Patient Day!!!!!

Okay so I didn't get very far in the Tx today, but what I was able do I felt very good about. The probing and dent and ohi were the 3 best parts because I was able to do them well. I'm wondering how I will ever get faster but I have to so this is where I need help. I did make a list of the whole process with reminders to help me get everything done in order which help a lot. Fitting in the xrays went pretty well ever though i had to take 2 retakes to get further back on the molars. Overall, I'm glad it's over :) and I'm glad it went as well as it did. I'm a little anxious to see my review but that's okay.

Mock Patient Day #2

I really wasn't too nervous for clinic today until Mid way through my professor told me she was going to fail me because I didn't have the HHxRx signed off.  Somehow she had signed the HHx form but not the Tx Record at the same time.  I learned I have to be more observant about everything the instructors do and don't do.  I'm sure if I was in her shoes I'd probably make a couple mistakes too.  My goal is to right a list that will help me not forget anything during clinic on Monday.

Mock Patient Day

I was the patient today and glad to be. I realize we practiced all these same skills on the last mock patient day but for some reason I think today and wednesday will be more stressful. It was great to be observing it all. My goal is to stay on schedule on wednesday. The end. goodbye. I hope nobody reads my blog, it's not too exciting to people outside of Dental Hygiene and maybe not even to those within the program. Hah!

b

Today we past off three PEs. Two of which we learned last clinic period. I don't think we had enough practice with the sealents and the air powder polisher to passing them off. On top of that my instructor told me that I was dangerous with the airpowder because I forgot to lift up completely on the pedal before taking it out of the mouth. Thanks, that was a nice way of putting it, not really. It really wasn't that bad and I already learned my lesson the second that I did it, so I didn't need her to threaten me about not passing off my PE because of it. I guess I'm just being sensitive but I don't think she was taking into consideration the lack of time we were given to practice it, and for that reason I feel like I did really well today.

a

Monday was the first time we used air polishers and I really hated the experience. Come to find out, we had the powder setting to high and we were hurting ourselves. We also practice sealances for the first time.

Wed Nov 5th

On Wednesday, Kim and I switched position and I got to be the patient all period. It was great. I just sat back and relaxed. Kim was really great at all the procedures and made me feel very comfortable in her chair. I could enjoy doing that again. Also it was nice to review the process as she performed it.

Monday Nov 3rd

Last monday I was the operator, Kim Swift was the patient. It was a lot of fun, we were able to work on one quad all the way through. We passed of the polishing and scaling PE and I also passed of the camera PE. It was interesting to see the whole process together and was a great learning experience. It took me the entire clinic period to work on one quad so next time my goal is to finish 2 quads in the same amount of time.

After class discussion yesterday I really did not want to get my teeth polished. I still do not feel good about it. Today was kind of awful. Scaling on the posteriors was more difficult that what I anticipated because my pt. had no calculus and the wrist motion is hard to perform when you have to extend the scaler back and keep you fingers toughing at the same time in order to get a good grip. The PE is due monday so I'll have to work on that over the weekend at home.

Monday clinic

Monday Clinic was great today. We passed off the anterior scaling PE and worked on the posteriors too. I really liked that we passed of the PE while practicing the skill for the day. My instructor was very helpful. I want to pass off two PE for next time.

Wed Clinic Oct. 22, 2008

Well..today was fabulous. I passed off two PEs, the instrument identification and the adaptation pe. We scaled on the posterior teeth today. I'm going to need much more practice but it went well today. :)

Monday Oct 20, 2008

Last time in clinic we passed of dental screening and we worked on scalling the teeth. I'm pretty comfortable and liking the practice were getting. The only bad thing was I really got poked alot today. I want to pass of two PEs next time.

Monday Oct 20, 2008

Last time in clinic we practice scaling the anterior teeth. We past off the Dental Screening PE. I went very well. Next time I want to pass off two PEs if there is more time.

Wed Clinic

We had our first day of scaling today and to my great pleasure I felt good about the skill and my technique. We also passed off the probe pe and again, I felt really good about it, yes there's still a lot of room for improvement but now that I'm fix my instrument grasp I think that I'm adapting and my hand are becoming very comfortable in their position. :) Yea for me!

