Last Clinic Day Of The Semester!

I am excited to say that I made it through all the clinics this semester and passed all of my PE"s (wahoo)! I can't believe I am 25% done with Dental Hygiene School! It has been an awesome experience so far. It definitely has had some more difficult and stressful times, but has been worth it!
Today in clinic we learned what to do in case of an emergency ranging from someone fainting to a bomb threat. We had some pretty good jokes about the bomb threat. In the clinic manual it lists a bunch of questions you should ask the person who is doing the bomb threat when they call and your on the phone with them. ( like your going to be able to ask all of those questions ha ha). Then we learned about the grading system and some of the requirements for next semester! Wow! It was stressful and I don't even want to think about that right now! I like we all left a little worried! How am I suppose to find all of these patients! Goodness! I just keep telling myself it will all work out! Cuz it does! Then we took our clinic manual test, Which was ok! We had to hurry and take it so hopefully I wrote down everything correctly!
Well I will continue to post more next semester, but for now I am going to enjoy my Christmas Break! ( After these few more days of tests)!!

FIRST PATIENT DAY!! WAHOO

Today was a very first patient day (with someone other than in the program). I was super nervous going into this! Rhett was my first patient and I was glad cuz I know he is tough and I wouldn't hurt him! I am so grateful for such a supporting husband. Today went okay! I was expecting to get further than what I did, but that is ok! I guess I will be able to use him for an emergency patient next semester, when someone doesn't show up! I hard a time with my gingival descriptors! Professor Costly had to help me with these! I thought the X-ray process took a long time, which is to be expected with all of us students and very few instructors. Probing went ok, I wasn't off by one on any of depths, which is good. I didn't get to OHI, which I was totally thinking I was going too. I thought I was going to get to scale one quad, but it didn't happen. I am so grateful for Rhett coming! I felt so bad he didn't know where the clinic was, so he parked by the practice football field and then he finally found out he was away from the clinic, so he ran all the up to clinic so he wasn't late. It was a great experience, I hope that I continue to learn things better and go at a much faster pace.

A Relaxing Day!

Today I was once again able to be a patient. I must say Sierra did an awesome job. I learn a lot from her. Sierra was able to scale three quads on me today and do polishing and fluoride varnish ( which isn't my favorite, but ya have to have it)
Monday is the day that we see our first patient of out class, I think it is going to be so fun. I am still a little confused as to how we do TalEval, but I guess we'll figure it our when the time comes. I am so glad we were able to do Mock patients for me to know for sure what the heck I am suppose to be doing, I really learned a lot.

I Got to be the Patient Today!

What an easy day for me! I got to be Sierra's patient today and just lay back and relax. Sierra did awesome. She was able to scale one quad today and she did great. Sierra always makes everything look so easy:)
So I am having a slight problem with my blood pressure, I feel bad everyone has to check it every time I am their patient. I don't know what is wrong with me. I get it tested at the Dr. and it is fine, I test it on the machines at walmart and it is fine, my mom has tested it with her cuff and it is fine, and on Wednesdays in clinic it is fine! Just Monday's it is always high. Weird!! Anyway sorry for anyone who has me as their patient.

Our First Mock Patient Day!!

Whew! We finally made it to our mock patient day! I am not going to lie I was super scared for this. I was wondering how the heck am I suppose to remember everything? I did it though! Sierra was my patient and I was really glad because she is in my pod and I have worked on her before. Everything went really well. I was really nervous about probing, because I've have never probed the whole mouth before. I did it though and it was not as hard as what I thought it was going to be. I also was able to scale two quads today I did the right side. Of course Sierra is so good at OH she didn't have any calculus at all to scale. Pro. Demmings checked my work and she said I did pretty good. So I was glad. Today did not go as bad as I though it was going too. Now I get to finish my app. with Sierra on Wednesday!

Instrument Sharpening!

We learned how to sharpen our instruments today! I was scared because I didn't want to ruin my new instruments! I all went well though. I was also able to pass off three PE's today, which was awesome. Danielle was my patient today. I was able to pass of my sealants, fluoride and my air powder polishing. So we had to dress up like lunch ladies again ha ha. Air powder polishing isn't my most favorite thing to do on my patient or have it done on me. Danielle was a very good sport letting me pass it off on her. Thanks Danielle! I felt today was a very successful day for me. I got a lot accomplished.

Sealants for Our Halloween Treats!

Today is Halloween and we learned how to do sealants to keep all the candy we are going to eat tonight out of our pits and fissures. It was an easier day for me today because I am able to do sealants all the time in the office I work at. Amanda was my patient today, but lucky for her she didn't need any sealants. So I was able to do a few sealants on Jen for practice. Amanda was able to do sealants on me, which I am so grateful for I had been needing them. She did awesome for her first time. We are almost done with PE's YaHoo!

