Clinic Day 15

I FOUND MY CLASS III!!! And I was so excited that I did the whole OD and two quads in one appointment! It was hard, but not as hard as I had expected! Since the gingiva is looser, it makes it easier to get down deep where the calculus is! I am feeling pretty good that I have met my requirements! And not a moment to soon! Since school ends in two weeks!!

Clinic Day 14

I still needed a true class II exam patient, so my patient today was spanish speaking and a class II. It is hard not being able to communicate with your patient and having to go find some one to translate for you when you need it. He had the most tenacious calculus! It was so hard to remove, and of course I missed like 15 spots, on my exam! Oh well, it was a good learning experience I guess! I need to get better at being able to detect calculus!

Clinic Day 13

Today I saw my cousin who was also a 1B, but she will make the perfect patient for my caries risk assignment. I used the diagnodent on her and got some pretty high readings. We did x-rays and I finished the cleaning. I am meeting with her next month to go over the caries assignment!

Clinic Day 12

Today I saw and finished a 1B with x-rays. I love when I can get so much accomplished in one appointment! She hadn't been in for a few years and she was a harder 1B, but I was still able to finish what I needed to and get her complete in one appointment! Wahoo!

Clinic Day 11

Today I saw my 1B friend again to finish her up. We were done super quick because she had virtually no calculus! So we had plenty of time to spare so I passed of like 5 PE's! It was awesome! I always feel relaxed when I am comfortable with the patient so she let me pass of some PE's that I wouldn't have wanted to pass off on some other people! Next week we get a break from patients to learn a couple more PE's then it's on to patients again for the rest of the semester!! Wish me luck!

Clinic Day 10

Today I saw a true class II. They are definitely hard! We only made it through one quad and he will come back in March. All the patients I have had say I am very gentle and that is good but sometimes I feel like I am not getting deep enough. I might be too gentle! Class II's are very hard for me right now, but hopefully they will start getting easier!

Clinic Day 9

Today I saw my Aunt, she ended up being a class 1B. But she was a little more difficult than other 1B's I have had. Her mouth was really tiny and hard to get to the back teeth! She needed premed, so while we were waiting the hour to start I did a full mouth series of x-rays. It wasn't as hard as I had remembered from last semester! I felt good about the scaling and didn't miss too many spots, I got her finished also so that was nice!

Clinic Day 8

I had my class V back today to finish. I used the ultrasonic throughout most his mouth and then finished up with hand scaling. I am trying out some different instruments to see what ones I like best and I feel the most comfortable with. All in all he was pretty easy, I didn't miss too many spots.

Clinic Day 7

Today was a class V that I used for a class II. You could definitely see the bone loss on the x-rays, but he was doing a good job at maintaining his perio. I feel like I did ok, I only got to one quad before the appointment was over but he did good and I felt good about it. He is coming back on Monday to finish up.

Clinic Day 6

Today was another 1B and I felt so good about myself because I finished his whole appointment in one day!! I was excited and so was he because I knew he didn't want to come back! He was pretty easy, but that is a lot of things you have to get done in 2 1/2 hours!! I am feeling ok about my 1B's, but not about anything else!

Clinic Day 5

Today I saw a class II and it was SOOO hard! The tissues were pretty tight and she had a click of calculus mesial and distal on I swear every single tooth! I didn't get a lot of time with her after the OD because she actually ended up being my peer pals board patient so there were a few instructors that came over and checked her to make sure she qualified. But when I finally sat down to try a quad or two it was the hardest thing I had ever done. She didn't want me to use the ultrasonic so I hand scaled what I could but I sucked! I really hope I am ready for something like that next year when I am taking the boards!

Clinic Day 4

Today I saw my good friend who was an easy IB. My first IB. She hadn't been to the dentist in 5 years and I swear she didn't have a click of calculus anywhere! It was fun to have a relaxed day and not worry about every thing I was doing. She was easy going and we had fun!

Clinic Day 3

Today I saw my little 4 year old niece, a class IA. It was fun but it was really long for her and me. And kids are a whole new story! I didn't really know what I was doing. A little polish and some fluoride and OHI and we were good! Next time I will do two kids in one appointment since there is definitely time!

Clinic Day 2

Well today I saw my dad, to finish up what I started last semester. I got straight to work since I didn't have to do any OD stuff. I finished all 4 quads and thought I did so well until they came over to check. I did really good on the supragingival calculus, but missed a TON of subgingival calculus!! There were three quads of a class II and one of a class III, and boy did I learn my lesson! It was really difficult to clean a class II since the gingiva is tight. I obviously did not go subgingival enough...lesson learned!

