Probe Me

Today in clinic we probed each other for the first time. I don't think I am very good at it yet. I poked my pod partner Kelsey too hard quite a few times. But at the same time I got poked quite a bit as well. To be honest my gums feel a little soar tonight. Hopefully we all get better at it really quick.

UDHA

It took me almost a week to get on here and write about UDHA but here I am. It was a really cool experience I thought the CE classes were really interesting. One lady teaching a CE class said that the benifits of flossing daily could potentially add six years on to your life. I thought that was really cool. It was fun to look at al the vendors tables too. I think I would really like to get some loupes but I am not sure how I can afford them.

Habla Espanol?

This week was really great. Monday was Labor Day. So it cut down on clinic time which sort of sucked, but on Wednesday we took full mouth PA's on the dexters and then took digital bitewings. In clinic we learned about taking patient health histories. The absolute best part of the week though was on Thursday when I participated in oral cancer screenings at a women's health fair facilitated by Ogden Clinic. Most of the patients we saw did not speak English. For anything complicated that we had to communicate to them we had to have a translator. Much of the routine things such as: open your mouth, close your mouth, and stick out your tongue I learned quite quickly. I was surprised at the condition of some of the ladies teeth. I think many of them have not had access to proper dental care. One lady had a tooth that was half rotted away. Another had such severe periodontal disease on her lower anterior incisors that one had already fallen out and the other two were so loose they could fall out any time. I also had never realized that so many people still had their wisdom teeth. It was really cool to get in the patients mouths with an explorer and search for decay. Many of the 2nd year students were using the oral cancer screenings as a means of gathering potential patients. I had a really good time and hope to be able to participate in it next year as well.

Chair Positions

Today I had both radiology and clinic. In radiology we learned how to take bitewings and PA's on the dexters. It was fun. In Clinic we learned about chair positions and practiced them on our typhodonts. It made me even more excited to start working on patients. I also passed off the PPE PE today n clinic. I am really enjoying the program and having a lot of fun.

Today in clinic we went over cleaning the dental chair in preparation for a patient and cleaning up the chair when the patients visit is done. We also sat our clinic partner in our chair and used the water syringe and suction on them. At the end of clinic I passed off my first PE on the Eaglesoft program. Overall, clinic was a lot of fun today.

First Day of Radiology

Today was my first day of radiology lab. I got bit by the dexter when trying to put my film in his mouth. At least the dexters mouths don't snap shut extremely hard. In clinic today we learned about PPE, setting up/cleaning the chairs, and then we also were given an opportunity to use the air water syringe and the large and small suction.

First Day of Clinic

Yesterday was our first day of clinic. All in all I feel like things went pretty well. We put our stuff in our drawers and learned the basics of using the eaglesoft software. Today was my first day of regular classes. I think that head and neck anatomy is going to be a lot of fun. The teacher seems really cool and I was glad to see that he is a male hygienist; that made me feel like I can succeed in this career.