{What a day...}

My morning started off great.  I had a NP in who turned out to be a super simple 1B.  Sometimes it's refreshing to have somebody in your chair who doesn't have extensive scaling to be done.  She was super sweet, and I got her finished up early...even with Eaglesoft down and having to do conventional films.  (BTW....why does Eaglesoft ALWAYS have a problem???)  I decided that on this pt. I didn't want to use my Ultrasonic, because I need to better my hand instrumenting skills.  I was also able to do the Infection Control (pointless PE, in my opinion), and do a sealant (PE) on Olivia's pt.  Overall....successful morning.

In the afternoon, I had a Class II pt. I saw a couple weeks ago in to finish her last two quads.  Last time I saw her I was completely rushed and under a lot of pressure (from the person who was translating for her) so I unfortunately missed more spots than I would like to admit.  So, my goal for today was to try and increase my speed, but still be thorough and efficient.  I went through both quads, and back over missed areas from last time.  I was feeling pretty confident in myself, and thought that I did pretty well.  Nope!  I missed about the same amount of spots as last time.  I was super discouraged and feeling pretty bad about myself.  I almost started crying, which is not like me.  So, Lis told me to use my Triple Bend US tip and go back over those areas, because I hadn't gone subgingival or interproximal enough.  I then went back over with my graceys, and felt like I did a pretty good job, which I did.  There were still a couple areas that I had to go back over again.  I was also feeling pressure because the girl who brought my pt. was pressuring me again to get her done.  I had to keep explaining to her why it was taking so long.  After she left I was feeling very defeated.  I was feeling inadequate, and like maybe I really don't know what I'm doing.  Lis came over and told me that I did a good job, she was just a super hard Class II with a lot of heavy, tenacious subgingival calc.  (I'm sure she was just trying to make me feel better).  She was THE hardest Class II pt. I've seen yet.  I better not pick somebody like that for boards, or else I will probably fail.  I really feel like I learned a lot today, and I have been trying to stay positive about it. So, a goal of mine is to make sure I am going interproximal, and subgingival enough.  That is a no-brainer, but it's obviously something I need to work on.