Finished Research Project!!!

This project has been much much more stress than I anticipated! I made it way more difficult than it needed to be.. But it's done!!!! The good thing about doing this is that I find it really interesting and it was so much fun to get my surveys in the mail and read different doctors opinions. Although I generally disagree with 90% of the opinions, it was still interesting to read.
For the most part, the dentists agreed that Rx toothpaste is a good method of prevention and is helpful before people have rampant caries. Yet, they did not want to put a very high percentage of their patients on the paste. I just don't get it. If we know it can help, it's easy to use, why wait till MAJOR, permanent damage has been done. Thats not prevention. Anyhow, I find my results very interesting and would be happy to share them with the junior or senior class to complete this course.
The steps I took to compile this data are as follows:
Gather information, write survey, called and talked to my brother and uncle to make sure they didn't think it sounded accusational, emailed survey for faculty approval, go to staples and buy paper and envelopes, post office to buy stamps, stamp and address 35 envelopes to myself, go to copy center and make copies, grocery store to buy candy canes.
10 hrs.
Hand delivered 35 surveys. Drove to Providence, Logan, N. Logan, Smithfield, Righmond, Hyrum, Nibley. Three docors were hanging around the office when I delivered the surveys and brought me back to talk about what they think and who needs Rx toothpaste. Talked to each 15-30 min.
9 hrs.
Read Surveys as they were mailed back.
2 hrs.
Analyze data and count up results.
6 hrs.
Supprisingly, I don't remember anything about excell. I should have gone to that refressher class we had. I spent hours trying to figure out how to make a table on my own, hours trying to learn from the Microsoft tutorial discs, went to my husband's neice's house to have her show me. She couldn't figure it out, finally, sorta made up my own tables in the most difficult way. So this took a long time and was super frustrating!
9 hrs.
Before making my PPT, I called and talked to my friend who works at the health department. She works in the community wellness dept, and they are given loads of money to increase population wellness. Yet, they don't do anything related to Rx toothpaste. Hello prevention saves money, it's cheaper than drill and fill. Talk about stimulating the economy. I also talked to someone at the hospital my mom works at. My mom is a recovery nurse and estimates they would see around 15 medicaid children in the O.R. for they dental work each week. Due to Ins. changing, these doctors can no longer afford to see these children in the hospital. We talked about how much money it would save the govt. to put these children (who can use it safely) on Rx toothpaste and help prevent these really sad cases of rampant caries.
2 hrs.
Made a PPT. This required to redo some of my tables because not all the info would fit in a ppt slide. This also simple task proved to be very challenging. I also added some of my opinions.
6 hrs.
So yes, now I think I'm done and would love to share my findings with classmates and hopefully influence them to recomend Rx toothpaste to at least their patients with active caries. (despite my results, I don't think this is being done). I would also like to hear a good answer to why if patients can use and safely store Rx toothpaste, why they would not want everyone to use it.
The End!!! :)

11-5-09

Counting down the weeks!!! Only three more weeks of this semester! (if you don't count Thanksgiving week). I'm super excited for Christmas! This was a pretty good day today. I did three quads of a class 3 this morning and a super cute pregnant 1b in the afternoon.(which I actually needed)! A good day!

Fluoride Research

So over the last few weeks I have spent several hours reading articles and talking to my employer and my brother and uncle, who are dentists, about their opinions on Rx fluoride toothpaste. It is very interesting to me that people whom I think are very honest, good dentists may not be doing everything they can for their patients to help them prevent caries. I'm excited to hopefully make an impact for the good and get more people using Rx toothpaste BEFORE they have major problems. I have also spent some time working on my IRB application.

10 hrs.

October is OVER!!!!

I can't believe that we only have one more month of Fall semester!! I can see the light at the end of the tunell. I have been going to school forever! I never thought that I would be done. Only five more months! Oh, today was a good clinic day too. My class 3 didn't show this morning, but I got a 1b to come in which I actually needed.

Mockboards

This was a very stressful day but I passed!!!!! I know I still have tonz to learn but this took a lot of stress off. It was a good day.

Research Project

Today I spent a long time remembering how to find the IRB online. Then spent some time trying to fill it out! Although I have not done a lot, this project is bringing me stress!

