Probing

What do giant marshmallows, candy corn, probing, gingival margin, and the junctional epithelium have in common?

A lot more than you would think!

Yesterday in clinic we learned probing. I was actually able to seat a patient in my chair, hold an instrument and practice/work on my patient. It was pretty exciting even though I was nervous for my lab partner (my patient) who so kindly volunteered to be my first victim. I guess she wasn't exactly my first "patient". We started out practicing probing on a marshmallow and candy corn. I know I thought it was weird/random at first as well--but it turned out to be pretty helpful. The marshmallow feels about the same as the junctional epithelium around a tooth (which is the base of where we probe). So it helped me feel how much pressure is needed when probing without puncturing the epithelium. And I was surprised to find out that very little pressure is needed! This was hard for me as first because I usually have a firm grip on my pens when I write. I am the person that will tear through the paper with the pen while I am writing because of how hard I am pushing. So I really had to focus on keeping my grip light and barely applying pressure. The candy corn was helpful to practice the angles I should be at when probing. The shape of the candy corn resembles the shape of a tooth, and depending on where you are on the tooth the angle you probe at changes.

I then was able to practice on my ever so faithful typodont! He really is the best! He never offers a word of complaint, even though sometimes I think he should! ;)

Lastly I practiced on my lab partner. She was really great as well! I was very nervous as I was getting ready to go in, but she was very compliant and let me feel around her sulci. I have to admit that I did make her bleed a few times and I kept saying "I'm sorry!" but overall I felt pretty good about it. I still need to practice being able to read my probe and positioning my mirror so I can see the posterior areas better while maintaining proper ergonomics.

Yesterday was great and now I am one day closer to becoming a RDH! :)