This skill will require you to perform small animal dental prophylaxis and understand client education regarding home care. Upon completion of this skill, you will be able to demonstrate your knowledge of dental cleaning, the use various dental instruments, charting teeth, and educating clients on the subject of home dental care.
Tips for materials that need to be submitted:
Video clip of student showing correct use of both manual and ultrasonic dental instruments
Can be performed on a canine or feline patient
Show far away and close up views. We need to see that you are performing the cleaning procedure but we also need to see your technique
Steps 2 through 9 on the skill criteria need to be included in the video. (You do not need to demonstrate sharpening of the tools)
Make sure you are wearing proper PPE
You do not have to show the entire dental but you should have enough of each step to demonstrate your proficiency with the tools
Make sure you are holding the tools correctly and using them at the correct angle
Log book for the procedures performed on two patients
Provide full patient signalments and procedure dates
Be detailed, walk through each step of the dental process. Do not just say you scaled the teeth, what surfaces did you scale, use technical terms. What tools did you use?
Copy of dental charts for two patients
The records need to be for the patients you discussed in your patient log
Make sure the charts have the date and patient info on them
Copy of intraoral radiographs for two patients.
You need to have a minimum of two views per patient. Consisting of at least one maxillary arcade and one mandibular arcade for each patient.
They need to be intraoral radiographs. Skull radiographs will not be accepted.
The radiographs you submit should match the patients you showed in your video(s), wrote about in your descriptions, and provided the dental charts for.
You need to submit the actual digital file if the radiographs were taken digitally. If film you will need to mail the films to your evaluator's attention at the Penn Foster Scranton address.
Description of home care for clients
You should be discussing:
After care for the dental
Everyday dental care to prevent tarter buildup. E.g. tooth brushing, dental treats and food and the importance of regular dental cleanings
Helpful resources in addition to your textbooks and study materials: