Baby Steps

This is what we have been told we are doing.  We are learning to take baby steps in this process called "becoming a dental hygienist."  Yesterday we went through a process called "washing our hands."  We were taught the proper way to wash for 15 seconds, rinse, repeat for 15 seconds with scrubbing between the fingers, rinse, repeat for another 15 seconds with scrubbing under the finger nails, rinse and dry.  This will be my routine for the next two years every time I am in clinic.  I love my clinic days.  It is so fun to be learning what we are actually going to be doing when we are cleaning a patients teeth.

We had a special treat yesterday.  We had a guest speaker come and demonstrate the use of a suction tip called a Blue Boa.  The inventor of it is a graduate of Weber State Dental Hygiene and lives here in the Ogden area.  She is so nice and has created such a wonderful product.  The second year students didn't get a personal demo from her, so they haven't become too accomstomed to this awesome device.  I think it is something that I could get used to and appreciate in the dental profession. 

It was also a great day, because I was able to pass off my first PE, or process evaluation.  We have a number of these every semester that we have to pass off by demonstrating our knowledge on the task described.  One down and ? to go.  I am loving being here.  It is such a blessing to be in the program and I can't wait to finally get my feet (or hands) "dirty" and actually learn some scaling and probing.  Until next week!