So Much Salt!

So, when we got into clinic today a little after 7:30 it was still dark outside.  Crazy! Today we got to use the air powder polisher and it was so much fun and yet, so messy.  It also has a very unpleasant taste.  I had no idea a dental instrument could make such a big mess.  The air powder polisher shoots out the sodium bicarbonate onto the tooth and then it shoots out everywhere.  Our glasses were covered by the time we got done.  We wore very stylish hair nets to protect as much of our bodies as we could.  Ha ha.  By the time we were done my face was plastered in it.  Then, when it was my turn to be the operator Karlie couldn't stop laughing when I was using the air powder polisher on her.  It was so funny!  I love working with Karlie.  She is always so happy, positive, and helpful.  We also got to rubber cup polish today.  I liked doing that more than air powder polishing.  It felt good to have toothpaste being polished over my teeth and then rinsed off.  I am excited to get to practice rubber cup polishing some more.  It was hard to always stay around 10 rpms, but I would have my streaks when I could do a few teeth at a time without stopping or going to fast.  It was so much fun when I was able to do a few teeth at a time.  However, one of the cool things about the air powder polisher is how it gets off stains.  I was able to get a couple stains off of Karlie's teeth today, which was cool and quite rewarding to see it disappear.  Today went by really fast, actually almost every day is going by too fast now.

Zoom Zoom

Today went by so fast today!  It's almost time to go and I feel like I just got here.  We got to have another practice day and it was awesome!  We passed off our OHI PE and our Intraoral Camera PE.  I am excited to get to work with patients and work with them to help them improve their oral health.  I think it will be so rewarding to have patients who listen and who do what you suggest and be able to see real improvement in their mouths.  Karlie and I had fun pretending that each of us had crazy diseases or ate or drank too much cariogenic foods.  The more I learn here the more I want to share what I learn.  I tell my family and my friends things to help them.  I really liked using different instruments today.  The 204S is awesome! 

Practice Being a Patient

I got to be the patient today while Stefanie was the operator.  I really do learn a lot from watching someone else work on me in the mirror.  I can see the angles that we are taught to make and am able to visually see what I am supposed to do and then correct and perfect what I am doing.  I also was able to see spots in my mouth that I need to continue to work on with brushing to get all of the biofilm off of.  However, I am pleased to say that my PFI or plaque free index score was much higher than it was last time we disclosed.  My goal is to continue to raise it up higher.  I wonder if it's possible to get a perfect 100% PFI.  Maybe I will try to do it, which means brushing meticulouly for a real 10 minutes.  While I was the patient today I almost dozed off when Instructor Hafen was discussing PE's with Stefanie until she woke me up.  Ha ha.  I got to pass off my universal instrumentation today and my eaglesoft PE.  Deciding which end of the instrument to use comes almost totally naturally now, which astounds me because when we first learned it I did not understand it at all.  I can't believe how much we have learned and how it continues to build, but also continues to make sense.  I also have to say that in Radiology today I took some pretty good x-rays.  I was quite proud of myself.  :)  Taking x-rays on a little kid was something new for me and crazy how one film will do their whole mouth for a bitewing.  I was happy how most of my bisecting went today too, except for number 11.  We fought with 11 on Dex. 3 today for a while and Dex 3 ended up winning, but other than that x-rays were great.  I enjoyed doing our test too because I like seeing everything that there is to see in an x-ray.  Basically I really enjoyed today.  :)

Being Operator All Day Rocks!

I had the opportunity to be the operator all day in clinic today and I thought it was fabulous.  I was able to put everything together that we have learned and do it like a real patient was coming in for treatment.  I got to go through the health history, take blood pressure, pulse, respirations, do the extra and intra oral exams, probe, disclose - it really was fabulous.  Oh, and how could I forget that I got to practice scaling.  I love scaling.  I enjoyed getting the whole day to work without feeling rushed.  I was surprised at how easy everything came to me too.  Stefanie was such a good patient too.  She was very helpful in making sure I did everything correctly and in the right order.  Disclosing is always fun since you can visually see where the biofilm is.  Marianne, in the name of science, went from Wednesday to clinic on Monday without brushing so that we could see what her mouth looked like after she disclosed.  She had a PFI of 0.  Ha ha.  I also liked being able to practice brushing someone else's teeth again so that I can continue to practice putting the right amount of pressure on the brush.  I have realized that I do need to work on my NWP (neutral working position) more though because there are a couple spots in my back that are sore, so apparently I was not sitting correctly.  I plan on really working on that as we practice on each other more.  Well, it's 10:13 and I'm quite tired, so goodnight!  (And I will see everyone bright and early at 8 in the morning!)

