and practice. Plus it's always scary doing it on someone for the first time. I will just act confident.
Last week I got a ton of PE's done. I need to try to remember to space them out so that I don't have to cram them all in at the same time. I also did a sealant for the first time in a very long time, it went well. I am almost done with all of my requirements. Tomorrow I am seing my mock board pt again. I am going to clean another quad and I am going to act like it is another mock board to see how I do. He has a lot of calculus and so it is great practice and experience.