We are the Champions!

Don't even worry. . my pod is the best pod ever! Today in clinic we had a race to see who could set up their operatory the fastest. Each of us in the pod had to have their op completed in order for our group to win. WE WON!!!!! We are now the proud owners of starbursts and they taste so good!
Today I also had an "Ah Ha!" moment. We had time to practice exploring and probing and I finally felt the col. Its like a light bulb went on as I was probing. I finally understand it! I'm actually really excited to take my probe home and practice on my typodant during conference!!!

Looong Day . . .

Today was one of those days. Monday - hardest day of the week. I was super tired this morning and it was horrible trying to roll out of bed. I forgot my lab coat this morning. . .so my carpool lovingly dropped me off at my house so that I could run in and grab it. When we finally arrived at the clinic I realized we were doing exploring today. . . ugh.
I was a bit disheartened because of the mornings events, but things actually went really well. I'm going to need some extra practice, but I feel like I'm improving. Emily was my patient again today and I felt bad because I poked her a little bit - I was so anxious!
Today is now over and done. I made it through. All is well. I can only go up from here. As I told Emily today, "Keep an optimistic attitude!!!"

I can breath again!!!

Stress Relief!
I finally passed of my HHX PE today and it feels so good to have it done. I think I could have done a bit better on it, but I'm just glad to have it complete. Instructor Hemphsley passed me . . .thank heavens! It is so much to remember and I think a got a bit frazzled. Oh well!
Today we worked subgingivally in each others mouths. It's time to probe. All of us were super nervous. Maren was my partner and we both got so nervous that we broke into fits of giggles. It is so difficult to get the hang of! I have no idea how to get into the Col area and sometimes I'm doing really well with the pressure and then other times I feel like I'm hurting her!
Maren said that I was doing really well. That there were only a few times when I pinched her. I guess I can only get better from here. Lets hope!

Monday . . .Need I say more?

Today was one of those days. Monday . . . the hardest day of the week. You're getting back into the swing of things and you've just had a long, sleep deprived weekend. It was so hard to get out bed this morning.
One I got to clinic things went well. We had a guest speaker so things were cut a bit short. In the time that we had we learned how to grasp  our instrument and how to do intra-oral exams. I was also able to pass of the extra oral exam PE.
I still have a few PE's to pass off, but I have time. On Wed. I have to pass off the HHX PE. . .Wish me luck!!

STRESS!!!

I am really worried about passing off my HHX PE. We didn't have time to do it today, so now I have to wait an entire weekend to get it done! I guess it will give me more time to study . . .but I'm still a little stressed.
All stressing aside, today was a good day. Our instructors taught us how to do extra oral exams. These exams are done to make sure that the patient doesn't have any abnormalities of the skin or lymph nodes. It is also a screening for cancer. We worked on each other. Emily was my first patient and then Julie and I got together.
Along with the extra oral exam we worked on fulcruming our mirror in the patient mouth. We used the standard chair positions and worked on our posture while we found fulcrum points that worked the best for us. It was a bit crazy to get used to, but I think I got the hang of it. I had excellent patients today - they were really patient with me and helped me get things accomplished.
Bonus part of today? Last class of the week! Wish me luck on my tests this weekend!!!

Lub Dub . . . Lub Dub . . .

Guess what was on the agenda today!? Vital Signs! We learned the techniques needed to take a patients blood pressure, pulse, and respiration rate.
Emily was my first patient, then the girls in my pod switched and Ashley was my second patient. Vital signs are tricky to get the hang of. I'm doing really well with pulse and respiration. Its the blood pressure that gets me. I've never used a blood pressure cuff or a stethoscope. I started getting the hand of it after a couple tries, but poor Emily's arm was going numb!
I know the feeling . . .when I was her patient I couldn't feel my fingers. Apparently blood pressure is not meant to be taken multiple times a day. It was good practice though. I'm going to take my equipment home to practice a little more. My family will be the lucky patients!

Health History . . .BAH!!

I can't believe it! This is my third week of dental hygiene! The weeks seem to be getting better and better. I had a bit of a break down over the first week of school. . . I didn't know what I had gotten myself into! Things are getting better - much better. Thank heavens!
Today I was able to pass off two of my PE's. I am ahead of the schedule when it comes to PE's. I was worried that I wasn't going to be able to pass one of them off today, but Emily graciously offered to be my patient for chairside positioning. Bless her!
Now I can devote all of my time to the Health History PE we learned today. Heaven only knows I'm going to need a lot of work on this one. There is a lot of stuff to remember when you are doing a health history with your patient. I struggle with knowing what side effects to list with each medication. We have to look up any medications listed and list the side effects that could compromise the pt in our chair.

Eight o'clock or twelve o'clock?

I started to feel like a real hygienist today! This afternoon we used out typodont and learned how to probe the correct surfaces of the teeth depending on the "clock position" we are sitting in.
We also learned the neutral working position. Your posture is key when you're working on patients. A number of problems can occur physically if you don't take care of yourself from the beginning. Instead of bending over to see the teeth, we learned to use our mirrors. It was pretty crazy!
This weekend I'm planning on taking my typodont home along with some instruments. "Fred" the typodont is going to be my first victim . . . I might even call upon one of my family members . . . Who knows!
Practice makes perfect and I'm starting to get the hang of things! I don't want to forget anything over the long weekend!!!
Over and out! :)