So another internal rotation week in the clinic has ended. I spent last week in the oral diagnosis/emergency part of the clinic at school. Some people don’t care for that rotation much. Personally, I like it. You interact with more patients every day. Plus you have the opportunity to see some new stuff.  There was a patient this week with a large mucocele inside her lower lip (first time seeing that!).  A couple patients came in because they just fractured their teeth. The best part about the rotation, though, was hearing how much patients appreciated everyone at our clinic.  I heard over and over again how friendly and caring everyone was. It made me pause and realize how lucky I am to be at ASDOH. I know, that sounds cheesy, but it’s the truth.   Yes, we have a modern clinic full of the latest technology, but I think the people are the best part of ASDOH!

Another day in clinic has come to a close.  It was a good day.  I saw an elderly woman for a post-op visit after extracting her second molar last week.  She brought in a picture of her cat to share with me.  (Her cat and my dog have the same name: Toby).  She seems to be healing well, so we scheduled a time for her to come in again in a couple weeks to have another tooth extracted.  She assured me that the next visit would go well.  She reminded me that I “learned a thing or two last time … so things should go smoothly for the next one.”  It’s nice when patients understand that we’re students!!

I completed my first crown prep and temporary crown this afternoon.  We learn so much about crown preps in sim lab, but nothing compares to actually doing it in a patient’s mouth.  I was happy that things went well and I was able to fabricate her temporary crown and get it cemented.  She’ll be back again on Friday for a similar procedure.  The more I do, the better my skills will get and the faster I will become.  I received the ultimate compliment today, though … my patient completely fell asleep in the chair while I was working on her!  Doesn’t get much better than that!

So now I’m at home, done with dinner, and ready for bed.  I need to work on my Masters in Public Health classes for a bit first, though.  I’m pretty drained from the day, so I’m sure I’ll be asleep by 10pm.  Tomorrow will be another day of firsts: final impression for an upper denture.  I’m keeping my fingers crossed!