CALCULUS B.R.I.D.G.E...!

This afternoon I saw a CL III pt. with a calculus bridge on her mand. ant. linguals. I decided to tackle it with my triple bend ultrasonic tip first. I was having a little bit of trouble making progress at initially. I felt like I was going to be scaling JUST the lower linguals for the whole appointment at the rate the calculus was coming off! BUT, then I learned a GREAT trick. Well, maybe it's not a trick, maybe it's common sense - but today is the day I learned this wonderful lesson. I learned to use LATERAL PRESSURE when instrumenting with my ultrasonic. I know this may sound like a basic concept, but when I have used my ultrasonic in the past, I haven't had to use much lateral pressure to get the calculus off. However, with the amount/tenacity of the calculus I was dealing with today, it was basically IMPOSSIBLE to remove without using lateral pressure. As soon as I used some lateral pressure, the calculus starting breaking right off... coolest. thing. ever. Today I also focused on using more of an exploratory stroke with my ultrasonic to feel the calculus before activating it. This was very beneficial in helping me both detect/remove calculus effectively instead of just "going through the motions." I also noticed I was able to use my time more effectively by using an exploratory stroke before engaging my ultrasonic/hand instrument. I think sometimes I forget to actually detect the calculus BEFORE I use a working stroke - I'm just so excited to scale! :) However, as I have tried to focus more on this important aspect of instrumentation, I feel like my time management as well as my calculus detection/removal skills improved.