From Scared to Confident in Oral Surgery – A Young Dentist’s Journey – IC049

Hear how Aidan went from anxious about exodontia to now feeling confident and enjoying his oral surgery list. https://youtu.be/cYl6zYMsRY8 Watch IC049 on Youtube We cover the themes of career progression, overcoming procedural fears and decision making early in our careers. At the end, Aidan shares a clever way to deliver saline when washing out sockets! Need to Read it? Check out the Full Episode Transcript below! Highlights of this Episode:00:00  Intro 01:47 Imposter Syndrome02:45 Aiden’s Story05:16 Daunting Experiences with Stubborn Canine06:48 How Aiden would approach things now07:33 Dental Pearl - 6 second rule09:56 What happened during COVID?18:08 After the Ipswich post, what happened?25:04 Aiden’s advice for young dentists 29:53 Lesson about photography35:13 Whole tooth extraction vs. sectioning?36:26 Sectioning School39:31 Outro Sterile Saline Pods Check out Sectioning School and the entire collection of masterclasses for just $450 Check out the First Video of Sectioning School for Free: https://youtu.be/mgVXGN_uiyg Case 1 of Sectioning School Occlusion Online Summer Sale - £100 OFF Expires 3rd June Click below for full episode transcript: Jaz's Introduction: Naturally when we qualify as dentists, we're not the most confident in a lot of procedures, especially oral surgery. It's a common theme, and obviously it depends on where you qualified from and how much surgical experience you had, but a common theme is being scared of extractions. Like, I've definitely been through it, I've talked about it a lot in terms of the power of sectioning teeth. [Jaz]But today I speak to a young dentist, Aidan, who went from being scared to now being really confident. And he's still a young dentist, about five years out, and he's found himself in an environment where maybe 50 percent of his diary is extractions. And this is what he wanted. This is what he designed. So listen to this interference cast today to explore Aidan's journey. There's a few little exodontia tips thrown in there and a really cool tip right at the end about how to actually get saline into your socket a really clever way, which I didn't know about, and I think is going to blow your mind. So if you want to hear that tip, you have to go all the way to the end. Hello, Protruserati, I'm Jaz Gulati, and welcome back to an interference cast. This is kind of like the non clinical arm of the podcast, although this is probably one of the most clinical ones that we've done. This one doesn't have premium notes. It doesn't have CPD, but this is a really warm episode when it comes to being inspired about someone's journey and the steps they take and learning about how someone came to a decision. Like I love something that Aidan says that he recognizes that he's not the best at multitasking and he really enjoys the idea of having focus and oral surgery ended up becoming a focus of his and this young dentist is now pursuing an implant masters and how one thing leads to another. So this is a really cool journey to unpack. So I hope you enjoy it. And if you gain something from this episode, don't forget to hit that like button. If you're watching on YouTube, if you're listening on Spotify or Apple, thanks so much for always coming back, really appreciate it. Do make sure you are subscribed so you don't miss an episode. It also helps Protrusive to grow. So I'd really appreciate that. Now let's join the main episode. [Aidan]I feel a bit like an imposter today. I feel like I've not really, I've just done what I've loved and enjoyed, and I've not really felt there's anything particularly that's special about it. [Jaz]I disagree completely. Aidan, I think everyone's got a unique story and you're going to be amazed about how many young dentists will just get some ideas. So, I mean, let's just say we've kicked off . Aidan? Yes. Welcome to the Protrusive Dental Podcast, my friend. How are you? [Aidan]Thanks, Jaz. Yeah, not too bad. Not too bad, how are you? [Jaz]Yes, great. And we just established that on Fridays, I do a bit of TMD work in a London clinic, but on this Friday, I'm admin, I'm protrusive, I'm writing to patients, I'm sorting out bits and bobs, and you are always non clinical on a Friday, is that right? [Aidan]At the moment, yes. Yeah, I've just started, or I've just signed up for this implant masters in September, so I took this Friday off just to allow me to do a pre work before that starts, because the clinical days for that are going to be probably Saturday, clinical day, I think, and then Friday is a sort of work day. [Jaz]Okay, well, let's unpack your story. I want to discuss your story and how you niched into it and how you, how you are where you are, early on in your journey. So, tell us, where should we begin, Aidan? [Aidan]So, I went to university in Linfield, graduated 2019, so I'm fairly new to dentistry not being not be graduated that