Personal Narrative: Dental Cleaning

I did my internship at Veterinary Medical Center of Clayton. It was an amazing experience. I got to help the doctors and veterinary technicians with different cases. Some of the main things I did was to feed, bathe, and exercise animals, clean and disinfect cages, kennels, and examination and operation rooms, restrain animals during examination and laboratory procedures, maintain and sterilize surgical instruments and equipment, monitor and care for animals after surgery, help provide emergency first aid to sick and injured animals, give medication or immunizations that veterinarians prescribe and assist in the collection of blood, urine, and tissue samples. One case I help with was when a dental cleaning. We started with an examination of the extraoral
Perform appropriate periodontal therapy, periodontal surgery, and extractions as indicated by clinical signs, radiographs and oral exam. Polishing allows for removal of microscopic etches on the surface of the tooth created by the cleaning process. Enamel loss may occur due to excessively frequent polishing, and overaggressive polishing may result in thermal damage to a tooth. Use light pressure, just enough to flare the cup of the prophy angle, and polish for one to three seconds on each tooth surface, returning to the surface for another one to three seconds as needed to polish all surfaces. Rinse the polish off by a gentle rinse of water from the air-water syringe. This procedure was very difficult for me at first but I got a hang of it after doing it on my own with a supervised technician. Overall I enjoyed every bit of my internship. I got to meet different type of peoples and all types of different breeds of dogs and cats. It was a very rewarding experience for me to be able to have the opportunity to be in such a wonderful environment. I learned a lot and really do hope to be able to work with them