You mean that wasn't an infiltration?

Ok, so I learned something very important right off the bat today.  I was lucky enough to do some injections on my patient in the morning.  I knew that I would be doing a PSA and an MSA, but hadn't expected to do an ASA.  Well, Prof. Alexander informed me otherwise.  So, here I go.  My angle was a little off on the PSA, but I got in there and did it.  Next, MSA was just fine.  Well, I get to doing the ASA right above tooth #8.  I inserted the needle half way and proceeded to deposit the anesthetic.  My patient really starts to make some noise and Prof. Alexander tells me to withdraw.  I sat my patient up to let the anesthetic start working.  I went to talk to Prof. A and she tells me, "Two things: first of all- you inserted the needle a too far on the ASA.  You were doing more of an infraorbital instead of an infiltration.  You may want to watch your patient's eye because it may start to droop.  Next, your rate of deposition was a little fast.  That may have been the reason your patient was feeling it so much.  You were putting too much anesthetic too fast into the area."  Oops!  Well, I learned my lesson on that one!  I finished scaling the UR quadrant and proceeded to anesthetize the LR quadrant.  I tried inserting the long needle into the IA about 5 times and still made osseous contact!  I repositioned my needle and still hit.  Finally, Prof. A told me to get the anesthetic in there.  My patient didn't get numb all the way to the midline, so I was lucky enough to do the mental injection also.  So, for my first time injecting on a real patient, I got to do 6 injections.  I loved it though!  I didn't feel nervous or anything.  I got the full experience too.  I asperated.  I contaminated my needle.  I made osseous contact.  I did an infraorbital rather than in infiltration.  Man, what a good learning experience.  I just hope the next time I do injections they go a little smoother.  Hopefully I am past the learning curve.

It was rather comical that both of my patients fell asleep in the chair with me working on their mouths.  We're talking full-blown mouth breathing, borderline snoring.  But at least their mouths remained open so I could continue working.  When they would wake up, I would assure them that they were fine.  It was very reassuring to me that they were comfortable enough to fall asleep.  It was a good productive day with many learning experiences.