Instruments

Today we learned about the different instruments. I had no idea that each one was different. Now I know what to look for and how to tell the differences between them. Some things to look for are: tip or toe, simple or complex shank, whether it has a 90 degree angle or 60-70 degree angle and so on. Before I thought that they all had the same thing but just used for different areas of the mouth. It goes more in depth than that! I was also able to pass off my intra-oral exam and instrument grasp PE. I am starting to get a little cold so my throat has been hurting really bad and when I was Kirsten's patient she noticed that my throat was really bad. I hope it doesn't get worse than what it is now. I'm not sure if I will pass off any PE's Monday since I am a head of schedule now. Now I need to go home and study for dental hygiene!!

Exploring

Today my goal was to get caught up on my PE's. I needed to pass off the mirror and also extra oral exam. We learned about exploring too. This instrument is a lot sharper than the probe so we were a little nervous. It was hard to follow along when Prof. Costley was demonstrating it to us but once we learned on our pods it was a little easier. Kirsten did it on me first and made me bleed! She really didn't hurt me but I was bleeding. When I did it to her I made her bleed too. I noticed that in order to get the maxillary molars it is easier to have the patient close down a little. I was also able to pass off my 2 PE's with Kim. My goal for Wednesday is to get ahead on the PE's. I figure it would be a good idea to pass as many off as I can while we have 3 TA's and also 3 instructors. It would be better than waiting until they are due on a Monday when we are short TA's and not being able to pass them off and probably get docked points for it. Now I'm off to Radiology!

Ouch!

I had lots of fun in clinic Wednesday! We learned about how to probe! First we practiced a little on our typodont. It was a little difficult to do this. I felt like I could stick it all the down! I know this wasn't what we were trying to do. They just wanted us to get a feel for how to angle it and locate the col. Then we were able to practice on our partner! I was Kirsten's partner and she was my patient first. I was really nervous about it and was actually shaking a little bit. Once I started probing I found that it was a lot easier to do it on a real person compared to the typodont. It was a little tricky trying to get my fulcrum right and be able to see all the surfaces of the teeth, especially the posterior ones. I felt really good about it when our instructor Kirsten came and checked my measurements and said I was right on and then she said I had excellent technique when she was watching me. This boosted my confidence a little bit and I realized that I can do this and I will make it through. I know it will be tough but I can't get too frustrated. Then it was my turn to be the patient. Kirsten was nervous too. I was trying to give her as much feedback as I could without her thinking that I was trying to tell her how to do it. Our TA Maegan said it is really helpful when we can help each other when we are the patient. Kirsten was getting really frustrated but she did a really good job. She didn't hurt me at all. The instructors said we will get plenty more chances to poke at each other. I was also able to pass off my vitals PE. I was hoping to pass of the extra oral one too but we ran out of time. The extra oral and mirror PE's are due next Monday and I'm hoping that we will have lots of time to do those. They are both very simple so I'm not worried about them.
I had 3 tests this past week also. I have been so busy studying for them. It always makes me nervous to take the first test because you never know what to expect. I took my radiology test first and got 91%. Then it was time for the Dental Hygiene test. Everybody was so worried about this one because we covered ALOT of material. My score was a 91% but then Costley threw out a few questions and it bumped my score up to 98%!! I was so happy about this one. Then I took my anatomy test today and got 96%! I am so happy that all of my studying paid off. Now I just need to stick to it and make it 10 more weeks!

Instrument grasp and intra oral

Monday we learned how to hold an instrument and where to fulcrum and also the intra oral exam. It will take some practice before I feel really comfortable holding the instrument and knowing where to place my fulcrum finger. The intra oral exam wasn't too hard. I think the hard part will be remembering and identifying everything inside the mouth. I was really hoping to pass off my vitals PE today but the HHX was due today so everybody needed to do that and it took forever. So of course, I wasn't able to pass anything off. That is partly due to the fact that we don't have an instructor in our pod! I really hope in the future they will arrange for an instructor to be in every pod. I, along with the other girls in my pod, feel that we get left out. I talked to my peer pal about it and she said she was in the same pod and she totally understands what I'm going through. She said we are the 'forgotten pod'. Hopefully it will get better. Wednesday I will need to pass off my vitals and mirror PE's since they are both due.

Extra exam and mirror fulcrum

Today was a busy day. We first learned about how to do the extra oral exam. I felt pretty good about this because I was brave enough to do one at the Women's Health Connection when I volunteered. I especially like being the patient and having the exam done on me. It was a nice little massage. Then we went over how to hold the mirror in the different positions of the patient's mouth. It is a lot harder than it sounds! And of course, because of my left-handedness, I get confused easily because I have to think of everything backwards when they are teaching it. But no worries, we have a left-handed instructor!! So after we practiced that we had a lot of time to pass of PE's. I wasn't sure if I wanted to do the Health History PE. After sitting around for a few minutes with nothing to do I finally got the courage to pass it off. It is a lot of information but the more I practice it the easier it becomes. I need to work on being more confident in myself and just do it like I know how to.

Vitals

I was a little nervous about today's clinic because I knew we were going to be taking each others vital signs. I have never done this before so it would be something new to me. We went over the normal ranges for blood pressure, pulse, and respiration. Then it was time to practice. It was hard to hear the pulse when doing the blood pressure but after comparing my results to the people in my pod mine were about the same. I was excited about that. I'm taking my blood pressure cuff and stethescope home so I can practice on everybody. We also went over another HHX treatment record. It is ALOT of information but I am starting to understand it a little better and am feeling more confident about the case study that we have to do. Next time I hope to feel comfortable enough to pass off my HHX PE. Everything is starting to come together now and everything goes hand in hand so I am feeling a little better about all the material we are covering.

HHX

My goal for clinic today was to just relax! I am feeling overwhelmed and very confused. I didn't want to come in today and try to remember everything that was taught. We learned how to go over HHX forms and went over our partners. There is a lot of information that needs to be recorded, especially if the patient is taking a lot of medications. I knew that I wouldn't get it all down today and I didn't! I know that it will take practice and it will soon come to me. Kirsten and I were partners and our HHX were very plain so it didn't take us long at all to fill ours out. I am hoping that today will help me be able to do my case study a little bit easier. We had a little extra time so I was able to pass off the maintenance and positioning PEs with our TA Maegan. She was very helpful and gave me some pointers of things that she does. I think it is nice when the second years help us and give us ideas of what they do because they just went through what we are going through. I am feeling pretty good about clinic so far and I hope that I can stay composed and not stress out too much!

Clock positions

I thought today was a fun day in clinic. We learned the different clock positions for cleaning teeth. The way that I sit (because I'm a lefty) is from 12:00 to 4:00. In the 4:00 position you can see all the anterior teeth with surfaces towards you. At 12:00 you can see all the anterior surfaces away from you. I think the 3:00 position is the hardest because you are supposed to have the patient's mouth level with your elbow so that makes it hard to get your legs under the chair. Our instructor Kirsten is also left handed so she showed me that I can even sit at 4:00 to do the posterior teeth instead of 3:00. It is nice to have an instructor that is left handed to help me. I also passed off the PPE, set up, and tear down PE's so that was nice. I'm am getting excited to be able to do more hands on stuff in the near future!