Community Health to the rescue

Okay so I hope this post isn't too late because I totally forgot about having to make the post but I believe it is just due before the next class session, right? If anyone knows the answer for sure, help me out! But I just wanted to say that I am totally stoked for this class because we are actually going to make a difference. Or at least put forth a effort! I always feel like I get so passionate about issues like this but when it comes down to it I just don't know where to start. It feels really empowering to know that I do have some control over the situation and I personally can help to make a change.

Moving on...

Today was another day of review but to be honest I didn't feel like a lot of what we did was necessary. I really didn't need practice doing intra/extra oral exams or practice taking BP, Pulse and Respirations. I know I'll be doing this in clinic but how often do hygienists in the real world take your BP? Not often. Plus, when we get our first patient in the chair I'm worried I'll get through the HHX, and then come to probing and I'll only get a quad done in 30 minutes because I just haven't had enough practice. What I wanted to be doing was getting more practice doing dental screenings, probing, and scaling. We really haven't even started scaling. I'm getting a little nervous about how little I feel I know with the semester being more than halfway through.

Paperwork

While I now realize that I hate paperwork and am almost ready to quit because a new patient health history can make you nuts... today was a very good review of these things. We went over all the aspects of paperwork from beginning to ending (or at least as far as OHI). It really solidified and clarified a lot of things that I was really confused on. I feel like I have a much better grasp on health histories & charting now.

Blue gums... and a major vent

Today I learned that disclosant is messy. But a useful tool because I thought my teeth were so clean because I brushed and flossed right before class only to come in and see that I still had tons of plaque and basically all my lower linguals had plaque on them. It was so gross! I can only imagine what it would look like to disclose someone with marginal to bad hygiene... gross! I am going to post a picture of our whole clinic class with disclosant in our mouths.
I hope we work on exploring again before the PE is due because I'm still not real sure of which end to use in different spots and I feel like I need more practice with EVERYTHING.

Okay now I will vent for a minute about how poorly my time & money was used by attending the UDHA conference all day on Friday. If I have one big suggestion for next year's first year students it is please don't force them to attend this conference. I ended up losing over $170 in cost and lost wages plus driving plus time spent and I really didn't benefit that much from being there. First, I've only been in school for 6 weeks and I couldn't relate to anything the speaker was saying. I'm not a "bored" person typically and I can honestly say I can't remember that last time I was that bored in my life. It wasn't the fault of the speaker, she was great. It was just that I could not relate in any way. It was good to see the table clinics and we needed to be there to help sell but the rest of the day was, I feel, a total waste.

Fun with colors!

Today in clinic we went over charting the dentition and any restorations, recession, bridges, etc. I worked with Lindsey and she let me start on her. She had a few (wink, wink) composite fillings but most of them were really good. In fact on her right max. first premolar, the filling was so good, you could only see it when the light was just right so you could see the border. Good work! Then we went to charting, which is basically coloring in teeth with all sorts of fun lines and dots, which is awesome! Lindsey said that I have little holes on the occlusal margins of my molars and that she got them on her teeth from grinding. I think when we do sealants I'll have those sealed. Okay so my problem for the day is... I had horrible posture all day today and I wasn't really comfortable with my positions. Does it matter where we sit when we are examining the teeth?

Another day another probe reading

More probing today. I am getting better at it (at least I think so). I got to probe two different lab partners so it was good to get some practice on someone else and get a different view for part of the day. One important thing I learned today is that the plastic covers for the air/water syringe and the suction ALREADY have holes in them! I have been puncturing my own holes thus far so that was a good thing to learn.