see ya later!

Well, today is the last day of clinic and we are going to be taking a quiz and talking things over. I am grateful for this semester. I have learned things that I hadn't planned on learning and I have accomplished much more than I imagined. I have only had 1-2 days that were truely frustrating, but on those days I also grew the most. I want to really retain all that we have been taught over the break. I am even concidering bringing my instruments home to practice on someone.. we'll see.. I am also super excited about next semester and our future patients and the friendships that we have started together. Until next time!!

First Patient!!

From start to finish I had my very first patient. Daniel came in to be my 'victim' and I was really grateful. The night before, he told me that he had been tested and had higher than normal blood pressure. Because of that, I ended up staying up all night thinking about it. I didn't sleep so we got up super early, ate and were at the clinic by 7:40am. I wanted to be sure to be ready. By 8:00am we started and my temperature had risen. I was moving as fast as I could and thinking of everything to keep myself in the green. I didn't want to mess up anything. My OD check went so well!! I was really impressed by that and the x-rays came out pretty much awesome. We finished OHI (I need to work on presentation of results to patients) and then barely started scaling (like one surface of one tooth) and the TA said we needed to finish up and walk our patient out. I was the first one done and out of there and I was excited to see how well everything flowed. Prof. Hemsley seemed pretty impressed with my performance too.. that made me feel like a million bucks! I just can't believe that we will be able to do so much in much less time!

Passing off PEs

Emergency preparedness is always so exciting to me. I love to learn about what it is that I should do when someone is in trouble. I don't think i have ever been in an actual situation and I would hope that my basic training would be sufficient to help. I was the patient for 2 people so they could do sealents.. i don't think i am a huge fan of sealents but i would still Rx them to kids. they just feel so funny to my tongue. I also got to pass off 2 pe's. first was Air/powder polishing. I really like it and I felt really good when my patient said that i didn't hurt her.. I also did sharpening, but my instruments are pretty sharp already and I didn't see a huge difference.. oh well..

what a day..

I thought I was doing so good.. I was here in clinic early and was ready and set up everything i could possibly think of.. I went to get my patient and while she was swishing my professor came to humiliate me in front of everyone saying that it was already 13min after and i still didn't have a patient in the chair.. i tried to seem calm but as soon as she turned the hot tears came.. my patient was understanding and so were the rest of the girls.. good thing. After I gained my composure the rest of the appt went wonderfully... I was able to determine her OD correctly and then I scaled all 4 quad with no mistakes.. good thing I had such a great patient.. I really love this work and I want to do a good job... that is probably why i get so sensitive about little things.. I still don't feel like I can completely see every angle of each tooth so i'll work on chair and patient possitions..

PSR and More!!

This time I got to have my pt for the ENTIRE session.. I think it runs a WHOLE lot better when you have the time to go through everything.. I am grateful that my patient was calm and complient.. sure makes the day that much better.. I really felt good about today. We learned about PSR so I did that.. seems I still am a little heavy sometimes on the probe, I scaled a few teeth just to get a good practice and we found some sheet calculus or decalcification.. I couldn't tell and Prof. Costley came and checked.. I practiced the polisher because I want to be more controlled and then we did a sealant.. i really like them.. I love doing the articulating tape and scraping the excess off.. I still don't know the name of the instrument.. it's like cliedodisco.. or something.. I also did 2 fluoride treatments and did my walk out.. what a good day..

ultra sonic

I didn't think it was possible, but we used the ultra sonic scaler on a typodont! It was pretty awesome. It was fun to see how the lighter you were the more "calculus'' came off.. If I saw some and pushed harder.. it took longer to get it off.. crazy..I also was really excited to sharpen instruments. I remember when Gail taught me and we spent most of the day in the back sharpening and talking about hygiene school. i am so grateful to be here and am excited to keep learning more. My mom saw my anatomy skull at my place this weekend and I think she really would have been a wonderful hygienist.. i wish she would go back to school..

happy halloween...

we got to polish each other's teeth today and we had a really great time.. I can't believe how difficult it was for me to control the pedal.. i'll really have to get a feel for that.. I am glad that Jessica was my partner because she is such a great patient. we also did fluoride treatments and the varnish is still not my favorite!! oh.. I passed the anterior scaling PE and even found some calculus to scrape off!! awesome..

no burnishing!

