Hot day

Wow, yesterday was hot!!! I'm so glad we didn't have to wear our lab jackets! Hopefully tomorrow will be a little bit cooler. I thought it was really good to be able to do so much on eachother yesterday. Usually we only practice one thing, which is great because I definitely need time to only focus on one thing at a time, but it was nice to be able to put some of the things we've been learning together. I felt more comfortable probing yesterday, even though it was still kind of weird. I just need to practice. :)

Probing

Today we learned how to probe! Woo Hoo! :) It was a lot of fun! I was nervous though because I didn't want to poke through Meagans attached tissue. She said I didn't hurt her too much, so that's good. Actually, if anything, I think I was a little bit too soft in a lot of spots...until I was trying to get into the col area...then I pushed a little bit harder than I should have sometimes because I think I was expecting to get a deeper measurement there. Overall I think it went really well, especially for my first time. :)

Exploring

Yesterday we learned how to use explorers. I have to admit I was a little nervous to have someone learning how to use an explorer in my mouth, but Meagan did a really good job. I was a little nervous to be practicing on someone too. I tried to be really careful, so hopefully I didn't hurt her too bad. It was fun though, very time consuming, but fun. I felt so lost some of the time, but I guess just like with everything else, this will take practice and time. I'm excited to see how probing goes tomorrow!

Fulcrum

Yesterday in clinc we learned how to fulcrum. It was a lot trickier than I thought it was going to be. I thought I understood things pretty good during the demonstration and when I looked at the book, but I learned it's a whole nother story when you sit down and try to actually do it. I'm glad we had so much time to practice on dexter and on eachother. Radiology was cool yesterday because we got to process our films in the daylight processor and also in the other bigger manual processor. I haven't dipped films very much, so it was fun to do that. I'm glad that's not how we have to process our films all the time though. It's weird that another week is almost over. It's been flying by. I'm really looking forward to next week being overwith. It will be nice having the first few tests out of the way. :)

Intra Oral Exam

Yesterday was so much fun! I loved learning about how to do an intra oral exam! It was so cool to look around and be able to find the different structures. I never knew there was so much detail in there. It was really neat to be able to learn more. I just hope when I do find something abnormal in someone's mouth I'll be able to recognize it and know what it is. I'm sure the first time that happens I'll be a little bit surprised, but excited (As long as it's nothing too serious.) that I can see some of the different things we've been talking about in real life. Some of the pictures we saw today in class did gross me out. I'm not looking forward to that part of it. I wonder if I'll eventually get used to seeing some of the different conditions so that it won't be so discusting??? I guess I'll see.

Indirect vision/extra oral exam

Clinic was great today! I passed off two more PE's and I'm done early so I get to blog. :) Today we learned how to use our mouth mirrors. It made it nice that we'd already gone over the seating possitions for seeing different teeth in the mouth so that I wasn't learning that for the first time today too. It was fun to get in there and look around and see how things work. It's amazing how much a mirror can help. Now I just need to keep practicing using it. I realized that indirect vision gets a little bit tricky. We also learned how to give extra oral exams today. I think it was a little bit more fun receiveing it than giving it. :) How many people get to go to school to get a massage? It was fun, and it's nice that these things are new to everyone so we can help eachother out. I can't wait for next week!

Vitals

Yesterday was a lot of fun! We learned how to take pulse, respiration, and BP. I decided it would be a good idea to bring my blood pressure cuff and stethescope home so I could practice on my husband. Lucky him! :) I didn't have any major problems yesterday, but I did struggle a little bit with taking the BP. I guess practice makes perfect. I was also able to pass off two more PE's! :) I've really been enjoying clinic each week. Today in anatomy we started looking at all the anterior teeth. I learned some things I never knew before about each one and different ways to distinguish them. Hopefully I can remember how to tell the mandibular incisors apart for the test next week. :)

Fun Day

I had a lot of fun today! I was able to pass off my first two PEs. :) I knew I had to do one, but the second was a bonus. It wasn't that bad until my mind went completely blank... luckily it all ended up working out just fine. Hopefully that won't happen too much. :) The radiology lab was fun today too. I'd never taken vertical or digital bitewings before, so that was interesting. I love it when we do the hands on stuff!