 Hello, hello, Andrea Mayesca here with dental little tutoring. Sorry my dog was just barking There's my dog again There's some construction workers outside right now and she can't see them because I shut all of the blinds But she can sense them so I apologize if you guys can hear that They don't even know if you can so I'm just going to continue on But yeah, you guys so another episode of the day in the life of the dental hygienist and this will be a good one I'm going to talk to you guys about staying on time in the dental office because even after working for 14 years This is my biggest pet peeve is being behind only because if I'm behind it means that I have to work harder I feel bad that I'm behind so like I just feel bad for the patients And then you might get those rude patients who are mad because you're five minutes behind or especially if you're half an hour Behind they get really mad and then you're thinking okay So here you're talking to me for ten minutes about how mad you are that we're always behind Yet now I'm even more behind, you know, but I did do a video about actually how to stay on time in the dental office It's been a while though since I've done that but if you would like to see the first Video that I had done just do a search in my channel Search something like how to stay on time or how to be on time and that video should pop up But I wanted to do another one because I got an email the other day From a new dental hygienist how to stay on time and how she's having a hard time staying on time and doing everything That she needs to in 45 minutes So I'm going to offer some tips for you because I've worked in a few offices where we had 40 minute appointments I worked in an office where in the evenings only we had half an hour Appointments because we wanted to get more patients in that was awful. Just saying But now I'm lucky enough to work in an office that has 60 minute appointments But even then I still get behind so after 14 years if I can get behind It's so easy for a new dental hygienist or dental assistant or really anybody to get behind too So I'm going to share with you guys some tips So it doesn't matter if you have half an hour appointments if you have 40 minutes 45 or an hour the same rules apply, okay? So hopefully in your office you have enough trays to at least set up for the morning or the afternoon So let's just say for easy numbers You have four patients in the morning and then you have a lunch break for an hour And then you have four patients in the afternoon set up all of your four trays ahead of time I'm not saying leave them out on the counter there You should set them up and stack them on top of each other and hopefully you have space in your room To like put them off to the side put them in a cabinet put them somewhere and on each tray This is what you should have you should have your instrument So some offices have instruments in a cassette some have pouches, you know Whatever, but have your instruments on that tray. You will need a Profit angle so your polisher put that polisher on there if you have enough polishers in the office to have for at a time You will need some floss so put a piece of a piece of floss on there I use about half an arm's length maybe a little bit shorter put that on there you will need at least two pieces or more of Gauze on your tray I usually have about three pieces and sometimes I need more if the patient's bleeding a lot or or has a lot of Plack of Charter or sometimes I don't even use all three pieces, but three pieces. I find is pretty average What else do you guys need I'm trying to think I just worked yesterday or I'm sorry I just worked tonight and I can't think oh, yes You you need your polish that you are going to use so depending on the office You might have the polish in those little cups or the office that I'm in now We have polished like in a tin where I just take out like a With a spatula I just kind of take out how much I usually need and I just put it on that tray if you have like a polish or a holder that Some offices have it where you're able to put it on your finger then put it in that and then leave that on your tray And you need a bit, but did I say a bit? I don't remember now So you need that too so set all of that up So yes, it might not seem like a lot, but taking that two minutes means you have an extra two minutes After your next patient, so you won't be as behind You will probably still be behind, but you would be even more behind if you had to take out the tray Take out the instruments take the polisher Take your polishing paste out from here You know looking for things that you need whereas if you just had that all on your tray, you're fine Another thing if you need fluoride put that on your tray too because some patients need it and some patients don't So it just kind of helps to have everything there In the office where I am now, which I'm sure all offices are now like this We need to write down every pouch So at the end of the patient we have to write down the load number and the date on Every single pouch so all of the instruments that we use for that patient. So say we used a handpiece a piezo Handle and a piezo tip that I would keep those three pouches that I had to open them up And I put them sort of in my cupboard here So then that way at the end when I'm taking my notes in the computer, then I just have to take out those pouches Write down the load number and the date and then throw them out So that depends on your office too, but That helps me stay behind Huge another thing is I am always half an hour early Unfortunately, some offices will only pay you to be 15 minutes early If you're lucky enough to be paid to be half an hour early awesome Even if you're not though I do suggest showing up a half an hour early because it saves you time and saves you stress At least it does for me. So I show up half an hour half an hour early Earlier, sorry. I look through all of my patients that day. So the office where I'm in now I work Tuesdays and Thursdays. So I actually look at my My Thursday I will look at that at the end of the day on Tuesday So I kind of have looked through the charts already I have always written little notes to tell me what I'm doing for that day and What's happening for the next appointment because some