Episode 6: Apiration Nation!

Hahahaha!!

I'm still getting the hang of suctioning (or trying to, at least!) but early on I was assisting with a front composite filling - I rested the tip against the next tooth to keep it steady and... a BIG bit came off - I thought it was a part of that tooth! I nearly cried - until I realised it was just the tartar/gunk in her cavities......

Eeeep!

i do very much enjoy aspirating...i once sucked a spider up that was crawling through patients hair - head not facial!
i looked at is as if i was that patient i wouldn't want a spider crawling in my hair.

i must admit that my mind does wonder aswell, normally staring at facial hair or up noses -grim i know!

goodness me aren't we sad!

I know this thread is old but I just had to commetn!
I love aspriating too!
Especially during a crown prep if the dentist has got alginate all round the pt's lips I like to ry and get it off!
However my mind wonders and I stare at their feet!

eww

Haha. With you on the blackheads. Would love to get my be-gloved fingers on them!!
The other thing is hairy moles, can't think straight if a patients got one.Know what you mean about lack of hands too, we dental nurses could get a weekend job in the circus as jugglers!!

blackheads get me, especially on top of bald heads, my mind just zeros in on them, i enjoy aspirating but somehow always seem to run outta hands.......some one please tell me how i'm sposed to use a mirror to retract the cheek, aspirate, hold a probe to stem bleeding, mix a filling, adjust the light and make notes at the same time.....i'm seriously considering taking off my clogs and using my feet as an extra pair of hands....if only the gloves would fit!

laughed at that,yes my mind wanders as well

I absolutely LOVE aspirating! One of my fave parts of the job! AND, I don't want to blow my own trumpet but quite a few patients comment on how they usually "choke" with the aspirator but didn't with my assisting technique =D

On a similar note to a previous post about looking at stray facial hair... I usually look at people's eyebrows when I'm aspirating. I also look how neat their makeup is. I'm terrible for it! =P

very funny and well written!! aspiration is def an art form, successfully retracting the tongue without hurting them is a skill we all possess!!! Dentists with big hands...now they get in the way!

You always make me laughed out loud.

Aspiration is an artwork.

the worst is when you suck up a crown and that is literally money down the drain. Well I managed to fish the crown out but then it had cracked along the way

A friend of mine, also a dental nurse was aspirating when she saw a spider on the chair arm. She very calmly sucked it up the aspirator then put it straight back in the pt's mouth!! My mind wanders when I'm aspirating, I find myself staring at pt"s stray facial hairs and thinking I would love to pull them out with tweezers.

THAT IS HILARIOUS!!!!

I laughed out loud and read it out to my flatmate who also thought it was very funny!

I like aspirating up lumps of tartar !!!! that come away in big clumps !!!!!!! glad I am not the only one lol

Sucking up spit...sucking up pus...sucking up chunks of teeth...sucking up blood...sucking up bits of filling material...sucking up cheek, tongue, general soft tissues (by accident)...sucking up irrigation...sucking up excess cement...

Ahhhh I love aspirating...the satisfying clunking noise a chunk of amalgam makes when you catch it, the slurpy noise of thick saliva...

The hilarity of sucking up something you shouldn't...one patient had a massive mole on her lip and, yep you guessed it, I accidently had a little suck on that too.. Oops...!

After explaining the joys of aspiration to my boyfriend he has now officially labelled me insane. He is also constantly complaining about me smelling of mouthwash and the occasional lump of alginate that seems to get caught in my hair...men! When I come home from a hard day at work and complain about being tired and stressed he laughs his head off saying all I have to do all day is sit infront of a computer looking pretty...hmph, I wish!

No one I know apart from other nurses understand the stress of the job...or my wierd aspiration addiction