Clinical Observation

For a dental hygienist, each patient is different because each one has different main concerns. Therefore, the hygienist must create a process of care to meet those needs. The dental hygiene process of care is a five-step process that will allow the patient to receive the most comprehensive care as if the patient is the most important person in the hygienist’s life. I will use my most important person, my mother, to outline the dental hygiene process of care to address her main concern, dry mouth.

Limestone Smiles allowed me to witness the technical aspects of dental assisting. With being a newer establishment, they were not as busy as the previous. In this extra time is was educated on some key concepts a dental assistant would need to know. The tooth numbering system was explained to me so that I would understand what was being mentioned during each appointment. Teeth are labeled from one to sixteen on the top row from left to right: this is assuming one is looking into a client’s mouth. The remaining bottom row is the labeled from seventeen to thirty-two going from right to left. I was also taught some key concepts pertaining to labeling the mouth. The buccal (facial) surface is the side of teeth that touch the mouth. The lingual surface in the back side of one’s teeth. The median line divides the mouth in half between upper teeth eight and nine and lower teeth twenty-four and twenty-five. The side of each tooth facing towards this line is the mesial side while the side pointing away is the distal surface. The biting surface of each tooth is referred to as the occlusal surface. Knowing this information helped me to better understand the procedures I witness. I also learned about two prevalent instruments used during appointments, the explorer and the PF5. With the explorer, the explorer end is used to find cavities while the perio probe end is used to measure bone lose. An older African American male

The event that stood out the most to me during my clinical experience this month was when my assigned patient and her family began asking questions about the care the patient was receiving and other non-medical related questions.

During my first day of clinical, I encountered an issue that I believe is very significant. As a student nurse, our duty for this day was to follow our health care aide around the ward and assist in completing resident care. The resident required assistance in many of her daily tasks. The health care aide asked if I would perform one of those and do perineal care for her. I turned down her offer because I did not feel comfortable with my skill level. The resident had a bowel movement during the night. There was a significant odour in the room that overwhelmed me. I really wanted to leave the room because it was so unpleasant, but I stayed in the room so that the resident would not be embarrassed. This feeling of embarrassment, I assume,

In clinical settings next fall and spring I intend to use research methods to assist my patients in achieving patient’s human needs. Before starting to work on the patient the treatment plan based on each patient’s need will be developed by me. As a dental hygienist student I would provide efficient educational methods by administering evidence-based facts when preparing individualized patient-centered

As dental hygienists, we will see a variety of patients in our dental office. Each patient will present with a unique medical history. It is essential to know how to treat our patients to the best of our ability, so that they are comfortable and cared for throughout the entire treatment process. They might have a certain disability, disorder, or disease that may alter or affect how we treat them.

Although there have been oral health care models, as well as, best practice concepts for oral health, there is still a host of barriers that prevent this problem from being minimalized. Factors including negative behaviors from both the staff and residents, dexterity, mobility, as well as a lack of dental supplies, often leave the residents or the health care personnel frustrated. Some of the factors that prevent dentists from caring for these residents is a lack of mobile equipment, lack of space, time away from their private practice, and low reimbursement rates (Dirks, 2016). The director of nursing, along with the administrator, must collaborate with dental personnel to change the culture and instill a higher value on oral health. On-site training and education must be included in oral care, along with infection control regulations. Most residents are not able to coordinate their own care and often rely on personnel at the facility for assistance. There needs to be a collaboration between dental personnel, facility staff, and the residents, to cultivate oral care as an integral part of health and wellness for each resident (Chaves,

The patient was keen to get her oral hygiene up to a good standard and prevent any

The student must provide clinical dental hygiene services to patients with all classifications of periodontal disease for eight to twelve hours per week during freshman year and twelve to sixteen hours per week during sophomore year. While in the clinical setting, the student must show competence and include the process of care for the following patients: children, teens, adults, geriatrics and special needs. The competencies include the following: life-long education and knowledge of present research-based publishings, delivery of proper medical services in an emergency situation, ethical rationale and resolution, collecting and understanding patients’ overall health status, evaluating findings in order to incorporate ideal care plans, recognizing the level of success with the patient, and documenting all findings accurately. All of these will show that the hygienist is competent and capable of formulating care plans and managing patients’ health within the community through assessing, planning, implementing, and evaluating. All of the education, experience and competencies are incorporated to prepare the hygienist for his or her career (Joint Commission on National Dental Examinations,

In conclusion, I have developed further competence in the components that make a successful dental hygienist after writing this paper. This has helped me expand my awareness of exactly how patients and coworkers play a crucial role in my professionalism. As I maintain professionalism, respect, empathy and the added characteristics mentioned in this paper, I trust I will be a successful

My assigned role was dental hygienist as an educator. As clinical dental hygienist, educating my patients to perform proper oral home care, explaining disease processes that effecting them, and recommend appropriate oral health care products just as important as providing hygiene treatments. Individual homecare instructions depend on many factor such as age of patient, physical and mental ability, number of visits they had with me, and the results of oral exam. As part of my routine, I assess the changes that patient had made since their last visit. Most of them give me an honest report. However, when it is inconsistent with what I am seeing at the oral exam (evidence of calculus, plaque, food impaction, no improvement in inflammation), I begin

A vocation as a dental hygienist offers an extensive variety of difficulties. In the dental office, the dental specialist and the dental hygienist cooperate to meet the oral wellbeing needs of patients. Since every state has its own particular regulations with respect to their obligations, the scope of administrations performed by hygienists shifts from state to state. A percentage of the administrations gave by dental hygienists might include: quiet screening strategies, for example, evaluation of oral wellbeing conditions, audit of the wellbeing history, oral tumor screening, head and neck investigation, dental graphing and taking circulatory strain and beat taking and creating dental radiographs (x-beams) evacuating math and plaque (hard

As I mentioned above, there were a few difference and similarities, hence it is important as a clinician to be open minded and willing to learn different practices and be able to adapt to different conditions. During my observation, I was able to witness the student clinician adapt her skills and techniques in a new environment and be confident and successful. My clinic observation began at 1pm after a brief introduction to the dentist and assistant, I began observing the student as she got ready for her patient. The patient I observed was a young pregnant woman who showed up with her 5 year old son for her appointment. She informed the assistant that she didn’t have a babysitter for her son and he would sit on a chair in the treatment room. Before the patient was seated, the dentist informed the student clinician that the appointment will proceed only if the child is able to sit without causing a

Dental hygiene plays an important role in oneś life, from infanthood to elderhood oral health is a visual into healthy bodies. Throughout one’s life annual dentist visits are a need to keep a mouth fresh and disease free. Looking back into my own childhood and the first visit, I was happy to be there. In fact, I found this new adventure in the dentist office better than being in a doctor's. Being a small child and coming into the office for a check up, the first face I saw was a dental hygienist. That meeting later motivated me to do all my studying to become one myself.

The stigmatism attached to going to the dentist goes out the door when meeting the dental staff and their ability to get patient’s minds off of the procedure they are about to perform.