First Real Patient Day!!!

Today before clinic I was a bit nervous. This is something I have been wanting to do for like five years and now I actually get to start treating actual patients. Not to mix religion with school but I really felt like I had some help today. So many nice people were praying for me. I was so greatful to have such a nice patient patient. He was great! I just took it slow and tried not to panic. I was able to finish the OD. The next thing I would have done was to disclose. It wasnt a ton but having him write the probe depths for me helped. For the radiology portion of the day I had to take one bitewing over again cause it wasnt distal enough. I totally forgot to give him his x-ray and to do a BFI but I think that was it. ( I hope ) I am glad everyone was so willing to help it was great! This makes me feel so much better about spring clinic now I at least know more of what is to come. It was a good experience overall. Thanks for all of your help whoever reads this!

Sit back and relax

It was so nice to get patient treatment overwith so I could just be the patient Wednesday. I liked it a lot. It was a good learning experience for me. Its a great review of what happened Monday and its good to feel what you will be doing to someone so you can empathize with them. I think me being a patient to will help me others feel better when they are in my chair. I know how it feels and know a little more about things that make it not as uncomfortable as it could be. She did a great job by the way, it was just good to experience being a pt for myself.

Mock patient day

It was good again to go through all the motions before actual patient treatment on someone who is not my classmate. It was fun to work on my patient. I think probing an actual mouth helps a lot so you can get a feel for how things go. We had an incident with the fluoride that was hilarious! I put the overfilled tray in her mouth and went to sit the chair up more, but I pushed the wrong button and the chair went all the way up! We both started laughing pretty hard and before I knew it fluoride spewed everywhere! It was on my glasses and everything! That was the highlight of the whole appointment.

Its sealin time!

Today I passed off my air powder polishing and sealant PE's as well as instrument sharpening. My stone broke into three pieces so that was a bummer. Now I am paranoid about being careful though so I hope I wont break anything again. I never knew that you should do a fluoride treatment after doing sealants. It totally makes sense that after you etch something you try to remineralize it! What if you didn't seal over part of what you etched? Its a problem definitely so the fluoride idea was smart. Anyway I can't believe that this semester is almost over! Its crazy! We are like one fourth of the way through the program! Its fun to think I'll be Meagan Ferrin RDH someday! Well bye for now! =)

Air Powder Polishing/Sealants

Yesterday in clinic I got to try the air powder polisher for the first time. Its pretty cool I really liked doing sealants. I couldn't complain at all I was able to get free sealants on my teeth then too. Really I just cant believe we have come this far! Its amazing! I have learned sooo much its been great! Its cool and it makes me nervous that we get to work on actual patients so soon! I just think its neat that we getto do what I've been seeing hygienists do for years. I am so thrilled to be here!

Sharpen/Being a Patient day

Today I got to sharpen instruments for the first time. At first I thought I was doing more damage than good but then it started getting sharper and catching on the test stick. I took that as a good sign. Hopefully I will get this down soon. I'm sure we all will. For the rest of clinic and half of radiology I was a patient. It was nice and its really good to see what the patients side of it is like. Especially with x-rays they poke into your mouth so I tried to get those side cushion things. (I cant remember what they're called now) Those help. It turned out alright I had to do a few retakes but I am going to get there. Thats what I'm here for is to learn right. There are those times though I just wish I did it right already, but I guess I'll appreciate it more when I get there. Bye for now! =)

Putting it all together

In clinic today we got to do everything from start to finish. It was really good to have that experience before actually getting into patient treatment. It was like going through a ton of PE's all at once. I was greatful I got to work on an instructor because I got good feedback. It helps so much! You can think you're doing it right, but really you are missing something. Its nice to know so you don't practice the wrong thing. This program is really good I have learned soooo much! Thanks to everyone thats helped me with that. I really do appreciate it!