Last day of Clinic today! We separated into 3 different groups. In one we learned about perio screening, the other was emergency procedures and the last one was how to be a CA and we signed up to do that 2 times next semester. After that we took an exam on our clinic manual. We were out a little early and it was a really chill clinic so it was nice for a last one before our next semester starts and we see patients every time. Wow. I'm soooo nervous for that one!

Real Patient Day!!!

My sister was nice enough to come be my patient for the day. I was pretty frustrated at first because I had everything ready before she got there so I could get to scaling that day but x-rays took sooo long! And they still didn't even turn out. But that took up like half my time. Then everything else just seemed to not move along very quickly. I had to redo my tx plan 3 times! I did fine on my bp r and p readings and on probing and things but it was time for her to go and I hadn't even got to scale. So that was kind of a bummer but it was only my first day and it wasn't all bad, I just got too frustrated from the very get go. It was fun having her come though and see everything and help me out being my ginnypig:)

Mock Patient #2

Today went pretty well I felt like. It went a lot smoother then my first day. We didn't have to probe so thats always nice. Then we were supposed to scale two quads, using hand and then the ultrasonic, polish, varnish and charting and all that fun stuff. So I thought it was a little easier today. Last time I felt really scattered and behind. Today we actually had time to breath and prepare our charts and everything for our real patient day next week. I'm excited to see how that goes and start having patients from now on.

Lazy Day!

Today was another mock patient day. I was supposed to be the patient but i have TWO cold sores. so I wasn't able to be the patient so my operator worked on a TA and i just recorded for her and other than that stood around and observed. The days definetely don't go by as fast when your not working the whole time. but it was still kind of nice to have a more relaxing day. especially on a wed, since we have clinics for 8 hours with our radiology clinic. So today wasn't too bad at all. Its nice to kind of see another walk through of everything to let it sink in a little more. Hopefully my cold sores will be gone by monday so i can be the patient that day for our second mock patient day.

first mock patient

Well today i struggled for sure, and definetely have a lot to review. We went through a lot of what an appt would be like. The biggest thing i struggled with was probing. I had a really hard time reading the lines at the molars and i couldnt remember everything i needed as far as charting went treatment plans and things like that. So this was helpful to go through and actually do the first part of an appt but also showed me how much i still have to work on. Hopefully the next one will go a little better.

We did the PE for the air powder polisher today which is really nice to be done with. That means we are done being ginny pigs for it:) not too fun, but my partner did good and we only had to have it done on a few teeth, not all of them. After that we did our varnish and gel or foam flouride PE. We also did learned how to sharpen our instruments correctly so we practiced on some dull ones for a while. We had a lot of extra time today to do or practice whatever we needed to so that was really nice to have some extra time.

Sealants!

We did sealants today and it was pretty fun. Me and my partner both did them a little high so we had to shave them down with a scaler but im glad we did, so we knew how to for next time. along with that we polished and did flouride again and did treatment plans for them then put it all in their charts. It was a good day for sure not to hard or overwhelming. It was fun too to look at their mouth to try and spot any fillings or previous sealants, stains, or anything like that, that cannot be sealed over. We even got to look at my partners xrays she had takent that day to check on a something that might be a cavity to make sure we didn't seal that tooth. So it was a good experience today i thought, cause the more and more we do the more i can see and grasp things a little better.

Fun Day

Well we used the sand blaster for the first time today. It was pretty fun, we practiced that, and polishing, and applying flouride varnish. The sand blaster is pretty crazy. it really hurts if it even skims your gums or tongue. and the taste in your mouth is as if you just took a salt shaker and dumped it into your mouth. Really gross. But my parter did a really good job. Some peoples tongues went numb or gums bled but it wasn't bad for me luckily. we also had plenty of time to pass off a big pe and time to get everything done without rushing too bad. So it was a pretty fun day.

