NBDE Part I

I took the first part of the national boadrs yesterday. I am sure that I did just fine. I spent the last week and a half studying for the exam. I am now going to get out of Portland and enjoy the rest of my summer vacation.

The Clinic

This summer we got to start seeing patients as students providing comprehensive care. It has been a good experience and I have been thoroughly enjoying it most of the time. School is much better now that the things that I do are actually going towards the care of real people and not just practicing on manikins. Today was a particularly special day but not because I got to do anything spectacular. One of my patients who I am going to remake her upper denture came in today to so we could finalize her treatment plan and get her on a high caries risk plan. She asked if I could reline her ill fitting upper denture because it was bothering her and she knew that we are about to go on break. I said that I thought I could do that but I needed to check with faculty because we typically don't work on things that were not made here at the school. I got it cleared, and after all the paperwork was done I got to reline her denture. It made a world of difference to her quality of life. She went from having an upper denture that was poorly relined, irritating and would not stay in to having a denture with a little retention. A vast improvement for such a small procedure. She was so much happier she said that she was going to go home and have a steak. I said don't get too carried away. It is amazing how one little thing that takes only a few minutes can make such an impact on someone's quality of life. Before today I was kind of dreading remaking her upper denture knowing that the best I could do would still be not very good. But After today I am excited to see how much more of an improvement I can make when she gets a new denture that is done correctly. I still know that it wont be great but it will be better than I first thought. Experiences like today is why I got into health care and what keeps me passionate about what I am doing. I hope there are many more day like today in my future.
Tomorrow, I am going to be doing my first fillings on a real patient. Wish me luck!