Capstone Log 8

Hours for March 20, 2013: 2 hours
Running total: 19 hours

Today was a bit slow, within the two hours I was there, there weren't many patients to watch. To start off with, I watched Dr. Legaspi perform a cavity filling and a deep cleaning procedure. The woman seemed a bit uneasy, but I've seen worse. She got through the procedure without making a single groan! I was then taught how to fill out the envelopes for the sterilizing machine to check if everything is working okay. One of the assistants was showing me how to put the which instruments in the bags for sterilizing. Who knew there was a whole color coordination process for sterilizing tools? I didn't! I learned that all the colors on the instruments meant that they were used for different procedures. While watching her, I got a bit confused because there were so many different colors and instruments going in different bags. I know if I became an assistant it would take a long while to memorize all the things she knows.
They then showed me how to do the x-rays for the patients, and I learned that if you don't get the x-ray at the right angle, you'll have to do the whole thing over again.
A younger girl then came in for a cleaning and I observed that she took very good care of her teeth. I saw her x-rays and how her baby teeth were coming out to make room for her new permanent teeth. Dr.Legaspi said that if her loose teeth were bothering her, they could extract it, but for now they should just wait for it to come out. She seemed happy that she got to keep her teeth! I feel happy when I see the patients smile because it means that they're happy to be there. For next time, I hope to see more smiling patients with new procedures!