Day of nasty tastes

We started the day out watching Professor Costley demonstrate the air powder polisher and the rubber cup polishing. I have to admit that once we all got decked out in our gear we were looking mighty fine. Professor Costley kinda looked like the lunch lady. We wore hair nets, and this plastic/garbage bag looking thing so we wouldn't get sprayed really bad. But after being the patient I see that the person who is getting worked on needs something to cover their entire face because mine is SALTY!!
GROSS GROSS GROSS tastes! It started with the air powder polisher (sodium bicarbonate). It sprayed through our whole mouth (taking great care to stay away from composites, crowns, etc) and I thought I was going to vomit from the taste of the salt. Once that was rinsed out then Emily polished my teeth with toothpaste and that would have been the best part of the day, but she has the ProHealth stuff that I can't stand! Then to top it all off, this poopy tasting fluoride varnish goes on our teeth and then just stays there! It is slimy feeling and I feel like I haven't brushed my teeth for a couple of weeks (now I know how Marianne felt when she didn't brush her teeth for a few days). I can't wait to get out of clinic and go brush me teeth, and I want to watch Pirates of the Caribbean, but that doesn't have anything to do with clinic so I guess it is time to go!

Tata for now!

Practice makes perfect...hopefully!

So many instruments so little time!! Today was another practice day where we have partners and we switch and practice. It was really busy because everyone had to pass off their intra-oral camera and OHI PE and then we were encouraged to practice using different instruments throughout the mouth. I tried using the 204S and Dr. Hanson gave me some really good tips and advice on how to better use it. It is so awesome to have such wonderful professors who have worked in offices and have aquired so much knowledge through years of practice and then they pass it on to us. They are the best! I am excited for next time when we get to learn more about something other than scaling!
TTFN!!!

My turn for everything!!!

Today it was finally my turn to have the whole clinic session to myself to do whatever I wanted!!! Actually I had to do the stuff we were assigned, but that was still a lot of fun. I was with Heather today and she was my patient and I was the operator. I got to see how long it really takes to get everything preliminary taken care of before you can actually get in the mouth and start scaling. I really like how thorough we have to be in school because it shows how many different things the patient can have wrong that needs to be assessed to ensure the patient is receiving the best treatment possible. I am glad we have some practice clinics so we can all get more profficient!

Everything!!!

Today was the first day that we went through everything (HHx, HHRx, OD, and everything!!). It took a long time and it showed me how you have to be really conscientous of how efficient you are using your time. If you dawdle at all you will get really behind and the patient will have to come back a lot, and they might not like sitting in our beautiful clinic for hours on end. You learn a lot from being worked on concerning how you will treat your patient and things you want to do and things you want to avoid. I was with Heather today and she did pretty good at explaining the things she was doing. I think it is easier to see things when you are the patient versus the operator because you aren't feeling the stress of getting things done. We didn't switch today so I didn't get to get in any mouths, and that was kinda sad, but Wednesday I will have the whole time!! Yeehaw!!

Dental Screening

Today we learned how to chart a patients full mouth. From bite classifications, to caries, to restorations! I was with Adrienne and we ROCKED THE HOUSE! Adrienne passed of her probing on me, I don't like having probing done on me, but she did pretty good. I know that I will need a lot of practice charting because there are so many things and they are all different. But that is what we are doing in school so I can't complain, practice practice practice!

PFI%

Today was all sorts of fun. It all started with watching Brook getting disclosed! Lots of purple and pink! Professor Costley forgot to put vaseline on her lips so she had some crazy blue-ish/purple-ish lips. Karen and I were together again today, and we went over tissues pertaining to size, contour, and consistancy. Then the embarassing part of having that oh-so-tasty disclosing dye spread throughout my entire mouth to show everywhere that I am missing or not brushing well enough. I thought I was doing pretty good, but I have areas that I need to work on! I use a flosser and I love using flossers so I probably won't change, but I just need to work on getting both sides of my papilla when I do it.  All in all today was great and it went really fast. I tried to tell Karen a joke, but I stink at telling jokes so it wasn't even funny. I will have to think of one for wednesday and practice telling it to Bryce so I don't look so stupid when I tell it in clinic. Tata for now!

Posterior Instrumentation

After today we have accomplished every area of the mouth in exploring, probing, and scaling. Jodie and I worked together today and first we made each other treatment plans on Eaglesoft (p.s. I hate Eaglesoft!). We are actually coming along in our journey to become hygienists!  Posterior scaling isn't as hard as anterior scaling. For one, I think that I am less nervous to go subgingivally when there isn't a sharp point that makes my patients bleed! But I did pretty good today and I didn't make Jodie bleed, except for a couple of times. Sorry Jodie! It is so much fun to be learning so much and I am having so much fun!!! I can't wait until we can do extraoral fulcrums!!!

Finally!! Some scaling! (Sorry Kayla!!!)

Well today was our first day actually scaling each others teeth...and it was pretty awesome!! Kayla did so good with her scaling, it didn't even hurt once. I am pretty sure that I stabbed her a few times and made her bleed, but she said she wasn't holding it against me and that we could still be friends. There are so many things to think of when you are scaling. You have to make sure you are pulling with your wrist instead of your fingers, adapt the tip apically, turn the face towards the tooth, pull up instead of rotate...and so much more! Kayla was an awesome patient because she would encourage me to go deeper when I was a chicken and didn't want to hurt her and she didn't jump out of the chair and leave the room crying, I consider this day a success! Tata til Wednesday!