LOUPES!

     Today I used my new loupes for the first time.  I LOVE these, they help so much.  When I first put them on and looked in my patient's mouth I was surprised at how big the teeth were and how well I could see everything.  In a way I feel like buying loupes at the beginning of the first semester of the dental hygiene program should be required, just because I think it would help with learning correct instrumentation.  Today I really felt like I figured out the correct way to angle and adapt the instrument to the patient's tooth because I could see the tooth and the instrument magnified and really see what the instrument was doing, or what it is supossed to me doing in my case. 

     My patient today was an older lady that was so kind.  She moved here from Guatemala when she was about 30 years old.  I wasn't able to get quite as much done on her today as I was hoping to but at least she showed up.  All weekend I stressed about her coming to her appointment.  This morning when she finally answered her phone and said she was coming all the stress was gone.  I have one more quadrant that I need to bring her back to finish then I will have one more patient finished and the Class 2/5 requirement complete for the semester.  Yeah!  

     I have almost made it through my first year of the dental hygiene program.  Only 4 more weeks, and 7 more clinic sessions.  I CAN DO IT!