Happy Halloween!!!

Hey today in clinic went WAY better than I expected! I've been feeling really discouraged about clinic because I feel like I'm no good. Today I was kinda nervous since we pulled out our scalers on real people. To my surprise, it actually turned out really great! I think I poked Jen a few times but overall, it really went well. I think I will actually be able to do this! It was so funny to see everybody in their costumes. We had fun today...5 more weeks until Christmas break!!!!!

Community Health 10/27

I'm really getting excited about our project for class. I think it will be really interesting to begin and also a very good learning tool for all of us since it is real life! I was just going over the lab exercises and I tried to find out information on my ancestors' countries and their history with dental hygiene. I must have searched out the wrong stuff because all the articles were in German (my ancestors are from Switzerland), so I couldn't read any of it!! I thought that was really funny.

Clinic October 26th!

Hey, today was a good day in clinic. We got out our curets and practiced on the typodont. I got some good pointers from Crystal and I actually understood something that I think I've totally missed so far...the whole concept of pulling with not only my fingers, but using the whole wrist/forearm action! For the longest time, I've just used my fingers to explore and scale..that is just bad! I also am getting lots better at rolling. I tend to not roll quick enough as I work my way around the tooth, but I've been focusing more on that and am getting better! I think we're starting to work on each other on Monday and that is a little bit scary, but I will for sure be very careful and go very slow with my pod partner! :) Only 6 more weeks of this semester left and then we're seeing REAL LIVE patients!!! This semester is flying by!

Clinic October 24th

Clinic on Monday was really good! Even though I feel really inadequate with practically everything and I forget stuff all the time that I should be doing, I liked it. We had evaluations and it was more helpful than ANYTHING! I would love to do this more often. I really appreciate the feedback we can get from instructors. Most of the time we do stuff and who knows if we're really doing it right?? It was fun to have Professor McConaughy and Professor Gall in clinic with us too, to just see the different ways things are done. I sure hope I get the hang of this stuff soon!

Clinic 10/19

WOW!!! New instruments! And we thought we were hurting each other with a probe or explorer. I can't wait to try this on real live people in my pod..hee hee. It was kinda cool to practice on the typodont with our scalers. The white out thing was great. Korbin was very helpful for us and also we looked ahead at the PE that is due Monday and reviewed with her. Thanks!

Clinic 10/17

Hey everybody, today was a bit stressful for me. I totally could NOT function when trying to pass off my explorer PE. It worked out ok but really...I hope I get the hang of this stuff soon.

Clinic 10/10-12

Hey, I cant think of a cool title. So this week has just been so stressful. Clinic was pretty good on Monday. We just used the disclosing agent. Oh my gosh! Practically every surface of my teeth was pink!!! Isn't that terrible? I can use the braces as an excuse, though, right? I was a bit stressed out Monday during clinic, trying to get a little thing in the paper to advertize for the oral cancer screening. But no worries, got it all worked out. Melissa and I worked on our ethics paper and that just is no fun. I have seriously such a hard time writing papers! It is definitely not one of my strongest points.
Wednesday in clinic we all just sat down with our case study and filled out a health history form and then went through it like we were the hygienist, writing everything on the chart, charting probe depths, etc, etc. It was really very helpful for me and I would love it if we had more of those to practice with. It was a long time to sit though. After we all stood up, we could feel that we'd been sitting for 4 hours!
Today I took the hygiene test and totally did so horribly!! It just is not such a great week. I can't wait for next week. I think it will be a bit more relaxing. Two classes are canceled and we won't be having an anatomy quiz. That sure takes a load off!!! I'm really excited that it's Thursday night. Even though I'm taking the anatomy test this weekend, I'm just glad there isn't more class to go to this week. I'm really excited to get our Oral B spin brush! Won't that be nice?? Well, have a good day to anyone who reads this. Thanks for listening to me gripe :)

Composite vs Sealants

Well, today was fun and easy in clinic. I was able to look at existing in Angelique's and Erica's mouths. It was good to be able to see different things like a bridge, composite fillings, etc. Not much else to report.

Probing help :)

I just finished probing Quadrant 4 on Melissa. I was still frustrated until Kami came by and showed me how to fulcrum better and an easier place to put my mirror. Now I feel WAY more comfortable! I really love her. She is so helpful.

Probing...UGH!!!

Hey, clinic the other day was so frustrating for me! I was trying to probe and it was so hard to get those back teeth...especially the most distal of 2 and 15. Well, today I'm going to practice on my friend and we will see if that turns out better. Back to the books!