No More PE's!!

Today I passed off my final PE for this semester Wahoo! Today I also finished the last half of my cleaning app. on Sierra! It went really well, I admit I was really nervous too do our mawk patients. Today Pro. Caldwell sat and watched me scale as well, which I really liked. It made me feel a lot better in knowing that I am scaling right. I was able to scale two quads today although Sierra had nothing to scale. Today I passed off instrument sharping as well my final PE! Next week I get to relax and be the patient wahoo!

POLISHING!!

Today was a fun day! First of all we all had to put on a plastic apron, and a hair net! It was great! We all did a little photo shoot , lucky I took my camera! Then we started Air/ powder polishing, which as all new to me, I had never even heard of it! Powder was everywhere by the time we were finished! I was able to practice on Jen, I hope I did ok on her! I had never had it done on me either and it was a weird feeling, can't say I would ever want it done again on me. It didn't taste the best, but Jen did awesome! I know there were a few girls who ended up with a few sores! Then we practiced using a prophy angle, which I have done quite a bit doing kids cleanings! Today was also used fluoride varnish. I have never had it put on me, nor have I ever put it on somebody! I don't like it! The feeling on your teeth is not a clean feeling that you would hope to have after a cleaning! It was a fun day! We are almost finished for the semester!! Yeah!!

Treatment Planning!!

Today was a relaxing day, thank goodness, because I have had other things to worry about such as pro. Costley's test and they are stressful! So I needed a relaxing day! Today we learned how to do treatment plans on Eagle soft, which was pretty easy. I also had to pass off OHI to Pro. Demmings, which I think went great! We also had time to work with people in our pods to practice our dental screenings, so we could pass them off! So i passed off two PE's today! I love doing that because it makes me feel caught up!

PRACTICE DAY!!!

Another practice day!! I am so grateful for these practice days you have know idea! Kristen was my clinic partner today and she did awesome! I am starting to feel more comfortable in the order and the way were suppose to do things, which makes me feel a tiny bit better about seeing my first patient! I still don't like charting at all, I guess I am going to have to get used to it! I still don't think I have practiced some things as much as I should, such as probing, I only had time to probe one quad on Kristen today when we were suppose to do a full arch because our time was up!

A LITTLE BIT OF EVERYTHING!!

It was a long day in clinic today, but a good one! Today we went over everything that we have learned so far, we started with charting and health history! Extra and intra oral exams came next, then dental screenings probing, and OHI! I felt that it was a good thing that we went through all of this because I kept wondering what the heck are we suppose to when we get a patient! So I was glad that we finally put all of what we have been learning together! I feel bad for the people who are going to be my first patients next semester, because they are going to have to visit me a few times before I actually complete everything on them! I also passed off posterior scaling, which was a huge relief! I feel like i still need tons of practice with it, but I passed it off, so that's a start!

DENTAL SCREENINGS!

In clinic today we learned about dental screenings! This was kind of a relief for me because it was a difficult task to do! Wahoo! The last couple times in clinic had been kind of stressful with learning posterior and anterior scaling and probing! So this was a piece of cake and I enjoyed it. I also had time to practice posterior scaling for a min, which I really needed! I also was able to pass off my instrument design and classification! So all and all a relaxed day!

DiScLoSiNg!!!!

Today in lab we put disclosing agent on our patients, which was fun to watch everyone walking around with a blue mouth. It was interesting to see how well we all do brushing and flossing as well. I was nervous to see what my mouth was going to look like since I had drank a coke right before lab. It was also fun today because we were paired up with someone other than someone in our pod, which was kind of nice for a change, not that I don't love the girls in my pod because I do, it was just a fun change. Kelsi was my patient today and pro. Costly actually put the disclosing agent in her mouth, because I am at pod #10 and it is the demo pod. So Kelsi got to have everyone watch her get her mouth turned blue. So I actually didn't get to put the disclosing agent in her mouth, but that's ok. Then we had to figure out the plaque free index. We also had a lot of time today to practice our scaling, which was really nice. I was able to pass of my anterior scaling, which I wasn't expecting to do, but I did. So that is really nice to have out of the way. So I felt that it was a successful day in lab, I love to get PE's out of the way!

Posterior Scaling!!!

Well today is the day that I had to pass off probing and exploring! I was really nervous going into class because I have been so nervous to pass these two things off. Needless to say I ended up passing both off, with only a few errors! WaHOO! Today we also learned how to use our Barnhart instrument. Posterior scaling was a bit more rough than anterior scaling. For so reason I could not get my wrist to work today and kept using my fingers to pull my scaler. I was a little frustrated today at myself, but I will work on that.

AnTeRiOr ScAlInG!!

