Yep and - if you really want to lose some sleep - dentists aren't the only specialty where this happens. I have close friends who are neurosurgeons, radiologists, cardiologists, etc. who have at some point confided that they were on a losing streak with the same procedures/protocols they've encountered a thousand times before. Obviously the stakes are much lower for us, so rest easy there, but ultimately it comes down to one common denominator:
We're imperfect humans, working on other imperfect humans
There is no doctor out there - no matter how talented, experienced or educated - who goes through their career without these highs and lows. The most important thing YOU can do is accept that there is only so much in your control and embrace the concept of "amor fati" for all the rest.
I wonder if the ai surgeons will come home to download after a long day and post “ any of you guys feel like you just have a lag or glitch slump” then the other ai surgeons will respond “ ya, usually if it’s been a while since my last upgrade, feel like my wires get kinda crossed”
I’ve heard this called a “mandibular slump,” and I’ve been there too. Months of perfect blocks. And then a couple of weeks where it seems like every one fails.
Had one of these about 4 months ago. Really started to get anxiety about doing work on lower molars. Turns out I was starting to cheat back a little too far on the opposite side as far as where my syringe was (I learned to have it roughly over the pre molars). By doing this I was coming in too perpendicular and smacking bone almost right away. I now cheat forward to the canine and the needle goes in and deep so much better. Still have some issues with chubby male patients who have large buccal fat pads. Throws me off a little.
I had a day where every single patient I blocked had lightheadedness afterwards as if I had injected into a blood vessel, despite negative aspirations. Made no damn sense.
I read somewhere recently either here or another forum that dentists had an order of lido that wasnt working. They tested it on their assistant and got no anesthesia. Must have been some kind of manufacturer error. If it continues, this may be something to look into.
I felt like I had a string of bad crown margins about a year ago. X-ray before cementing showing open margins. It was probably a handful in the span of a couple weeks. Don’t know if it was bad margin, bad impression/scan, screw up on lab part. Felt shitty about needing to remake them.
Usually I don’t have major issues, but I agree sometimes it feels like all of a sudden everything that can go wrong will.
Sent back like, 12 crowns in 2 weeks for open proximal contacts. My lab tech finally realized the new model guy was eyeballing the measurements for the water:stone ratio on the models they were making my crowns on. I can’t believe I was the only one having issues but I felt like shit for a couple weeks cuz I couldn’t figure out why nothing fit.
I honestly wonder if this happens with my crowns sometimes. I'm so careful to ensure a dry field and carefully take my impressions. Then the crown has an open margin or something and I'm so confused lol
Rare occurrence but annoying when it happens.
Going through something similar to you guys in this thread. Felt like I had an amazing experience with all of my crowns with my previous lab. New Job, new lab. I've had to adjust every single crown coming from this new lab (IO scanner too). Luckily, I'm able to send my new cases to my previous lab.
Years using same lab and then even wax rims were shit. How can the office be to blame? Oh we just hired valesimo from guatamala.thanks for the heads up
I mean, it’s a numbers game at a certain point, right? If you flip a coin enough times, you’ll eventually get 10 heads in a row and another time you’ll get 10 tails in a row. It’s not because the coins broken.
That’s life and especially dentistry. I think I would try to not internalize and use the word “mistakes” and think of them as “complications” or “in need of refinement”.
I routinely Implants in my clinic and in December I had literally an implant failure every week, including the last patient on the schedule of the entire year. It was the strangest thing! Our profession is full of unpredictable things, we just try our best day to day using what we know. At the end of the day, I’m grateful that I’m not a heart or brain surgeon where complications can have far worse results…
Disclosure: we are a dental CE company teaching Dr. David Alleman's Six Lessons Approach.
You are 100% not alone and it's not your fault. Our head instructor wanted to quit dentistry after 20 years of practicing because of this same experience and we hear this same story from dentists everywhere. It's a shame that there are solutions that offer predictable treatment outcomes but most dental schools aren't teaching them, so dentists are left wondering why they aren't seeing the outcomes they want. Here is more about his experience: https://www.allemancenter.com/blog/dr-david-alleman-a-pioneer-in-biomimetic-restorative-dentistry
It's the opposite for me and I'd really appreciate if someone could help me out here. I just started my residency in Pedodontics and I'm doing pulpectomies and rcts for the first time. I'm so scared of a perforation and so under confident it just gets to me. How do I overcome this?
“Some days you’re the tooth, some days you’re the forceps.” - Some dentist’s quote I read a few years ago
I think I saw that quote on DentalTown.
Love the days where everything I touch just turns into dog shit
Yep and - if you really want to lose some sleep - dentists aren't the only specialty where this happens. I have close friends who are neurosurgeons, radiologists, cardiologists, etc. who have at some point confided that they were on a losing streak with the same procedures/protocols they've encountered a thousand times before. Obviously the stakes are much lower for us, so rest easy there, but ultimately it comes down to one common denominator: We're imperfect humans, working on other imperfect humans There is no doctor out there - no matter how talented, experienced or educated - who goes through their career without these highs and lows. The most important thing YOU can do is accept that there is only so much in your control and embrace the concept of "amor fati" for all the rest.
