Newbie - help with aspirating?!

Hi everyone
Thank you for all the replies and advice. Well, I went in on Wed and basically just got on with it! There were lots of different procedures (got to assist with a Cerec crown and that was very cool! Gawd, I sound about 12!!) and I just gradually became more comfortable with using the bigger aspirator and the saliva ejector as needed (not quite co-ordinated enough to use both at the same time yet, but that'll come I'm sure!)
Funnily enough, I broke a bit off my back tooth today and had to go in for a pain appt with my dentist(I'm a patient at the practice I work at) - so strange that the knowledge I now have of the surgery and the instruments, took away a lot of the apprehension I would have normally felt as a patient. I also knew where to stick my tongue to make things easier for the nurse who was aspirating!! She caught my tongue at one point and she's very experienced, so I don't feel so bad about doing that to someone on Wed!
Managed to aspirate for a very nervy patient on Wed and she was fine, so I think experience and trying to relax into it is key!
As for the glasses and face mask? I ended up wearing a full face shield over my glasses, maybe not the best look I've ever had, but it works and I don't get so fogged up!
I'm back in tomorrow and I'm feeling much more confident that I can actually do this job! I'll be working with a different dentist tomorrow, so I'm sure they'll have their own ways, but I'll just go with the flow.
Thanks for all the support and replies xx

Hello again!! How did the suctioning go??

I so totally understand the issue of glasses fogging up, Haha.

And yes, as the other lady mentioned, the rubber dam is wonderful!! during restorative procedures of course!

Preetee

My dentist uses a rubber dam this stops the water from pooling up inside the patients mouth during most procedures. But of course when hes doing preps etc I watch where the water is going and follow the hand piece around. I trained about 20plus yrs ago with 2 aspiarator tubes one small one large the small stayed at the front of the mouth and the other followed the hand piece about. but when im doing the upper arch i use the suction in the left hand and then lower right hand as its easier. also nurses can retract the cheeks using their fingers as long as u keeopp away from the handpiece. With s/Ps i just follow the scaler round or when I see the water pooling up at the back of the aptients mouth i carefully place the suction on the tongue and let the water disperse in the tube,#
For the buccals place the tube carefully on the front of the teeth so that the water does not splash on to the patients face. hope this helps

Hello,
I agree with all the others, Training does it!
Also the fact that your dentist is so good with helping you will make you much quicker a very good "sucker"
Dental Nurses have such a different job as all patients are different. Small mouth, small spaces, children, sensitive teeth to avoid,very sensitive patients et cetera...
Some people have a strong reflex to retch so that can be difficult as well.
Sometimes it can help if the patient just tilt their head , just a little bit to either side, so the water etcetera goes to one side where you can aspirate it all.

Don't worry too much, it will come to you soon, I'm sure!

Hi P Hylton
Yep, you've been very helpful, thanks I think I got all flustered which didn't help - my face mask fogged up my glasses, I wasn't used to the feel of the aspirator and my hands were shaky - not a good combination with an already nervous patient! Although I did manage fine the second time I tried it! It's a bit nervewracking to come completely out of my comfort zone from hospital nursing and retrain, but at the same time it's exciting and I'm looking forward to it.
Funnily enough, my hubby has just had a scale and polish, and when I asked him what the nurse did, he said she stayed in one place (I assume buccal position, as we're also patients at the practice where I work and we'll all be trained the same way) but he wished she had followed the scaler round, as he felt like he was drowning. I don't feel quite so bad!
Thanks for the info, I'll get stuck in straight away tomorrow and keep practising until I'm comfortable with all the equipment.
I'm lucky with the dentist I've been working with, she's totally chilled out and I know her outside work, so that probably helps too!
I'll be back after work tomorrow...hopefully smiling! xx

Hi Caterina,

Aspiration is not only for moisture control but also so that your patient does not choke by inhaling any form of liquid, whether be it water from the scaler/fast handpiece/3-in-1 or simply the saliva. Also, it is also used to keep the water spray from going all over the place.

During the scale and polish, do your best to keep the water from pooling at the back of your patient's throat and putting the tip in the buccal position does help. If it is uncomfortable for the patient or if your dentist has poor visibility due to your aspiration, use the small saliva ejector (the smaller bendy tip) to aspirate-children tend to prefer this one too.

During other procedures, like restorations, use the small saliva ejector for saliva pooling and the other once to absorb any other "large amount" of water to make sure the dentist has good visibility.

Also, you're very lucky that your dentist guides you. Different dentists work in different ways, the trick is to go with their flow.

I hope I've been a bit helpful. Let us know how you get on.

All the best!! xx

Hi Emma
I'm back in tomorrow and I'm sure I'll be straight into practicing again, so I'll give it a shot and see how it goes. The nurse I was shadowing had mentioned using a mirror to retract the cheek if the dentist was working on the side nearest me (a filling or RCT) but not during a scale. I think it might just be experience and I'm stressing over nothing - both DN and dentist were really nice and said my technique was fine, I'd managed to keep the water down, the dentist could see and I sucked up the debris, but it's quite daunting to do anything for the first time. I think because I know the patients are nervous I've been trying to stay out of their faces as much as I can, but I know from nursing that personal space has to go out the window sometimes!
Thanks for the advice xx

Hi Caterina,

The best thing I have found for aspirating is using a mirror to guide you and retract the patients cheek or tongue. That seems to work and patients feel more comfortable.

Try it out and tell me how it goes?!

Emma

Hi!! I'm a newbie trainee dental nurse (was a surgical nurse in hospital prior to this, so some of it is familiar, but a lot is very very new!)
I have a very bizarre (or maybe not so bizarre) question
I've had a couple of days shadowing nurses in surgery and I've got the equipment kinda sorted in my head, I've managed to set up for procedures etc.
BUT! I had a shot of aspirating on my 2nd training day - EH? I have no clue! The experienced dental nurses seem to keep the large one in one place during the whole procedure (I'm talking about a scale and polish - that's all I've done for now) and that seems to work ok, but when I tried it for the first time, the patient was nervous, she tuck her tongue right back and I couldn't seem to get anywhere with it, the dentist (who is really nice) was helping me out and started moving my hand, so I followed the scaler round the mouth while she did the scale.
I tried again with another patient, and it worked out a bit better, I followed the scaler round and sucked up the pools of saliva as and when. I still felt that the poor guy was drowning though!
I guess my question is, is there a trick to using these tools? Why can the other nurses keep the aspirator in one place and I have to follow the dentist round? Is it just practice?
I'm lucky that the dentist I will be working with is very easy going, but she also specialises in treating very nervous patients, so I need to be calm and not stressing about something that is an integral part of dental nursing.
Any tips, tricks, ideas? Thanks! xx