last clinic day of the semester

Well today was our last day of clinic and because we got everything done we won't have to come back on wednesday. Today we went over emergency procedures and duties of a clinic assistant (which we will all will have the opportunity of experiencing next semester) and then our overall clinic reflections followed by a quiz. I have to admit it is nice to be almost finished with this semester, if I can get through finals I'll be able to enjoy my break. I think I'll survive.

REAL PATIENT DAY

Well today we saw our first real patient. I brought in my dad. It was very stressful but we both made it out alive :) Lets just say I should have picked an easier patient and by that I mean one requiring less charting, he was GREAT patient! but it took me forever just to chart the existing conditions. It was a lot of work but it was good practice and I was able to classify his mouth as a 2 which is one of our requirements. Overall it was a pretty hard day with so much to get done, but I hope to get better as I continue on.

Weber High Health Fair

Today I was able to go to the a health fair held at Weber High. We did free oral cancer screenings for the school's faculty. It was a good experience. There is a lot of basic information people don't know about and it feels good to give people a better understanding of their health. It's also nice to be able to give people options by informing them about affordable dental care from our dental and hygiene clinic. As I get back to working with the public it makes me realize how great it is, I am getting a little less nervous for next semester.

last PE!

Today I passed off my last PE for the semester (instrument sharpening), it was a good feeling. The majority of clinic I was the patient, it was relaxing and Whitnee did a good job. Wednesday she will finish up scaling and all of the other stuff then that will be it. Next Monday will be our REAL patient day. My dad is coming in, so I'm not too nervous, but it will be a good learning experience because I'm pretty sure he has calculus. So we are getting down to the wire. Next week is also thanksgiving and then right after that are our finals and when that is over it's break time and Christmas!

Mock Patient Day 2

Today was a good day. I ended up finishing with my mock patient and which consisted of OHI, scaling, sealant placement, fluoride and polishing. Yesterday in class we learned how to tell if there is calculus or white lesion and I was able to put that to use today. I could feel around with the explorer and knew it when I found the calculus that I then was able to remove. I am getting the hang of it all there are still just a few hard areas to reach. I am now getting better at probing since I finished that off today too. With this second practice day I feel I am better prepared for when I see my real patient in two weeks.

Mock Patient

Today was rough, it was the start of our mock patient day. I was super tired and unprepared which didn't help me out much. I had to redo a lot of things and wasn't very organized but luckily I had a great patient who endured it all! All I can say is at this point looking into the future I wonder how I'll ever get all of the requirements done on a real pt in less than an hour... But they say with practice it will come, and I hope they are right. We will continue finishing everything on Wednesday and then next week it will be my turn to be the patient!

Today in clinic I passed off the air/powder polishing PE and the fluoride PE. The air powder polishing can be kind of tricky depending on the area your working in, which is the same for everything else the very most back teeth are hard to reach! Fluoride is pretty basic they have this new stuff called varnish that you basically spread on one whole arch at a time and it will stay there until the pt brushes their teeth, a great alternative to the lovely foam fluoride. We are getting close to our mock patient day, better get prepared!

SEALANTS

Today was good we learned how to place sealants. I placed 3 on Stephanie and they turned out great. I hadn't placed sealants for quite awhile but I picked it back up fast. I also passed off my selective polishing PE and got to practice more on air powder polishing. I will have to redo my dental screening PE which was altogether quite confusing to begin with but it will be good practice to do it again and do it right. I really was happy about today and how it went, I actually enjoyed clinic which sadly doesn't always happen for me. I hope to just keep on getting better :)

air powder super messy polishing

That is right, we learned how to air powder polish today, basically its a really fine salt mixture that comes out of a high powered tip along with water, its nasty and its hard to use. Don't spray towards the gingiva or any soft tissue and you'll be fine. We also learned how to polish with the prophy angle and toothpaste, it was fun to be doing that again because I'd done it before while in office. We passed off our dental screening PE which I had reviewed the night before but am pretty sure I messed up a few things, I will know when I get it back. Overall today went along pretty fast and I have one class tomorrow then the weekend!

