3.5 hr patient day and didn't clean teeth

First real patient day and it was definitely a long day. I really thought that I was prepared and that it was going to be a smooth day. I also thought that I could get to scaling and cleaning Adam's teeth but I barely got to disclosing Adam and telling him that he needs to floss more. I got slowed down with probing and also with x-rays. Unfortunately, I was not able to open up Adam's premolar and canine and had to take two supplementals. During the Christmas break I am going to work on probing on my typodont because my biggest problem with probing is my indirect vision. The nice thing is that when Adam comes back I don't have to take his vitals, probe, and do his health history again. I should be able to scale all of his teeth in 3 hours....hopefully. It was definitely a long difficult day but hopefully i can remember everything that I did and just try to make it better. I need to really remember to educate my patient. I didn't do a very good job on OHI but I will try and go over that with Adam when he comes back. It was really nice to show Adam why it was going to be a 3 hour visit. Now it is going to be a 6 hour visit, but I don't know if I am going to find 12 people who are going to want to go through that. I need a miracle to help me find more patients.

Last day of mock patients bring on the real ones

I have to say that today was rough in the sense that I hate working on the left side and in my mirror, but it was a great day. It made me more excited about Monday but makes me again realize how bad I am with indirect vision. I got told several times today to work on my posture but I feel like I can't because I am too far away from my patient and cannot see what I am doing. I am also really slow at everything. Setting up, tearing down, working in the chart, cleaning teeth, polishing, etc. I am just slow and how to get faster or my patients are going to get really annoyed at me. I feel like all of the patients that I have had so far have helped me out so much so it is going to be weird having someone in the chair who can't answer my questions. I guess I will see how everything goes on Monday with the first patient. I will work on making sure that use my mirror properly and really focus making sure that I don't stress my self out because I just start making mistakes and making the patient feel uncomfortable.

1 wk till real patient day

Yesterday was mock patient day and I was the patient. I was able to be a patient for two different people now and I have to say that they are really good at being he clinician. I hope that I can be just as good as Jen Reese and Karlie. Tomorrow I am the clinician and we will see if I can do it just as well as them.

More like a Hurricane instead of a breeze

One day I hope that everything will start making sense. I have to say that I am the most scattered brain person in clinic. I need to work on making sure that everything is ready and that I really pay attention to what I have to do next. For some reason I would put my gloves on and realize that I have to put the patient's glasses on. I went through so many gloves that I didn't need to and because I would just forget certain things. The other thing that I need to work on is the computer. I did not know how to do my treatment plan. I now know how to do it but I think that was my biggest downfall and it shouldn't have been. Scaling should have been the worst thing for me. I really need to work on indirect vision. It is going to be the hardest thing for me to do but I really need to make sure that I get it down. It would help me be faster at probing and cleaning once I got it down. My goals for next week are to not have mistakes with the computer and to really work on he ultrasonic. I don't know how hygienist like the ultrasonic. I really don't know how to use it on the linguals. I am really happy to have today over with and I am grateful to have such an awesome patient as Karlie. She can be my patient anytime but I am sure that she wished that she wasn't my patient. Just one more week of mock patients and then on to the real patients. I hope that I can be ready.

What a breeze

Yesterday was the first day of mock patient day and it was a great day. I didn't poke anyone in the gums and didn't make anyone cry. I had a really stress free day but then again I can't really do that when I am the patient. I have to say that Karlie did a really good job. She wasn't 100% confident in herself but she didn't stress herself out. She was gentle and amazingly fast. I was feeling completely jealous at her skills. Tomorrow is my first experience with mock patient day and I hope that I can do as good of a job as Karlie. I need to remember to pay attention to my instruments so that I don't stab her lips, cheeks, and other body parts. I need to also remember that I am not perfect at it yet and that I will make mistakes but I need to grow from those mistakes. I really hope that I don't get lost with everything and that I can get things done quickly and proficiently. It is really difficult to follow after Karlie but I really tried to grasp what she did and hopefully I can be as good. My goal for tomorrow is to really get more comfortable with scaling and with the ultrasonic. These are two skills that I really don't know what I am doing and hope that I will be able to ask questions so that I can get better at them. We'll see what will happen. Hopefully Karlie will talk to me after tomorrow.

