COLGATE

In Dental Hygiene 3 we had a guest speaker come from Colgate the famous SUE!! I felt that she was able to give us some very useful information regarding hypersensitivity. I felt like it was good to know the different active ingredients that can help improve pt sensitivity. Along with stannous and sodium fluoride arginine can help reduce dentinal sensitivity. I like the idea of occluding the tubules. I feel that this is a great area where dental hygienist can offer sound advice and help pts find relief from hypersensitivity pain. I like that I'm not only aware of the toothpaste to recommend but that i can now match the active ingredients and also find a sensitivity tooth pate that tastes good. I think that I would recommend the Colgate sensitive Pro-Relief for the active ingredients as well as the taste. Overall, I appreciate the added knowledge the speaker gave.

Last VA day

The drive here was crazy the wind outside was going 80 -100 mph needless to say I'm amazed we made it here. the road was lined with rolled over semi's and the ones that weren't rolled over were lined up along the side of the road! tons of them! we saw the most crazy things but we were all safe once we got there and the drive home was not nearly. The damage done was unbelievable. I loved that Sarah tried to get Mcconoughy to let us go early but even though WSU was canceled we decided to still see pts. After the stressful drive I had 2 relatively easy pts. Both were class V's although one had some mobility and deep pocketing and needed to have a periodontist come and look at him. I was able to place aretin for the first time and I noticed it was hard to get the cannula into the pocket as the tissue was a little tight. however I think We successfully placed it in 5 sites!! I was a good last clinic day and I'm looking forward to started my last semester!!!!!

Finals are here

Woot Woot! finished all of my finals!! I took my last test yesterday and it still hasn't set in!! I do plan on going to see my sister tomorrow and maybe I will realize I'm done when I'm not sitting is class!!! I fell I did well on all my finals but would have liked to have done a little better on the LA test I guess this mean I better be studying my butt off for the board!! Also I want to meet to DR. Hanson to clarify a few things!! I just want to make sure I'm understanding everything I need too!! I cant believe I have 1 more semester left!!!! I know its going to come fast, fast, fast!!!!

Boards

Mockboards are the next big thing 3 next semester! and so far I have 1 mock board pt! Well 2 I guess If you count my LA mock board! Hopefully I will find another mockboard and a real BOARD pt!!. I also have looked ahead and I think I will be taking my first board the second week of January!!!! Crazy crazy crazy!!! I plan on taking the LA board first. I guess I will be studying during all of my Christmas break!! I'm not quite sure how to tackle the studying but first thing first is to make a firm plan of action!! A few weeks after my LA board I plan to take the National Board!! I think it will be hard to study for both but so far my plan is 2 hrs of LA and 1.5hrs of National Board stuff everyday during the break!! Hopefully I can fit in an actual Christmas too :) Next I'll take to POC a week after the National so wish me luck people!!! oh wait I think I need to register first and then come up with the money :( hope it will all work out!!

11

Yeah that's right 11 INJECTIONS!!!!!! I love giving injections I feel like I'm just getting better and better! I can see how the angles work!! I also had a hard class II and missed 1 spot and 2 quads of a class III with no missed! it was great! I love days like today It was a perfect day to end clinic on!!. My Class III pt was really nervous and was defiantly high pressure but I feel like I stayed calm and was able to do a really good job with her. I had her close her eyes so she didn't have to see the needle. I also got to use a wrist BP cuff today It worked well. I gave my first PAS on the left side and needed a little help with the angle but I rocked the right side and both IA"S woot woot!!

Late People are lame

Today was rough going I had a pt no-show this morning and struggled to find a replacement pt. I called a million people at 8 in the morning and I'm sure I ticked off a few of them. After long searching and with the help of Mr. Solomon I was able to locate a pt. I re-set up my room for my new pt and pulled his chart to look though I saw he would need LA and set up accordingly. Al seems good except 1 hr later he still want there. I called again only to find that he is sending his son in. Finally after going through 3 differant pts I get one in the chair only to find that I have 35min to see him. I take x-rays and do the od quickly but was only able to scale 1/2 of his mouth. I felt bad as I had no more available appts this semester but he will be a good pt to pass off to mt peer pal. Lucky her od done and everything:)

Injections nad Lazers!!

