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.