Oct. 13th

Clinic was really great today. I felt like I did pretty good. I'm patting my back right now. We completed our exploring PE and learned about the instruments. I really liked the feedback from my instructor and I figured out that I need to hold my instrument better with my thumb and index, instead of gripping with my middle and thumb.

Yikes!

My next goal is to get that word out of my vocabulary, especially when I have an patient in my chair.:) There was too much plan for us today considering this is only our second time probing. Every chance to probe greatly helps and I hope we get much more chances to practice it before we move to far forward.

Monday clinic

I passed off the Intra oral PEs, which was my goal for the day and we also practiced disclosing today, with the purple dye as well as exploring again. Today was much smoother and relaxed. I felt a little more at ease about subgingival area. I really appreciate the one on one instruction I'm receiving.

Wed Clinic

I'm in a hurry as always but today was fun and I learned a lot about my teeth we went over dental screening and I really like not doing anything subgingaly :) But I'll work on that. My next goal is to remember to log into my computer while I'm here because somehow I keep forgetting. I'll get here 5 minutes earlier that I have been and hopefully that will remind me.

Monday Clinic

Monday clinic: My goal today was to pass off both the extra oral exam PE and the mirror fulcrum PE.  We did not have time to do both after the probing and charting the intra oral exams.  I was completely prepared for clinic today and ready to practice probing.  Unfortunately I got really nervous and shaky at the last minute and struggle probing the gums.  I guess I'm just shock that I'm already being allowed to poke my clinic partners in the mouth, isn't there a dexter that could help me learn just as effectively?  I guess not but hopefully the skill will get easier in the near future.  

I practiced probing on Katie today. Everything went well, the only rough part was trying to angle the probe correctly using indirect vision. I'll have to take home the probe and mirror and practice on my husband. He's going to hate it. :) My instructments got lost somewhere and I've searched everwhere maybe I'll have to send everyone a note to help me find them. I passed off the Vital Stats. PE I felt really good about the process of it all but there's always room for more practice. My pod partners really need to calm down :)

Explorers

Kara was nice enough to let me work in her mouth today with the explorer.  Once again, Clinic today was educational, interesting, challenging and frustrating.  Today, above all other days was the most frustrating, partially because of misunderstandings and time constraints but still I was allowed to finish my PEs and observations assessments. 

I'll have to set a goal to memorize the PEs before clinic.

PEs

I passed of the position PE this morning and learning all about grasping the probes and using the right grip and posture. I really like my instructors today and feel like they are here to help and not only criticize my mistakes.

Intra oral exams

Today was interesting since I've always been self conscious of my geographic tongue.. oh and to spread the sunshine it's also a fissure tongue. Hooray for me I get to be the special ginnipig. Although I feel a little awkward about the PEs it seems like all the info is coming together in my mind.

In clinic today we covered the extra oral exam and practiced using the mirror instruments. It took a little time to get use to using the year and I'll definitely have practice drawing backwards with a mirror to get use to indirect vision. All in all clinic is really fun.

Clinic

Clinic is my favorite part about DH so far. I love putting the lectures into practice. I feel like we are covering a lot of the basic initial instructions and progressing quickly. It's great!

Clinic was great today. I passed off two PE and learned a few extra points and quick steps about the Eaglesoft program that I didn't know before.

The first week of DH school has come and gone. I am sweetly surprised by the excitement I feel, to have this great oppurtunity to work and learn along side of these amazing and intellegent girls and under mentors of whom posess high expectations and goals for me, not to mention, I feel like I am going to finally love my subjects of study. Bring on week two!

Whoa

I started classes yesterday and I'm already tired.  I've been told it gets better, so I really hope they're telling the truth. :)

Last Time to Now

To make it short, Andy and I got married after a year and a half of dating, had a gorgeous wedding, three days later, moved to Boston for a summer job, played on the beaches and toured all the nearby towns during our time off. Very recently we moved back to Utah, we are looking for an apartment and are both extremely thrilled for me to start the dental hygiene program this year!