Wednesday, September 21, 2005

CALCULUS

Okay, so today we explored subgingivally on a DXTR....YIKES! My fulcrum and that is goood, and I feel okay on the anterior teeth, but the posterior were so hard! It's hard to get the distal surface. And then when you add doing it with indirect vision with the mirror...I need more practice. Plus I'm so scared I'm totally going to catch or go through their gums. I've got to remember I'm not getting the calculus off, I'm just FINDING it so that I know where to scale it off. None the less, I'm nervous to do it on a real patient. Also, it really hurt my neck and trap muscles. Instructor Skeen said it would get better though, we're just not used to using those muscles. She also said that eventually we will get a callus on our fulcrum finger, so that will be good. We were supposed to switch and do it on each other today....I'm sure glad that ended up being a negative. I don't know if I'd be able to do it. I want to get more comfortable on the DXTR. However, they said that we will be doing it on each other on Monday! So I'm taking my instruments home to practice on my typodont. I really hope that I can get the hang of it. I think my DXTR had quite a bit of calculus on it that I was trying to get off with the explorer too, so I've got to remember to just find it and have a soft grip. My thumb is getting better at staying in position. So if I can just remember to not have a killer death grip on the explorer, and just be soft and "explorer" I think I'll be ok. Hopefully I'll catch on! Until next time....

4 comments:

Brooke said...

Tatiana! You are doing great at exploring! I promise you will catch on cuz i'm way worried too. I'm so glad you're in my pod. Have a great day.

Lissy Lu said...

hey, I don't have clinic with you but we where here in the PM and I am so with you on the trickyness thing, I think it is hard too! Hopefully with time it will become like second nature! See you in class!

Heatherbelle said...

Hey Tatiana, Thanks for posting on my blog! Boy do I aever know the feeling of being overwhelmed! And after reading your post I can only say that I remember feeling and thinking the exact same things that you are going through right now. It WILL get easier, I promise! One thing that is really good for you guys is that you are staring out exploring and uing your instuments a lot sooner then we did. We spent a lot of time at the begining on HHX, Extra and Intra, blood pressure and stuff like that! I don't think we got to explore until midterm! Don't worry! I'm sure you are doing fabulous! Just remember the most important thing is not to learn all this just to pass off PE's or take tests or get an A, but everything you learn will help you become a better hygienist.
Luv ya! Let me know if you need anything!

Mary Ann said...

Way to be aware of your thumb! I am all sorts of impressed! You really are an amazing person! I am continually impressed with you! Thanks for all your work and do not get discouraged you will be a pro in no time!