Capstone Log 4

Hours for February 21, 2013: 3 hours
Running Total: 10 hours

Today I observed the dentist with a patient who had tooth decay. To treat the tooth, the dentists have to create a temporary crown, and also remove the tooth to stop from spreading. The whole process took about an hour and a half, which included steps such as making the impressions of the patients teeth, using cords to separate the gums, and creating the temporary crown itself. As time went on during the process, the patient became a little restless and antsy. I felt bad for her because she was a little on the older side, and it seemed very hard for her to lay down with her mouth open for more than an hour. Aside from the temporary crown, I watched a little girl get three of her baby teeth pulled out.Dr. Legaspi, her assistant, and the little girl's mom had to hold her down, and comfort her the whole time because she kept whining and squirming around. During the girl's appointment, I felt bad for her because I know that it's hard getting three of your teeth pulled out at the same time, but I also wanted to give credit to Dr. Legaspi for doing a good job with calming her down. Patience is also needed in order to be a dentist because there will be patients who choose not to cooperate. In that situation, I don't know how I would have handled it. After the little girl, I watched the dentist polish and clean the teeth of another patient. Although I have already seen this, it was still interesting to watch again. For the next time, I look forward to observing patients with other needs that i have yet to see.