Starting to feel like crunch time

Clinic today was really good. We first learned how to sharpen our tools and I have to say that it would be nice to find someone that wanted to do it for me so that I don't screw my tools up. I would love to keep my tools functional and sharp. We then had time to pass off our air-powder polishing PE and the key to it is making sure the water and the salt are as low as possible. It didn't hurt as bad today as it did before and making sure the HVac was as close to the tooth as possible was pretty nice so that the patient didn't have salt all over their face. It was really nice today because I had enough time to practice a little probing and some anterior scaling. It still isn't comfortable to me but it was nice to try and remember how to do all of that. I am really scared to have patient mock day. I don't feel ready for it but in less than three weeks I have a real patient that will be sitting in my chair so I better get comfortable with it quickly. I best start saying my prayers now.

Mondays stress me out

So, today was a very relaxing day except for the fact that it doesn't seem like there is enough time on Monday to get through everything. We learned how to apply sealants and was able to experience the fluoride tray. It was kind of a good day for me. However, I may have to work on flossing teeth that are extremely tight some more. I thought that I was going to fail the PE because I couldn't get the floss between the teeth. I really hope that doesn't happen with a patient. I would be really embarrassed. I am really nervous because next Monday is mock patient day and I don't feel prepared enough to work on someone. I know that it takes time but I am still extremely nervous that I am not going to catch on as fast as everyone else. I just need to make sure that I am always pushing myself and trying to challenge myself so that I can learn from it.

Polishing

I don't know how I feel about the air powder polisher. It felt like a sandstorm was beating at my tongue and cheeks. I can see my patients hating having that done to them. I found out that prophying is going to take me time but hopefully it gets faster for me. Poor Emily was probably wondering when I was going to get done polishing her teeth.
My goal with air powder polish is to pass off the PE and using it with my patients. I think that it is just going to take time for me to master it and pay attention to where my tip is at all times. We are getting closer to having a real patient and I am really nervous. I was excited when I first started but now I feel like there is so much and I hope that I can remember everything.

Lots and Lots of H2O

In clinic we learned how to use the ultrasonic and I think that it is going to take time to learn it. I don't think that it is going to be tough, but just take time. The bad thing about it is I can't take the instrument home and practice on my typodont like the other instruments. We do have a few practice days at the end of the semester that I will try and practice it. I was able to pass off the two PE's that were do today but I am really nervous about the dental screening PE. Hopefully, it will be easier than what I think it will be.

Another OD day

I am feeling frustrated with clinic. I am passing off PE's but I don't think that I am ready for a patient in the next few weeks. Today we did OD again and there is a lot to remember and do. I feel like you could do OD all day long and never get to scaling the teeth. I know that eventually I will become a lot faster at it but it is a lot to remember. Even though I am upset that I couldn't practice my Universal PE I am glad that we practiced the OD. I think that I need to make sure that I practice it and not try to by pass anything.
My goal today while I was probing was to do the left side and make sure that I focus on using my indirect vision. I felt like I did okay but there were a few times that I cheated and compromised my posture so that I could see on the lingual teeth. I am going to continue to challenge myself because it just takes time to be able to do it. I will continue working on it on my typodont and with those that I am practicing on. I just keep telling myself that one day this will all be so natural to me that I can do it with my eyes closed....maybe in 20 years.

Not the kind of practice I was hoping for

I was hoping for more of a practice day but I didn't have enough time to really practice what I really needed to practice. I really need more practice with everything, especially with my indirect vision. I still rely on compromising on my posture to look at the lingual side of the anterior teeth instead of using my mirror. I am still not comfortable with using my mirror. When practicing with all of my instruments, I am going to practice with my mirror. I also need to really work on my confidence. I need to not worry about hurting my patients and just getting comfortable with my instruments. We did learn how to use the intra-oral camera and it was nice to be able to see pictures of my teeth and what they look like. It is definitely something that I need to make sure that I use to explain to my patients how their teeth look. It is nice to show the patients what I am looking at.

