Workin' 9 to 5

Well, after all of the hullabaloo of graduation, it was time to start looking for work.  I knew being obviously pregnant, it would be pretty difficult to find anything, much less something ideal.  I emailed Ms. Bartlett at the school to see if there was any volunteer work I could do in the mean time to keep my skills up, and she told me she knew about a dentist who was swamped and could use some help...I might even get paid!  She called him and presented the idea to him and emailed me back.  Turned out it was Dr. Stuart she was talking about.  Since we had been in the same Great Expectations mentoring group for 2 years and I worked with him during Dentistry with a Heart, it was a no brainer for both of us.  It was an answer to prayer for both of us!  We both knew God had arranged this at just the right time.

He had to spend a lot of time out of town because he was president-elect of the TDA and it turned out that his dad's health was failing and he needed to be with him and his family.  I started filling in for him, seeing mostly filling and emergency patients, but that means root canals and extractions.  It was hard at first to get back in the swing of things and build up confidence, but the staff is great and willing to work with a fresh-from-dental-school dentist.  I also had some down time to prepare for baby, go to doctor appointments and rest before my due date.

After 6 weeks at home with Audrey, I went back to work for a full week and I've been going in a few days here and there as he needs and will do so for the rest of the year.  We ended up working out a plan for me to work on Thursdays and Fridays along with any other days he needs starting in January.  I'm really excited to continue working there and so glad I don't have to find another job to support my dental school loans ; )

So, I'm officially working as a general dentist in Sunnyvale, Texas and looking forward to taking some good continuing education courses.  The Southwest Dental Conference is in January, and I'm all signed up to learn some oral surgery, endo, and treatment for snoring and sleep apnea using an oral appliance.  I'm also super excited to see friends as it will be kind of a little reunion.  I also need to get trained for Invisalign.

So much to learn!

End of the Road

I didn't post at all between January and gradauation in May and for good reason:  I had no time.  It was a sprint to the finish that turned into pleading for permission to cross the finish line.  Getting cleared for graduation was like pulling teeth, but I made it and it's all over. 

I ended up doing 39 crowns, no bridges (I know, right?), 115+ fillings, and 8 units of removable with my one crazy 9th case getting passed off to a 3rd year because it didn't seat 3 times.  Perio was a nightmare where they let me SCRP all four quads in one appointment and the patient cancelled their reeval appointment.  I still got credit.  They made me come back to seat two crowns the week before graduation, one of which did not seat all the way (are you kidding me?), so she got finished up this summer.  It was pretty much a worse-case-scenario kind of finish.  But I finished.

WREB is a whole other story.  I record it here for posterity, but I really don't think I'll ever forget it.  My operative patient had an MO on #31 and a DO on #29.  Perfect, right?  Same quad, could do both at the same time.  Only problem was that Megan had done a DO on #31 so I wouldn't have to worry about it a few months earlier for her progress exam. So all I had to do was take an x-ray before I sent him for approval so they could see the tooth as it existed.  So I had a folder of the images for #31 and another folder for #29.  Keep in mind that you can see both teeth in all the images, and I only updated the images in folder #31 because that's the one that mattered.

So I sent him for approval and he was approved.  I removed all the decay and he came back from grading with no pink slips, ready to restore.  I restored and sent him for final grading and he was down there for an hour and a half.  What was taking so long?  He came back with two pink slips: I had apparently prepped and restored the wrong tooth surface and my filling on the distal of #31 was unacceptable.  What?!?!  The head floor examiner calmly came over to ask for an explanation.  Once he told me what the problem was, I knew exactly what had happened: they had not looked at the xray I took that morning.  I showed it to him, he was satisfied and went to explain everything to the graders.  They had not even bothered to open my #31 folder since they could see it in the #29 folder!  I handled myself very well (I think I had used up all my tears a few days before WREB in the clinic) and it was so amazing to have Erik there during all of it.  They regraded him and there were no issues.  He had lost a marginal ridge on the DO on #31 that Megan had done so that needed to be fixed by her but that was it. Everything else went well. Hallelujah.

I started this post a long time ago, but since then I've been busy working part time for Dr. Stuart, getting ready for baby and then taking care of Miss Audrey. It's good to finally close out this diary of dental school!

Dr. Abby Mann, DDS

I'll Drive Downtown Everyday for Four More Months, But That's It.

It snowed today and I'm supposed to go back to school tomorrow.
All I really want to do is watch movies on the couch for the rest of my life.
Not really.
That's why I have to go back to school tomorrow.
It's my last semester.
I started to read over my WREB candidate guide (trying to be responsible) and when I got to the operative  section, I really just wanted to throw up.
But it's my license, so I kinda have to pass it.
Then I have to find a job.

Pedo is Neato

I finished up my pediatric rotation this week and basically got confirmation that my stainless steel crown counts and I'm done.  I completed another case, and apparently doing the rotation counts as a completed case, so there's no way they can say I'm not finished.  One more set of requirements down!