1 hr.

Oct. 8

This morning was pretty productive for me! I finished two quads of a class two and a 1b. That is actually good for me! I was super stressed and slow, but I got them done!

Research on Rx Fluoride

Over the past few days I have been looking for good articles on rx fluoride. They are tough to find!

Spent 5 hrs.

A Good Day!

My morning patient didn't show up till 9:30, but that was just as I was finding out that I couldn't see my walk-in due to high BP. So it all worked out! And this afternoon I wasn't terrably productive, but it was a good learning experience. I'm really glad that I found this board patient. He is really nice. It was a good day!

Combining Blogs--Addl. Credit Project

I am working with Prof. Kami Hanson on fulfilling 4 extra elective credits. I will be blogging about both clinic and this project here.

My main topic of interest is ... Are dental professions maximizing the preventative effects of RX strentgh fluoride?

-Do dental professions believe that acid is produced daily and that fluoride can help remineralize?
-Why wait till demineralization is visible clinically or radiographically?
--Who do they write rx toothpaste for?
-Why not recom it to patients who have newly errupted teeth, restorations (esp. sub-gingival crowns and bridges), active carries, reccurent decay, pregnancy, cancer patients, ortho patients, etc...
--Why not have everyone on rx toothpaste who can use and store it responcibly?
-Why not give this away for free or sell at a reduced price in low income programs. (WIC, The Health Department)? My mom is a nurse at Logan Region and guesses they see an average of 15 Medicade children a week!! They are getting pulpotomies and SS crown on every tooth!! Thats general anesthesia, a few nurses, assistants, and half of a Specialists day. How much is that costing the government?
--Why not have a school district hygienist applying a varnish and doing screenings? Even if they only get seen once a year! This could not replace regular office visits but where there is smoke, there is fire! An Eight year old has way too many permanant teeth to be destroyed by dental neglect! Even good parents don't always get their children into the dentist regualarly! I just think this may be one more way to bring down the cost of healthcare. Prevention and catching early is far better tx and much less expensive!

--Are cancer instutions explaing the hit that their teeth may take with their chemo and radiation treatments? If those doctors can perscribe any medication, why not some rx toothpaste and possibly at home varnish. I know varnish is professional use only, but why? It is not that hard to apply yourself. Patients store and use lots of medications responcibly. Why could they not do the same with varnish? I would want my loved ones who were undergoing chemo and ratiation to have all the defences availible to them.

I just don't see rx fluoride toothpaste being recommended in the offices that I have worked at until incipient carries is visible or a patient has LOTS of cavities! I think that the public is catching onto prevention! It would be a great service and they would appreciate being educated and offered this extra tool that may increase the life of their restoration and may help prevent new decay.

Sep 24th

I had a good patient this morning. I got two quads of a two done and had plenty of time to scale. I thought that I had done a great job...Nope four big errors. I can't believe how deep we can scale! I need to learn the art of exploring. I don't have that! Or art of scaling... I have a lot to learn! This morning was discouraging! In the afternoon I was just going to see a child for an hour, then start a new patient. Well, one hour is not enough when they need to do HHX, and x-rays. I was racing and wasn't ready at 1:30, which was a good thing because my other patient didn't show up! So I did the diagnadent, air-powder, and sealant pe's. FYI: Don't try to "fart" your way through them like I did.... they don't like that!

EagleSoft Patient and Power Out

Today Candace decited to do an Eaglesoft patient. Because I didn't was to be left behind I had to do it too. By the way you need to put in the probe depths, existing restorations, and go through all those exams and write a note! I recom. you read the directions first! I did the exams and note, had someone watch me save it, then my instructor said it wasn't there at the end of the day when I was already behind that afternoon. So I did it again! The following week she still couldn't pull it up. I went to do it for a third time, but it came up on my computer. Anyway, we got it figured out but it was not one of those easy things to figure out if you don't know what your doing!!
Then this afternoon I had my third WSU class 2 patient and my instructor told me with an hour and half remaining to only try and do 1quad, which is probably right??? But I had to get the other two patients back for two more appointments each! I will never finish my requirements at this rate!! She must know I need extra time because I'm not very good... But anyway, this was the day the power went out!! Almost any other setting I would think this is awesome becuase I'm getting out of working. But it actually stunk! I wanted to get work done and thats so not me! This is what hygiene has done to me!

