Day 2

Today Michael and I were responsible for making breakfast, but couldn't because the kitchen was locked and we didn't have the key. Hayley and I walked to the clinic and found the dental assistant, filling out the medical forms for the day's patients. There were already about 5-7 patients waiting outside the clinic to see us at 7:20am, even though we didn't open until 8am. She quickly rode to one of the sister's houses and got the key to unlock the kitchen for us. We didn't have much to eat besides cereal and the toast and PB&J from the previous day because no one came to give us food to cook for breakfast. Nonetheless we ate quickly and went to see our first patients. 

Clinic went really well, definitely a lot smoother than yesterday. We had some problems with the suction on one of the chairs, but were able to find a replacement with Papa Espinoza's help. He's really been a HUGE help, especially with sterilizing all the instruments and making sure we have them to use. In the morning before clinic started, Sister Maria told us she is leaving for  Massachusetts. She expressed her thanks for us coming to the mission to provide free dental care and asked about Stephanie, who started the affiliation between them and ASDA at UCLA. We were able to get a picture with her before she left. 

The morning started smoothly, with Noha pairing up with Sami, me with Michael, Hayley working by herself finishing her RCT case, Reemon  with Eugenio, and Dr. Rima with Yoonah. We were pretty much able to pick up where we left off yesterday, with the only big problem being Hayley unable to find any denatured alcohol. Dr. Espinoza ended up going to the local store and getting some for a few dollars. 

Our first patient was a 9 year old boy who needed a COAD on #30. Dr. Rima told us she wanted us to clean out the decay first to see if it was savable. Seeing how deep the decay was, I asked Dr. Espinoza if she thought the tooth could be saved. She then suggested an x-ray to find out. Taking the x-ray showed all of us that we needed to always make sure to count and identify teeth, especially in patients with mixed dentition. The tooth with the deep caries was actually #Tso we decided to extract it. Upon luxating #T, #S became loose as well, so we extracted both. Michael delivered #S easily, but had some difficulty with #T, whose roots were not as resorbed. With Dr. Espinoza's help, he delivered #T successfully. He did make me nervous when I heard something crack, thinking it was a root tip. After learning about all the things that can go wrong during extractions during our OS course last quarter, I think my biggest fear is losing a root tip and it possibly being forced into the sinus or submandibular space. Overall, I thought it was pretty exciting and can't wait until I deliver my first one. Michael also got scolded for showing the patient the needle, considering he was only 9 years old. The patient was super cute and surprisingly calm for his age. He taught me how to say "tingling," or "dormido." I always knew it meant sleeping, but didn't know I could use it in that dental context. I used it with the rest of my patients throughout the day and found that it was a good adjective to use when determining when patients are numb. 

Our next patient was a young woman who had caries on 8 and 9. She also wanted her diastema closed. I prepped #8, which had a pretty big carious lesion. I then prepped #9, which had an old composite with recurrent decay on the mesial. #9 also had decay on the distal, which I also prepped. Opening the distal of #9 showed me that the mesial of #10 had caries, but I was not able to restore that lesion and other lesions I saw in her mouth because of the long line of patients we had. I was not entirely happy with the final case of restoring 8 and 9, as I think the color match could have been better and I was unable to completely close her diastema given the time and material constraints. 

Michael saw the next patient. The first was an older woman who needed an ML on #27. She originally thought we were going to extract it, but we told her it was a good tooth and could be saved. 

Then we went to lunch and had tuna sandwiches with tomatoes and cucumbers. Several of us stayed to eat the sandwiches while others ventured to the hotel. Shortly after eating my sandwich, Natalie said she saw a worm in hers. I didn't dare look to not lose my appetite. Thankfully none of us who ate the sandwiches had any stomach issues  *knock on wood.* 

The next patient we saw after lunch was a teenage girl with lingual decay on #18. She jumped when we touched the lesion and reported sensitivity to cold. Luckily it was only large carious lesion and she didn't need an RCT. It was difficult getting her numb at first, which we thought was because of the existing infection and inflammation. Dr. Rima helped us get successful anesthesia, saying it may have been because we didn't do the long buccal nerve block. 

Our last patient of the day was a girl who needed #18 O, #19OB, and #20 PRR. Her caries were not very deep and prepping her teeth was almost like prepping virgin teeth. I think it is definitely harder to prep small decay than large decay, because there is more good enamel structure that needs to be removed in the former. It was a fun and easy case. 

For dinner Mama Espinoza made us papusas, which were muy sabroso y delicioso!!! She set up a skillet on top of burning wood in the backyard of the mission/church. She even got us Honduran donuts, which were very sweet and warm just out of the oven. We really are so blessed and spoiled to have Mama and Papa Espinoza on the trip with us. 

Dr. Espinoza also went over our progress for the day: we saw 33 patients, and did restorations, another RCT, sealants, prophies, extractions and varnish. I'm really proud of how much more efficient we have become compared to yesterday. We had a really good time begging for seconds on the papusas and talking about Eugenio and how we want to put him on match.com :)

Of course, we ended the night playing Mafia with Dr. Rima and all of the Espinozas this time.  We had good laughs when we killed off Papa Espinoza for thinking he killed his wife. I hope I'm as cute as them when I'm old :)

Here's to seeing 7 patients tomorrow! :)

Sent from my iPhone