RDH in Crisis of Consciousness!
Hello and sorry for the long post but... I’m a dental hygienist and I’m doing soul searching; I need your help... A touch of background: I graduated in the Midwest and am now working in California. Due to licensing not being portable for my move, I’ve taken AND PASSED my boards twice in two different regions. I’ve been an RDH for 10 years now and I’ve been with PDS since I graduated.
I have generalized anxiety and am always questioning the quality of my work.
I’m always reading about efficacy of using the diode laser, about irrigation with chlorhexidine, about salivary diagnostics, about Arestin. (I’ve come to believe hygiene in a corporate setting leans a lot on science that is not black and white, not settled per se, but is “grey” and could be effective. But that’s another thing to unpack)
What I really want to make sure of is that, at minimum, I’m serving my patients properly during their SRP appointments.
I see all kinds of questions from patients, online, asking about how long their SRP treatment should take. The general consensus seems to be that it should take between 1-2 hours per half-mouth.
Let me be level with you all. I do Cetecaine/gingicaine, ultrasonic instrumentation, manual instrumentation, polish/floss, laser, irrigation, fluoride, and sometimes Arestin in an hour for the whole mouth.
I ultrasonic until I cannot see nor feel the buildup I see radiographically or clinically and then I hand instrument until I cannot feel roughness or catches other than anatomy or restorative work.
I need to know. Am I a bad hygienist?
HOW could I possibly be a good hygienist if my work goes so quickly for 80% of my SRP patients? It would take generalized 6mm and deeper probe depths with heavy Supra/sub calc for me to request 2 and very rarely 4 appointments to complete SRP.
Am I failing in this basic, critical, duty? All help is welcome, especially if I need a harsh dose of reality…