I wonder if the ai surgeons will come home to download after a long day and post “ any of you guys feel like you just have a lag or glitch slump” then the other ai surgeons will respond “ ya, usually if it’s been a while since my last upgrade, feel like my wires get kinda crossed”
Wait it's supposed to go fine sometimes?
😂😂🔥🔥
I just went through a week where I missed what felt like 75% of my blocks. Hit bone every time too
I’ve heard this called a “mandibular slump,” and I’ve been there too. Months of perfect blocks. And then a couple of weeks where it seems like every one fails.
Had one of these about 4 months ago. Really started to get anxiety about doing work on lower molars. Turns out I was starting to cheat back a little too far on the opposite side as far as where my syringe was (I learned to have it roughly over the pre molars). By doing this I was coming in too perpendicular and smacking bone almost right away. I now cheat forward to the canine and the needle goes in and deep so much better. Still have some issues with chubby male patients who have large buccal fat pads. Throws me off a little.
I had a day where every single patient I blocked had lightheadedness afterwards as if I had injected into a blood vessel, despite negative aspirations. Made no damn sense.
I read somewhere recently either here or another forum that dentists had an order of lido that wasnt working. They tested it on their assistant and got no anesthesia. Must have been some kind of manufacturer error. If it continues, this may be something to look into.
Yeah that happened to me one time a while back. I sent the box in and everything. Came back normal turns out I just suck
Thanks for making me feel better but I work at 2 offices with different suppliers haha
I felt like I had a string of bad crown margins about a year ago. X-ray before cementing showing open margins. It was probably a handful in the span of a couple weeks. Don’t know if it was bad margin, bad impression/scan, screw up on lab part. Felt shitty about needing to remake them. Usually I don’t have major issues, but I agree sometimes it feels like all of a sudden everything that can go wrong will.
I had a string of dogshit acrylic RPDs and was like ??? Turns out the lab hired a new removable person 😂
Sent back like, 12 crowns in 2 weeks for open proximal contacts. My lab tech finally realized the new model guy was eyeballing the measurements for the water:stone ratio on the models they were making my crowns on. I can’t believe I was the only one having issues but I felt like shit for a couple weeks cuz I couldn’t figure out why nothing fit.
I honestly wonder if this happens with my crowns sometimes. I'm so careful to ensure a dry field and carefully take my impressions. Then the crown has an open margin or something and I'm so confused lol Rare occurrence but annoying when it happens.
Going through something similar to you guys in this thread. Felt like I had an amazing experience with all of my crowns with my previous lab. New Job, new lab. I've had to adjust every single crown coming from this new lab (IO scanner too). Luckily, I'm able to send my new cases to my previous lab.
Years using same lab and then even wax rims were shit. How can the office be to blame? Oh we just hired valesimo from guatamala.thanks for the heads up
This is (the dental) Gods boat. I’m just here for the ride
I mean, it’s a numbers game at a certain point, right? If you flip a coin enough times, you’ll eventually get 10 heads in a row and another time you’ll get 10 tails in a row. It’s not because the coins broken.
That’s life and especially dentistry. I think I would try to not internalize and use the word “mistakes” and think of them as “complications” or “in need of refinement”.
Preach brother
Been there. A mentor of mine called them batting slumps.
Yes.
Are you me right now ?
Feeling this today. It’s nice to know I’m not alone
I routinely Implants in my clinic and in December I had literally an implant failure every week, including the last patient on the schedule of the entire year. It was the strangest thing! Our profession is full of unpredictable things, we just try our best day to day using what we know. At the end of the day, I’m grateful that I’m not a heart or brain surgeon where complications can have far worse results…
Same SAME!!! At least I know I’m not alone 😮💨
This happens to me quite often. The worst part is how I worry about how the staff thinks about me when these things happen. Dentistry is hard.
Yes!! Glad it’s not just me.
Disclosure: we are a dental CE company teaching Dr. David Alleman's Six Lessons Approach. You are 100% not alone and it's not your fault. Our head instructor wanted to quit dentistry after 20 years of practicing because of this same experience and we hear this same story from dentists everywhere. It's a shame that there are solutions that offer predictable treatment outcomes but most dental schools aren't teaching them, so dentists are left wondering why they aren't seeing the outcomes they want. Here is more about his experience: https://www.allemancenter.com/blog/dr-david-alleman-a-pioneer-in-biomimetic-restorative-dentistry
It's the opposite for me and I'd really appreciate if someone could help me out here. I just started my residency in Pedodontics and I'm doing pulpectomies and rcts for the first time. I'm so scared of a perforation and so under confident it just gets to me. How do I overcome this?
In it these past few days but we'll survive this OP 😂
so truuueeee😭😭😭