Last day of clinic this semester!!!

I took my radiology practical exam and my clinic manual test. What a relief, I feel like I can finally breath for the first time this semester. I hope my christmas vacation goes on and on and seems like a long time.

First patient Day!

Today was my first real patient, Chase came in for me and was great. I was able to do his whole appointment which was great. I made Chase bleed a lot so I feel bad but he said it didn't really hurt, he is a trooper. I am looking forward to my next patient.

Mock patient day 2

Today was my second student patient, I felt a little better today. I stumbled through my sealant pe. I knew how to do a sealant but I couldn't answer all of her questions. I am excited to be a patient and sit back and relax.

Mock Patient Day

Wow! I have been sick for days worrying about today... and I made it through. I am so glad I can spend the next couple of days studying anatomy and DH. I also get to go to Hooperville on Tuesday night so I will probably enjoy it more not worrying about Wed. Clinic.

I learned to sharpen an instrument today, one of the few things I wasn't shaking while I did. Then I passed off air/powder polishing and flouride. I was so nervous and come to find out I didn't even have the salt part on so my patient was happy because it didn't irritate her mouth.

My first Sealant

Ashlee gave me my first sealant. When I was a kid they didn't do sealants, I wish they had. I then passed off selective polishing and learned how to give flouride in a tray it was fun today.

Airpowder!

We learned how to use the airpowder polisher today and I was partnered with Marliyn and I was testing the tip and sprayed her right in the face. I feel so bad I am so uncoordinated, not only do I have to know how to use both hands at the same time but use feet to.

We did ultra sonic today it made me so nervous. I still feel uncomfortable using a probe. I will be happy when we work on a real patient from start to finish and learn how to do everything in order.

Today was so crazy I didn't even come close to getting all the things done that I needed to get done today. I learned a lot. Hopefully it gets better next time.

Scaling

I passed off anterior scaling today. I hope I did well because all of the practicing I had been doing I actually did wrong. I am so mad I am getting another cold sore, my second one in a week. This is such a stressful time for me and it is causing me to get these annoying sores. I need my husband to get me some more medication. I hope I clear up soon.

Dental Charting

I learned so much today. I was so clueless on how to chart for a patient and today I had so many of my questions answered. I passed off instrument identification which I wasn't very worried about but then it was pretty hard. I got asked a lot of questions that made me really have to think.

Exploring

Passed off exploring today, so happy! I had a cold sore that was healing so nobody could work on me today, that sucked because they did the disclosing agent. I really wanted to see if my brushing and flossing was good or if I am missing a lot of places. My feet are killing today because I have mostly stood all day.

Probing PE

Passed off PE on probing today, I feel so bad for Lauren. I made her bleed on #18 and I got a 2. Then the instructor pushed really hard in the same spot and got a 4 and really hurt her, I don't know yet what she gave me for passing it off because I was off by 2mm. I feel so awkward on my fulcruming on all the lingual surfaces. I hope this becomes second nature soon!

Scaling

This was so fun on the dexter but really scary on the real person. I was scared the whole time I was going to make Lauren bleed. I didn't so I'm glad. I don't think I was scaling hard enough though. I want to go home and practice scaling even more. I hope she gives us a lot more time in clinic to practice scaling.

Today we learned the name and a little about all the functions of our instruments. I then passed off my intra oral exam which was really hard because there are so many things to remember when doing it. I still passed even though I forgot to mention two things. I am looking forward to this weekend to practice my handling of instruments.

Exploring was scary today, I need a lot of practice with that and indirect vision. The frustrating part of today was radiology. We ran out of time and I felt like I got left behind.

Probing

Today we got to probe on our pod partner. I thought it was fun doing it on Eric but not as much fun having him probe my teeth. My mandibular molar is sore now. I want a lot more practice on probing and fulcruming because I still feel awkward but not as frustrated as last time. So I hope I am getting better.

Uuuugh!

I cannot get the fulcruming down. My hands feel so awkward. Kind of like dancing with two left feet. I am so uncoordinated. I have been practicing at home on my topadaunt but I need more work. I am so relieved though because I passed off my Health History today. I also took my DH exam and so tonight I can just focus on my anatomy test tomorrow and reading for DH. I will be so glad to get home it has been a very long day.

Mirror

Learned how to look at the different views of the mouth with the mirror using indirect light and illumination. I felt so akward doing it, this is where the assistants and non-assistants will stand out. I am feeling really overwhelmed and stressed right now. I hope I will start to feel more sure of myself soon.

Vitals

Learn how to do vitals today, bp, pulse and respirations. Pulse was easy, to me respirations were really hard. I had a hard time watching the clock and chest rise at the same time. I had a hard time with blood pressure until I had pointed out to me that I had the ear pieces in wrong, which is why I didn't hear anything. Once I turned them around it wasn't so hard. I thought taking vitals were really cool. We are still working on learning how to do a health history and that is still hard to me because there is so much to put in the HH and so many things to remember. Class tomorrow and an anatomy test that I hope I do really well on. Until Wed. I will be studying a lot!!!

Health History

Today was so much information on filling out a health history. We did it for our pod partner which wasn't hard because my partner had "no" on every question. I wish he would have had some "yes" to learn better how to mark everything I needed to mark. Still full of a lot today. I will be studying HH a lot tonight. Passed off two more PE's I was so nervous, I don't know why, but by the end I was shaking. I passed so I am happy.

Health History

Today we learned how to fill out our health history. I can tell I need to read over my clinic manual on this. A lot to remember and very important stuff. Mess up this and it could be very bad for the patient. We also learned the positions to have our chair, I think I have that down, just need to make sure I know which teeth I am looking at in each position. We have a great TA that is so patient and very helpful. She is a second year so she totally gets how we feel and how overwhelming learning so much each day is like.

Today was my third day of clinic, before clinic I had radiology lab and got to take 8 bitewings, I had to redo 2 of them. It was good to see how they can be taken correctly and uncorrectly. In clinic we did set up and break down of our pods, really informative to me to see all of the precautions taken to protect me and my patients. I have learned so much in the last week. A week ago I knew nothing about the role as a dental hygienist and I feel like each day I learn a million new things that are exciting and new to me. I am so excited for the choice I made in careers, I look forward to every day with what new terms and procedures I will learn. I think the professors are all awesome and so helpful as well as their TA's. I have fun going home and sharing my new knowledge with my husband and kids.

Learned how to rinse and suction that was really fun since I have never done it before. I like learning all the ppe, how important it is to keep ourselves and our patients safe from infections. I am definately going to review everything I learned today so I can pass my pe with flying colors.

First Clinic Day!!

Today was my first day of clinic. I loved doing the scavanger hunt because it helped me to learn what a lot of the items are in the clinic. Eaglesoft was fun but a little confusing. I can tell I need to practice a lot more with it to fully understand. I love clinic so far, it went so fast and was a great learning experience for me today.

Today is orientation, I feel so overwhelmed. It was fun going through all of our instruments even though at this point I don't know what everything is going to be used for. After orientation I will be buying scrubs and finding shoes that are allowed and buy my remaining books. My husband is going to flip out when he sees his Visa bill.