When I saw Tammy on the schedule, my body tensed up. My mind, driven by past experiences with her, began to prepare itself for another battle. A battle I expected to lose once again.
Tammy was tough to work on
Tammy is one of my favorite patients, but she has always been a struggle to work on. On paper, she looks like an easy “cleaning” for many reasons.
- She likes getting her teeth cleaned, which always helps.
- She only has anterior teeth and a few premolars.
- She comes in every six months.
So how bad could it be?
Tammy’s tongue was out of control
Well…pretty bad. Her home-care is not good and she builds up a lot of calculus, but neither of those is the major factor here.
The major factor with Tammy is this. Her tongue is crazy strong and completely out of control! I would say it’s one of the worst I’ve seen during my 13-year dental hygiene career.
Tammy’s tongue had a mind of its own
When I first started seeing Tammy, I would often ask her to relax her tongue and she would always happily agree. But unfortunately, it never worked.
I don’t think she was even consciously aware that her tongue was waging war against me and my instruments!
I tried everything, but nothing worked
I’ve tried everything to tame Tammy’s tongue. HVE tips, wide HVE tips, soft saliva ejectors, full isolation systems, and many others, but none of them really stood a chance. Tammy’s mighty tongue would just push them around like a rag doll and eject them at will.
After so many lost battles, I eventually came to the conclusion that nothing could beat Tammy’s tongue until…
A high quality HVE suction mirror came into my life
I discovered the HVE suction mirror! This thing provided great leverage, high volume suction and indirect vision all at the same time.
I found myself ultrasonic scaling the lingual surfaces of her lower anterior teeth with clear vision. I watched the water, saliva, calculus, and plaque flow into the evacuation ports of the suction mirror. It was a thing of beauty.
I wrapped the suction mirror around Tammy’s second premolars and scaled every spec of calculus off the distal surfaces without compromise.
It’s a satisfaction only my fellow hygienists can appreciate.
Tammy’s tongue didn’t see it coming
Tammy’s tongue was demoralized and defeated by the HVE suction mirror. At that point, the white flag was raised and the war was over.
The high quality HVE suction mirror in this situation was a complete game changer.
But not all suction mirrors are created equal
There are numerous suction mirrors on the market, but there are only two I would actually recommend, and Ascentcare’s VacuVUE Dental Mirror is absolutely one of them.
Ascentcare’s VacuVUE HVE Dental Mirror is the latest high quality HVE suction mirror on the market. Some of the features include:
- Numerous dual-sided evacuation ports
- PureHD mirror technology (better vision, more scratch resistant)
- Engineered to reduce aerosols
- Ergonomic handle
- 360 degree rotation
- Constructed with aerospace-grade aluminum for longevity
Every hygienist needs at least one high quality HVE suction mirror in their toolbox
Tammy’s tongue won many battles over the years, but in the end, I won the war. And so can you.
Order a VacuVUE Dental Mirror from Ascentcare today and see the difference. Don’t let strong tongues ruin your day! The solution you’ve been looking for is here.
Mark Frias, RDH
Taunton, MA