Melanie Martin One of my goals for the semester was to see a patient through the Dental Clinic

start to finish.

Melanie Martin was patient that came into the Dental Clinic in hopes of relieving the pain that she was feeling. She had recently been to the emergency room because of pain in her teeth and a jaw infection. When she turned in her application, I took a special interest in her case. I reviewed her application to make sure she qualified for the Dental Clinic services. She had no form of health insurance and was not receiving Medicaid. Melanie’s income was also low enough to qualify her. The next step was to get Melanie into an evaluation clinic so a dentist could determine if her teeth needed to be extracted and if so, how many. I scheduled Melanie for an evaluation clinic with Dr. Leslie Sprogis. I escorted Ms. Martin back to the chair and charted while Dr. Leslie evaluated her teeth. Dr. Leslie determined that teeth 2 and 31 should be extracted. When Melanie left I gave her the card for the clinic and told her to call if she had and worsening pain. My next task was to schedule Melanie for an extraction clinic so she could finally have some relief. When Melanie came in to have her extractions, I led her back to the chair and assisted. She was very grateful to have a familiar face while Dr. Leslie administered lidocaine. The extractions went very smoothly and there was not a lot of bleeding. When Dr. Leslie had finished, I packed Melanie’s mouth with gauze and gave her post-op instructions. Afterwards, I felt that Melanie could really benefit from having her teeth cleaned. A few weeks later I scheduled Melanie to come in and have her teeth cleaned. Her teeth and gums were in such bad shape that Tonya, the hygienist, had to numb her teeth to even clean them. Melanie was a patient that I saw start to finish during my time at the dental clinic and I hope that I helped to relieve her pain so she could live more comfortably.

Melanie’s Timeline 9/24/15

10/5/15

10/9/15

11/5/15

Application to the Dental Clinic was submitted and reviewed

The patient came in for an evaluation clinic to determine if/what teeth she

should have extracted

Teeth 2 & 31 were extracted by Dr. Leslie

Sprogis

The patient came in to have her extraction sites examined and her teeth cleaned