I was assigned another perio patient, so there is hope : )  And I'll start another crown tomorrow.  It's something. Then I don't have to see patients until mid January : )

* 1/2 oral surgery progress exams
* 0/2 perio progress exams
* 3/5 root canals
* 6.5/9 removable units
* 1/2 partials
* 2/4 perio cases, plus 1/2 starts
* 1/2 community service credits
* 20/50 crowns - 9 in progress, one ready to cast, one at the lab
* 74/99 filllings
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Oral surgery extractions complete! (105/100)
Nitrous oxide sedations complete!
Molar endo complete!
Stainless steel crown complete!
Removable proficiency exam complete!
Pedo requirements complete!

At least the whole pulling teeth part seems pretty successful...

While on oral surgery rotation, I decided to make it as productive as possible and finish my oral surgery minimum requirement of 100 extractions (150 for an "A") and my "student choice" progress exam.  I have to do one more "instructor choice" progress exam and I'm D.O.N.E. with oral surgery as far as my graduation is concerned.

Speaking of graduation, we got a notice in our boxes that we will be doing cap and gown sizing as soon as we come back from the Christmas break.  Might be a little early to do that, huh?

* 1/2 oral surgery progress exams
* 0/2 perio progress exams
* 3/5 root canals
* 6.5/9 removable units
* 1/2 partials
* 2/4 perio cases, plus 1/2 starts
* 3/4 completed pediatric cases
* 1/2 community service credits
* 20/50 crowns - 8 in progress, one ready to cast
* 74/99 filllings
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Oral surgery extractions complete! (104/100)
Nitrous oxide sedations complete!
Molar endo complete!
Stainless steel crown complete!
Removable proficiency exam complete!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Mr. Angry Tooth and I will be sleeping in, quilting and studying for boards this week.  179 days.

* 3/5 root canals

* 6.5/9 removable units
* 1/2 partials
* 2/4 perio cases, plus 1/2 starts
* 93/100 extractions, I really just need to do my progress exams and call it done after rotation in December
* 3/4 completed pediatric cases
* 1/2 community service credits
* 20/50 crowns - 8 in progress, one ready to wax
* 74/99 filllings

* 3/5 root canals
* 6.5/9 removable units
* 1/2 partials
* 2/4 perio cases, plus 1/2 starts
* 92/100 extractions, I really just need to do my progress exams and call it done after rotation in December
* 3/4 completed pediatric cases
* 1/2 community service credits
* 20/50 crowns - 8 in progress, 2 to be seated tomorrow, will wax one soon
* 74/99 filllings

Ending the Beginning of the End

This is my last full week of patients this semester.  Then I go on rotation *a much needed break* and see a handfull of patients right before the Christmas break to seat a few crowns, do a few fillings, and prophy with the best of them.

* 3/5 root canals
* 6.5/9 removable units
* 1/2 partials
* 2/4 perio cases, plus 1/2 starts
* 92/100 extractions, I really just need to do my progress exams and call it done after rotation in December
* 3/4 completed pediatric cases
* 1/2 community service credits
* 20/50 crowns - 8 in progress, 2 to be seated tomorrow, getting a gold crown ready to turn in for approval
* 69/99 filllings

School is Beating the Life out of Me.

* 3/5 root canals
* 6.5/9 removable units
* 1/2 partials
* 2/4 perio cases, plus 1/2 starts
* 92/100 extractions, I really just need to do my progress exams and call it done after rotation in December
* 3/4 completed pediatric cases
* 1/2 community service credits
* 19/50 crowns - 9 in progress, 2 back from the lab, will cast one tomorrow to seat on Monday
* 69/99 filllings - I've done a lot of fillings lately, but apparently didn't know how to read the record on Axium, hence the big jump!

The Final Numbers are In

My numbers are 50 crowns and 99 fillings.  Really?  99?  We couldn't just make it the full 100?  And we'll see just how close to that 50 crowns I can get.  This basically means I will be working my tail off until the porcelain deadline.  My entire tail.  It will all be gone.

* 3/5 root canals
* 6.5/9 removable units
* 1/2 partials
* 2/4 perio cases, plus 1/2 starts
* 92/100 extractions, I really just need to do my progress exams and call it done
* 3/4 completed pediatric cases
* 1/2 community service credits
* 18/50 crowns - 10 in progress, 4 back from the lab, waxing one up right now
* 57/99 filllings

Onward and Upward. Or Something Like That.

For a week where I only saw 2 patients, a crown, 2 fillings and 2 extractions is pretty good, right?
This week: a denture reline, crown lengthening surgery, 2 completed cases (Please, Lord!), a completed denture proficiency exam, and maybe more.  I might be at 6.5 removable units by the end of the week.  Crazy.  I may even start a new partial on Wednesday.


* 3/5 root canals
* 5/9 removable units, 1 in progress
* 1/2 partials, 0 in progress
* 2/4 perio cases, plus 1/2 starts
* 92/100 extractions, I really just need to do my progress exams and call it done 
* 3/4 completed pediatric cases
* 1/2 community service credits
* 17/40ish crowns - 10 in progress, 4 back from the lab, two at the lab as I type
* 57/100ish fillings