Journal entry #7 and #8

I had the coolest experience at the VA. I was able to clean the teeth of an evacuee from New Orleans. He was the nicest guy and he was so positive about his situation. He told me that he had already found his brothers but that he was still looking for his sister. He also told me that he wanted to get back to New Orleans as soon as possible so he needed to be totally cleaned that day and have an exam by the dentist. I had wanted to do something for the evacuees but I never really knew what to do besides send money so I was grateful that I had the opportunity to do some hands on helping of at least one evacuee. He said that he was really grateful for the "southern hospitality" that utahns welcomed the evacuees with. He was so nice, he even brought our VA group a pot of soup!! It was also a good experience working on a black person. I noticed the different color gingiva.
My second patient was kind of difficult because his teeth were very demineralized or had carious lesions all over them. On his back molar, one whole side had fallen off because he had a huge amalgam filling in the middle. There was a big whole where the root of that tooth had gone but had come out. It was obvious that he had very poor oral hygiene and didn't really care to improve. It is sad because both of the patients here were not eligible for further treatment so even if they wanted to get work done, they would have to pay for it. Our veterans need to be treated much better then they are!





My experience at WSU clinic was pretty boring, both my patient were class fives. One interesting thing was that my second patient had really close teeth even down by the roots they were really squashed together. It was difficult to scale because of the crowding.
Things to remember from WSU clinic:

For the anterior teeth, do the surfaces away in twelve o'clock and the surfaces toward from eight o'clock.

Do one complete stroke from the bottom of the sulcus to the contact area when I scale. Don't do mini strokes all the way up the tooth.

Become more confident in long strokes, have more control over my instrument and my fulcrum. Don't slip!!

Clinic Journal #5 and #6

During last weeks anatomy class I learned a ton of things from Prof. Hanson that I had forgotten. Being a TA has made me review the anatomy of the teeth and is so important in cleaning the teeth. I think that because of the things I am learning in anatomy I can imagine the structure of the teeth while I am scaling.
I learned:

Use a sickle scaler on the mandibular first premolar and on the mesial and distal surfaces of the teeth.

Remember to use an instrument with a larger blade on the maxillary first molar to reach into the flutations.

Use the gracey 13/14 (distal) to clean the buccal flutation on the mandibular first molar.

I tried to use this during my WSU clinic time except for my patient only had like six teeth!!!
I was also CA that day in clinic for the morning session and then in the afternoon someones patient didn't show up on time so that person found a different patient to work on but at like 1:30 the original patient showed up so I was able to see that patient. It was amazing to me how hard it was for me to switch modes from CA to hygienist. I was totally not prepared and I had to borrow a lot of things from different people so for those of you who helped me, Thank You!! One thing that I had forgotten about was how to take radiographs on someone who is edentulous on the mandibular arch but has teeth on the maxillary. I struggled but they came out as well as could be expected!!






The VA always teaches me something new and I learned last week that I can use both hands to put pressure on the instrument. I fulcrum and place the instrument with my right hand and then I with my left hand I use like two fingers and put more pressure on the right hand instrument. It was so weird but I was able to get the calculus off so I guess it works. It is so different from first year when we could only fulcrum inside the mouth and like only one or two teeth away from the tooth being worked on.
I like it better knowing that I can do whatever is necessary to get the calculus off.
I only had one patient. I think it takes me so long because all my patients there fall asleep and close their mouths and I have to keep telling them to open their mouths like every couple of seconds.

I am grateful for prof. Hanson and how hard she works to get us patients to work on. We need so many requirments and she definitly understands our needs and our need for patients to practice our skills on.

clinic Journal #3 and #4

Well, I found out that I am suppose to be writing on my blog each time I am in clinic but I think that I will just combine the two clinic days into one entry!!!

I love our senior year class!! I think that it is so awesome of us all to help each other out when one of us is running late or when we have gone overtime on our patients and we really want to get home but we have charts to do and cleaning of our unit still left to do. I just want to thank those individuals who helped me when I was behind on Thursday (Heidi Wilson and Melissa Rees) You guys Rock!!!