Today we did ultrasonic scaling, used our blue boa, and also passed off the intraoral camera pe, and our ohi pe. I'm pretty nervous about scaling with the ultrasonic, i didn't have much time to practice today but hopefully it wont be too bad. I don't think it will be too bad with just a little more practice and especially when i have patients who actually have things to remove with it. That was about all for today. nothing too exciting. hopefully i'll do a little better next time i struggled for sure!

Long Clinic today!

Today clinic went over by about a half hour, and we still didn't get everything done we were supposed to. all the first patients got worked on for the first two hours and that left only 45 total before we were supposed to have things in the sterilizer and gone. But it did help I think the person that went second to go a little quicker because we got to watch and see what exactly was supposed to be done. Its always harder to go first. Even though it went long, it was still a pretty fun day. we went through a first appointment. so we got to combine a lot of what we've learned. We went over the health history, tx record, inrta, and extra oral exams, probed, filled out all the paper work to go with it, and did a tx plan to give the pt and have them sign, then we disclosed and scaled, and also used the intraoral camera. So it was def. time consuming but helpful I thought.

Today we practiced doing second exams for extra and intra oral etc. and reviewing last treatment records. Also as we look in the mouth noting any lesions and describing them and more charting practice. after that we probed, scaled and passed off a couple pe's. Not anything too new or exciting. I just still have A LOT of practicing to do! Thats about it!

another day!

Today in clinic we practiced charting different things we find in our patients mouth like crowns, missing teeth, non errupted teeth, fillings, furcations etc. I of course was too tired to take in a whole lot of information and it all went over my head. luckily when our pod was working together they saved me and eventually thank goodness I woke up. It just took me most the moring. Then we looked at our pod partners mouth and looked for anything we could find and had to chart it. So it was fun to be able to notice some things and look and feel for cavities and things like that. We also passed off our instrumentation classification PE which was kind of a big one. But its nice to know them now and have it done.

disclosures today!

Today was pretty fun. We got to look in our pod partners mouth and look closely at the gingiva and note any redness, and gingivitis that we could see and write it on their intra and extra oral exam sheet. On that it has a lot more details that we can fill out and look at. After that we got to use a discosing agent on them. so we put a couple drops under their tongue and it dye's their entire mouth. Not only was it cool to see the plaque in pink and purple, but pretty hilareous too. It makes us look like we have Horrible black teeth at first glance. With doing that we took the plaque free index and charted it and learned a few more things to do in the pt charts. So today was a pretty fun day, not too stressful.

Today we learned the second part of eaglesoft and practiced scaling the posteriors. It was harder then I thought it would be. Scaling the anteriors with a diff. scaler wasn't so bad, but I struggled today for some reason. Maybe I was just off my rocker today, I don't know. But all in all, clinic wasn't the best today! I def. need lots more practice so i'm really hoping for a mellow day on monday, so we can practice and pass off a couple of pe's.

SCALING

Woo Hoo! we got to scaling today. It was pretty fun. we just jumped right into it and worked on our pod partner. We only did the anteriors and not much calculus to run in to, so that made it easier. Then after that we practiced probing again and passed that PE. We had to take the measurements of a certain quadrant and then have an instructor measure after us to pass us off. Anything over a mm off is a redo. But its definetely nice to have that one out of the way, that one was a scary one since we're all so new at it it's hard to know if your doing it right. But once its passed off it gives ya a little more confidence because now you KNOW your doing it correctly. So now hopefully wednesday can be a little bit relaxed with no PE's to pass off.

Ah... a relaxing day.

So today was a nice day in clinic. we weren't overwhelmed with exploring and probing and hurting our pod partner. today we went through all our insruments and learned about them then we had time to pass off our intraoral exam and grasp PE's. So it went by quick, and was a sigh of relief today, we got a little break.

WOW!

Today we practiced exploring. It wasn't as bad as i thought. we practiced on our typodonts but not for long, then they had us move on to our partners and practice under the gums. It feels like we've been doing a lot of things really fast, but once we try them they're not quite so overwhelming. Its actually easier on a person rather than just a floating mouth, except one bleeds. That makes ya kinda nervous. I made my pod partner bleed twice today! But at the end of that nerve racking stuff we had some time to pass off some PE's, so i passed off the extraoral exam and the mirror fulcruming and positioning. Days when we explore and probe sure go by fast!

