Wednesday

Today we got to practice!  Thank the Heavens!  We also passed off our intraoral PE's.  I was nervous a bit but things ended up working out smoothly.  I was grateful to get all 4's!  I remember seeing that PE for the first time and thinking Id never be able to memorize it all!  It was nice to be able to practice for a bit.  Ryan wont let me practice on him...little stinker.  I need to find a more willing helper.

Oh! and Karlie and I won a bag of starbursts today for being the fastest pod to set up our operatories for pt tx.  We probably had too much an advantage, seeing as there were only two of us.  We worked together though and "gotter done" real fast.

Kim gave a really great pod wrap up today, in which she reminded us to humanize all our pts.  It can be easy to think of them as mouths, and not impressionable individuals.  We should do all we can to make them comfortable, to speak in their language, to build rapport, and to inspire them to take good care of their teeth.  I look forward to being a personable dental hygienist.

My new goal is to throw "really" out of my vocabulary entirely...its such an ucky word.

Get up on your explorers Ladies!

On Monday we learned how to use our explorers.  It is important to maintain appropriate adaptation when working around the teeth and to angle the explorer appropriately given the tooth surfaces to be explored.  On the anteriors we want to use the side of the instrument whose terminal shank is most closely adapted to the tooth.  On the posteriors, we want the terminal portion of the shank to be nearly parallel with the long axis of the tooth while bringing the working end to the distal of the tooth.  Choosing the right end to use can be tricky.  I will need to practice this...but once I got under those sweet sweet gingival margins and into the sulcus, life was wonderful.  IT IS SO FUN!

What do they call these?

"T" stands for our tests, and how rapidly they come. "A" stands for anatomy of the teeth and all the effort that goes into remembering their every cusp, root, line angle, and furcation. "N" stands for narrowness of time left for other activities. "Y" stands for yawning from the lack of sleep on late study nights, ie... Mondays. "A" stands for the grades I better get for all this work!!!! But oh, how I love it. ;)

Kay, Im behind on this blogging thing

WEDNESDAY!  Today, we went subgingively to examine probing debths on our typodont as well as on a patient.  Sarah was a trooper...if her gums were a marshmellow, it actually wouldnt have faired that badly.  I jabbed her a little more than I should, be overall I didnt notice her flinching much and fulcruming was actually alot easier on a real life person.  I passed off my vitals PE and now I get to focus on the hundred others piling up!

Its Monday!

MONDAY!  Today was probably my favorite day of clinic so far.  We had a fun filled day of learning how to position our probes within our hands while navigating around the mouth.  I was laughing pretty much the entire time that Karlie was performing my Intraoral exam.  She gets really excited about visualizing salivary ducts.  It was all in all a wonderful day.  I tried to pass off my health history PE as well.  I have yet to hear if I passed.  I feel confident that I did.

Mirror, Fulcrum, and Positioning, hooray!

Today was fantastic!  I worked with Karlie and Sarah, performing extraoral exams.  When you perform these exams, you palpate the face, nodes, and glands, taking note of any irregularities that could clue you in to a problem.  According to my reading, there are a great number of lymph nodes throughout the head and neck region.  If a person has cancer in this region, it is quite easy for it to spread to lymph nodes and throughout their body.  We can do a lot of good for our patients by taking 5 minutes to search for these potential problems.  My patients were very cute and patient with me.  When you grasp onto a method that works for you, the fear of missing a spot goes away.  Im getting closer to feeling that way.  Then we passed off the positioning PE.  I was nervous about it at first, but it wasnt a big deal at all.  It comes so naturally.  I love this major!  I really came to appreciate the convenience of using recommended clock positions when using a fulcuming technique while navigating through mouths with my mirror.  Now I have to focus on mastering HHX.  Im so scared!  I think that doing my case study will help to put my hesitations to rest.  Ill practice on my fam too.

Vitals

This was a chill clinic session.  We had lots of time to study our PE's and to pass them off.  I really should pass off my positioning PE but I think Ill give it another good lookover.  I passed off the equipment maintenance PE.  My blood pressure was really low today...curious.  I feel fine though.  Today has been a good day all in all. 

Per last clinic

I wasnt lucky enough to find a web lab computer last wednesday during lab.  We were able to take vitals for the first time ever.  I expected it to be difficult but Karlie has good veins...haha.  She made it easy.  I need a more appropriately positioned clock though. haha.  Its hard to be stealthy about watching for respirations when I have to look behind me to see the clock and back around to the patient to watch her stomach.  I wish my watch had a second counter.  Other than that, we prepared patient histories.  I get nervous that Ill forget things.  Ill have to deeply study this PE.

I was bitten by a dead person today!

Clinic gets greater and greater!  I love it!  I passed off two PE's relating to setting up and taking down my operatory.  The only thing I will really have to watch is making sure I wipe down the adjustment levers for my chair.  Out of sight, out of mind.  I'll make sure I remember them for next time.  We practiced ergonomic positions relating to our patients.  I am left-handed so I circumnavigate from 11-4pm (book answer).  In clinic, we never went farther than noon position.  In radiology I took my first bitewings ever!  Dexter bit me once but I wont let that happen again!  Naughty Dexter.  The x-rays were alright...no coning, which I was happy about.  I need to move the film forward and decrease the angle with which I take the premolars, but those are easy fixes. Anyway, that was my day.