Every week is an Adventure!

This week was supposed to be spent in Corvallis. We spend a week in each location but we ended up not having enough patients to treat and had to move locations mid week. Some schools that we go to 90% of the students have visible decay and need immediate treatment. In Corvallis at the school we were at was 30%. We saw all of our patients twice which never happens but it was good that we were able to. This week we actually did not get to do a lot of extractions which is what I enjoy the most! We've basically been doing pulp and crowns, fillings, and sealants. We have done a few extractions. We had to pull a permanent tooth this week because there was nothing left to the crown on the tooth at all just roots. She had some of the worst teeth. You could smell the decay when she opened her mouth. Her teeth were rotting out of her mouth. Quite a few of her molars had nothing left to the crown of the tooth and just roots. She also had a huge build up of calculus on her teeth which is very rare for a person her age. It was quite disturbing and of course it was right before lunch oh so appetizing lol! It's hard to see that but all we can do is help their conditions that currently exist as much as possible. We moved on Thursday to Brooks which is just north of Salem. The Tooth Taxi was just there last November and we were able to go back and finish treatment on some kids! We had some really sweet kids this week.
I also enjoyed the fact that I was in Corvallis and I was able to catch up with a few friends that I hadn’t seen in a few years. It was so much fun to reconnect with them. That is one advantage of my job is that I can travel around and see my friends that live in different areas of the state. Also since we relocated to Brooks I got to see my Randy, Leisha, and Molly! I got to spend Thursday night spending time with them which is always fun! I got to see adorable molly who for some reason ever since she was a puppy has loved my hair I don’t know if it’s the blonde color or what but the first thing she does when she sees me is attack my head and hair. It also might be the squeaking and screaming noises I make while she is attacking my hair. It was another fun week on the road. Moving mid week made for a crazy week but it is good that we did because we were able to help out more kids then we would have if we would have stayed in Corvallis. Here is a link to the Tooth Taxi web site so you can see it, read more details about it, and even see the schedule if you want to know where we are going the next few months.
http://www.smileonoregon.org/tooth_taxi/aboutTheToothTaxi.shtml

Some quotes from the road over the past few weeks:

• Teacher who came to visit said: “This is a Privilege!”
• Patient exclaimed: “This is the nicest RV I’ve ever seen!”
• Gym teacher came to visit the Tooth Taxi as a student showed him his tooth that had
• been pulled. The student told the gym teacher how great the laughing gas was.
• James about to do his classroom presentation on oral hygiene had a student ask “if he was going to tell them how to get big muscles.”
• 2nd grader during screening: “All the teeth that are blank are lost, I’m growing them in.”
• Patient: “I can’t believe you turned my teeth into silver, that’s awesome!”
• Patient: “Am I going to get another cap?” Dr. Heringer: “I think so.” Patient: “Oh cool! Can I have a gold one this time?”

Next week is Cottage Grove!