Dental Screening

I really enjoyed today and learning about dental screening. However, I don't know if I will remember all of the symbols we have to use and what color of pencil I am supposed to use. I really enjoyed going over the teeth and looking at what a sealant looks like, possible carious lesion (you can tell a lot when I am using the word carious lesion instead of cavity), and the different restorations. I am really amazed at what we have to do for a patient. It is amazing how much we cover on a patient. I think that I would know more about my patient than I do about my husband after I worked on my patient. Health histories, intra/extra oral exams, dental screenings, and it just keeps going on. with dental screenings, I think that best way for me to practice that is just going to take me doing it and really trying to grasp what I need to do on my case study.

Happily, I did pass off another PE. It was the instrument classification and it went a lot better than I thought it was going to be. Next week, I really need to focus on trying to get ahead of the due dates and really making sure that I have grasped everything. I really don't think that I could pass off the anterior scaling PE yet but hopefully after a week of practicing on my typodont I will feel a little more confident in myself. I am really grateful to hear that next week will be mainly a practice week. I think that I need to get as much practice as possible before I start working on others and it probably needed to come earlier but I will take what I can get.

beautiful purple teeth and some gingivitis

Today was a very humbling and humiliating day, but luckily I wasn't alone. I was the class example of a not so plaque free mouth. It was very intimidating having 15 or so fellow students observing my poor brushing abilities and hygiene. Although it was embarrasing, it was a nice change. I think that I needed a less stressful day to make up for the last 4 or 5 days that we have had in clinic. Especially, since I was stressed out about the exploring PE. I try to practice on my typodont at home but I don't get the experience that I need. The typodonts are completely different than a human mouth and difficult to handle when you don't have something to attach it to. From the results of todays clinic, I have made some very important goals for my self today. I am going to be better at brushing my teeth and making sure that I can get rid of my localized marginal gingivitis.

Whew...I passed off my probing PE

Hurray! I passed and still cannot believe that I passed off my probing PE. I don't know how but I did it. But now I have the explorer, anterior scaling, and universal PE that stands in my way.

Today we learned how to use the universal scalers and I really had a hard time with it. I am really going to have to work hard to make sure that I really know how to use the scalers and practice it more on my typodont. I wish that I could get as excited about it as everyone else but it is really intimidating to me. The one thing that I really focused on while working on my very patient pod partner, Miss Jenny Story, was working in the mirror. It is still really hard for me to understand what direction I am supposed to go because it is opposite in the mirror. I am definitely not comfortable with using the mirror. I have been working on the mirror exercises to help but it still is very awkward to put sharp pointing things in Jenny's mouth and rely on my mirror for vision. Also, Kirsten told me that I need to work on turning the handle and not using my wrist to get the right angle. This is something that I am really going to focus on and make sure that I can get it down so that I am not jeopardizing my hand posture. My goals are to really focus on rolling the instrument in my hand, not being afraid to go into the subgingiva, and being able to feel comfortable with working with my mirror.

...And then there was scaling

I don't know when this is supposed to get easier for me but I wish that it would be sooner rather than later. I told Professor Costley today that scaling was easier than probing and she told me to go subgingivally and I that was the end of me feeling comfortable. As long as I stay out of the gingiva I am good but as soon as I have to go in the gingiva I freeze and can't do it. Next time I plan on trying to get as much out of the time that I am given and not worry about things too much. I tend to over think things instead of just doing it. Next time I have to pass off my probing and explorer PE and I really hope that I can do it. I also hope to get faster at getting everything setup and cleaning up afterwards. It seems like I am always the last person there and the last one to have everything setup. I need to make sure that I give myself as much time as possible. Hopefully, Kelsie doesn't miss too many more days so that we don't have to work in a group of three's anymore. I don't get as much practice time than everyone else.

Well after scaling the anterior teeth today and I am hoping that Wednesday is a better day because I will be scaling the posterior teeth. Wish me lots and lots of luck.

Today was such a great day in clinic. I really enjoyed being able to identify all of the tools that I have purchased and be able to understand why I have so many scalers. I hopefully will be able recall the names of them but I am sure that will take me a little more time. It is amazing how many scalers there are and have to remember which one is rigid enough to be able to scale off the most difficult calculus. Oh, and the best thing about today is there was some time to be able to practice probing. Yes, I am still not comfortable and I am not feeling confident that I can pass the probing PE. However, I didn't stress myself out but tried to calm myself down and tried to take as much from the experience as possible. Oh, and I am ahead with the PE's because of the extra time that we had today.

