{Pt. positioning, instrument grasp, and fulcrum!}

Today was really fun!  We learned all about proper ergonomics as the operator.  How to sit, work, and where the patient needs to be in relation to the area we work on in the mouth.  I'm really glad they make it a big deal to sit properly, because of how important it is to keep your neck and spine in line, as well as your hands and wrists.  I never knew you could get such terrible injuries from a job that you just sit down at! :)  We also went over how the patient needs to be positioned, and all of the clock positions.  I made sure to read in Nield last night and I feel like it really helped me to make sense of it all.  It can be confusing to know where you need to sit, the direction the face needs to be turned, and where the light needs to be.  I know that all of that will become second nature soon.  It really is just common sense if you think about it.  We also learned about proper instrument grasp and fulcrum.  They let us loose and we were able to practice all of that on our typodonts.  It was a little awkward, I won't lie.  But I feel like the more I do it, and get some muscle memory, I won't even have to think about it.  Just remember....stack those fingers!!  I had a tendency to let my pinkie go wayward!  I'm going to really try and focus on my posture and get good at indirect vision.  Indirect vision is hard on the linguals of the anteriors!  If that had been a real pt., they would have been bleeding like crazy! :)  I was also able to pass off 2 PEs today!  Exposure control set up/ Exposure control tear down and maintenance!  It feels good to be caught up!  Now I need to practice, practice, practice what we learned today!  Enough rambling....peace out!!