Wednesday at the VA was not especially crazy but it sure felt like it!!! I was surprised how rusty I was at taking x-rays and how much I have forgotten since the very first year when we had our radiology clinic!! The VA is such a great experience and I really like to get to know all the people and patients there. I think that it is a unique opportunity that we as students get to have because once we are in private practice we will not always have the difficult and unusual cases that are presented at the VA.

Things to remember from the VA:

The instrument should always go toward the face, toward the tooth, even my explorer. It should appear as if I was trying to pour something out of my instrument. The most difficult areas for me are the right side of every tooth.

Use extra oral fulcrums. Be all over the patients face!!



Thursday clinic was great also. I had wonderful patients who really thought that I did a good job. Both my patients wanted to schedule a recall appointment right there for six months. I guess they really want to be on top of their oral health. I think one difficult thing for me at the WSU clinic is the change in paper work from the VA to our clinic. It is hard to get into the clinic mode after the easy paper work at the VA. Our adjunct faculty is the greatest!! I have Professor Pocock in my area and she is really great at telling me exactly what I need to do better on. I love that she is straight forward in her approach and doesn't try to sugar coat anything. I would rather her tell me that I suck instead of me continuing to think I am the greatest hygienist in the whole world. She really gives good feedback also and tries to tell us what would be different in "the real world" being a hygienist compared to the ideal world of the clinic.

Things to remember from clinic:

Extend my instrument farther into pockets to get the calculus at the very bottom of the pocket.

Chart my calculus before I get my instructor for an OD check!!


MISC
DON'T STRESS OUT!!!

HAVE CONFINDENCE EVEN IF I DON'T FEEL LIKE I KNOW WHAT I AM DOING

FAKE IT UNTIL I MAKE IT

TRY TO DO THINGS ON MY OWN AND ONCE I THINK THAT I AM FINISHED THEN GET MY INSTRUCTOR TO COME AND EVALUATE HOW I DID

MAKE SURE MY PATIENT HAS CONFIDENCE IN ME

TELL MY INSTRUCTORS WHAT MY CLINICAL CONCERNS AND THOUGHTS ARE FOR MY PATIENT, DON'T WAIT FOR THEM TO TELL ME

REMEMBER THAT MY INSTRUCTORS ARE NOT ALWAYS GOING TO BE THERE AND I AM GOING TO HAVE TO BE A HYGIENIST ON MY OWN

Clinic Journal 2

Today was the first day we had patients and I had a family member come in for my morning appointment. I was glad for this because for me I am more relaxed with family members. It is good to get started with someone who can give you feedback from the patients perspective and who will give you encouragment on the first day.
Today also, was the first day that I had to scramble to get a patient for my afternoon appointment. I was so desperate I asked Professor Hanson to be my patient and she was so awesome, that she volunteered immediately. That is a dedicated Professor. But unfortunatley there was a walk in to the dental Hygiene clinic and I worked on that patient instead but it was a good situation because the patient also wanted his wife to come in so it gave another student in clinic that day whose patient had to go home, a patient to work on.

I have had a wonderful experience at the VA. I think that I am going to love working on the patients there and getting that experience.

In my blog I am going to keep track of all the advice on my scaling technique and probing technique and all other technique advice that I receive from my instructors so here I go.

• Scale toward the face, toward the tooth
• Always here "the sound" when scaling
• Use extra oral fulcrums, chin included
• Watch the angle of my probe. It does not have to go as deep as I am putting it.
  
• Always have control of my instrument
  

CLINIC JOURNAL

• Clinic orientation was today and I desperately needed it. I feel like I have forgotten a lot since we finished for the summer. I was having a struggle probing and it took a really long time to complete the whole mouth where as at the end of spring semester 2005 in my opinion, I rocked at it!! Well, the time part anyway!! But I guess as with everything , just a little review will help it all come back. I am really impressed with all of the adjunct faculty in the Thursday clinic, they are awesome!!! I feel like they were a great help and will continue to be throughout the sememster. I am also totally excited because I get to stay in the same unit that I had all last year. I am confident that this second year in dental hygiene will be a great experience for me and that I will develop the skills needed to pass the board exams, which I am already freaking out about!!!!!