Calculus
I was scheduled to complete debridement on a client, but at the last minute they informed me that they couldn’t make it to the appointment, so instead I did paper work and helped my classmates chart. About half an hour later a woman approached me and was inquiring about orthodontic treatment for her daughter. We spoke for approximately fifteen minutes and she began asking me questions pertaining to herself, in particular about her halitosis. She informed me that she is a smoker, but is trying to quit. She also stated something that I thought was very out of the ordinary; she said that her bottom teeth were “growing” in the back surfaces (linguals of sextant 5). She also stated that she thought the growth might have been due to the medication she was taking for seizures (Dilantin). She told me that she hadn’t seen a dental hygienist or a dentist in over ten years.
I spent the next thirty to forty minutes educating my client about calculus, and bacteria of the oral cavity. I also explained that her medication is causing inflammation of her gingiva (in lay terms of course), not that it was causing her teeth to “grow”. She was hesitant at first to let me take a look in her mouth, but after I built a bit of rapport she agreed. There definitely was a tenacious wall of calculus in sextant 5 that I emphasised needed to be removed. The reason the knowledge that I provided to this particular client is so important is because I have not seen anyone have such an epiphany, or gain such a new perspective in the entire four years I have been in dental hygiene school. It felt as though she “saw the light” and wanted to drastically change her oral self care habits.