long as a lot of people that didn't graduate with a huge amount of experience in oral surgery. That's quite nervous going into it. And then went for an- [Jaz]Let's just unpack that a second. Do you have a number? Like, how many teeth you would have extracted during dental school? Just nice to think about these things. [Aidan]I don't have the exact number. I would have thought that the total number would have been about 40. [Jaz]How about surgicals? [Aidan]Oh, I think maybe one or two. And the question is that is, how much of that was me assisting? How much of that was me being the actual main lead in that case? I couldn't answer that question. It would be, count them on hand. I think how many surgicals I've watched when I left university. [Jaz]Let's remember that as the discussion develops and how you actually niche into it. Let's just remember that at dental school, depending on where you are in the world, but a lot of the UK dental schools, we don't get enough exposure, especially to the surgical element of it, raising flaps, sectioning teeth. Oh my goodness. You know how much I bang on about sectioning teeth, right? And it's something that I wish I learned earlier and earlier and earlier. It would have saved a lot of blushes in the clinic. And I'm sure we'll talk about that as well. So, okay, fine. You qualified 2019 and I mean, obviously COVID around the corner. I'm sure you're going to get to that. [Aidan]That was the thing. Yeah. So just about six months of dentistry. It was the first six months of FDs. So, when you're just getting warmed up, I mean, just to start to feel comfortable. Yeah. About that. I mean, just as you start to feel comfortable, it was locked out. And they were doing absolutely nothing for about six months time and massively. I mean, I remember doing my first one, but I think it was the last day before lockdown. I took out this upper canine tooth, the last extraction of my foundation unit. And it was the most nerve wracking thing because the nurse had called in sick and it was my educational supervisor. There was no sleep for that day. And talk about performance anxiety, it was just an upper canine, which you don't think anything of now. But back at the time, all I remember was feeling really uncomfortable. [Jaz]I think having someone, I mean, they're very brilliant learning experiences. When you have someone over the shoulder watching you and critiquing every little step you do, it is daunting, but it is, when I've ever had it, the most powerful learning experience you could have. So I mean, even with that upper canine, did you get any feedback? Did you get any observation? Or was it just all very boring and smooth in the end? [Aidan]No, it wasn't boring and smooth in the end. I was really struggling to get this tooth out. And luckily, my educational supervisor really got on really well with her, couldn't falter at all. Would never say anything in front of a patient at all, it was all afterwards. But I just really struggled. It was quite warm and then there's no palatal surface to grip onto. And I just remember thinking that, I'm not going to be able to do this. And it would get hot under the car and then managed to get out probably after about an hour or so. [Jaz]Wow. [Aidan]Yeah. pretty- [Jaz]By yourself or did you do ES after to jump in? [Aidan]Do you know what? I think it was by myself, but perhaps the point when I was just using WhatsApp just probably for about half an hour and the thing was, yeah, it was pretty, pretty stubborn. You know, it's a single upper canine. [Jaz]They can be tough. I've been humbled by, yeah, there's these patchy areas of ankylosis as Dr. Kwok explained to me when I was at Guy's Hospital. When there's little areas, the whole tooth isn't, the whole root isn't ankylosed, but there's often these patchy areas of ankylosis and that can make your extraction very difficult. I've had a consultant at Guy's, me, I was struggling with this canine, then the other SHO came, then the registrar came, then the consultant came and the end, he ended up having to remove this upper left canine, which is otherwise completely bog standard by drilling out the entire route. So my friend, we are not alone. I'm sure every dentist has a canine story. [Aidan]Yeah, definitely. Definitely. I think some of the buccal plate came up with it and that was that. [Jaz]And then that's where it was enclosed. [Aidan]Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it was six months. [Jaz]What would you have done differently now? I know we're jumping the gun a bit, but obviously we'll, we'll talk about how much you enjoy oral surgery now, but just think about the visualize that extraction, what would you have done differently now? How would you approach it differently? Do you think it would have still taken an hour? What lessons could you pass on when it comes to an extraction that you're struggling with? [Aidan]Would I have done anything different?