For the first time

April 23, 2014

Although i've been in a dental office many times Wednesday was the first time i was their viewing the dental visit from my hygienists perspective. When you are just a patient you never realize that a dental hygienst isnt only a "tooth cleaner", they have many other responsibilities they must first conquer before completing or even starting the process of cleaning your teeth. Today my mentor and I focused on one of the most basic things but also the biggest thing you must do before you start working on the teeth of a patient. That super important thing was cleaning, you must make sure everything is cleaning because in the end it not only benifits your patient but everybody in your office including you. First she thought me that each time you are going to begin work on patient you must get new tools. The tools get put onto a clean trey but not directly on the trey, you must put a sheet down before putting all the tools on the trey. She said it was super important to grab new tools each time because it prevents the spread of bacteria and diseases. What happens to the handpiecce tools that cannot be removed like the vaccum and water? Well my mentor showed me how you must get a tube filled with solution and the tubes thwe hand tools run through are disconnectable. Once you remove the tube you out onto a piece where the cleaning sloution comes out, turn on the tool, and the tube will suck the solution in and filter out all the bacteria inside. Last but not least we had to disinfect the place where the patient is going to be and that was the chair we used clorox wipes to wipe down the chair and the light that flashes into your mouth. I also sat throw my mentore actually working on a few patients. Todya she only preformed regualr teeth cleanings but she told me next time i came in she would show me how a deep cleaning was. My mentor also provided me with a book about all the different roles dental hygenist have, i think it will be very interesting.

Time logged for this session: 10 hrs
Total time logged: 10 hrs