Observation Of Maricela

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On a Friday this semester, I got to observe two very interesting aspects to dental hygiene that I have yet to encounter! I started off observing Maricela clean an elderly woman’s teeth. This woman had a permanent upper denture and a total of seven teeth (mainly anterior teeth) on her lower dentition. Since this appointment didn’t take too long, I also had the privilege to experience a calculus three patient receive local anesthetic injections that was in the unit next to Maricela’s. The calculus three patient was on his fourth appointment, which would complete the last quadrant in his deep cleaning care plan. I. Preparation. I began my observation with Maricela in unit 6 in the clinic. Maricela was excellent at greeting the patient and asking about her day. She made the patient feel very welcomed and comfortable which was especially necessary for this appointment because the patient—again an elderly woman—had a complete upper denture and only seven permanent teeth left which seemed to make the patient slightly embarrassed. When Maricela took the denture to clean it and to do her intra/extra oral exam, the lady wouldn’t really look at Maricela or …show more content…

Assessment. Maricela started by taking the patient’s blood pressure, as well as added new medical information to her chart and let the Dentist evaluate her medical history. After that she proceeded with the intra/extra oral exams. Since the patient had dentures, Maricela made sure to pay extra attention to her maxillary hard palate. There was definite signs of irritation, redness, and a few sores from constant rubbing. Next, Maricela did a periodontal assessment. Even though the patient had a lot of tooth loss, her gums were decently healthy. She had a few pockets, but it surprised me how healthy the gums actually were. When documenting caries and dental charting, it was documented that the patient had a low plaque score that did end up being a little higher than the last appointment. No radiographs where

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