I had a great pt today !! I got 2 quads of a class II, 6 injections, and I got to use the lazer on both the mand and max!! It was interesting my pt had 4mm pockets but was bleeding like crazy I had so many 2x2's soaked with blood! I felt like the lazer was a good option to dry up the tissues and cauterize them! I want to check in with my pt and see how hes healing. I felt exhausted by the end of the appt but felt like I learned a lot. Injection wise I need to remember 45 degree angle I keep dropping a little so I want to focus on keeping that angle. ( lots to work on) I do feel like i'm getting the hang of them though and I'm not nearly as nervouse with my pts.

Waiting at the VA

Another no show this is my second one at the VA grrrr....and yeah its horrible!! I'm hoping another pt can make it in soon so that I can get something done. In fact I'm hoping for a class III so maybe something will work out. After today I will have 1 more VA day and I cannot believe the semester has gone by so fast!! I'm so excited for the brake coming up!! All of my requirements are meet except for my class III I'm doing OK but I would like to get a few more quads in this semester!!

perfect day

I was able to accomplish a lot today and I feel pretty good about it!! This morning I was 2 1A pts and was able to get sealants on both. I passed off my diagnodnt and sealant pe!! woot woot This was great because I was really worried about getting my sealants done!! My afternoon pt was again a class V but I did get to pass off my blood glucose PE!! Woot Woot!! My pt was a talker wow I couldn't get a word in edge wise but he was sweet and showed up 10 min early!! so cool. I learned today how to differentiate from calc and mal opposed teeth a few tips If you can't feel it from the lingual check the position of the tooth behind it from the mesial!! overall a good days work!

mockboard

Wow was today stressful!! My pt was late then he was on the phone the whole time with his girlfriend!! yeah so rude!! I did not do as well as I hoped but I do feel like I learned some really important things. 1 find a reliable board pt 2 find one with a bigger mouth instead of a tiny mouth! 3) relax 4) numb up pt to make your life easier!! 5) don't be timid watch the distal line angles! 6) have some confidence and 7 relax again. I think this will be a turning point for me where I can take this opportunity to learn and improve my skills!! so practice then bring on the next mockboard!!

PLease can I take a day off!

First mistake of the day= getting out of bed! Today was one of those days were I could do nothing right! At scale check my instructor asked me "have you scaled" Yeah so embarrassing I usually miss about 2 areas maybe 3 but today I missed 9yep 9 I really sucked it up today!! Well Lets hope that next Tuesday will be better! I need to learn to stay up on my fulcurm and keep my tip down!!! This is my new goal. I wasn't to slow down for a bit and just work on accuracy and correct technique. My one good event was that I Finally found my mockboard pt!! However he did show up 1hr and 20min late to the appt so lets hope for mockboard he will be on time!!!

I love 1B's

Today I saw my first 1B of the year! IT was so nice! nice healthy pink tissues with a little marginal redness. I finished so quickly nad did not have to work nearly as hard as I did on my class II's> So far my requirements are coming along great though I'm hoping to soon get some class III's!!! I love being able to demonstrate to my pts areas they can improve their oral health I like helping and teaching them. I also feel like my hand scaling is coming along nicely I used to fear the distal line angle of the max molars but I feel I have made adjustments and that I can adequately clean them !! Woot Woot!! I also want to begin seeing 2 pts in the afternoon Today I will try and we will see how it goes!!

2nd Clinic day

Woot Woot! I came into clinic thinking both my pts would be 1B's but both were Class V's I now have 17 quads for my class II's and its only the second week of clinic. I just hope I can start to see some class III's soon. I felt more comfortable in clinic today and did a little better with my x-rays. O had 2 really awesome pts who were excited about improving their health and working on keeping thier mouths healthy. It was so fun to be able to provide them with a good oral health education. I was able to pass off 2 PE's today and finish 8 quads. I'm thinking that soon I will be able to start seeing 2 pts in the mourning. If I can get 2 1b pts I think I could finish them both in the mourning. I feel like its time to start applying pressure and pushing myself to accomplish more.

