[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!

.:.Seal.:. it baby!

Sealants Sealants Sealants!  I actually had a great time in clinic today.  We were able to learn how to place sealants on our patient, and it was my FIRST time.  And I did pretty darn good!  Prof Costley assisted me and she helped me to realize that I had missed one TINY spot in placing the sealant, and so I re-did it and was successful.  It actually was really fun to do!  We were only able to place on sealant today, but hopefully we get to place more in the future.  I passed off my selective polishing PE and the treatment plan PE on eaglesoft.  Today was grand. . . 

and HAPPY HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

..sandblasting time!

Last wednesday in clinic we learned how to sandblast each others' faces off.  Okay, okay. . not really.  But that day we learned how to polish and how to perform the Air/Powder polishing procedure.  OUCH!  It hurt. . it felt like my tongue was getting sandblasted off. . and it wasn't pretty.  It was fun to be able to polish, and it was great to be able to learn how to get stain and biofilm off of our patient's teeth.  I hope that one day it will come in handy-- My patient didn't have much to remove, so I felt bad that I was blasting his enamel, but it all turned out alright, and we just have to remember that we are all learning.  Today was a great day in clinic.. and we are getting CLOSER and CLOSER to seeing our REAL patient.  YIKES!     

..Lets plan your [trick or] TREATment..

Isn't it the best feeling when you have been dreading something all weekend, and that 'thing' that you were dreading turns out pretty darn awesome?  That happened.  Today.  Just now actually!  I had been dreading clinic all weekend. . we had our [short but sweet] fall break this past friday, and the last thing I wanted to do after this long weekend was to come to school.  But clinic today was so chill!  We learned how to enter in a treatment plan for our patients today, and that was pretty easy and chill.  The rest of the time, we were able to practice whatever we wanted!  So, I passed off my OHI PE and sorta kinda worked on the intra-oral camera.  I practiced Dental Screening, and hopefully I can pass those off this coming Wednesday.  I hope this week continues to go well. . Holla!