Anterior scaling was kind of fun today! I enjoyed learning this procedure. I was able to flick some calculus off my typodont, which I have been DYING to do. Jen and I were pod partners today. She did a very good job. I must say when it came to my turn to practice on her I was a little nervous. I didn't want to stab her with my scaler that's for sure. After a few deep breaths, I went for it. I think I did ok, but well have to ask Jen how she felt about it. I also had some time to practice my exploring and probing which I have been needing to pass off, I just have been so nervous too. I was really worried because the PE said we had to pass off a quadrant in 3 min , and I didn't think that it was possible for me to do that. I learned though they just had started the 3 min thing this year and it was just a trial. So I must say I was really relieved to find that out. It turned out I didn't have enough time to pass either of these off anyway! So I ended up having more time to practice before Wednesday.

Instruments!!

Today we learned the names and the uses of all of our instruments. It was good to finally learn the names because we have had our instruments for awhile and haven't known what they are. We also had a race with everyone to see who could set up our unit the fastest. Pod 1 won! Dang it not us ha ha! We had time to practice our exploring and probing, I didn't get much time to do this, I feel like i need a lot more practice so I am going to try and practice this weekend on my husband. I was able to pass off my intra oral exam. Today was a good day!

Today we were able to work on each other with our explorers! We first practiced on our typodonts. This task didn't come as easy as some others have done for me. I kept getting really confused on which way the working end should go. I am going to need some more practice on this, so I brought home my typodont and I have my husband so I will get it down. I was able today to pass off my extra oral exam,which went well. I was also lucky enough to be Jen's patient for her to pass off her extra oral exam and who wouldn't want to do that ha ha.

Intra Oral Exams!!

Today we learned how to do intra oral exams! I thought this was one of the more exciting things that we have done so far. The one thing I didn't like was the gauze touching my tongue when my pod partner practiced their intra oral exam on me! It was a gross texture! I feel like I will be ready to pass this off when the time comes. Today I also passed of my Vital Sign PE. I think it went ok I was able to get Jen's BP, P and R without a problem. This was my first time passing a PE off to Professor Costley, and I'm not going to lie I was a little nervous! Ha Ha. All and all a good day!

Extra Oral Exams!

Today we were able to perform extra oral exams on each other. I think performing extra oral exams will be very important to perform on patients to prevent cancer. After all of us taking turns we had a lot of time left over. My pod had time to sit and talk about the health history PE. I know for me the health history PE seems the most difficult so far, just because there is so much information that we have to know. Sierra was the brave one in our pod today and passed hers off! Way to go Sierra! I will pass this PE off next time!

Today was a great day in clinic! We learned to take each others vital signs. I learned my blood pressure was a little bit higher than it normally is, which mean I must be a little stressed! ha ha. It was kind of fun to re learn how to take blood pressure because I remember learning it a few years ago and had a hard time with it. So today was a good review and I felt a lot better about it from when I had previously learned about it. In clinic today I was able to do some of my PE's and pass them off. I was able to do the positioning PE and the instrument grasp PE! These have been my favorite PE's so far and it was fun to pass them off. Jen who passed the PE's for me taught me some techniques that we will learn in a couple of weeks and I thought it was cool to learn.

Today in clinic we passed off our PPE PE! We learned how to place barriers and how to set up our rooms, we also learned how to tear down our rooms after patient treatment. We also worked on our first patient. My patient was Sierra with our patient we rinsed out their mouth and used our different methods of suctioning, with our saliva ejector, HVE and our Blue Boa. Also I was able to be a patient for Sierra, she was able to perform the same procedures on me and she did an awesome job. I'm looking forward to next time1

Today was my second clinic day I enjoyed it more than I did the first day. We put the typodont on our chairs with the base and were able to use our air/water syringe, HVE, saliva ejector and the blue boa. I never have heard of or have used the Blue Boa so that was a new experience for me. I think it will be very useful, and I will really enjoy it on certain procedures that I will eventually learn. We also learned about our PPE and practiced putting on our mask, glasses and the 3 step wash for your hands. The glasses I learned we are suppose to wear the whole time in clinic. (Not my most favorite thing and will have to get used to wearing them the whole time.) I did my first pass off about the Eagle Soft! Yahoo!

Today in clinic we did our first PE. This PE was basic Eaglesoft skills. I have never used the Eaglesoft program before so it was all new to me. I felt navigating through the schedule, finding days and scheduling my unit was easy. I thought the part where we had to schedule ourselves throughout the whole semester took quite a bit of time because we had to wait for the computer. I was able to schedule Sierra without a problem. I think a hard part will be for me, will be to remember to select a preferred provider when we schedule a patient. I'm glad I learned something new today!

First Post

I survived orientation and made my first post today!!