Sep 10th

Today was very stressful!! I didn't realize till the end of afternoon clinic that there are about 6 patients with the same spelling of first and last name. I had scheduled one, put the tx plan in another, digital x-rays in another, and written in another person's chart!! It was such a mess! So Tori and I pull all the charts with the same name and several students had made the same mistake as me, but theirs hadn't been corrected. It was bad! The only good thing that came out of it is that according to the chart I was expecting a 1b, and she is a good two!
And seeing two kids with sealants is hard too. It was a good, but tough day!

First day of Patients !!!

I was very nervous to see patients today but luckily everything went ok. This morning I saw a class 5. She was super nice and quite easy. I was happy that she has four quads worth of teeth considering she is 87. And this afternoon my patient cancelled and there was someone in the waiting room who wanted to be seen...My MOCKBOARD PATIENT!!! That was so lucky!! Today was a good day!!

Back To School!!!

I can't believe this is really going to be my last year of school!! I have been going to school for as long as I can remember and there is an actual end in sight! Hope I pass everything!

Last Day Of Clinic!!!

It's here! It's finally the last day of clinic! I don't think I could make it another week.

4-15-09

It appears that my patient is not going to show up.. She said she would be late but I guess the question is how late??? I'm so close to being done! I just need a few pa'a and 3 extra quads!!! so close!

Class 3's DONE!!!

I am almost done with everything this semester! I'm so excited, all i have left are a few pa's and three extra quads! I can't wait for summer!!!

March 30

Almost into April!!!! I can't believe we are almost done with our first year!! It has gone by so fast! And today I finished two quads of class 3!!!

Spring Break!!

It was sooo wonderful to not have to come to school for a whole week!! However, eventhough we didn't have school, by about thursday I was worrying about homework I needed to be doing. Today I had my first pt with some heavy coffee stain. It was kinda fun to remove!

March 4, 2009

Finished my first class 2 patient! I'm not going to say that I didn't have any errors, but I finished 3 quads in one day and I'm proud of myself. I'm excited for the day when I don't have so many errors, and when they tell me where they are, I can find them! Maybe someday..

It's March!!

We are flying through spring semester! I can't believe that it's spring break this weekend!! This semester and year has gone by so fast! And in only one year from now we will almost be graduating!

Brad!

I finally got my husband to agree to come and be my patient. The only condition was that we got to go to a Andrew Bird concert tonight in Salt Lake. Not being able to go to a concert ever weekend has been his biggest disapointment in marrying me. So we finally got a comprimise!

Feb 18

It's almost mid-term!!! I'm so excited that the semester is flying by! It will be summer before we know it!

2-4-09

A sucessful full pt. tx day! Yay I did it. Today was the first time I did a pt, with x-rays, and full cleaning start to finish and have it go well! I didn't even know this girl, but she was really cute and easy. It was sorta fun!!

Full Patient tx

Last Wednesday I brought my friend from Logan for my pt. I picked her up at 6:00 am and got here early to have as much already done as possible. I had her hhx and hhxrx done and signed before I pulled her back. And the x-ray form done. So we went strait back to do x-rays, no retakes. Her OD was really easy, no deep pockets and Like one filling. So I had about an hour to scale her whole mouth. Scaling went well, I was just waiting a long time for scale check. Everyone needed the instructor at the same time. It wasn't her fault. But by the time I got one, It was almost time to walk her out and I had several errors. So long story shorter, I was really late walking my pt. out, but I didn't want to make her come back just for a polish and fluoride. I wish clinic was a little longer in the mornings. The end of my longest blog ever..

January 26

Slowly moving along...
I finally finished two patients. My average is not doing too well. We have been back in school for three full weeks and I have finished two pt's. And they are the only pt's I have seen... But the seniors tell me that they can do two 1B's in one clinic session!! Maybe I'll be that fast some day?

Pt. Treatment

Well we are into the second week of the second semester and we have been doing pt. treatment almost every day. It's pretty exciting! However, yesterday I woke up with a very sore wrist! It's probably about time I focus on my posture and technique. I don't want to be crippled before I graduate!!