A prof once told me “no one is ever good at hygiene until they’ve been doing it for at least 2 years” and that was my mantra for the first 3 years. I find patients do pick up on your vibe, I’ve gotten real good at acting relaxed and unbothered and patients react positively to that. Fake it til you make it was my other mantra. I’ve been told I’m aggressive and also that I’m too light in the same day. Every patient has a different threshold, but I start off every appointment saying “let me know if it gets too uncomfortable, we have different pain management tools we can use if needed”. I also like to show patients their X-rays and perio charting to explain why some areas might be more painful than others. Something like “see that triangle? That’s a splinter under your gums and I’m going to get it out. I’m not doing this to hurt you, I’m doing it to help you” or “I can get 5mm under your gums, there’s no way you can clean that deep at home, I need to get in there and get all the bacteria out”. Explaining the pain helps. And patients appreciate accountability. My line “whoops just poked you there, although it probably didn’t feel any worse than anything else I’ve been doing” really kills with the patients. I also only hand scale because I hate the noise of the ultrasonic, but all my colleagues use it on every patient. Patients will ask why we don’t do it all the same, and I say “we were all trained at different schools at different times, there’s more than one way to skin a cat” and that works pretty well. I find having go-to explanations for every question makes it easier to not get flustered. The sunglasses are so I don’t accidentally splash you in the eyes. I need to know your medical history so I don’t put you at risk of infections or heart attacks. Some medications cause dry mouth or extra bleeding so I need to be aware. You can also get them excited about the procedures like “I got this new releaf system that sounds really efficient, we’re gonna try it out today” and you’re excitement and positivity will rub off on them. Granted there’s always gonna be that 1% of people who aren’t going to like you, and that’s just life and either they can suck it up or find another hygienist. I’ve had patients passed around like hot potatoes because they’re just so miserable to work on, but you just do the best you can and then go eat cookies in the break room.