Wilkins

I've been going to off-site clinic rotations for three weeks now. I think I said before that my first is the base clinic. We see four patients a day, and its actually quite fun! What I'm finding entertaining lately, is that when I ask people what they do, I've had several say they work on the same jet Roby works on. I tell them that, and every single one has said they know him! Two of the four people that have said they know who he is are actually people I've heard of or that he hangs out with. I can't tell Roby who the people are because of regulations, but they have both told him I cleaned their teeth...I'm sure they said I did a GREAT job! ;-)

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While at the base clinic I caught an abscess on a patients x-ray that the technician, assistant, and doctor missed two days earlier at his check up. I asked my instructor to look at it, she told the military dental hygienist, then they brought a dentist in. When that patient goes back for a filling they will do more tests to see if the two teeth near it are viable. I was very proud of myself! Then at clinic on Thursday our main instructor for second year said, "Good job catching that abscess on the radiograph at Offutt!" Anything with "good" in it is a huge deal coming from any of our instructors!! Not only that, but the same instructor was watching my use the Cavitron. As another instructor was passing by she said, "Hey, look at Elissa, she has the 'non-grasp' down!" Dude, I was on cloud nine! haha

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This year we have several big projects. One is to find a case study patient. This patient has to have certain things wrong with their mouth, hopefully they smoke so we can talk to them about quitting (I don't want anyone to smoke, smoking cessation is something I have to do this semester), etc. We treat their problems, do follow ups, and make a big presentation for the end of our last semester. The patient I had on Friday fit all the criteria and was very nice. I asked my instructor if I could use her and she said I could. The dentist came over to do her exam and tried to refer her to the periodontal department. I told her I was going to use her for my case study. After some exchanged words between my instructor and the dentist, I am allowed to use her! This is a HUGE relief! We were told that several students last year didn't get their patient until the last semester so were having a hard time getting the project done in time.

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Yesterday morning Dr. Esther Wilkins was holding a continuing education class for dental hygienists. This was a big deal, for several reasons. First of all, she is 93. Secondly, she wrote our most used textbook. (She is almost finished with the eleventh edition.) She has done more for dental hygiene that any other person since dental hygiene has been a profession. She went on to get her masters, then became a dentist, but she has been involved in dental hygiene the whole time. She even founded the first dental hygiene school in Washington (among other states).

The material she covered was 80% out of her book, so extremely redundant because that is what we use. But she was entertaining and had some great information from a more personal aspect of dental hygiene. Before the class began she was signing books and taking pictures. I was first in line when they decided to stop to get ready for the presentation.

Some of my instructors that were there asked me to take a picture of them with Dr. Wilkins.

During the first part of her lecture she used an overhead projector. This was entertaining because most of us haven't seen one in use for a while. Then she brought out her pointer. There was quite a bit of laughter. She made a joke about her pointer friend which made it even better.

I was sneaky and got a picture!

After the class was over she was able to sign more books before leaving on an 1:30 flight.

(Don't mind the crazy hair or my ugly class shirt we had to wear.)

We had a little conversation about the school in Washington and talking to patients.

Some of the girls in my class were irritated that they had to be there, and showed little to no respect for all she's done. It was kind of sad to say the least. I was one of three people in my class to bring their book and get it signed. I felt that it was a privilege to meet her.