Back to the future

I started a new job today.

It was quite surreal, as it was at the Practice where I started my career in dentistry 21 years ago (as a trainee dental nurse).

The original partners are still there (they don't work Friday's), but the Practice is now owned by a corporate company (who I already work for on a couple of other days).

The place itself has hardly changed. Although it has had some modernisation, its internal layout is the same.....down to the old Flintstone's clock on the wall!

Today really was just a trial to see if I might be able to build up a list for regular work.
The Practice Manager has really tried her best to promote me, but really it's down to the dentists to do that, since they are the ones treating patients every day.

The difficulty in this is that they are 'old school' and don't see why anyone should have to pay to see me when they can have a quick scale and polish with their check ups.
They've never employed a hygienist before, so don't really know what benefits we can offer patients. Due to this, it's been really hard going trying to sell the service to the masses....I had an hour and a half's work today :-(

It's not a money making scheme (certainly not for me anyway!), it's about taking better care of patients oral health needs. There is overwhelming evidence to support that a quick, 2 minute, dentist done scale and polish is insufficient for most patients, compared to the 20-30 minute hygienist visit.

I've got a meeting with the manager again on Tuesday to feedback on today's session and try and think of a way we can get the team on board.

I think we might have our work cut out!