I think it’s been a much anticipated milestone that we’ve all finally reached, seeing our first patients! Personally, this evoked mixed emotions, a combination of nervousness and excitement but also a sense of readiness, I tried to tell myself that all we’ve learnt last year and the first part of this year was to prepare us to provide the very care for our patients that we’re about to give. I chose oral health therapy in the hopes of  working very closely with paediatric patients, there’s just something special about being part of a child’s first dental experience and having the opportunity to shape the way they see the dental ‘world’. I had prepared for the worst but hoped for the best for my first patient appointment (paediatric patient). I brought in soft plush puppets such as Cookie Monster who I had hoped to use as a prop to explain what can happen if you eat too many cookies (you’d be left with no teeth just like Cookie Monster). However, I was told it may be an infection control issue in the COVID-19 times so had to pack him away. I was able to use some of my other props I came ready with, such as kiddy watches and rings, scented stickers and toys. These came in great use as a distraction while I was taking bitewings for her. I felt a sense of pride being able to obtain two bitewings from her as during her last appointment, she wasn’t very compliant. Upon reading the notes from the last clinician, it said the patient likes to kick her legs up in the air over her head. I thought this may have been a habit she’d have grown out of a year later. Though… it definitely wasn’t. I was checking her 5’s and I see her legs start swinging towards my head and she did the same thing to my demonstrator, a game the patient seemed to find quite funny! Definitely something we hadn’t prepared for! Overall, this was a memorable experience seeing my first patient and not one I will be forgetting