First REAL Patient!

If my sister really counts;) Today was very beneficial to me. I really like to know how one full appointment would go. I got a lot further than I expected to. My sister was only a 1B and had zero calculus pretty much. So I can't count on getting as far if I have a class I or II perio patient, but I'm glad I had this oportunity! I scaled two quads, so her next appointment she'll need two more quads scaled and selective polish, flossing, and fluoride. So next time, her appointment should be pretty short! The things that frustrate me are the transferring of charts at the end and writing down everything. I think next time I will give myself more time to do that, rather than cram in one more quadrant. Well, live and learn!

Patient Day Two!

Today I was the patient for Karina. The appointment went by pretty fast and she did a good job. She put two sealants on me teeth, and passed off her sealant PE on me. After I was done I helped clean her and others operatories and we had a pod wrap and went home early! I love early days! Well, I don't think I'll be having any more of those. I hope my sister is ready for one long appointment monday!

Back To Wrenching My Tools

So I was the operator again on monday. This time my patient was Karina. I just hand scaled one quadrant and used the ultrasonic scaler on another one. Then I passed off my sealant PE and placed another one for her. Her teeth are perfect and pretty much all of them need sealants, but I only got two of them done for her. I've had her before for a patient and placed one on her the first time so I guess I've done three for her. It was a good day and a good experience, I'm really excited and nervous to start real patients. My biggest fear is the health history. This always throws me off and I'm afraid I'm going to do something wrong, hopefully nothing that will make me fail an experience. Well... here we go!

Ah, being the patient!

Today in clinic I was the patient! It was great and relaxing! I had Megan Gillespie for my hygienist and she did a great job! She was so good with my frustrating mouth. She didn't hurt me even though she thinks she did. She did GREAT! At the end we all wanted to get out of there so we all helped do the operators instruments for them and clean their operatories. We got out of there on time, it was nice! I was also able to pass off my sharpening PE. Yay! Only a couple more PE's to go!

First Mock Patient!

I had my first mock patient! It went way better than I had expected. I struggled with what I needed to do after I was done with one task, but now I think I understand the order better. I know with a new patient I'm going to struggle with charting because I haven't done that in a really long time, and I never really did understand it completely. Megan G. was my patient and was a great one! She didn't complain one bit even though I know I hurt her. She was very nice to me! It was a good day, except being rushed in charting and not knowing there was a certain time to have it turned in and being late turning it in because I didn't know; other than that it was a good day!

Are You Sharp Enough?

Well my instruments are. They weren't ever dull, but they are now super sharp. Today we learned how to sharpen insruments. It is really straight forward and easy.
We all passed off our air/powder polishing PE and our fluoride PE. The rest of the day was a practice day. Today was pretty laid back. Next monday we start patient treatmen! Ah, here we go!

Have You Been Sealed?

Well, my tooth was today. I have a few more sealants that need to be done, but I got one done today. I put a sealant on a molar for Karina. She has like no fillings and a lot of spaces for sealants. She has really pretty teeth! Mine on the other hand..., I only have spaces for like six sealants. Anyway, we also did fluoride today and I had Karina drooling. I guess my suction isn't powerful enough, Ha! I like placing sealants on adults, but not so much on children. Today was a pretty good day, I still need to work on my charting skills, but it comes to me a little more everytime I do it. Practice makes perfect I guess!

Don't have grimey teeth? We'll do it for you!

So today in clinic, we did the air-powder polisher which made a huge mess of my operatory, the floor and my patient! It is like sand blasting your teeth, really. Then we polished our patient and flossed and then put varnish on. EWE! It feels like waxy plaque all over your mouth. It feels really gross after a nice cleaning. It was a fun day though! I was with Megan Jurk! She's hilarious! It was a good day!

Ultra Sonic

Mmm... ultra sonic scaling wasn't as scary as I thought. I didn't get to do it on a live patient very long, but it was pretty straight forward. Today we were all in a hurry to pass off our OHI PE and our intra oral camera PE. We didn't have a lot of time in the first place, and all of the instructors were busy passing everyone off, so I was a little late getting out of clinic. It was an okay day, but not very exciting.

Practice Makes Perfect... I Hope

So today was a practice day in clinic. I'm hoping that scaling comes with time and practice. I passed off my universal scaling PE and I still don't feel very comfortable doing this. I tried to pass off my intra-oral camera PE but we ran out of time after I already had it set up and ready to go. Oh, well. It's a super easy PE, so I'll just get it out of the way next week! Anyway, I didn't feel too productive today, I really hope that next week goes better than this week. I didn't really like this week... at all. It wasn't a hard week, just not very fun.

