Last day!!!!!!

There is no better feeling then knowing i made it through this first semester alive. Just five finals this week and i can get a breather! Today was very chill which i love, we learned about emergency preparedness and STAT situations!! Then we learned about our CA duties for the next year and a half. Then we reflected on the semester and wrote a little bit about what worked well for us, what we would change, etc. Well blog...i am signing off for now...i will see you again January 3rd as i begin the second semester of my dental hygiene journey!

Real Patient Day=Mixed Emotions

It was scary, chaotic, enlightening, embarrassing, fun, and frustrating all in one. It was so fun to have Kelly there to see what we do each day in school. Thank goodness he was my first patient because i feel like i made a million dumb mistakes, but he assures me that i am the best...biased. But i learned a lot, the instructors were very helpful i just hope that i can really do this stuff when i am seeing patients other than my husband who has to love me. It was fun to see everyones husbands and family there! All i have to say is....Bring on Christmas Break!!! This girl needs some time to regain her sanity!!!!!!!

I scaled!!

Today was really great, Kelsey is such a fun patient and i sure kept her entertained with my sound effects as i worked. Scaling is such an intense skill! I had a lot of help today and i feel much better about it, today i realized that i love the Nevi! I learned that i will definitely have to pick up the pace when i have a real patient, but i actually had fun so i hope to just gain more confidence to add to my enthusiasm! The end is so near...and i could not be happier...i need a break. A long, joyful, relaxing, Christmas, break.

My Pretend Real Patient

So today went a little smoother than i imagined...i was deathly afraid to probe the entire mouth since i thought it would take an eternity, it did take a while, but i kept up with the rest of the girls. I also practiced OHI and realized how awkward i can sound when i am trying to find the right words to describe caries to the patient, i will work on that. I also learned that my posture must have sucked today because my neck is killing me so i really need to work on that when i am the operator again on Wednesday! I am getting pretty excited for our real patient day, its gonna be fun to have Kelly be there!! I am soooo glad its the end of the semester but there is TOO MUCH TO DO!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

I'm the Patient: Day 2

I knew the day was gonna be a good one when Prof. Allen let us watch like 2 minutes of Moulin Rouge in Radiology after we watched the movie about Pano's. We were all singing our hearts out and the day just could not be bad. Once again i got to lay there for 4 hours while Kelsey did an amazing job scaling, placing a sealant, trying out the ultrasonic scaler, etc! She thinks she did really bad, but she was awesome, and she has no idea what she is in for next week as my patient...lets all pray for her that i do well!
The official countdown begins....14 more days of school!

I'm the Patient: Day 1

This day was seriously sweet! I got to wake up actually do my hair, wear normal clothes, show up at school, and lay there for 3 hours then go home (well actually to work :( but still....Good times!) Kelsey did a great job, today she got through everything all the way up to scaling which she will do on Wednesday! Even being the patient, i feel like a learned a lot about the order of things and when the instructors are needed to check on things and sign things. Until next time my friends, i am enjoying this week of relaxation so far!

Instrument Sharpening and Flouride

Today was so laid back in Clinic, i loved it! I think its because the next three weeks in there are going to be chaos! (Our mock and REAL patient days are here...its crazy that they think i can actually handle this stuff already)! We learned how to sharpen our instruments using the moving stone, stationary instrument method. It is kindof tricky, but i think it just takes some getting used to. Then we passed off our air powder polish PE, me and Ashley were smart thinkers this time and turned the salt way down so it would not make me almost puke this time. Speaking of puking, I gave Jodie a real hard time in Radiology Lab today because i gag everytime someone tries to take an x ray on me! That digital sensor it bigger than my entire mouth, it just doesnt work out so well. They were trying all these methods, everyone was shouting for me to breathe out my nose, and count to 20, and hold my leg in the air, and they even tried to put salt on my tongue! But that is where i drew the line, because we all know how i feel about salt after all this air powder polishing business! Fun times in the dental hygiene program, that is for sure.

Sealants

I don't know why but i think sealants are scary little things...i was very nervous about actually placing them on my real live classmate Ashley! But she was a good sport and did not even get mad about the bulky little blob of a sealant that i did on her premolar. (Don't worry we got it taken care of). Lesson learned, use a VERY little amount of sealant material. Also, if i were to grow two more arms, i would be the master of sealants! I will work on that.