offices where you work? You are in charge of trying to figure out what you're doing that day So it does help to look at the chart ahead of time Whereas some offices just have it in there for you, you know, how many units of scale to book How many units of polish if they need x-rays all of that? So that helps especially for a newbie But if you guys don't have that or maybe you don't have enough time to look at your charts the day before Because you're not there the day before then do show up a half an hour early Look through all of the charts of that day and look at What their next appointment is now this can be tricky for a new dental hygienist to determine if If their next one's a three-month cleaning or a three-month recall or is it a nine-month? Recall even if they come in every three months It might be their nine months recall next time or it could be their six months So that's harder to determine, but I do have a video on that too It's probably called how to book appointments or how to book appointments sequencing something like that So search for that even feel free to stop the video now and then search for that one and then come back to this one Because you need to know how to book the next appointment because you're the only one who would know that The receptionist would be able to help you too though, but the assistant would have no idea So as a newbie I found that was always the hardest for me when I first started was trying to figure out what their next Appointment is but you should also know what their appointment is that day So if it doesn't say on the computer it helps to be able to look through the chart to see Which should be in their treatment plan anyway So that's a little bit easier, but it should be in the treatment plan What you're supposed to do for that day because at the end of your appointment you need to put in the treatment plan what? They're doing next time because you might not be that hygienist So you need to let the other hygienists know what they're doing next time So that at least should be in the treatment plan, but looking through your charts half an hour early Making sure that everything's right in your schedule And setting up your trays makes such a big difference. I also look at to see which patients need a probe Because we do probes every year depending on the patient, you know if they're If they've been healthy if they're 21 and they've had two millimeter pockets for three years Then I'll do a probe every two years if they're you know oral hygiene will stay the same but Not not too confused you guys Do a probe every year so I do write down also just to remind myself Which people which patients need probes and x-rays so I look at all of that It might seem like a lot to look at and it will take you time initially It might even take you 35 minutes to look through that But then it becomes so easy it becomes second nature So I do show up a half an hour early still even after 14 years But it probably takes me 10 minutes to look through the charts because I've already looked at it the day before even if I haven't it's just easy for me to kind of look through it and Figure it out, but it does take time Also always look at the last few entries of the chart Why because this tells you what the patient's like Because hopefully the high the hygienist has left notes even it tells you how much plaque they may have so you can kind of Prepare yourself if the patient has heavy plaque heavy tartar heavy stain You know you're going to need the piezo. So maybe take out a piezo a piezo Handle and a tip or a cavatron whatever your office has and set that on the tray too So it does help to look ahead of time But last but not least if you're behind it happens. Don't worry about it It does get better, but I know it's stressful. Believe me. I totally understand But as a newbie they can't expect you to be on time anyway because you had two hours three hours to do a cleaning in your last You know program right and now you're down to 40 minutes 45 or an hour when I first started My office was so nice because I was an assistant there first They gave me an hour to do cleanings even though that office had a 40 minute cleanings and that really helped me I was still maybe five minutes behind but imagine if I had 40 minutes I would have been about 25 minutes behind so they helped me so much And I'll probably actually do another video on this But it's okay if you're not perfect if you leave some calculus behind don't stress Everybody should know you are new and you're learning. This is how you learn at the very least though Make sure to get the super calculus because that is what you see and that is what the patient see But if you're not perfect you guys honestly, I'm not perfect either. I'm sure I leave calculus behind I'm probably the only hygienist who will admit that but I'm not perfect either Even if I think I got everything perfectly you probably didn't you know It's the same thing as if you were to clean your windows I don't know it might look it might look like everything's perfect You have cleaned the window like ten times, but there's probably still something there, right? Nobody's perfect even if they claim to be and those hygienists new old It doesn't matter who say they never leave behind calculus and you shouldn't either They're a load of they know know they're on a power trip and they think they're perfect, but they're not so please don't worry But I should do another video on that so I have lots to say about that But yeah, you guys so for a newbie dental hygienist if you have questions Let me know please comment below because I love questions It gives me something else to talk about and you're probably not the only one with that question So please let me know okay, so thank you guys for tuning in and let me know to how often you want to see these I work two or three times a week So I could technically do a video twice a week if you wanted or if you feel that once a week's enough perfect Make sure to hit subscribe so then that way every time I do upload a new video Which is at least once or twice a week you can see it right away or just kind of save it and then Watch it some other time because I love to do these so Thank you for watching and good luck. Have a good day at work, and I'll see you guys next time