Last mock patient day

Today was the last mock patient day. It was awesome today I just got to lay back and relax. Ashley did such a great job, nothing hurt. It was so hot in clinic today though I could barely stand it, and I am never hot. I hope it is not like that when I have a regular patient. I am going to be sweating from the stress. I don't need it from the heat too. Next clinic is our first real patient day. I am so nervous. AHHH! At least it is my hubby I get to torture. Poor guy. Oh well, he will still love me when it is over with. At least I hope so. : )

Second mock patient day

So I am so slow. I was the last one done scaling and I gave Ashley a shower a couple times. My air water syringe gets stuck down and just sprays all over. Ahh! No to mention the fact that I am so slow and I only got two quads. done. Oh well maybe one day I can be ok at this. I think we are sleeping at our new house for the first time tonight. So that makes it a great day. I love my new house. It was worth all the stress. The most exciting thing for me is putting all my new tupperware, dishes, and all that away. Not to metion being able to use them for the first time. It is awesome.

P.E. frenze

We had to pass off four P.E.'s today. What pressure! It went well though. We only have one more P.E. to pass off and we are done with the semester. It is getting so close. I am so near being a quarter of the way done with my hygiene program. Yeah, I can hardly wait. It will be so great the day I can look back and say I am a few days away from being completely done. On a personal note we have started moving stuff up to our house. It is so exciting we are almost in.

Air powder punisher

Air powder polisher, can I just say that thing is brutal. I ended up with water and salt everywhere. Every time it hit your lips your tongue or anything it really stung. Today went really well though. I feel really confident doing sealants. Which is good cause it is about the only thing I feel confident about doing. I did not want to come back to school today. We had a fabulous weekend at the sand dunes and I just wanted to stay forever. I guess all good things come to an end. I just wish it was not so soon. The good news is we are moving in our house this week, finally. I can't wait it turned out awesome.

From patient to operator

On monday I showed up and found out that all I had to do was lay back, relax, and let Alyse do all the work. It was so nice. No pressure at all. She did such a great job and was so soft. Today it was my turn to put the hurt on Alyse. Good thing she is a good sport with all the poking and proding I did. I spent most of my time trying to scale off some cement that was left from removing her lingual bar. I am so glad we got a practice day. It really helps. We are so close to seeing reall patients it is scary. Ahhhh!

Polishing, Should We or should we not?

Should we polish or should we not? That is the question of the day. They teach us to polish, and everytime you go to the dentist they polish, but the all the research is screaming no. What do we do when we get out into practice. Should we stick to tradition. Is that even ethical to continue when we know all the harm it causes. I don't know what I will do cause our patients expect it. On the up side today was a great day. There was not alot of pressure to learn to much. It was ridiculously hot again in clinic. That dang air conditioner only works one out of ten clinic sessions. Oh well. Now it is time to study for the radiology test. Good Luck everyone.

Ah, finally some good practice

Today we mostly practiced our instrumenting and I passed off some P.E.s. It was nice to get some good time practicing. It really helped. Now I really feel like have grasped anterior instrumentation. Now to worry about posterior. I am glad the first two test are over. Radiology shouldn't be to bad. Just time consuming one hundred questions. : ( Oh well. Here we go with another week.

Is this for me?

I just don't know if I am ever going to feel good about doing instrumentation. I keep thinking I will get better but I am not. I just don't feel very comfortable. I am so afraid to hurt someone that I feel like I am not practicing right. Added to that, I am so tired I fall asleep in class all the time. Maybe that is why I can't sleep at night, or maybe it is the stress of building a house and going to school and all the other BS. I just wish I was fabulous at it right now.

Where am I

So I can not get back into school mode. I went to Lake Powell this weekend and school is the last place I wanna be. I am having a hard time focusing. I needed a longer vaction. It was so much fun I did not want it to end. Other than the plane ride home. One of our friends is a pilot and we flew home in a small six seater plane. I always get sick on planes so I took some dramamine. Well not soon enough I guess. I threw up four times on the way back. It was so embarassing. Then as soon as I got home the dramamine kicked in and I could not stay awake. I guess to little to late. Other than that is one of the funnest trips ever. I can't wait till next year.

Fireworks

So today while we were working on anterior instrumentation, I was laying in the chair and my light blew up. Good thing there was a shield over it because peices of glass and sparks were flying everywhere. Ahh! All I did was look at it. Today was good. I did great on my probing PE and everything went well. I have a hard time using my wrist only for the stroke and not my fingers, those things just wanna get in on the action. I think it will get better with practice.

Thats what that is

Today we classified all our instruments. We learned which teeth they were used for and what each of them did. It was nice to finally find out what all these strange things sitting in my door were. I also passed off my explorer PE. That indirect vision still has me all confused. All and all it was a pretty good day.

What a Day

Today's clinic sucked! We had no time for everything we had to do. I thought it was going to be a practice day to work on the stuff that we were not comfortable with but instead it was a day full of activities. My PFI suddenly dropped thirty points and I have been doing more brushing and flossing. That makes sense. Now, lets talk about probing with indirect vision. What a nightmare, especially with a ligual wire. Hopefully things get better or I am throwing in the towel.