Clinic Day 1

Not much today that is unfamiliar. We organized our pods and re-familiarized ourselves with our pods and then we did some PE reviews. It felt pretty much the same as last semester. Patients start on Wednesday. I am scared but I know the best way to learn is just to dive right in, so here I go!

Signing Off!

Well today was my last official day of class and tomorrow I just have to finish the Radiology practical exam and meet with Prof Costley to review everything and then...dare I say....I AM DONE FOR THE YEAR!!!! YAY!! It seriously has FLOWN by! I will be graduating before I know it! YAY! I am thankful that I decided to go back to school and I am thankful I was accepted into WSU's dental hygiene program! I love learning hygiene and it will definetely help provide for my family! :0) See ya next year!

CA

I am excited to be a CA next semester! I like doing the reception duties. And since I have done stuff like that for the last 10 years, I hope I will catch on quick and not make too many mistakes! I am a little scared for testing the x-ray solution and running all the instruments! There are a lot of things to do, hopefully I don't get yelled at! :0)

Final CLINIC Day!

Yesterday was our final clinic day for the semester! YAY! It will be nice to take a break before all the scary actually working on real patient days begin! We went over our last PE! WAHOO! And we went over CA duties and Emergency prepardness. Lets just say I hope none of my patients ever have an emergency!

Thanksgiving!!!

Thanksgiving break was wonderful! It was so nice to have time off and not worry about anything! But when I came back to clinic after a week off, my brain pretty much shut off! It was so hard for me to remember everything! I am now scared of coming back after a month off for Christmas break! Hopefully it will all come back to me!

First Real Patient...Part 2

Once I had time to do my x-rays, I took my dad in and did 4 BWX, I didn't get distal enough on the molars so I had to do one retake. They turned out pretty good, but I am having a really hard time seeing pathology on the x-rays. I thought they looked fine but after the instructor evaluated them they found cavities and bone loss that I couldn't really see. I guess I give them the benefit of the doubt and think their mouth is fine! :0( Once x-rays were over I finally got back and could start scaling, but we were pretty much out of time, so I quickly scaled one quad and got all the very prominant calculus off the lower anteriors and then it was time to walk the patient out. It was a good experience, but I don't feel ready to start seeing patients next semester!

First Real Patient...Part 1

I had my first real patient last Monday. I was scared, but not too bad. I had my dad come in so it was good! I learned that it takes FOREVER to do everything that we have to do! Holy Cow! After I finished HHX & HHXRX & INTRA & EXTRA & OD it had been like 2 hours! Then came x-rays and waiting for an instructor check...oh my!

I Do Like the Ultrasonic!

At first I was scared of the ultrasonic because I have had it used on me and I didn't like it because it hurt! But I got to use it the other day on some heavy calculus and that stuff was FLYING off! It was the coolest thing ever! I think I do like the ultrasonic now! :0)

Scaling will be my downfall...

Right now I am pretty comfortable with everything and do most of it in an timely manner, except scaling. I have a hard time knowing the difference between calculus and tooth and so I spend forever on one quad. Eeeek!

The End Is Almost HERE!!!

Holy cow! This semester seemed to fly by! At times it was super slow, but once we got going it cruised! I can't believe I am 1/4 done with school! YAY!!! I know this next semester will fly by too and then I will be in my 2nd year and almost done! Crazy! I have learned lots! But I am excited for next semester to work on real people, I am a little scared to find patients, but hopefully once I find a few it will be easy to find the rest!

Mock Pt Day - Being the Patient

Well it's now my turn to be the patient again, but after dental hygiene class yesterday and learning about cold sores and that we can't see a patient with a cold sore, I will not be seen today! I guess the stress has finally gotten to me, with two weeks in the semester left, and I got a cold sore. So I brought my camera and will be the clinic photographer today I suppose. And it will give me a chance to get things organized and caught up. Real patient...here I come!

Mock Pt. Day 2nd Week

Well I was the DH again today and things went a lot faster since we didn't have to probe. I am still slow at my scaling. I guess that will come with time! We did a sealant today, I like those! They remind me of working at the Ortho and preparing the teeth for the brackets, the process is very similar. Love the blue etch! That was my favorite part! So I see my first REAL patient on Monday. It's my dad so it should be good, but I am still kinda nervous! I hope I survive! I know I will look back on this in a year and laugh about being so nervous to see my first patient!

Mock Patient Day...Being The DH

Well I made it! It was kinda stressful getting everything ready and putting all my learned skills into action! But I am so glad we did this so I can kinda feel like I know what is going on! I worked on Jenn today and I did really well with probing! I did a full mouth probe in 25 minutes! WAHOO! But scaling was another issue! It took a lot longer to scale than I imagined. I will need to step it up! The appointment went pretty well and I feel a little better about having confidence in my skills.

