More practice

More practicing today on posterior instrumentation. We paired up with a different pod and I got to work with Monica. It was a good time. She had a little bit of calculus on the anteriors, so I felt like I was actually cleaning a little bit. I also was able to pass off a few of my PE's. The instructor who passed off my PE was a little strict about things and confused me a bit because she was telling me the wrong end of the instrument to use. I thought I was right, so we got it figured out. It's also hard sometimes becuase each instructor tells us different things about the same thing, if that makes sense. Today is our Halloween Party so I've gotta go get my costume on. See ya!

Posterior Scaling

I liked posterior scaling, it seemed to come easier to me than anterior. Or at least I felt more comfortable with it. Holly R. was gone today and so was Tamara, and so Stephanie and I paired up. It was fun to pair up with someone that I haven't worked on so far. Stephanie feels like she doesn't really know what she's doing, but she seemed to be just as uncomfortable with some of the stuff as the rest of us. It makes me feel better, because sometimes I feel like maybe I'm not catching on as well as everyone else. It's nice to know that we all really are in the same situation just learning. I know it will get easier and more comfortable for all of us. We just need more practice. I like coming to clinic because I want that time to practice. I need to go over my anterior instrumentation Pe to pass off next time. so,that's it. See ya!

Intraoral camera

Today we just practiced exploring, probing, and anterior scaling again. Then we learned how to use the intraoral camera. It's pretty cool to be able to see spots in my mouth that I can't normally see just by looking in the mirror. I passed off my dental screening PE. I was pretty nervous about remembering all of it, but I did fine. The only thing I missed was writing in red some of the findings, which was pretty dumb. Oh well, at least I passed. Today was also an exciting day for the hygiene clinic because Keith Stubbs with Channel 2 news was here to report on our hygiene clinic. Anyway, I need to go over my instrument PE to pass off next time. I need to keep up on the PE's and stay ahead.

A full run through

Today we did a full run through up to what we have learned so far. It's nice to put everything together and get more comfortable with the order that we will be treating our patients. I feel more comfortable with everything and even fell better with scaling on the anterior teeth. I practiced with my Montana Jack today and I really like it. I feel like I can get a better angle with it. I'm looking forward to next time!

Scaling!

Yes! We are finally scaling. I guess I shouldn't say finally becaue things have been going so fast for us, but I am excited that we are learning it now. It's a little hard to learn when our patients don't have any calculus to practice on, but it's good just to work on adapting the instrument. I need to remeber to roll and adapt my instrument just a little further than what I think. We were going to pass off our dental screening PE, but there are some things I need to go over, so I will do that on Wendnesday. Our pod is great though because we are really keeping up on things. As Celeste would say go "Pod Power".

learning our instruments

I forgot to blog yesterday, so here it is. I was excited to learn about our instruments finally. We went over what the names of all of them are and what they are used for. It gets me anxious to start using them. I guess we will be starting that next week! I worked on Holly R. today and was able to do her PFI and probing depths. I tried to record it all in the chart. I think that's one of the hardest things. Knowing what to write and where and when to write it all is so confusing, so I try to do it eveytime just to get the practice. I thought I did pretty good at filling out the OHI until professor Costley went over all that it's supposed to contain, and of course I missed part of it. One of these days after all this practicing I think I'll get it. Anyway that's the part that is the most confusing and time consuming. Also, every instructor has a different opion or answer as to how we're suppose to fill it out. Well, I'll have to just consolidate everyone's answers and come up with my best way of doing it. K, later!

Charting PFI's

Today was fun because we used the nasty disclosing liquid to check for plaque. Mine wasn't too bad so I was glad, but I do have a few spots to work on. We figured each others PFI's and then I also was able to pass off my probing PE. Next clinic will be good because we will go from start to finish on a patient. I need the practice, so it will be good to do. See ya.

Dental screening

Today was fun to look in each other's mouths and chart all the existing dentition and restorations. Composite fills are hard to see just visually, so I think it will be a little easier when we have xrays to look at also. We were able to also practice exploring and probing. It's been a while since we used the explorer so that was nice to practice again. I think hopefully next week I will have time to pass off my probing PE. I'm feeling good about what we've learned, and I feel like I'm understanding all of it pretty well.

Probing and charting

Probing and charting today was pretty easy. It's crazy how we learn how to probe one day, then we have the weekend for a break, come back and can probe quicker than the other day already. I don't know if that even makes sense, but I feel like I just learned and practiced one day and today I already feel much more comfortable doing it. I felt pretty good about what I charted today compared to what my instructor charted on my patient. I just want to get better and faster at it really quick. Our instructors are all very encouraging even though I know they expect a lot. That's how I learn the best. I need to make sure I keep reviewing what we've done, and also reviewing what we will be doing before clinic each time.