First Pt day!! wow time to get back into the swing of things. I felt like my 1st apt was a little rough but by the afternoon I was getting back into the groove. I saw a true class II in the mourning and a class V in the afternoon I was able to finish 6 quads. I felt I struggled a little with my x-rays and would like to set a goal to work on those. I was getting reacquainted with my instruments and found I truly missed them. I was also able to get a physician consult and had a great review on how to do those. I also had to work with a pt that could only lie back half way. I felt it was a good learning experience. I really learned to appreciate pt positioning and how it can help us.

All PE"s Passed off

Today was a very productive day and I love productive clinic days!! I had my lovely husband come in and here is what I was able to pass off/ complete on him: 1)16 Pa's to complete a full mouth x-ray 2) The removable appliance PE: on his retainer which badly needed it! 3) the air/powder polish PE 4) the diagnodent PE 5) Last sealant needed. 6) Diet analysis Yes all that and I also completed 4 bitewings and 2 PA's on another pt with time to spare. Needles to say I will most likely be giving my husband a back rub tonight!! I felt that not only was today productive but that I had an opportunity to use things like the air/powder polish, diagnodent and shick each having not been used since we learned them. My new goal is to start using the shick more. My x-rays came out wonderful and for 16 PA's that was amazing I needed no retakes and it was honestly so fast. I feel like I would really need some more time using/doing all of these PE's again because doing them 2 times a semester 1 time being how to learn it is not enough. The clinic day was great and now all my PE's are successfully passed off!!!

First class III

Yeah a found 3 quads of a class III! Today I found that there is a big difference between a class II and a Class III. My pt today had the most tenacious calculus I have ever seen thus far! There was a lot of supra more way more subgingival calculus. I learned 3 big things: 1st That I must sharpen my instruments. Second, that I should slow down and take my time with harder pts. Third, That being a dental hygienist is tiring. After clinic today my hand, back and head hurt! It really was a lot more work to clean a class III. I wasn't able to completely finish him and will have to bring him back to get a few areas that had a lot of subgingival calculus! It was a good learning experience and helped give me perspective on how difficult calculus can be to remove. He was a great pt and I liked being able to give some new/more specific OHI. Next appointment I want to be able to detect all calculus and take 5 PAs on this pt.

Sealants!

I saw 3 pts today! It was totally crazy busy but left me feeling very productive! I managed to scale 3 quads of a 1b pt and complete/finish her in 1 hr!!! The best part is that I managed to do it with no missed areas!!! Next, I saw to little girls and completed 2 sets of bitewings! One set on a 5 year old (which was interesting and honestly more difficult then I thought but I managed to do it.) Another set on a 7 yr old that went great. I then placed 3 sealants on each girl with no do overs! I also loved being able to help put a fellow peer and let Marianne place one sealant on Kelsy the 7 yr old. Things went great and I felt it was a very productive day!!

Fast Fast Fast

Today I successfully completed an OD and scaled 4 quads of a class V! I feel like I'm finally getting faster. I wasn't able to take films because my pt already had them but I felt great about completing all quads will no missed areas!! I feel like I can more easily differentiate between root surface and calculus. All I progress I'm finding that I can more easily find/remove calculus. I'm starting to see that there is a change that I may meet all my requirements for the year. I'm getting close to passing off all my PE's as well.

Root Surfaces: Dominated

Today was totally awesome! I had a pt return that I had struggled cleaning at her last appointment. She had some difficult root surfaces to clean; what I thought was calculus was just soft roots. I was able to successfully detect calculus from root surface! I was able to complete the remaining quads by 2:45 and passed off my intra oral camera PE. I really like when I feel like I'm improving and learning.

Hard PT

My pt today was an older women that was a Class V. I'm a little disappointed with myself. Toward the end of the appointment after I had spent forever scaling 1 quad I realized I was removing not calculus but root surface. It was a good learning experience so now I know i will be better at differentiating root surface from calculus. I'm going to have the pt and I'm expecingthings to go a lot faster. I passed off my subgingival exploror and scaled 1 quad.