Mock Patient Day - Being the Patient...

Today was the first day of Mock Patient Day, and I was Jenn's patient. I am so glad we are doing this so that I can know all the steps to do when I have my first patient in 2 weeks! She did a great job and it is good to be the patient also so you know what they have to go through sitting there for 3 hours. It's kinda rough but I made it! Wednesday I will be the DH so we will see if I can remember all the steps and put them together for a quality cleaning!

Intraoral Camera

I like the intraoral camera, but it's confusing! I am so used to my camera and this is completely backwards! It's like using the mirror, everything is reversed and hard to control. Once I get used to it, I will like it and think use it quite a bit to show patients problem areas that they can't see.

Ultrasonic

Today we learned the ultrasonic scaler. Suprisingly I liked it. I do not like having it done to my teeth, but I like using it. A good tip that Kim told me was to not use it on healthy 1B patients, which makes sense. It should be used for harder, periodontal patients to clean down in the pockets. I need to practice with it more, but overall I like it!

Disclosing...

Today we did PFI and disclosing...it was pretty fun I must say! Everyone had bright purple mouths and tongues and pink teeth! It is very interesting to see where I am missing during brushing and flossing! I like the PFI, I understand it and it's an easy indices to figure out!

Exploring...

If I can ever figure out which end of the instrument to use...then I might like exploring! That is the most confusing part, but I think I am understanding it more. I did exploring today and I liked it. I just have a fear of going into the sulcus! I'll get there!

Perio Probing

I don't like probing...it scares me! I am sure it will get easier as the time goes on, but right now it terrifies me! I keep asking Megan after every tooth, "Did that hurt??" I just have been to so many Hygienists that HURT that I do not want to be one of them! So I am concerned with every poke and every prod, oh well. Better to be safe then sorry! I passed of the probing PE today, but I still don't feel very comfortable. Hopefully I will soon!

Fulcruming...

So I am having some difficulty with the fulcrum and holding the mirror and the instrument, and trying not to lean over and comprimise my posture. It's hard to remember all those things and still try and be confident in what you are doing. I feel very awkward when I am working in the mouth and I know that I will get better as time goes on but for now it is hard! I passed off the HHPE today, and passed thankfully! It is hard to remember all the stuff that you have to make sure and include in the evaluation, but hopefully I will remember when the time comes!

Jen

UDHA

Friday was the UDHA meeting in Park City. It was fun to go down with all the girls and see a few of the things that our profession is involved in. They had some great speakers, some good food, and lots of good free samples at the vendor booths! We all tried on the loops and I could not believe how magnified those things make the teeth! It was awesome! I think I will be investing in some of those for next year!

Well they don't waste any time...do they??

It is now the end of week 4 and pretty much every class I have, I have a test in! So much for thinking this was going ok! I took the Radiology test on Thursday, and passed! Thank Heaven! Then I took the DH test on Saturday, and passed, YIPPEE! Now I have the anatomy quiz and test on Tuesday and my stats test and hopefully I will be done for a while! I seem to be doing ok, it gets kinda stressful at times but I seem to be trekking along! Tomorrow I have to pass of my Health History PE and that one kinda stresses me out a little, so off to study!

Jen

Hygiene Week 3

Heath Histories, HHX, HHXRX, Medications, Dental Drug Reference, HOLY COW! There is a lot to remember when it comes to health histories! I really hope I don't get a patient that is taking 700 different medications! Thing are going good, staying busy and still learning a lot. There are a lot of different WSU guidelines to remember and follow, but I think I am getting the hang of it!

Jen

Clinic...the 2nd Week

So today starts the second week of Hygiene training and clinic...I am still alive! We are chugging right along learning a bunch of PE's. Today I passed off my EagleSoft PE and learned unit set up and break down procedures. I got to be Megan's patient for a rinse, which I needed after the mouthwash burned, what felt like, a giant hole in my mouth and made my tongue go numb! That was fun! I am having fun so far, my only complaint is these hot lab coats. But since that is part of our PPE PE, I have to wear it! Hopefully I will survive! Till next time!!

Jen

First Clinic Days...

I am through with my first week of clinic and it was pretty fun. I am excited to start learning all the different techniques and skills. I want to start removing calculus NOW! Monday we organized our instruments and got everything put away and learned Eaglesoft and today we used the air/water syringe and suction on our typodonts and learned the unit set up and break down. I am feeling a little better about the schedule and being where I need to be when I need to be. I think by next week I will be in full swing....hopefully!!

Orientation

Today was orientation and I my head is spinning! I am excited to start but I need to get everything in order! We have a TON of instruments and I am really wondering if we are going to use them all! Should be fun! Here we go!!