Forgot to blog on Monday... That was two days ago and I can't really remember it haha. Oh yes we learned instrument sequencing and then practiced scaling. I still need to get more practice in but I think I'm getting better. We also passed off our intraoral camera PE and our OHI PE. Out of my whole stack of PE's that was the last one which will change tomorrow when we started accumulating them again. Somehow we manage to get things done even when it seems impossible. The semester will be ending pretty quick and it is crazy how fast time has gone! It's a little bit scary to think we will be done with 1/4 of the program. Halloween is this week and then before we know it it will be November.

today I was a patient

Today I was a patient for the majority of class it went well except the my xerostomia (dry mouth) was really acting up today :( Karlie did a good job though and I was happy to relax for the most part. I ended passing off two PE's towards the end of class and then we had a pod wrap on "how to talk to your patients" I took my anatomy test last night and only missed one and tomorrow we have radiology then a guest speaker who will be giving us a new ultrasonic toothbrush! Sometime this weekend I'll be taking Costley's test, I am going to study today since I haven't done much yet. I will let you know how that goes, and then next week is halloween, should be fun!

our first practice day

Well I passed off three PE's today and had a full practice day to see a patient (a fellow student) I took her vital signs and messed up the first time on BP and got scolded so I'll never be doing that wrong again! I passed off on probing with the "right" probes and it wasn't so bad. I also got some scaling done which I am liking more and more each time. I really have a hard time getting every detail and I usually always miss one tiny thing which is so annoying to me! Karlie told me to get a check list, I think it's a good idea :) There are a lot of things I need to work on which is why we get to practice it but overall the day went well.

successful day in clinic

Today in clinic I  passed off my explorer PE and instrument classification PE and then we learned how to chart existing restorations and conditions of the teeth. I got to practice on the lovely karlie and I even got to scale her mandibular anteriors, it was quite fun! I even got done early which never happens for me so overall today went good. I am preparing for my 5th radiology test and hope to take it tomorrow. Then I am going up to logan for fall break to see my family and hopefully get some more studying done for other tests next week. There is a lot to do all of the time but I am getting through it. Again it depends on the day but days like this one are great :)

SCALING

I get it! I understand scaling!!! I have completely forgotten how to explore but at least I'm making some progress :) Today had its good and bad just like any other day. Keeping a positive attitude is hard but it sure makes a difference when you do. I failed my first PE, mostly because I wanted to get it out of the way but I wasn't prepared. It's better to get a good score and take your time then doing it spur of the moment and fail, now I will be more wise in the future. Clinic was somewhat frustrating but as I watched my partner scale my teeth and listened to our TA's instructions after coming home and practicing it's making much more sense. I think I can I think I can I think I can, we should all read the book about thomas the train :)

101 details to remember all at once

light grasp, stack together, pinky in, fingers curved, toe leading, slight angle, adapt to tooth, walking motion, turn turn turn, interproximal, up on fulcrum, move your wrist, elbows down, back straight, feet on floor, blah blah blah try doing ALL of this at ONCE! siiiiiiiiiigh.  As you can see today we started scaling. I knew what they were saying and I could see what they were doing but it didn't register in my brain, your either focusing on one thing and not the other or trying to remember everything at once thus failing. All I can say as I better practice! And I'll keep this short and sweet so I can do just that.

today was a good day (tiresome, but good)

Well today in clinic we started probing! I have to say I am not so good at it just yet, it is very different working on my typodont and a real person; not to mention I found out that all of my probes were dysfunctional and need to be sent back to the company... (you think that this highly expensive instruments would be of high quality) Anyway I passed of my vital signs PE and was able to come home and study for my anatomy test. I was really struggling with dental anatomy, I mean come on it's anatomy it shouldn't be hard but I had the hardest time making sense of it. After long hours of studying and a better balancing of my day I took it and got a perfect score! I get easily discouraged when I don't do so great but I have decided you have good days and bad days, I have had some fairly good scores, a few really bad ones and a couple of really great ones, it just depends on the day (and my level of preparation) All I can do is do my best and hopefully it will be enough :)