Eh...

Clinic wasn't very fun today. I wasn't able to pass off any PE's because we ran out of time. We were supposed to have a lot of extra time today so my plan was to get way ahead, but I didn't. Oh well. We went over some health history stuff which is still confusing to me. I feel like I get things and then I go to do them and then I realize, I don't. I'm sure the more I do, the more it will come to me. I get really frustrated when I can't do things. I want to learn something and then be able to do it really good. Well, I'm gonna have to learn some patience. Hopefully Wednesday goes better than today.

How many fillings do you have?

Today in clinic we did dental screenings. We just counted the restorations in each others teeth and charted them. We also wrote down any "suspicious" areas. This was pretty easy and fun! Then I was able to pass of a couple PE's. I did the instrument classification and the eaglesoft treatment plan PE's. I feel caught up now! On monday, my plan is to pass of the universal instrumentation and dental screening PE's. Pro. Costley said we should have plenty of time monday so I hope everything goes to plan!

Do You Bleed Purple? Or Just Have Plaque?

So today in clinic we did Plaque Free Indices. We checked out each others plaque and wrote down their plaque free percentage. This was done by using a purple disclosing agent. It made our mouths totally purple. It was gross looking. All of us had plaque so it wasn't too embarrassing. My score needs to be improved so I'll work on that. Then at the end we did some scaling. I mostly did posteriors because that is the next PE I need to pass off. We charted for our partner and that was pretty much all we did, it took us a while cause we're all slow at pretty much everything!

LeTs DiG iN!!!

Today in clinic we learned to use the columbia and the Barnhart. They are pretty much the same thing but one is longer than the other. We did mostly posterior scaling with them and I tried some anterior, but I think there are better instruments for the anteriors. I feel actually pretty comfortable with posterior scaling. I had a lot of fun today! I also got to scale someone's lower lingual anteriors that had some calculus! It was sooo satisfying to get stuff off! That was really fun! We also learned how to do treatment plans on Eaglesoft. It seems pretty straight forward (but we'll see how I do when I don't have a cheat sheet.)
I also was able to pass of two PE's! I did the anterior scaling and the adaptation, angulation, and activation PE's! This is way more exciting than exploring and probing.

AH! Scaling

Today in clinic we learned how to scale the anterior teeth. This was really fun and really scary and really hard. My fingers hurt, especially my fulcrum. On the typodont where I started it was really fun because I didn't have to worry about hurting Gunther, his gingiva doesn't have nerve endings. The calculus on the typodont wasn't supposed to be tenatious, but it seemed like it was to me. It was fun when I could get some chunks to fly off! Then it was real patient time. Linda was my victim and I didn't go too subgingivly. I really didn't want to hurt her, but I think I have the right concepts, I'm going to practice on "Gunther" my typodont a little more so I can get more comfortable with it!

Instruments!

The instruments weren't too bad to learn, I expected a lot more information on them. Maybe there's still more to come. We learned about the shape and contour of them, why some are shaped different from others; where in the mouth to use certain ones, and different angles on them for specialized areas. I'm excited we get to use them soon! I hope I can identify them better though. Some of them look very similar and they all have way different names. I guess that will come with time and experience using them.
I was able to pass of the intra-oral exam, probing, and exploring PE's. Woot! I'm excited to be ahead again. I was getting stressed cause I was getting behind, but we're back on track!

Exploring The Mouth

Is hard! I thought that probing was easier. I think as with everything else, this will come easier with time. One thing that I struggle with is which side of the explorer to use where. I am going to practice on my typodont so I can get the technique down and where I need to sit and using indirect vision. Indirect vision with a sharp instrument is scary sometimes. I poked Karlie a couple times. I hope I can get this down soon!

Bloody Mess!

Just kidding, it wasn't really bloody, just minor. Today in clinic we mostly did probing on each other. It went a lot better than I thought it would. It is still hard to see the probe in the posterior portion of the mouth. It's darker back there and the probe marks are so small. I think as I do it more often I will recognize the marking easier. I have been probed at the dental office a lot and it has never bothered me, so I wasn't too concerned about being a first patient for my pod partner. She did a really good job! Her readings were good compared to the instructors, and it didn't hurt! I feel pretty good about it too. All of my readings were one off or the same as the instructors so I feel pretty confident, but I am SOOOO SLOW! Hopefully speed comes with time as with everything else we've learned so far!
I also passed off the mirror grasp and fulcrum PE, the instrument grasp PE, and the Extra-Oral PE. Lots of things accomplished today! I feel like today was very productive! Welp, see ya later!

