A much needed easy day

This morning I saw a recall class V patient. Her tissues have responded really well to periodontal maintenance and she has good home care. Also, her probe depths and bleeding sites have really improved, except there are still two sites where there is a 10mm pocket and 7mm pocket. I placed arrestin in those two areas. Instructor Wold gave me a good tip for placing arrestin. She recommended I use the probe first to visualize the best angle to go into the pocket and then go in with the arrestin syringe the same way I went in with the probe. It was rewarding to see a patient I had seen earlier in the program and to see the improvement at her recall appointment. It proves to me how important patient compliance and home care is in non-surgical periodontal therapy. For my afternoon patient, I saw an older gentleman who had 4 mandibular teeth and had lost the rest of his teeth because of periodontal disease. I think he must have been pretty lonely because he talked the entire appointment. He had not been into the clinic for a cleaning in about 4 years so I discussed with him the importance of a frequent recall for the maintenance of perio and keeping his remaining teeth. I was given one quad of a class V for him. I also was able to get some conventional PA's and my Velscope PE. Overall, it was a good day which was much needed after this very stressful Spring Break. My goal for the rest of the program is to really pick up on my speed and watch the clock so that I am aware of the areas that I can save time.