Air Powder Polish, Prophy Angles, and Dental Screening PE!!

Today was really fun!! We were taught how to use the air powder polisher and the prophy angles. Then we were able to practice it on each other. The air powder polisher can take tarnish off of a penny! That is so cool! I worked on McCall again today and she braved through the air powder polisher for a long time! I felt really bad once it was my turn in the chair and I found out how uncomfortable it was! The powder tastes nasty and it shoots out at your lips and cheeks. The hair barriers were fun though! I might be converted to using them instead of having to worry about pulling my hair back.... ;) I still have powder all over my face!! It is kind of gross.
The Prophy angle is so hard to keep at the right rpm's!! It just zooms away! ha ha. I need to decided if I want to use the rheostat with my right or my left foot. Lauren says she used her left, but I think I like the right foot... we shall see.

We also did the Dental Screening PE today. That was a huge thing!! I don't know how I did yet, but my fingers are crossed... although I already know some if the stuff that I did wrong. Dern it!!

Well today was fun!! Hasta Luego!

A Relaxed Monday

On Monday this week we talked about OHI. That was the PE that we were to pass off. I had to explain to McCall how periodontal disease and caries is developed, avoided, and the risk factors of both. It was fun to try to instruct her on how to take care of her teeth... but really hard to explain! I think I need to work on that!

We had some practice time as well. I used the 204 S for the first time. It is really fun! It curves around the tooth a whole lot so there is less need for me to crank the instrument. McCall is a great patient!!

My turn to be the Dental Hygienist!

Today was a whirlwind!!! Holy Smokes! 5 PE's in one day! Let's not play that game again! YIKES!!

Madi was my patient all day and I had to do everything all the way through OHI. Probing, and universal instrumentation was pretty rough today. Her tissues were really tight so it was hard to go subgingivally. Adaptation, Anterior Instrumentation, and Treatment Planning weren't too bad though. I didn't feel like I had enough time to do anything all the way right today. Taking pictures with the intraoral camera was fun! Charting was rough. I just can't seem to figure out what to write where. I was surprised at how well my probing depths matched Instructor Hemsley's. They all didn't match, but it was pretty close the whole time.

I need to work more on probing, posterior instrumentation, and charting!!

THE END.

A Day in the Life of a Patient

On Monday I arrived at clinic with the wonderful surprise of finding out that I would be the patient for the whole day!! I was Madi's patient so I was in a window seat all day! It was wonderful! Madi had to do everything that she would do with a normal patient all the way through OHI. I got to have the disclosing agent in my mouth again, not my favorite part! It was good to watch her do everything in order. It is helping to put all the pieces together! We pulled out the intraoral camera, that is really fun!

Nice day of relaxation!!

Dental Charting... (The green sheet)

Today was a great relax and practice day. We learned how to chart on the Dental Hygiene Assessment Form, the green one. When we have a new patient we go through their whole mouth and chart all previous restorations, and suspicions lesions, and abnormalities. This is another one of those things that is going to need some eye recognition practice. How can you tell the difference from a sealant and a composite filling?? That is rough! It's kind of fun that we get to color stuff on the sheet. I think I'm going to try to chart the stuff in my family member's mouths too!

I worked with madi today and she pretty much had her whole mouth memorized, so the charting when really fast. She was a great patient and let me play around with the scalers in her mouth, in the extra time that we had. I was really grateful to her for letting me practice.

Relaxing day in clinic.... loved it!!

Disclosing!

Yesterday in clinic we learned about OHI. (Oral Hygiene Instruction... I think)
It was a fun day because we did a lot of work on each other. We were taught how to find the PFI (Plaque Free Index) using disclosing agent. It was a picture taking day! Tori was our first example and I gathered that she wasn't to excited about it. ha ha. Tanya and I got to work on each other again, which was fun! We have some good times! It is a bit difficult to count the surfaces for the PFI. I'm not sure if it is all the pink places or all the colored places. And how do you tell if it has enough pink to be counted?? I just don't know. Practice makes perfect though, right? After the disclosing and PFI, we brushed and flossed each other's teeth. That was real fun! I like that part!

I just remembered! Before we did the disclosing we checked the gingiva for any irregularities and gingivitis. That is tough! We are going to have to train our eyes to look and find the correct things! Right now, for me, I'm lucky if I find an irregularity, I missed a lot until Intructor Chaffe pointed them out.

It was a fun day yesterday, and we all left with blue tongues! ha ha.

Posterior Scaling!!

Today we pulled out the big guns (The Barnhart)!! Posterior Scaling ladies and gentlemen! YIKES!! Ha ha. Professor Costley said that was the hardest skill that we will learn, and I believe her! Adaptation, Angulation, and Activation are 3 of the many things that need to be remembered while scaling. You've also got to think of the correct working end, fulcroming correctly, being able to see what you are doing, and trying not to make your partner bleed! Luckily I brought by glasses so I wasn't getting all fogged up like I was on Monday!

It was way fun scaling huge black chunks of calculus off of my typodont! Kim said that I was doing well so I felt pretty good about today! I did make Sarah bleed a few times, but luckily she's a sweetheart and didn't hate me for cutting her! It's a pretty funny thing that while we are learning this trade it is totally ok to cut each other and make each other bleed!! ha ha. And it is expected! We sit in clinic and let an amateur attack our tender soft oral tissue with a blade that can carve away your fingernails!! It is SO GREAT!!!

Oh another thing to remember is the wave, door nob, and pull of the wrist and not the fingers. I also need to remember to keep my angle open enough and twist towards the toe while I am in the col area!! I think Kim told me that a million times today! ha ha. While I was working on Sarah my hands were getting so tired I was shaking!! I had to take breaks every now and then to give my hands a rest! I need to strengthen those muscles!!

I brought home my instruments and typodont for some weekend practice!! WOO WOO!! Who's going to voluneer?? ... mom???

Breathing: Exhaling and Inhaling in a regular pattern...

The first clinic day in October! The semester is flying by! Today started out pretty rough, it wasn't a great morning, it was raining, and I forgot my typodont. Luckily Karlie let me borrow hers. She totally saved me! We started scaling for the first time today! WOO WOO!! We are real, calculus removing dental hygienist... well almost. ha ha. We just did the anterior today, it was really fun!! I missed Tanya today, but McCall and MeChel filled in for her. They were really fun to work with, we all took turns making each other bleed. Yikes!! It wasn't too bad though. While I was working on McCall I went to exhale and realized that I wasn't even breathing!! ha ha I think that it was in part because I was concentrating so hard, and part because I was trying not to fog up my goggles. (I forgot the perscription lenses today.) Ha ha I am going to have to practice the in and out breathing like a pregnant woman. I need to get better at adapting as well.

McCall was a really good sport and didn't complain once about all the blood that she was losing. The day started rough, but as I concentrated on what I was doing and learning I really enjoyed this clinic day!! Can't wait for Wednesday!!

Hasta!!