 Hello, hello, everybody. Andrea Mayesky here with Dental L Tutoring. I just noticed a little hair on me there. Let's talk about sharpening. So I took this PowerPoint and let me just share my screen. Where's my screen button? I took this PowerPoint from our Dental L members membership login area where I do teach a lecture on sharpening. So if you are a dental hygiene student, this was a little lecture. So I think about 14 slides, but I just kind of took parts of it. Where I do discuss sharpening in more detail, but I'm just going to go over a little bit of it today. So then that way you guys can see what's inside our sharpening lecture. So for sharpening, the main things to remember and the best answer for the board exam when they're talking about sharpening is, you sharpen when the instrument needs it. Not once a day, not once a week, not once a month, not, you know, when you feel like it, not when you have time, but when the instrument needs it. So if the instrument isn't sharp anymore, because you don't know when that will happen, right? You could see 10 patients every day, but if 10 of your patients on a Monday are easy, they're kids, they have little plaque, then you probably won't have to sharpen at the end of the day. But even let's say you see patients on a Tuesday and in the afternoon, you only saw two patients, but let's say they had heavy perio where you were in there the whole time with your cavatron and then with the hand scalars to take away that charter and to take away that stain, you might have to sharpen. So yesterday you saw, you know, 10 patients where you didn't have to sharpen at all because the instruments were still sharp. But then Tuesday you saw two patients where you're thinking, OK, I have to sharpen like now, because if I don't, these instruments aren't going to work for my next patient. So keep that in mind, please, that you sharpen when you need to. And if you sharpen, let's say you have a patient in the chair and you are cleaning the teeth and then you say, OK, well, this instrument's now pretty dull. I have to sharpen like now. You are allowed to do that. So take out your sharpening stone, you know, sharpen, but then make sure to sterilize that stone afterwards. OK, whereas let's say you were sharpening at the end of the day, you can sharpen as many clean instruments as you'd like, but just still make sure to sharpen the stone afterwards, because if you don't, you know, those steel metal shavings from the instruments are like stuck in there, and especially if you are sharpening dirty instruments, right? So if you were with a patient and then you said, OK, I kind of have to sharpen this instrument now or I won't be able to use it. Sharpen it then, but of course make sure to put it through the sterilizer before you sharpen again. So that's just something that I want to mention, too. A lot of people ask, even if you were to sharpen, let's say sharpening cassettes, or sorry, sharpening instruments that were from your cassette. And let's say you were doing that at the beginning of the day before you saw patients. You should still sterilize those instruments again, even if they're clean and with a clean sharpening stone, because those metal shavings are in there. Even if you think you have, you know, clean them off, you wipe them off. It's still a good idea to put the instruments through again to make sure it's as clean as possible, because you don't want a tiny metal shaving underneath the gum line, right? As you're cleaning, that could happen. But how could it not? Because that's how you are sharpening little pieces of those instruments are coming off. So I wanted to mention that, too. But OK, so with this slide, read through it to stop the video if you need to. But remember that when you are done sharpening, you would finish with your instrument going down, with the sharpening stone going down, not up, but down. So finish on a downward stroke, so to speak. That is the best way to do it. And I'm talking about a curette here. So the angle between the face of the blade and the lateral surface of any curette is 70 to 80 degrees. For the most effective calculus removal, so make sure to note that. And then I wanted to talk quickly about the different stones, and then we will stop there. So I do talk about how to sharpen all of the instruments, but this was just sort of a quick one to show you guys the things that I do talk about. OK, so if you want to see more, make sure to sign up to be a member, because I have it all in there, guys. OK, like I could talk about this for hours, but I did already inside the membership login area. So make sure to sign up. It's amazing as I'm spilling things here. OK, so let's talk about stones. So a synthetic stone composed of aluminum oxide crystals with a fine or medium grit. Oil lubrication is required when sharpening these stones. So for synthetic stones, not for all of them, but for synthetic stones. OK, something to keep in mind. So a composition stone. So features, of course, aluminum oxide stone for recontoring of lateral and facial surfaces, a range of shapes and sizes. So sharpening stones come in different colors, you know, types, shapes and sizes. That's all that was pretty much saying. Hard synthetic stones available in either fine or medium grit. Excellent for routine sharpening of dental instruments. Use water as lubrication, not oil like the last ones, but water. OK, when sharpening, there will be an accumulation of metal filings rather than sludge. So again, so make sure to put your instruments through the sterilizer because you don't want those metal pieces as you're cleaning to get stuck underneath the sulcus because where else would they go? They have to go somewhere. So put the cassettes through. That's why I like to sharpen at the beginning of or sorry, at the end of the day. But of course, right? Like if you're seeing a patient and as you're cleaning, you think, OK, I can't continue using this instrument, but I need it. I need to do a quick sharpening. You can do that, but it's still not recommended because as I said, you want to put the cassettes through. But if you have to, you have to, right? So just try to wipe it off as much as possible afterwards. OK, so if you're confused with that, please let me know. The arches, if I'm saying that right, stones. So natural with a fine grit. Ideal for honing, light recontouring and maintenance sharpening. These stones may be used to dry. So you could use them dry or with oil. So there's two different types there. So you have to know which stone can be used dry or with oil, which one is with water. And then there was another one, remember with oil. So I'm not going to tell you the answer, but look back in the video if you're not sure. So I talk about techniques. I talk about tons of things. There's pictures. This was an exciting lecture and maybe a short one, but it's to the point and you learn a lot. So thank you guys for watching. If you would like to become a member, you are welcome to come in, you guys, for like any time. The sooner you become a member, the better, because the more you learn. And you will have have have access to me 24 seven to ask questions. There's a private Facebook group also to ask questions, to network with other students 24 seven, literally, because that's the whole point. Because as a student, it's nice to have support. It's nice to be able to ask questions. It's nice to have somebody to talk to, right? I mean, come on. So let me know if you have any questions. I will leave the links at the bottom. If you would like to sign up for a Dental L student membership. So if you're still in school, or if you would like to sign up for the board exam prep academy, if you are studying to take the board exam. So I do offer both for dental hygiene students and dental assisting students. And I tutor internationally. So if you live in Canada, the US, it doesn't matter. I have course material for almost everything. Okay. If you're not sure, send me an email and then I will let you know if I do tutor for that or not. So thank you guys so much for watching and have a nice day.