PROBING!!!

Well today we started probing. we started on our typodont, then moved on to our pod partners. It was so scary! I was so nervous about poking around underneath someones gums. But it wasn't too bad. My partner was tough so there wasn't much complaining, although i'm sure i had a couple bad jabs. The morning flew by and before i knew it, it was time to go. but it was really fun to learn and practice. Its harder then it looks.

big day!

1. Well i took a test today for hygiene before clinic, so thank goodness that's over! Today we went over intra oral exams and learned a lot of the terminology for different things in the mouth. we practiced on our pod partners and also practiced fulcruming with our dominant and non dominant hand with our mirror, probe, and explorer, using indirect vision. Last but not least we passed off our health history pe. so one more big thing done. Im ready for a snack! its been a hard day!
   

Big Day!

Today in clinic we went over quite a bit. We learned and practiced on everyone in our pod extraoral examination. So we learned all to feel all the glands, sinuses, lymph nodes, etc. We also learned how to make good use of our mirrors and how to do indirect vision and apply what we learned with our clock positioning, and practiced on our pod partner. It was all pretty interesting stuff and i had fun practicing it. I didn't pass off any pe's yet, the ones for monday are vitals, and health history. Yikes, im kinda nervous for those. I'll be practicing on all my family members this weekend in Bear Lake. That should be fun for everyone!:)

VITALS

Wooh. today we took vitals. we took 3 different peoples blood pressure, respiration, and pulse. it was pretty interesting. i could tell 2 of them pretty well, but one girls i had to retake 3 times. but I actually thought it was really fun to do. we also practiced our health treatment charts and learned a lot about how some health history items apply to our field and our treatment. so that was interesting to learn and apply to what we are learning.

long break!

Well i came back to clinic today after our long labor day break. It felt like a lot longer than missing just one clinic. That was nice! Today we practiced filling out and looking over patient health history forms and where to go for more information on certain medications they may be taking to ensure their safety in our office. We interviewed our pod partner and filled out a chart for them and also practiced looking up medications, and what side effects they have etc. I passed a couple PE's and that's about it for today.

wednesday clinic

Today went pretty well, i had just moved to my new apartment last night so things are a mess, I got here late and didn't have the right books at my new place yet, but I didn't miss too much hopefully. We went over patient charts today and how to fill them out and also made our own chart for future clinics to practice on. We also learned the proper positioning while we work on a patient and the clock positions for all teeth. Today was not bad at all, pretty laid back, and had time to figure things out and practice plenty.

Fun Day at Clinic

Today we practiced air water syringe and both suctions, and wow. My poor pod partner kim prob. had a few hickies from me catching her cheeks and the air water syringe slapped her in the face as it came flying out and went into the suction tip. I guess I need to practice a little more, but it was pretty fun. I also passed off my first pe's so thats a relief and nice to know how they work now.
Well thats pretty much it for today. Til Wednesday!

My first day of Clinic

My first day of clinic we got assigned our certain pods and played fun get to know you games and told our embarrasing moments. We also learned all the cleaning things, for example how to wear your hair, the length our pants can be, etc. the other thing we learned that was a little different was how to use and schedule appointments on eaglesoft software on the computer. i've never used it before, it was different but not too bad. first days are pretty intimitating but we made it through. Woo hoo!

Second day of Clinic!

Well today we got out or typodonts, strapped them to the chair and practiced with the air/water syringe and the high volume evacuator. i have to admit, i haven't passed it off yet but im pretty sure i rocked it! ha ha i guess we'll see. but it was pretty fun to practice that. we also practiced techniques for personal protection and how to keep things completely germ free. and the best part was the movie from osha. Very exciting! So all in all it was a fun day in the lab.

fist time

First time blogging. we're supposed to write a blog on what we did in clinics twice a week. so here we go. My first day in school and blogging. Pretty exciting eh?