Just another day--

Today (as in March 7th), I saw my class 2 pt. again.  He is a real treat.  He takes everything to heart, and really was excited to get his teeth cleaned today, since we weren't able to do it last time.  He was late again, so right when he arrived, I hopped onto OHI and taught him about periodontal disease and caries and everything else that was exciting to him.  He asked me if he had periodontal disease, and I told him he was in the mild-moderate stages of it.  He asked if he was a bad person.  NO!! i told him.  It was neat seeing him soak everything in-- he wanted to learn so much and couldn't wait to put some techniques to use at home.  

I began scaling-- and boy was it fun.  Calculus galore!  I loved the ultrasonic, once again.  It does wonders for a gal.  I only got one quad done because he was so late, and OHI took forever, but I was okay with how the day turned out.  I missed a couple spots, which I'm happy about.  (weird, i know.)  But it was THEE best learning experience for me.  Especially since this is my first "hard" patient, i really wanted to feel like I learned something and could walk away feeling like I know how to do better the next time.  If I hadn't missed anything, I really would have questioned my skills (or maybe my instructor- haha).  But now that I know what to do next time and the time after, I know that I'm improving each and every time I step into clinic.  

After cleaning his one quad, i had him look in the mirror.  His smile on his face was so rewarding to me.  I LOVE HYGIENE.  He said, "WOW!  My teeth are whiter now!  They look so good!  I can't wait to show my wife!"  He was so excited.  Which made ME excited.  I wanted to just plop him right back down in the chair so I could finish him.  Oh well.  Next time :)  He literally stared in that mirror for about 5 minutes examining each individual tooth as I printed off his walkout, etc.  It was great.  He final words as I said, "Okay lets go!" were, "Man-- If I'd have known how good my smile would look after doing this, I'd have come here years ago!!"  Priceless. 

I seriously know why I'm doing this profession.  It's so exciting to be able to make a positive change in someone's life, and see them get excited about such a simple thing.  (Well, maybe not so simple for them--but it can get to be that way!)  I love hygiene.  It is the best thing that has ever happened to me.  My. Life. Is. The. Best.