Pt Switch

McCall and I figured out that to help meet our requirements we could switch pts. I saw James and he was a Class II, He had adequate stain and I'm kicking myself that I did not pass off my air powder polish on him. Still I was a good experience to remove the stain. I scaled 3 quads and missed one area on the Distal of # 15 It was a really hard area to get but with great instruction I was able to successfully remove the deposit. At the end of the appointment I showed James His teeth and he said : I can't believe those are mine" We successfully removed most of the stain and his teeth look a lot better. It felt great helping someone!!!

Hard to be 25

My pt today was a 74 year old women that when I tried to give OHI told me "I don't Need some 20-something year old telling me how to brush my teeth" I was hard but a good experience to see someone who was not receptive to OHI. I tried my best and did not lecture. I found she was an Interesting 1B she had some bone loss but not enough to be a Class V. She had a lot more calculus that I would have expected for a 1B I also found that she had some enamel hypoplasia it was a great experience to feel with my exploror and differentiate between the hypoplasia and calculus. I scaled 2 quads.

Great Neighbors

Today my neighbor came in as my pt. She was a 1B and the scaling went well because my pt canceled she came in late but I was able to get 1 quad finished. She is pregnant and I was able to see that her tissues had a lot of marginal redness that was most likely a cause of the plaque biofilm and pregnancy hormones. I instructed the pt to try and be meticulous with brushing and flossing to help improve her oral health. I felt like the appoint went well and that I getting a lot faster with the OD and scaling times.

Jess is done!!

Jessica was my first pt the semester and today I completed her treatment. I felt great I was a little quicker and only had 1 spot missed. I felt like I had some good teaching techniques from Mondays clinic and was able to utilize them today. I found that I was struggling with the Lingual anterior just at the gum line by using a barnhart toe instrument with vertical and horizontal strokes I I was able to easily remove the deposit! It was awesome it felt great to finally improve in that area! My next goal will be again to work on my posture and continue working on getting the distal angle of # 2 and #15. Clinic was great today and I got my pts husband scheduled which awesome!!

Mother In-law

Today I worked on my mother in-law and I found that for me it actually harder to work on people you know (husband and child excluded). I think It was hard to do OHI and feel like your pt is taking you seriously. Compared to someone in their yearly 60s I'm just a child. However I my pt was a class V and I got an OD and 2 quads completed. I really felt that the class V was easier then a class 1b and that was really interesting to me. I feel like I'm getting faster and better at detection calculus. For my goal I would like to improve on my time of scaling and work on my posture.

another 1b

Today was great I had a 1b pt that still had some calculs. It was great practice to acctually see the calculus and remove it. I found that just because the pt is a 1b does not mean that there deposits will be easy to remove. I thought the apt would go wrather quickly but found that with some individuals calclus can be a huge pain to remove. My goal is to strengthen my muscles so I wont be so tired and so I can apply harder lateral pressure when needed. I'm finding the routien of the apt is flowing better but I still will welcome more practice. Onther goal would be to work on my posture so my back wont hurt so bad.

2nd pt yeah, they canceled!

Today was rough my pt that I worked my butt off to schedule called and canceled this mourning! as a last resort I brought in my daughter Taylor who is only 2 in fact shes wont even be 2 for 2 more weeks. I got to take her for a ride in the chair and brushed her teeth. She let me polish a little and then just as I thought things were going well she bit me yep it hurt too! I felt really unproductive today but with Tay's help managed to pass off 4 1a quads so the day was not a complete failure!

1st pt of the spring semester!

Today I was nervous and seriously felt a little ill! However things went well considering that my pt was 25min late and the scan-x stopped working for about 10 min. I managed to get 4 BWX and finnish my OD,OHI and 1 quad scale. It was a good day but yeah started out rough. I'm fining that it is very frustrating relying on other people to show up and be on time. I have a hard time not being able to control everything. Although I'm finding that with each pt I'm becoming more and more comfortable treating them! Great day I'm glad it's over!!

First day back in clinic

Today was as usual very stressful. We again jumped right in and of course I felt overwhelmed. We learned how to use our area specific and I really had a hard time removing the calculus off my typodont. It truly was rough! We also had a chance to remove white out off your typodonts with the ultrasonic scaler. I feel like this will take some time getting down the right angles. I still don't feel confident using my gracys but I'll have to practice! The day was stressful but I'm getting ready for the rest of the semester