TABLE CLINIC

After Professor Hansen came and helped us further understand what the clinic tables are all about and how many different opportunities we have to present at a state level, at UDHA...etc I was able to obtained a broarder idea of what they table clinic is all about. I believe research is really important in order to became more literate and educated into the dental hygiene world oral health condition, technologies...I was excited to find out that our topic (perio-pregnancy) was still a good topic she recomended on researching and presenting in our table clinic. For some reason me and my group members felt like maybe pregnancy/perio was pretty much a dead topic but I guess not! I think it is important that we educate and instigate awareness inour prenant population so that they know how to best take care of their oral health and their growing baby.

Amen!

MID SEMESTER CONFERENCE

tomorrow I have my mid-semester conference with Professor Costely. I like the idea of having a mid-semester conference because it has help me plan the rest of the semster (clinic wise) and re-cap what I have done and what I still need to do. I have many goals this semesters such as get an A in clinic. I also want and intend to meet all my clinic x-rays requirements (which I am somehow far from taking all the x-rays I need to). The one thing I really need to work on is on posting the learning experiences in this blog more often and gathering more OHI kit aids. overall, I hope I am able to recap and set up a few more goals so that I am organized and finish up early so that I can more on to my Spain trip!

CRAZY CANCELLATIONS TODAY

The thing that we all fear most (having a patient cancel last minute) has happened to me today! I thought I was missing out on my breaths when my patient told me she wasn't going to be able to come. Luckily she called and just didn't show up. I was able though (with my husband's help) to find a 1B that I very much needed. The pateint showed just in time, and I was able to take x-rays, and finish the whole prophylaxis by 3:30...what a good clinic day! So...the moral in this whole post is: if your patient cancel it doens't mean you won't find someone or be successful. I was, and to be honest with my followers/readers I had no idea it would all turn out okay. The secret...attitude. I (somehow) kept a good attitude about the whole canceling thing and it paid off at the end.
I passed my anterior intrumentation PE. I used my Nebraska instrument to pass it off and I got really good feedback form my instructor. And, to top it off, my x-rays were sharp with wide open contacts and nore-takes! But...wait! The best thing of it all is that I only missed one spot in the whole prophylaxis.

Good day.

UDHA CONVENTION

Lots of good information for sure! I really enjoyed the seminar that taught me much about effective communication. I was able to see how communication can be broken and at the same time effectively done. I appreciated that our seminar speakers scripted some of the good "communication pattersn" that we need to practice (especially when tension is present). Also, I enjoyed going through the different exhibits and vendors. I like the Surgitel exhibit because I liked the profesionality, product and good price offered. I think I might actually but the loupes because I really need them. Overall, I was able to feel more emerged into de dental field in general. I was able to feel a loittle more warmed up with the information presented in the table clinics. I definately liked how our school seniors presented best beause you can just tell the quality and profesionality in general that our school carries with anything we do. But, that is just my opinion. Tomorrow I will be seeing my friend again as my patient. I am excited to be able to start clinic the 3 quads she has left. Hope my day goes a little more smooth than usual since she is not a new patient (less paper work, no x-rays...good deal!)

DENTAL HYGIENE CLASS

Yes, I have learnt on this class today sooo much about how to best take care of my baby. TObe honest with any of my readers, I had a hard time getting myself through some parts of the lecture that had to do with child abuse and neglet. My heart breaks to know that such horrible things are part of our worl today. I think being able to get good knowledge of how to best care for your cild's health is extremely valuable in oral health prevention. I have instigated not so good habits in my 10 month old baby. I.e. let her have her bottle at night in her crib while she falls asleep. I knew this was bad so as soon as she would get done I would take it away. It has been today where I have gotten the courage to give her the night bottle, brush her teeth (which she likes very much :D) and put her to bed with a zippi cut with a little warm water. She didn't seem to like it as much but I m all for the good habits! Also, I have been able to learn what are some signs in the oral cavity that looks like neglet and abuse.
I belive each day that our role, as dental hygienists, is to help our patients not to just prevent oral heath but to prevent them for higher life threatening diseases, abuse and neglet. This role and responsability gets bigger and bigger each day. And, I like feeling more and mor prepared to become a professional dental hygienist.
On to the next one!

NOT CONSTANT CLINIC PROCEDURES

Could instructors, teachers and clinic manager make up their minds all together? It is extremely frustrating that everyone seems to be in a different page and that different procedures or new procedures aren't communicated to the students fast enough soon after things/procedures change. As a consequence much confusion among students is felt and frustration as well. I am sure I am not the only one that feels this way. Well, it seems that it doesn't matter how I feel, I am just a little grain of salt in a big beach anyways, right? I will just plug along and enjoy the ride as much as possible. Hope my patient today feels comfortable in my chair. She is pregnant and I brought her some pillows to feel comfortable and have a good experience today. I am excited to keep practising scaling and hope that I am able to sharpen up all those scaling skills.