Pile of PE's

This is gonna be short, I have the stubborn molars to memorize! Today in clinic was quite stressful, we had a lengthy health history PE to pass off and it just so happens I ended up being the last person to pass it off so instead of getting out at 4:20 it was 5:15... but at least it got completed! Now I need to pass of all of the others. Today we learned how to do an intra oral exam and how to hold your instruments/fulcrum, which is a lot harder than it looks... Well so long for now, back to the books!

I've seen better days...

Well today started out rough. First of all my alarm didn't go off and I woke up at 7:40 (we are supposed to arrive to clinic at 7:50) I ended being about 20 minutes late to class. Thankfully my other pod members had set up my chair before I got there. Secondly I forgot to sterilize the instrument set up for that day and didn't remember until last night, luckily my peer pal let me use one of her packets, which saved my butt (not good to get two bad marks for the day) In clinic we learned how to do an extra-oral exam and proper positioning of the mirror and probe as well as where to place your hands to reduce strain and support your weight as you work inside the mouth. I am getting the hang of body positioning and how to view all areas of teeth most effectively. I have now taken three tests for my classes and have done pretty well on all of them. I am gearing up for our first big hygiene test that opens Saturday and preparing to take another test tomorrow morning. I am looking forward to attend the Utah Dental Hygiene Association convention on friday and hope I learn a lot and receive some great samples :) You should hear from me again next week!

Oops I forgot to blog yesterday. It was another fun filled day in clinic! I say that only somewhat sarcastically. We learned how to take a health history which I had no idea the process is so detailed, but it really makes sense why we do it. We got to look up medications in our dental drug referenece book and it's crazy how many side effects can come from one little pill! To me the health history is one of the most important parts of the appointment, which is kind of stressful to think that it falls under our responsibility as the hygienist, but nonetheless it really is a key to understanding the patient and their lifestyle. I am constantly learning and for the most part enjoying each class, I just hope I can remember everything so I'll be prepared for when I work as a professional. I just need to keep on keeping on :)

Today was our third time in clinic. I passed off my second PE on personal protective equiptment and we were taught two others. We got to work on eachother today (real mouths and all). At first I was having a hard time (sorry heather) I haven't been in an office for over a year now, but it comes back to you eventually. We also got to take some sweet x-rays on Mr. Dexter and he was quite cooperative. During lunch I went to the library to print off some modules and PE's. I am pretty sure I used more than one tree because I accidently printed the same 70 page module twice, go me! Oh well the point is that I have it now and that's all that matters, although I do feel a smidge bad about those trees...

better late than never!

We are supposed to blog after every clinic class and I am remembering this just now. Today I passed off my first PE and learned the second one. Clinic went well and surprisingly wearing my over-sized, heavy, albeit fashionable lab jacket was not that bad! I also tried on a pair of "Loupes" they are pretty fantastic and I just might have to get some (someday). I am starting to get the hang of my schedule and have been becoming more organized. I know getting in a routine will save me for the next two years,  I just have to make it happen. Tonight I have read 3 of my 4 chapters for class tomorrow and am now realizing that is pretty good considering reading 3 chapters a week per each class is a little unrealistic I mean we do need to eat and sleep occasionally... right? Well I have already spent way to much time on this post, so this is the end for now.

Today is our first official day of the Dental Hygiene program! I got little sleep last night so right about now I'm pretty tired... I have quite alot to do today and hopefully I will get everything done and organized. I sure hope I get the hang of everything: blog, class, clinic, and all that is required! I will do great! (I just need to keep telling myself that) Well so long for now I shall return... hopefully :)

There is a first time for everything...

Here I am starting a blog, my first post sent to you from WSU. Go Dental Hygiene!