Fulcrums

Today in clinic we worked on instrument grasp and fulcrums, and mirror fulcrums. This seems pretty easy but I think it is going to get easier and easier every time I get in there and do it. It was a slower day and didn't pass off any PE's which is a first for me. I don't want to get behind so next time my goal is to cram them all in for the lucky instructor! Hopefully they let me do a few!

Ahhhh! Massage!

Today in clinic we learned how to do extra-oral exams. We got to massage each others heads and necks! I really liked being the patient! It's gonna take a little studying to remeber what all of the structures and glands and whatever's are in the head and neck that we will be feeling for abnormalities in. It seemed like it was going to be really difficult when they first showed us. I was a little intimidated, but I think that it won't be such a bad PE.
I passed off the health history PE. Yeah! This one did stress me out because of all the content that is in this PE. It had a lot to remember including the usual dosage of some medications. But I did it, yeah! I also passed off the vital signs PE! I really actually enjoy vitals. Well, pulse and respiratory rates aren't too exciting, but taking blood pressures is fun for me!
My goal is to still keep up on my PE's. I don't want to get behind and stressed, so I hope we still keep having some time to pass them off!

Another Day In Paradise!

So today in clinic we went over vitals. I actually really like taking vitals. I don't know why I like to take blood pressures, but I do. We did B.P, pulse, and respiratory rates on the three other people in our pods. That was the fun part of clinic, then we did more health history stuff which isn't my favorite (not even close to it).
I passed off another PE! I did the patient positioning one today. My goal is to pass of PE's as soon as they let me so I don't have to stress about them. So far, so good! I'm still a little worried about the health history PE. I don't feel confident with health histories, but I don't think I will until I do quite a few more. All-in-all clinic was pretty good today, I like clinic for the most part, it's fun to have hands on learing!

Health Histories Are Confusing

Today in clinic, we learned about going over health histories. This was more complicated than I originally thought. I think with time it is going to come easier to me. Today I'm still confused as to which information goes where. I think with practice I will get the hang of things. My goal is to study the example that Prof. Costley gave us and maybe practice a few. Eh, it won't be too bad!
Today I also passed off another PE! Yeah! This one was the maintainance PE. It was a really easy one (I like the easy ones). The PE we went over today in our pod was the health history and it has a lot to it. I better get to work learning what goes where.

Cruisin' right along!

On wednesday in clinic we learned about health histories and went through some charting that has to do with health histories. I'm still confused with that but I'm sure in time it will come easier. We also learned a new PE that tells us where to sit and what position to sit in around the patient when working on certain areas of the mouth. This will take some getting used to but my goal is to learn the positions fast so I can move on to the more exciting things!
I also got to pass of two more PE's! I'm glad we get ahead of schedule so I can keep passing of more PE's. I passed off the pre and post patient procedures. I really am enjoying clinic so far, it is by far the most entertaining of all the classes!

Another day in clinic!

So today my goal was to pass off the other PE. I first learned the new PE's more in depth than last clinic. And then studied the PPE PE and then passed it off! Two down, a lot more to go! I feel pretty good about learning new things and new ways to do them. I feel like I'm doing things okay so far. I really like clinic and am excited to get to do more and more! I hope to pass off a few PE's next clinic if we have time! I don't want to get behind;) So far so good!!! Bring on the patients! JK

My first PE pass-off!

Today we learned a lot in clinic. We went over how to set-up a room and take it down properly. We learned the proper way to put on and remove our PPE's as well. My goal is to read over my PE's and pass those off because they are more simple than those to come I'm sure. We also put our typodonts on the chair and used the air/water, HVE, and evacuator suction on them. This was a fun activity. I feel pretty comfortable with those things because I have worked with them a lot in both dental facilities I worked in. The biggest thing of the day is that I passed off my first PE! YEAH! I'm on my way people! That's all!

Surviving So Far!

Well I've been through the first two days of school! It hasn't been as bad as I had suspected. We had a few activities to help us get aquainted with the facility, I think I can remember where most things are. We also learned the very basics of Eaglesoft, and this is our first Process Evaluation or PE. I think I can do this one without too many problems. I'm pretty sure I have the best spot in the clinic, with the view over the campus and ogden.

All of the instructors are very nice and very helpful! I'm excited to have professors that are easy to approach and care about our learning!

It's been really fun meeting all of the class, there are a lot of fun people in here! I think we'll have lots of fun while we're all stressed together! I'm excited to start this program and learn everything I can!

Orientation Day

Wow, I've never blogged. This is another new thing for me along with being in school everyday all day. So don't expect anything special, cause you're not gonna find it here!