r/DentalHygiene•
2thpker

What do you do if a patient refuses the ultrasonic?

For RDH by RDH

I have a patient that won't let me use an ultrasonic scaler. He has had a cavitron used on him before and said it "gives him the willies". He has poor home care and 4-5 mm pocketing generalized. He had a deep cleaning 10+ years ago and has been on a 3 month recall. He has a lot of crowns and bridges and had a 6mm pocket yesterday. I've seen him 3 times now and did what I could with my hand instruments. He has that awful in-between build up. Not soft plaque that can be polished off and not fully calcified calculus that pops off. It is tedious to clean. I told him yesterday that he needed another deep cleaning and that I would have to use the ultrasonic. He said he's not sure he will do it. His wife ended up scheduling him so I can at least get the SRP done with the ultrasonic. But I'm anticipating him refusing again once he's on perio maintenance. What do you do with patients like this?

Posted Apr 10, 2026, 12:49 AM UTC

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