My Guinea Pig

We were able to practice on each other today!!!  Stef was my guinea pig while I suctioned and squirted her mouth.  I was able to try four different styles of suction devices.  We have a really neat suction thing called a Blue Boa.  As a practitioner, I rather enjoyed using the Blue Boa.  It was very convinient to place on the corner of my patients mouth and let it rest there while I practiced rinsing the mouth with my air/water syringe.  Thanks for letting me work on you Stef!!!

Today we also practiced setting up and taking down our operatory.  There is such a particular way of doing everything.  My pod and I were going over everything together to make sure that we each were understanding how to do each step without missing something.  There is so much to remember to do to get set up before seeing a patient.  I can't wait until we get to start working on each other.  It will feel so fantastic to hold an instrument and actually scale calculus off of someone's teeth.  I love my clinic days.  It is fun to learn what we are going to be doing.  My hands sure a taking a beating though.  I feel like I have used about a cup of alcohol rub to sanitize inbetween glove usage and 5 gallons of water to wash my hands.  Any day now my skin is going to crack.  I just need to do a good job of keeping them moisturized.  I love what I am doing.  Everyday I am feeling overwhelmed at the end of the day.  But the next day I am ready for the next adventure.  Bring it on!