Melanie Martin Project

1. 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