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.