{Probing}

All I can say is.....I need a TON of practice!  I went over the readings in Nield, PAT, and the clinic manual last night and had it down.  Well, reading and doing are two totally different things!  We first practiced on marshmallows and candy corns to get down how the epithelial attachment should feel and the small amount of pressure needed and to angle our probes.  After that, we practiced on the typodont and tried to feel for angulation on buccal and lingual, as well as the col area.  I was freaking out a little because I had a really hard time feeling for the col!  We then watched a demo. on how to correctly probe and chart a quadrant.  Those TAs sure know what they are doing.  She made it look so easy and just whipped around those teeth like it was nothing.  Then it was our turn. DUN DUN DUN! ha!  I was the patient first with Mark as the operator.  He did a really good job and really didn't hurt me at all.  Then it was my turn.  {Freakout moment}.  Mark was so patient with me and very nice.  I did have my pressure a little too hard on him in a couple of spots and I'm really glad he let me know.  I was able to practice with some loupes and can I say...I'm in LOVE!  They were a little hard to get used to, but man, they made reading the probe SO much easier!  I feel pretty good about my angulation on the posteriors, but once I got to the linguals on the anteriors....I felt lost.  I could not keep the tip of that probe in the sulcus for the life of me.  Mark's #25 was poked WAY more than it should have been.  Having to use indirect vision doesn't make my life any easier!  Once I moved back to the linguals of the posteriors, it got a little better, but then you are dealing with saliva and the tongue.  GAH!  Well, all I can say is that I have a lot more to learn, and just need to be patient with myself.  I mean, I have only done it for about 30 minutes total.  I just need to learn how to do a quad in 3 minutes and get those measurements within 1 mm of the instructor's.  On a good note...I was able to pass of my vitals PE as well as my Extraoral exam PE!  Whoop!  Well, now I have a splitting headache, and am pretty sweaty (TMI, I know).  I'm just happy for no class the rest of the week.  HALLELUJAH!