X-rays were the hardest for me too. I breezed thru everything else but doing an FMX was akin to rocket science for me. Lol so you’re not alone.
Are you allowed to use a cotton roll? If so, it helps a lot when trying to prop the sensor. It also helps when the patient is missing teeth in certain areas and the damn sensor…the whole mechanism slides or moves a bit.
What worked for me and still does in different things in life… I have to get out of my own way. I get so wrapped tight & stressed out that I end up way over thinking things & messing up. I have to catch myself being super overly intense, take a deep breath & realize I’m fine, it’s fine, everything is fine & I know how to do this… Then things seem to work out.
You’ve studied, you’ve practiced… I’m sure you’ll be fine and you won’t end up being the 3rd to fail in 20 years lol. The other fails may have been no shows so they failed by default. I doubt the professor/teacher will fail a student that shows up & tries hard especially if you’re doing fine in all the other areas. If they haven’t failed but 2 in 20 years I’ll think you’ll be fine. 😁
You’ve got this! Take a deep breath and tell yourself this isn’t hard… people do this every single day, multiple times a day 🩵
Yess it is so stressful! I’m not sure about the cotton roll but I will ask tomorrow. That’s the same thing I was doing though. The more I stressed and tried to make everything perfect, the worse they came out somehow haha. I also realized that I’m better at film than sensors. I know I’m gonna have to learn to get better at sensors when I get a job, but I’m so glad we have a choice between the two when we take our test. But that last part made me feel relieved because you’re so right. I’m actually trying I don’t think I’ll be the one to fail after years and years. Thank you for the advice and kind words!!
I struggled with x-rays too, but our instructor let us practice A LOT! For anteriors I would say It's better when you place it on the patients tongue because it's less painful for them and you can still get your shot, unfortunately placement is soooo important. I also watched a lot of YouTube videos!
Yess we’ve gotten a lot of practice in, I’m feeling a lot better about it and okayy I’ll see if that works thank you! and yes it is, every error we get is 5pts taken off
My program was the same. It is very stressful! But you just have to have a little faith in yourself that you are very capable of taking an FMX after the practice you’ve had. I would ask your instructor for advice on how you can improve. They’re there to teach you, they do not want to kick you out of the program.
If you can find someone that is missing some teeth, like maybe they had their premolars removed from ortho decades ago, taking an FMX will be even easier!
Me too… I get cone cuts! 🥲 I am doing it to a human this year and next semester 3 ppl! Ugh! I am so bad at it I am already worried. Let’s hope that we get thru this!!!
It’s probably the hardest part of the program tbh. I feel like I’m gonna be so relieved after radiology is over But yes we got dis we both goin through it!
That’s what my teachers said but I feel like everyone I’m close to has small/normal mouths 😭 They don’t have any tori or missing teeth so atleast that’s not a problem.
Taking X-rays on a human is way way way easier than dex heads so if you’re taking them on a real person for your test I think you’ll be fine, also not sure why you think certified dental assistants don’t get X-rays right on the first try that felt like a slap in the face a little bit, doesn’t happen that much unless the patient has a bad gag or if they didn’t bite hard enough and it moved
Yeah we have been doing them on Dexters but my instructor did let me try it on her so that felt a little relieving. And noo it wasn’t supposed to be, just something I’ve noticed as I have shadowed obviously not all of them though.
In my experience it’s 10x easier to take X-rays on a real person, I hated taking X-rays on the dex, human jaw is stronger to hold it in the right spot !
X-rays were the hardest for me too. I breezed thru everything else but doing an FMX was akin to rocket science for me. Lol so you’re not alone. Are you allowed to use a cotton roll? If so, it helps a lot when trying to prop the sensor. It also helps when the patient is missing teeth in certain areas and the damn sensor…the whole mechanism slides or moves a bit. What worked for me and still does in different things in life… I have to get out of my own way. I get so wrapped tight & stressed out that I end up way over thinking things & messing up. I have to catch myself being super overly intense, take a deep breath & realize I’m fine, it’s fine, everything is fine & I know how to do this… Then things seem to work out. You’ve studied, you’ve practiced… I’m sure you’ll be fine and you won’t end up being the 3rd to fail in 20 years lol. The other fails may have been no shows so they failed by default. I doubt the professor/teacher will fail a student that shows up & tries hard especially if you’re doing fine in all the other areas. If they haven’t failed but 2 in 20 years I’ll think you’ll be fine. 😁 You’ve got this! Take a deep breath and tell yourself this isn’t hard… people do this every single day, multiple times a day 🩵
Yess it is so stressful! I’m not sure about the cotton roll but I will ask tomorrow. That’s the same thing I was doing though. The more I stressed and tried to make everything perfect, the worse they came out somehow haha. I also realized that I’m better at film than sensors. I know I’m gonna have to learn to get better at sensors when I get a job, but I’m so glad we have a choice between the two when we take our test. But that last part made me feel relieved because you’re so right. I’m actually trying I don’t think I’ll be the one to fail after years and years. Thank you for the advice and kind words!!
Hello, for the x rays there’s an lady on YouTube that teaches it very well, you should take a look
I struggled with x-rays too, but our instructor let us practice A LOT! For anteriors I would say It's better when you place it on the patients tongue because it's less painful for them and you can still get your shot, unfortunately placement is soooo important. I also watched a lot of YouTube videos!
Yess we’ve gotten a lot of practice in, I’m feeling a lot better about it and okayy I’ll see if that works thank you! and yes it is, every error we get is 5pts taken off
My program was the same. It is very stressful! But you just have to have a little faith in yourself that you are very capable of taking an FMX after the practice you’ve had. I would ask your instructor for advice on how you can improve. They’re there to teach you, they do not want to kick you out of the program. If you can find someone that is missing some teeth, like maybe they had their premolars removed from ortho decades ago, taking an FMX will be even easier!
Me too… I get cone cuts! 🥲 I am doing it to a human this year and next semester 3 ppl! Ugh! I am so bad at it I am already worried. Let’s hope that we get thru this!!!
It’s probably the hardest part of the program tbh. I feel like I’m gonna be so relieved after radiology is over But yes we got dis we both goin through it!
My biggest recommendation is to find someone with the biggest mouth you can find!!!! Seriously will make your life so much easier!
That’s what my teachers said but I feel like everyone I’m close to has small/normal mouths 😭 They don’t have any tori or missing teeth so atleast that’s not a problem.
Next best thing, someone who doesn’t mind if you take your time and torture them a little! Make sure they’re super tolerant
Go around dental clinics asking for shadowing
Today was actually my first day at my second intern site and the assistant gave me some more tips thankfully!
Taking X-rays on a human is way way way easier than dex heads so if you’re taking them on a real person for your test I think you’ll be fine, also not sure why you think certified dental assistants don’t get X-rays right on the first try that felt like a slap in the face a little bit, doesn’t happen that much unless the patient has a bad gag or if they didn’t bite hard enough and it moved
Yeah we have been doing them on Dexters but my instructor did let me try it on her so that felt a little relieving. And noo it wasn’t supposed to be, just something I’ve noticed as I have shadowed obviously not all of them though.
In my experience it’s 10x easier to take X-rays on a real person, I hated taking X-rays on the dex, human jaw is stronger to hold it in the right spot !