I had a chance to see a male pt in RDHM period clinic. Pt was a heavy smoker and has not had a dental check for several years. Performed a COE and still had bit of time so proceeded to do S5 clean. It was pretty satisfying after as his S5 lingual was a patch of black before the debridement. I wish I have the photo to show but nonetheless, it was strangely satisfying to see all the dark tenacious cal. being removed! Guess that’s one of the little joy for our profession:)
Removing chunks of calc is always soooo statisfying haha. Were you able to show the pt with the mirror the amount of calc he had and telling him the changes in gingival appearence because of this calc formation. I think this is a good way to engage a pt and this way they are able to recognise it too and maybe will motivate them to start brushing and to specficaly brush those areas really well.
Yeh i showed him in the mirror and he could feel the diff with his tongue too! Fingers crossed he shows some improvement the next time i see him again!