Asepsis is key in protecting the clinician and patient.

Prevention and evaluation measures

are important and happen constantly through an appointment; however, the intraoral procedures
that hygienists perform are the focus of every appointment. Some of the intraoral procedures the
hygienist is responsible for are periodontal probing, scaling, and polishing. All of these
procedures require advanced knowledge and skill to perform.
I included an instrumentation proficiency at 91% from my third semester. The
improvements I needed to make were on angulation and adaptation and on wrist activation. My
technique was good overall, but I needed to improve my posture. I also included a treatment plan
done for a patient who had slight periodontitis. I utilized many instruments to successfully
remove hard and soft deposits from his oral cavity. I included two journal article reviews. One
discussed strategies for selecting ultrasonic tips and the importance of selecting and using the
tips correctly. The second journal review article discussed multidirectional instrumentation
strokes and the importance of using these to effectively clean a periodontal patient. I also
included a clinic daily grade sheet at 83% from my second semester where the patient had a lot
of tenacious calculus. I missed some spots and needed to work on more lateral pressure at the
time, but overall did a good job.
Despite what many patients believe, scaling takes up most of the appointment time during
cleaning whereas polishing takes only a few minutes at the end to remove any remaining bacteria
or stain. Both are important procedures and take special knowledge to perform. The intraoral
procedures that we perform during a hygiene appointment are the most technical procedures that
we learn in school and require specific knowledge and technique to perform correctly without
causing damage to the patients oral tissues.