Your hands were shaking. Your mind was racing. The clock was ticking faster than you could scale. And you were wondering, How am I going to get all of this done in one hour?
Do you remember your very first days as a dental hygienist? That mix of excitement and fear? After years in school, where you spent 12 hours with one patient, the “real world” hit like a tidal wave and suddenly you had just one hour to do it all.
Scaling, polishing, charting, X-rays, periodontal measurements, oral hygiene instruction, sterilization, treatment notes… all while building trust and rapport with your patient. And let’s not forget navigating unfamiliar software, learning the office flow, and remembering every single protocol without an instructor peering over your right shoulder to guide you.
Those first weeks (or months!) could feel overwhelming. You were expected to work quickly, yet thoroughly, to meet both clinical standards and patient expectations. Every beep from the sterilizer or question from a patient could make your heart race. You wanted to do it all perfectly, but it took time to find your rhythm.
And yet somehow, you survived. You learned to juggle the tasks, manage the time, and adapt to each unique patient. Your confidence grew. The nervousness faded.
That’s why it’s so important to remember: every new grad is living that same whirlwind right now. Let’s be the mentors, not the critics. Because no matter how experienced we are now, we all started in their shoes.