1 hour is never enough

I feel like every day I get further and further behind. I don't know if 1 hour of probing and then 1 hour of exploring is enough. I don't know how I am going to catch up and especially pass off the PE's for them. I feel lost, scared that I am not going to be good, and frustrated that we can't have more time. This can't be good after only 1 month of school and I have at least two more months before I have to have a patient. I tried practicing on my typodont this weekend but it isn't the same as real gingiva, blood, and someone screaming in pain.

I have to say that today was better than last week. I enjoyed learning how to explore more than probing. I really focused on trying to calm myself down and focusing on the one thing at a time, but this next couple of months are really going to be difficult for me.

I'm mine own worst critic

Yesterday was a really rough day for me. It seemed like nothing was going right but how could things go right when I was so uptight and didn't let myself think. In clinic today we learned how to probe, but I limited how much I learned by freaking out and not letting myself just try. I need to remember that it is my first day and I will never be perfect or even the best on my first day. I don't have the experience as others in my class with working with little instruments and my reflection in the mirror. I really just need to relax and just have fun. Of course, I need to take something from the day and work on it. I brought my typodont home just to get more comfortable with the angles but I really have a hard time finding the col on a person and getting back on the back molars. It is something that I am just going to have to practice but not let it get to me or break me down. My mom explained to me that I am my own worst critic and I have always been this way but I need to change that about myself or I won't be able to get the most of school. It is hard to hear things like that but I am really going to try to keep that in mind for now on and work on it. I also need to not worry about hurting my poor pod partner. I am grateful for a patient pod partner like Jenny. I don't think anyone else would be as wonderful of a pod partner with me working on their teeth.

My goal from this experience is to not worry anymore because it only hinders me and my opportunity to grow.

Yippee! I passed off my Health History PE

Yesterday we worked on intraoral examinations and instrument grasp fulcrum. I think that my biggest challenge is trying to work with a mirror and an instrument in both hands and thinking of the proper way to hold both instruments. I tend to focus on one instrument and forget about the other. I am really horrible at the mirror already and then throwing another instrument in my care is definitely more difficult for me. I plan on sitting with the TA's and practicing it with them. I also plan on taking my typodont that has the cheeks home and practicing on it. I really want it to become second nature to me.

And of course....I passed of my Health History PE! I have many more to hurry and pass off.

I felt saliva today and it wasn't my own

Today we were able to tell our Pod partners to open up wide. It was really exciting to be able to set up for a patient today, play with our mirrors and get a little more experience with them, and then clean up afterward. I learned today that I am really not comfortable with my mirror. I am making it more confusing than it really is, but I am as we continue to do this that it will become more natural for me. I am really going to think about what tooth I want to look at and how I can use my mirror to help me out. I need to stop making things an issue when it is something that is so simple. We also were able to do extra oral exams and I have to say that after the Women's clinic on Friday I felt pretty comfortable with what I have to do. It makes more sense to me now because we were told the structures that we were looking for. I was able to pass off my positioning PE and I did it with no problems which really made me feel good. I am now officially a head of schedule because I got my vitals PE done also. The only one that I am dreading is Health History and I have to get it done on Monday. So I need all the luck in the world to help me pass that one off. I really want to be able to do it and get all 4's. It may be an extreme goal but not impossible.

what could a mirror, probe, and an explorer equal?...can't wait for Wednesday!

Today in clinic we went over vitals. I have to say that I was confident about doing it but I failed in every attempt. It was a very frustrating day but I brought my stethoscope and sphygmomanometer home with me to practice so hopefully I can hear everything on my husband. I really liked being able to go over health histories again. I felt more comfortable doing it today but don’t worry I am still clueless on what I need to do. I feel that everyone has been telling me different ways of doing them and hopefully by the end of this it will all come together.

I am really thrilled for Wednesday because we were able to clean a mirror, probe, and explorer for the next lab session. There is something interesting about to happen.