When you have the correct angulation, adaptation and activation the calculus comes right off.. but when you don't.. it pokes the poor patient right in the gums and makes you look bad.. it also can burnish the calculus.. that means that you are basically sanding the stuff and making it nice and smooth but it is still on the tooth.. I felt more like a hygienist today because I actually got some plaque and calculus off and could see the difference in good and bad angulation. I have really been working on rolling my instrument.. i still feel awkward in my fulcrums and my hands get really tired...

sore fingertips

Posterior instruments were what we got out today. I was really grateful for the one on one teaching that I had. It was great to hear of experiences and fulcrums that make getting to one surface or another much easier. I couldn't believe how sore my fingertips got (and still are) from fulcruming and reaching and scaling. I didn't pass off my PE last week on Dental Screening, so i did it again and did much better. I also passed off the PE for knowing my instruments.. that was good..

as fast as you can...

we went through every thing that we learned today starting from the 'hello, go ahead and swish this for 30sec--to scaling the anterior teeth. I still don't know if i am taking the blood pressure just right and i really need to be better at adaptation when i probe and scale.. and probably when i explore too. One thing that I haven't done before is the DENT. I looked at every restoration and pit and groove on the teeth.. that was interesting. .

roll roll roll!!

Typodonts with white-out all over the anteriors is definately a beginning to scaling for the first time. The entire time, I felt that I was slipping and losing control of my fulcrum; I was frightened for my future patients. Surprisingly, when I did have a patient in my chair it was much easier to place my finger rest and to adapt and roll my instruments. We are getting much more one on one instruction and at times it makes me nervous, and other times, I find myself learning a lot from knowing that I am being watched. I really like that we are always checking on one another..

going through it all..

I really liked that today we were partnered up with someone we have never worked on before.. It was good to hear that other pods are learning and struggling with the same things as we do.. I also really loved going through an 'entire appointment'. For us, of course, that gets us through the HHx, Extra and intra oral exam, and a little probing and exploring for Calculus.. I hear that on Wednesday we will be using scalers!!! That will be a thrilling clinic!!

disclosed..

As we practiced disclosing, I thought about whether or not this technique is really acurate with measuring PFI. Although you may clean your teeth really well, you could still end up with plaque on several surfaces, thus receiving a negative PFI reading. A Pt who also has plaque on all surfaces because of not cleaning their teeth may have significantly more plaque on those same surfaces and yet still receives the same PFI as our cleaner pt. I think there needs to be a better way of measuring this. For a relatively clean pt to hear that they have a low PFI would be discouraging rather than helpful, and for a dirty pt to hear that they are at a decent PFI without even trying doesn't seem useful either.

over loaded and forgetting

Clinic is becoming more and more valuable to me as we learn and apply technique and time with a 'patient'. I am concerned with how much I am learning and how much I am retaining.. I think it is important to have more review so that these lessons become a part of my everyday practice and not something of which I am constantly reminding myself. My biggest struggle today was chair possitions for reaching certain parts of the mouth.. I felt that when I left I had forgotten all correct possitions and was just where ever I could be to see.. I need to go through it again, step by step.

we found a find!!

Last week in Clinic, we started from the very beginning with BP, HHX, and Extra/Intra oral exams. All was going great.. I secretly knew that I had some lesions on my palate that were glowing red and painful. I still don't really know what caused them. My partner was going through the motions and rubbed my palate and then said,"Everything looks normal.". I was hesitant, but then asked," So, did you see those sores on the roof of my mouth?" She then was a little taken back and took her mirror and LOOKED. There they were and because she had rubbed them, were a bit more inflamed than before. I was excited too because she could reflect the image at my mirror and, for the first time, I got to see them too.. We called over the other students and instructors to see our 'find'. I now know how very easy it is to miss a find when you are going through motions. I need to be more observant and alert.

probe away, my friend!

ok, we had such a good day. I felt like we got right to the point, (pun intended) and started probing. It was really fun to see the different probe depths.. I was facinated at how BOP happens so easily. BOP even happens on seemingly beautiful-healthy gums. Janet and I finished early enough to even pass off a few PE's. It is good to be on top of this class; I don't stress so much and even feel more focused. The radio station that we have playing during this class is really awesome.. lovin' it!
ps.. i should eat more before this class.. i get so hungry!!

we are adapting!!

