I'm posting about clinic August 31, 2011. I am a little late, but I do remember a lot of what went on that day and my feelings about it since I haven't been to clinic since then.
I learned about the proper positioning of the dental hygienist with the mouth of the patient in the chair. The positions are described as 12 o'clock to 8 o'clock. Each with a specific purpose to scale, probe, or explore in the mouth. These surfaces and positions are exactly opposite for a left-handed clinician and a right-handed clinician. It seemed very confusing for me when I was trying to understand during the explanation and what the book was saying; although, once I tried it myself, it made perfect sense to me. I understood that the surfaces toward me I would be below the ear and surfaces away from me I would be above the ear to be ergonomically correct. I am thankful for the knowledge I have for this because my body will gain muscle memory in order to stay healthy and avoid injuries caused by poor positioning.
I also learned to proper way to hold an instrument. I couldn't believe there really was a proper way to hold one, although I am very thankful I learned because it will keep my hands strong and decrease the chance of cramps and pains. They refer to the proper way of holding an intrument as "the stack". The pointer finger and the thumb need to be directly apart from each other on the shaft of the insturment, the middle finger rests on the shank, the ring finger is the flucrum finger, and the pinky finger is just there for extra stability should that patient make a sudden movement.
These techniques are hard to get use to, but I have ben practicing and they seem to get a little easier as I go. I know with time, it will come second nature and all will be well.... it's just getting there without doing it wrong that's the hard part! :)
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