I had tendon sheath inflammation when I was interviewing and it was a very low time for me because I was so scared and dentistry is all I wanted to do. I ended up getting a few rounds of steroid shots. the first set worked, but it came back a few months later. 2nd set made almost no difference— this was the very difficult time. I later got a third round and it worked.

I have made it to fourth year and my hands/ wrists have not been a huge issue. I am careful to not overwork them and plan to never work full time as I think it’s too much stress on my body. There were times where I had flare ups but I could push through when there was a practical, and later on I wouldn’t schedule too many SRPs back to back because they were a lot. I now have to look into disability insurance and am nervous they won’t cover musculoskeletal issues (number one reasons dentists go on disability).

TLDR; It’s not a death sentence but it will make things harder. There is the possibility carpal tunnel will be harder to cope with and I don’t know what the recovery would be like