Monday comes after sunday..

...and we all know what Monday means.  Clinic.  Eeek!  However, this past Monday was a great one-- not the kind where everyone and everything is like . . M--OooOo..nd..Ay....-->  blaaahh!  It was like...MO :)  NDAY!  :)  Mond :)  ay monday!!  :) :)  Ok.  Worst exaggeration ever.  I was actually nervous because I was seeing my mother-in-law and didn't know what to expect.  But why am I so dumb sometimes?  I already know that she is the most kind, cheerful, and non-judgemental person on the entire PLANET people.  But.  I was still nervous.  Until she showed up and I saw her smiling face..then my heart beat was a tad bit more normal :)  She seriously is the sweetest.  (And it was hilarious..the first thing she said when she sat in her chair was, "Everything is so purple!")  And after I got thinking about it- it really was!  Our lab coats....my blood pressure thingy-ma-jig...the disclosing agent..the purple paper that boringly sits on the cupboard, the napkin holder thingy around their neck...I mean..come on people.  Barney does NOT reside here.  However, she thought it was hilarious, and so did I :))  Anyway- back to the story.  So I first started off by taking a FMX on the poor woman.  And boy was she a trooper.  Her poor little mouth handled it so well, and she had tori, too, which probably didn't feel like cotton candy on her insides.  oops.  Anyway- but she was the sweetest about the whole thing---> which was so nice because I knocked off a set of bwx from it, and 14 PA's...other good news was I had ZERO yes ZERO retakes.  Phew :)  I did the whole FMX with Schick, which I thought would be a lot more challenging than it was.  I finished in about 35 minutes!  YAY!  I think one of the things I'm always most nervous for are x-rays.  B/c I just never had experience with taking them before coming into the program-- but so far I've been impressed with myself.  Anyway-  It was soooooooo good to chart her mouth because so far I've only see 1B's..with hardly any work done.  But she had lots of fun stuff inside.  Restorations, tetracycline stain, vaneers (sp?), crowns, amalgam, and roots.  A LOT of exposed root surfaces.  I hadn't ever seen anything like it-- it was so awesome!  Anyway- so of course, Demmings and I "talk over" her classification, and I dumbly say, "uhhh...class 1B?"  Ha- the look on the instructor's face quite plainly said, "NO!"  She was definitely a class 5 because of all of that recession!  (i thought a class 5 had to have lots and lots of calculus..but i guess not. which will make scaling her EASY CHEESY!)  Anyway.  So now i have a class 5.  And I can't wait to scale her class 5 mouth.  And now this blog is like 5 hours long.  So I'm done.  BOOM!  

7 days ago...

Uhhhhh.  Once upon a time last week I saw my 2nd patient of the semester-- and I may or may not have forgotten to blog about it.  Anyway..it was one of my favorite teammates Loren.  Ohh she's a treat.  And it went well!  I started the appointment by taking 4 BWX--> no retakes baby!  I was so nervous because it was the first time doing x-rays since being back in school, but it was a success.  Then I continued on to chart her pretty little mouth, and probe her pearly whites.  The first scale check was approaching in 20 minutes after OHI, and I was determined to finish one quad...So-- I began.  And right when I started, I was immediately wondering if I had made a bad choice.  20 minutes?!  I don't think I'd ever scaled a quad in 20 minutes!  But..alas- it was a success.  I finished sweepin and swipin my scalers all over the place, and had the scale check.  Boom.  No missed spots.  This just goes to show that I don't always need to "explore" and go over and over spots to make SURE I got it all.  That just wastes precious little time.  I just need to stay confident and quickly move on.  Anyway- the day was grand.  And life is grand.  And hygiene school is grand, when I experience a grand day.  Yep- that's it.

...back in business baby!

Yes, Yes I know. . Christmas break FLEW by!  However, it's good to be back-- I saw my first patient of the semester this week---> her name was Stacia.  Oh-- and she was my sister :)  It was so fun to be able to work on someone that I knew because it was comfortable and I could feel confident in myself.  I was able to do a quad scale last monday, and today i FINISHED her mouth. . YAY!  It went so well, and it was SO nice to be able to actually complete a patient.  Yes!!  Scaling felt a little awkward at the first, but the more and more I went, the better and better it felt.  Practice makes perfect. . It is exciting to know that we are actually seeing real patients now, yet it is quite scary, too.  I'll be happy when I get quicker at doing everything..but things come with time, and I just need to remember that!  Well.. that's all for now folks.  Holla!!

[I] was the patient today. .

Today was mock patient day for miss Jac, and boy did she do superb!  It was so stinkin' relaxing to sit in the chair and do absolutely nothing.  My jaw did get a wee bit tired, but it was so fun to be able to relax in clinic.  I learned a lot about what it is like to be a patient for a "student", and it will make me have a lot more sympathy for my patients.  Today was great:  and I'm excited to start seeing real patients...real soon :)

Mock pt. day #2!

Last wednesday I was able to finish the rest of the appointment on miss Jac.  I scaled the UL and LL quads, which were very difficult for me, and polished, flossed, and applied fluoride varnish to her pearly whites :)  It was a very successful day and my scale check went great. . passed with flying colors :)  I cannot believe that the semester is winding down. . we see a real patient in ONE week from today.  Yikes!  But i'm super excited. . life is great, and I can't wait for the big break.

{Mock}in' rockin' patient day!

Today was for real.  In other words, we had our real "mock patient day".  Boy was it a treat!  I was so so nervous this weekend thinking that I would actually have to probe an ENTIRE mouth and have to pick up my SCALERS and attempt to scale 2 quads in clinic the next week.  I could hardly sleep last night because I was so excited/nervous/scared/happy!  I was glad to know that I wasn't the only one who was shakin' in their boots when we arrived at clinic.  We were able to work with pod 2, and I chose sweet little Jacque Lewis to be my partner.. again.  :)  She is such a sweetheart and is always so helpful and encouraging.  She is a great partner, and anyone is lucky to work with her.  So....first we started off "obtaining" (per say) our patient from the waiting room, and seating them.  We went over HHx, OD, dental screening, disclosing, probing an entire mouth, and i actually scaled 2, yes TWO quadrants.  It was a miracle.  I have been so nervous about scaling, because I feel like we haven't had a lot of time to "grasp" the concept, however. . after scaling today and "passing" my scale check, I felt like I had conquered the world.  Holla!!  It boosted my confidence about 100 notches above usual, and it was a very successful day.  I actually left clinic thinking, "That was so fun!"  Lets be honest, that hasn't happened in a long time.  I am actually starting to feel like I know what I'm doing!  I really do deserve to be here!  I really will become a hygienist one day!  ....love days like this-- they make me....thankful :)

feelin' a little dull?

Last week in clinic. . we learned how to sharpen our instruments.  Nothing too extremely hard, but very important in practicing hygiene.  Our instruments weren't dull (come on now, we've scaled about 4 times total this semester), but it was still great to learn how we'd go about sharpening our instruments when the time comes.  Sharpening is super important to be able to fully remove the calculus, and to speed up the appointment time.  If you try to work with dull instruments, it could take you an extremely long time, and you are more likely to burnish calculus and not fully remove it from our patient's mouth.  We also learned how to "walkout" our patient. . which was stress-free also.  This semester is winding down. . eek!  Hygiene rocks my socks off!