November 30, 2009

Last day of clinic! (For this semester, anyhow...) Feels good. We learned the PSR system (again) and passed off the PE. We also took a test on the clinic manual (failed it). Guess that will be my reading for the holiday. We learned how to be clinic assistants next semester and learned emergency protocol. See y'all in January!

August 26, 2009

Today we learned the hard task of saliva evacuation. Luckily I have done this more times than I've ever wanted to do. We also went over sterilization, personal protective equipment, exposure control set up. Our PPE and dress code is pretty strict. I guess my hair will be up every Monday and Wednesday for atleast the next year.

September 2, 2009

Today we learned how to sit. I would have saved myself a lot of pain if I would have known this as an assistant. Since our jobs are very demanding in the sense of repetitive motions, sitting for long amounts of time, and using the same muscles every day, it is vital to learn how to have proper positioning and erganomics. We learned the different positions for every surface of the teeth using the clock system. (8 through 12 o'clock)

September 14, 2009

We learned how to take blood pressures today. I had done it a few times before, but I am not very good at it. Hopefully I'll keep getting better and better. I had never seen vitals taken at a normal hygiene appointment in any private practice I've been to, but I learned that it is important in monitoring overall health since dental health and whole body health are so connected. It's also important in screening for high blood pressure. We're not allowed to see patients with high blood pressure without a physician's permission.

October 5, 2009

I scaled teeth today! Wow it is so much more complicated than I ever thought. Angulation, Adaptation, and Activation are the words of the day. You can definitely hurt someone if you aren't correctly doing any of those. We just worked on anterior teeth today, because apparently scaling posterior teeth is a whole different thing.

October 21, 2009

I really like Oral Hygiene Instruction. I love the education part of my job. I hope I'll be able to get good enough to make a difference in people's lives. I think a lot of people could save a lot of their dental problems if they knew how they were caused.

November 4, 2009

We learned how to sharpen our instruments. Ugh what a pain! Unfortunately we have to sharpen them to keep them at their best and most efficient quality. We also learned more about Eaglesoft (how to print off a walkout statement).

November 18, 2009

Loved being a patient today. There's nothing like showing up at school knowing you just get to lay in a dental chair all day. My teeth are all clean now, got the last two quadrants done, polishing, and fluoride. I got a new sealant and everything! I don't know when I'll get my teeth cleaned next, or my cavities filled! Next time in the clinic, I'll have my first patient... :S

November 23, 2009

First patient day. First day I felt like giving up. What a disaster! I made so many stupid mistakes and continued to feel more and more stessed and less and less confident. Luckily, my mom was very patient with me and I did end up getting good scores. I definitely learned a few lessons the hard way, though: 1. put the earpieces on the stethoscope TOWARDS your actual ear drums, 2. take x-ray retakes on the correct side of the mouth, 3. put recession measurements where it says "recession" and pocket depths where it says "pocket depths", otherwise you have to erase it all. What a fabulous day of education! :D

November 16, 2009

Today was essentially my last day of practice.... AHHHHH! I'm nervous. My next time as an operator will be for real! (Luckily my first patient is my mom :)) I did a lot better today and I'm getting the hang of things more and more. One of the instructors, Angelique, had me try some new instruments and although I was nervous, I liked getting used to some of the others we'll be using. We weren't really taught them at all... I passed off my sealant PE, which was great. I love doing sealants! On adults, atleast. :)

November 11, 2009

Happy Veteran's Day! Unfortunately we still have school today. :( Today was my first mock patient day. It went A LOT smoother than my nightmares were preparing me for. I am still struggling with scaling and probing, but everything else went great! I think what helped is I showed up 1/2 an hour early. It was so nice to feel prepared and organized before my patient even showed up. I passed off one of the last PE's and I scheduled my mom for the 23rd!

November 9, 2009

I'm getting quite sick of being a patient. I've never been a huge fan of the sound and feeling of getting my teeth scaled, but every 6 months I could handle. This once a week thing is getting to me. Luckily I'm the hygienist on Wednesday so I just get to deal with the stress of remembering everything we've learned instead!

November 2, 2009

More sand-blasting and nasty varnish today. The best part of the day was having time to practice scaling!!! I feel so much better. Which is good because we start mock patients next week and REAL patients in 3 weeks :) Only a few more PE's to go too....