Charting

We worked on charting today and I have to say that charting was kind of boring for Whitnee and me because we both don't really have anything to chart except lingual bars and sealants.  I can't wait to look at a bunch of girls' mouths so that I can learn what different fillings and sealants look like to get better at distinguishing between each of them.  When I go home I will have to inspect my families and friends mouths to get some experience with distinguishing between things.  Since we finished charting rather quick we were able to have more time to practice instrumenting.  I know I've said it before, but I have to say it again - I love scaling.  I feel so much more confident about scaling, especially because it is getting easier and easier for me to tell which side I need to use when I scale.  I am also getting better at finding and really using my fulcrum.  I also worked on getting into the interproximal areas better, which I was able to really do today.  It amazes me how I really can feel the tooth and what's on the tooth with my instrument.  I'm excited to start practicing with my other instruments as well that we haven't used yet.  I plan on practicing with my typodont this weekend though.  I have to finish my post by giving a huge thank you to Marilyn.  She was so nice to help me out with bagging my instruments and explaining the reasoning for why you bag certain instruments together or separate.  She even cleaned up my unit.  So thank you Marilyn! 

I've Been Disclosed

So, yesterday in clinic we had fun using a disclosing agent to see where the biofilm was in our mouths.  It was fun watching my mouth turn blue, however, the taste of it was not as fun.  I learned that I need to be brushing a few different areas a little better than I thought I was.  I got to practice brushing MeChel's teeth and flossing them as well.  Brushing someone else's teeth is going to take some getting used to.  I didn't want to push to hard and hurt her, but I wanted to make sure I was doing an effective job at getting all of the stuff off of her teeth.  Flossing someone else's teeth is going to take even more getting used to I think because I do not want to hurt any patient by snapping the floss through their contacts.  I will have to practice that on my own free time. 
P.S. - Can I just say that I love Crest Pro Health nighttime rinse?  It's fabulous. 

Posterior Scaling, It's Actually Not too Bad

Like my post title says, posterior scaling really was not too bad.  I thought it was going to be much harder than it actually was.  We got to practice on our typodonts first, as usual, and I did not feel like I was getting it.  Lauren was trying to help me out but it seemed like there was a block between my brain and fingers.  Then I was nervous to actually work on Madi, but once I started working on her it was like the block between my brain and fingers disappeared.  I think my brain really kicks it into gear when I have a real patient in the chair.  I felt really good about going from the mesial of one tooth to the distal of another without having to pull the instrument away from the tooth and move it.  By the end of practicing I felt very good about moving from tooth to tooth.  Madi was really good to practice posteriors on because she still has her wisdom teeth so I really got to experiment with the best way to get to the back of her mouth.  Sometime it seems like you will never be able to reach to the back of someone's mouth and then, all of a sudden, you find the right position and everything magically works. 
I love seeing how what we learn builds everytime we go to clinic.  At first we all had a hard time learning chair positions and now it almost feels like second nature.  Well, to anyone who is reading this have a great weekend!

I Love Scaling!

I was not a big fan of probing, but I think the main reason why was because probing was the first time we ever entered an actual mouth and I was really nervous about it.  Then we moved on to exploring which I thought was fun and enjoyable, but today we scaled and I loved it.  I think that the more we are in each others' mouths the more comfortable I am sticking an instrument in there and "getting the job done."  Anterior teeth are also much easier to reach all of the areas of the tooth, so that made scaling even more enjoyable.  I like the feel of the instrument curving around the tooth and getting into the col area because you can pull on it and feel it cleaning away the gunk in between.  I managed to not make my patient bleed at all today.  I was quite proud of myself.  However, I do think I need to go in a little farther to get the col area a little better.  I also decided today that we, as dental hygiene students, are going to have the cleanest mouths ever since we practice on each other so often.  It's awesome!