Blue mouth

Today was really informative we used some stuff that turned our whole mouth colors and tasted sick, but it showed us each where all our plaque was hinding out. I was pretty happy I am actually doing a really good job when I brush. I hardly had any. Maybe to good of job. I am being a little rough on the gums. I guess I will work on that. I am just glad I learned a proper brushing technique. No one has ever told me I was brushing to hard before. I guess better late than never.

Suspicious lesions

Today we charted restorations and occlusion. We also explored for any "suspicious lesions" or decay as most people call it, but we are not allowed to diagnose decay. Hence the term suspicious lesion. No suspicious lesions here. Which is great, but a few people in our clinic found them. For poor Alyse and Sarah it was there first. Its ok it happens to us all sooner or later. I got the intra oral exam passed off today too. I didn't know if I was really ready but I just winged it, and I did great. One less thing to worry about. Now it is just time to memorize another chapter for the quiz tomorrow. I am looking forward to a break this weekend. We are going to the sand dunes. :)

Probing and Bleeding index

Today we categorized people teeth as healthy, redness, gingivitis, and all that jazz. It was nice to see I got most of my probe depths about right. Now I just need to work on being a little more gentle. The probe I found, can be a weapon. I did not get any PE's passed off today. There was no time. I just really hope i get the hang of this, especially my clock positions.

One more test left

So, I have been dreading this week because of all the tests, but now I have two down and one to go. I did suprisingly well on the first two. Which is so great. Some of the weight has been lifted. Now, I just hope I can get through this last one. It is hard because I have so much other stuff going on, with the my house and all. I just want to make sure everything is getting done right with that, but I don't have time. All I have time for is school. We should be moving in in two weeks. Things for me should calm down then, hopefully. Then, I will have computer access at home and all my stuff will be at one place as opposed to spread out at various places. Yeah, I can't wait.

Exploring

Today we explored along the gum line to feel for calculus. With this being the first time for all of us there was quite a bit of bleeding involved. My gums were gush'n. I can still taste the blood. EWWW! Instrumentation was harder than last time. I hope I can be a hygienist cause I really sucked at that. I guess time will tell. Now it is time to go study for one of the many tests I have this week. Talk about stress. The first test of the semester are always the worst. You never know what to expect.

Instrumenting

Today we learned fulcrums for our dominate hand for instrumentation. It was nice to be able to practice on each other. Now I have a real sense of what being a hygienist will be like. It was so funny when Stacie was practicing on me my "big juicy lips" kept getting in the way and she kept poking them. I loved it Stacie don't worry. The inverted pen grasp will take some getting used to but I think i will get it after some practice. If I have time to practice with all the studying I am doing. So, I passed of the mirror fulcrum PE today and I was so concerned with my clock positions that I kept forgetting to say where I was fulcruming. Who does that on the mirror fulcrum PE?

Intra Oral Exams

Today we did intra oral exams on two "patients". It was interesting to see how different each of us is. It is going to be so hard to remember all the intaoral structure names and all the names of the different variations. I am going to have to do some overtime studying for that. So I guess my husband can forget about seeing me. Sorry honey. I feel like studying is taking up more and more of my time. While my husband is working so hard on our house and I have no time to help. I am so greatful he is so understanding and is willing to support me during school. I am a lucky girl.

Breakin in to the oral cavity

Today we did extra oral examinations on each other it was so nice it was like a massage. I was palpating for the sublingual node and my patients node kinda popped it was so creepy. Then we practiced fulcruming in the mouth with the mirror. It was nice to finally start working in the mouth. It gets me excited for being a hygienist.

Vitals?

Today we did vital signs! It was fun, but kind of difficult. It is so hard to heard a difference between muffling sounds that your hand is making holding the stethoscope and the sound of a heart beat, but I think I finally got it after a few tries. Sorry, to everyone I practiced on. I hope your hands have stop tingling now. I did not have any time to pass off PE's today. So I will have to do double next time.

Rocky Road to smooth sailing

Yesterday started out pretty rough. I got mixed up on what time I was supposed to be in class and I was late. Of course I am the only one that would make that mistake. I feel like a complete spaz. Nothing went right for the next two hours. Then, clinic went pretty good I passed of two more PE's and I learned a ton. So, I guess it all worked out. I won't make that mistake again.

First week and counting

Well I made it through the first week. I am a little more together now than I was at the first of the week, but i am still not exactly sure everything that needs to be done for each class. It is fun though. All the girls seem really great. I hope to make some good friends. All the professors have been great too. They have been so helpful with any problems. I can't wait till next year at this same time looking back and laughing at how ridiculous I was.

Now, I am stressed to the core!

Until today I was not too stressed, about the upcoming school year but it all hit me a few hours ago. One of my biggest problems is that I do not have a computer to access at home because we are between houses right now. So, when I am at school I try to print up everything I will need and check my email. I seem to have missed a few emails for a couple days and now my UDHA paper is the last one in. I am also concerned about what to study for the test in the 2207 class. I heard that we practical need to memorize that book. That is definately possible! :( Hopefully things get better.
P.S. If anyone is reading this that is not in the hygiene program, this is not my personal blog it is for hygiene school so you probably would not be interested.

Intial Post

This is my first post.