Today we continued to talk we went into more depth on Health History and what we need to do. I went into class not understanding how to feel out the treatment record and I still feel confused as to how much information is enough and what belongs under HHxRx, OHI, Tx, etc. I felt really nervous doing the treatment record for Kelsey because I was worried to have it on a permanent record. It was a really good experience, though, because it pushed me to do it and have to figure it out. My goal with doing the treatment record is to improve my dental vocabulary and abreviations which will possibly help me with communicating with my patients. I know that my communication skills need to be improved and I am hoping that by learning the dental lingo that it will help me be more confident with speaking to the patients. I really loved the advice that Professor Costley gave us today about being actors while going through this experience. Nobody needs to know that I have very little experience in the dental field.
Also, I am excited to say that I was able to pass off two PE's today and I am happy that I haven't fallen behind with my PE's. I really hope that it will be the same way for Radiology.

Today we learned about Operator and Patient positioning and my goal is to be able to get comfortable with the positions and making sure that I position myself in a way that I will not be able to put stress on my body. My plan is to practice the positions with the TA's. Shaylee, the TA on Wednesday, explained to me the importance of making sure I have my tooth numbering system down and being able to go right into position once I know what tooth to work on. I believe that this practice will help me get used to the positions. I also need to remember to fix my posture outside of clinicals so that when I am working with a patient I am already used to sitting up straight. This is something that I need to be more conscientious about while I am in my other classes and while I am home.
We also learned about how to do the health history forms. I think that I am really going to struggle with this and making sure that I am doing it correctly. I hope that we get a lot of practice before we bring in patients. I am really going to study the information in the clinic manual until I feel really comfortable with the procedures.
I really enjoyed everything that I learned today and I am really excited that I passed off two PE's. I have been able to learn so much this week and I have felt that this week was a lot less nerve-racking than the week before.

I really enjoyed today and I felt that I got a lot accomplished. I have set another goal for clinic. I want to master setting up and taking down Op. I believe that this is an achievable goal because I will be doing it every day for the next 18-20 months. However, I know that I can accomplish my goal soon by practicing it and making sure that I pay attention to what I am doing. Eventually, it will all become second nature to me. I also passed off my Eaglesoft PE and, being the apprehensive person that I am, I freaked out during it. I don't know why I stress myself out so bad that my mind goes blank, but my other goal is to not freak out while I am trying to pass of a PE. I know that I can accomplish this goal if I make sure that I am 100% ready for them and I can be 100% confident in myself. Practice them and think of questions that they may ask in the middle of them so that I can be prepared. I really enjoyed today and I am getting even more excited about school the more that Professor Costley talks about what we will be doing this year.

I think I can...I think I can

I have to say that I think that Clinicals just might be the class that gets better and better every day. Today we were able to turn on the suction, spray some water, and almost feel like a dental hygienist. We were not working on a live patient but I really enjoyed busting out the typodont and not having a flailing tongue to have to worry about made it a plus. I really want to get more comfortable with a few things before I add a live patient to the mix, however, I cannot wait until we will be able to work on a live patient. We also learned about exposure control and I think that was the most insightful discussion. I really think that I might become a germaphobe through all of this. My poor husband will probably get sick of me telling him that he needs to wash his hands longer. Right now because exposure control is something that wasn't pushed to this level at the office that I worked in, I am really going to have to think about things before doing it. I really hope that I can catch on quickly and not worry about how many masks and gloves I have thrown away in a day. Also, we were given two new PE's to work on. PPE and exposure control to go along with the Eaglesoft. I really hope that I can get these down and keep up with all of them. I would really hate to get behind in the very begining. This is going to be a great journey and I really hope that I can make the best of it and learn the most from it.

August 24, 2009

Today was my first day in clinicals and I am happy to say that I am still alive. Besides asking really stupid questions and not being confident in myself, I feel that it was a successful day. I have to say that I already have a goal for this semester. My goal is to be more confident and not to be afraid to ask questions, even if they are stupid questions. I am sure that these will not be my only goals but it is a start.
I really enjoyed what we did today. We were able to get to know each other by telling one another our most embarrassing moments and I felt better knowing that everyone is as human as I am. I am really excited to get to know everyone more as we get further into it!

.....1 day done.....

First for many things

Today is my first day here in Dental Hygiene and my first time blogging. I don't know what I am doing and I am scared!!! Help me!