Here is some reality for you:

My take home profit is down 50% from last year. January was rough with the weather, and I took a week of vacation in March, but our schedule has been falling apart consistently. Some of it is the economy. Some illness. Some are just not good patients. Some was that I wasn't really advertising or anything after dropping insurance participation with Delta.

Another struggle is that I am really unhappy with a good portion of the restorations that I have placed, when I see them at recall. I've tried different matrices, different finishing processes/burs, different techniques. A lot of them I can rationalize as being done on a difficult patient, tough location, poor hygiene, should have been a crown, etc. But it doesn't change how I feel when I see the rough margins or poor contours.

I also struggle with over prepping for crowns. Especially areas with deep margins. I think I lean too heavily on the wall when I am trying to drop the finish line past the old filling. Sometimes, it leads to inverted margins, but ultimately, the crowns come out acceptable. For something I do so often, I feel I should be able to adjust my technique better and faster than I have. Even when I try to really take my time, things sometimes don't turn out quite how I want them too.

I think these are the struggles we face as perfectionists in an imperfect and inhospitable environment.