Temps and Tans

let me warn ya. this is a long post.

You guys! My day has been a bad one.

So as a dental assistant one of my duties is to make temporary crowns or "temps". It can actually be pretty fun. Most assistants like and look forward to making temps. Except me. I have the worst luck with temps. My temps always end up in disaster. I avoid making them at all costs. Today it could not be avoided.

I won't go into detail about the actual process, it would bore you who don't know what I am talking about and it's hard to describe. Basically as an assistant I need to be quick, efficient, and thorough when making a temp. It is not hard to make a good temp quickly. My temps always break, crack, or are too high, and/or they don't fit right. Making a temp is something the dental assistant is expected to do without help of anyone else, especially the dentist. But I always am asking for help. It's the worst and embarrassing for me.


As you can tell, I've had bad luck with them in the past and today proved to be no different. The patient I was working on was in an a hurry (you can see how this would add stress) and she was not the nicest most understanding patient either. I attempted twice to make a good temp. Both failed. Finally I grabbed another assistant to come do it for me. My doctor saw that I did this, he knows I don't like making temps.

Next thing I know, after my patient left, the front desk lady (who was my dental assisting teacher) very nicely (surprisingly) asks me if I need to review how to make temporaries. It was apparent the doctor had complained about my incompetency.

So I talked with her and told her that I know all the tricks to making a good temporary, and that I think I have just had a stream of bad luck. Every mouth is different so making every temp is different. She understood completely.

A few minutes later...

my doctor comes up to me as I am cleaning my room, he wants to talk to me about my temporaries. So we talked and he asked me what I thought I was doing wrong. He gave me some good pointers and things I can improve on. He was nice about it.

Ruined my day (not the doctor). Just the whole situation. I'm mad at myself for my lack of confidence and skill. The thing is, I've been a dental assistant for 7 months now, I know what it takes to make a good temp. I've done it several times before. Just lately I've struggled.

And isn't it the worst to listen to someone critique you? I hate that feeling.

So I kinda want to go tanning tonight to make up for my bad day. Tanning makes everything better.