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. :)