Exploring has become a lot better since just this monday. I think we are more confident and have better understanding of the instruction. I really like our TA's and the other instructors because they are right there to help you to rememeber EVERYTHING. I need to practice taking Blood Pressure; i had a hard time hearing it on Jacki's arm. I got to feel the tiniest spinckle of calculus and I had some for Jacki to feel too!.. experience..

just exploring!

Jessica was such a good patient today. I was really impressed with her gentle hand-she only poked me a few times.. Good thing too, cuz then it was my turn to explore her mouth and around the gums and it got a little poky every once in a while. I saw some real life calculus and felt the 'calculus click'. I am really going to enjoy this as we learn more. I feel a bit behind on the PE's and my neck is a little tired-probably need to work on my posture.

mirrors in the mouth

I have to be totally honest. Today was not a good day for me. We were asked to use the mirror on one another and find the different anatomical parts of the inner mouth. I was super excited to find these on my partner and even felt pretty comfortable doing it... but when it was my turn to be in the chair, i felt my heart pounding in my chest and i had to refrain from fleeing!! I was scared and even had feelings of irritation. I understand that we are all learning, so i wouldn't have us do anything different.. but i noticed that i need more confidence in my partner and be more specific with her about what she can do to ease into my mouth. I think i also need to be exposed to more than just one partner.. that way i can see more than one mouth and i can feel more comfortable with others in my mouth..

open wide

We got to have our first look at the inside of a patient's mouth today. Of course, the mouths were those of our fellow classmates, but we had our mirror in hand and a Q-tip to focus our folcrum and scaling.. WE all enjoyed the, ever so popular, extra-oral head and neck exam. Everyone got to have their face and neck massaged at least 3 times.. at the end, we started from the very beginning with the patient's HHx, extra-oral exam, and then we motioned the mirror/scaler in the right directions with our folcrum. i loved it..

let me take your pulse

Taking each other's pulse, respirations and blood pressure proved to be the most exciting part of clinic today. I had only taken blood pressure once before on Amy Lou in Dr. B's office under the direction of Gail. I really had a hard time hearing the syonotic tap-tap. By the third 'patient', I had figured out a little better my equipment and where i wanted my hands and what i wanted to be paying attention to and i heard the tap-tap loud and clear. I took her blood pressure twice, just to make sure.

more hhx

With our dear Mrs. Costley we went over another health history and gained a better understanding for the DIHD. Looking up medications and their effects on dentistry takes a high level attention. My "patient" spoke only spanish and i was asked to review his HHx. It was super awesome to read and understand and interpret spanish with my portuguese skills. I passed off my PE for setting up the oportory for a Patient and Mrs. Costley was my patient. I had her swish with listorine and everything.. it made me miss being an assistant.

do you take any medications?

While most of the clinic was spent receiving instruction on someday being a CA, we did get to learn about taking a health history. i love the little abbreviations like HHx, Tx, Rx ect. I think it makes the HHx look so official and yet is so simple to write and understand. I find myself concerned about passing off PE's and feel a rush to get them out of my way. So i did one today right at the end. I do think that time would be used more effectively if there was more preparation of TA's and their presentations and if the demonstration instruction papers were updated. Other than that I am seeing great amounts of learning and we are all becoming more aware of our responsibilities as future Dental hygienists of America.

dxxtr shots!

Simply because of one day's experience in Clinic we all discovered a newer calmer mode. I was grateful to have a TA to spend more time with us on chair positions. I discovered how comfortable it was to have an intrument in hand and to pick a little white paint off our model's plastic teeth. Dxxtr also came out to play today and we took some really great shots of his real life human chompers!! The great thing is that he really does chomp and does such a great job of holding the bitewing tabs!

First day of School

I have awaited this day for many months and awoke at 5:17am without an alarm. I am excited to be here and feel ready to learn. My schedule has been adjusted a bit and I have yet to get all my books and supplies so I have the sensation of being behind. I'll really work at getting all set for this week and the rest of the semester. Lots to remember.