When I went into the lab, we were placed with second-year students to observe them doing various tasks. The first thing I observed was the hygienist probing the patient’s mouth to determine the millimeters of each pocket around each tooth. I typed the depth of the pockets into the computer for her. There was a barrier over the keyboard that was removed because I did not have any gloves on. None of the depths exceeded 3 millimeters. After all pocket depths were recorded, she used an explorer to find calculus then cleaned it. She took 4 horizontal bitewing x-rays of the patient. She then put a mouth guard into the patient’s mouth that sucks out water because she was going to use an ultrasonic cleaner. She said the patient had stains on his anterior teeth so that is the area she used the ultrasonic cleaner on.
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There was also a barrier over the sensor that was placed intraorally for the x-rays. The hygienist explained everything that was being done to the patient and he understood it all. Every twenty minutes an instructor came over and checked to see if everything was going good and checked the progress that was made. There was a good amount of communication throughout the procedure between the student and teacher. The hygienist had great ergonomics. She had a soft C, had the patient low enough to have her forearms in a neutral position, and had her chair positioned
There was also a barrier over the sensor that was placed intraorally for the x-rays. The hygienist explained everything that was being done to the patient and he understood it all. Every twenty minutes an instructor came over and checked to see if everything was going good and checked the progress that was made. There was a good amount of communication throughout the procedure between the student and teacher. The hygienist had great ergonomics. She had a soft C, had the patient low enough to have her forearms in a neutral position, and had her chair positioned