Thivane Sakthikrishnan, University of Birmingham

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Starting the clinical side of dentistry can be a daunting experience; you may not know what to expect and find it difficult to apply theory to clinics. Frantically scaling away at a phantom head whilst holding back my tears will undoubtedly be my most memorable clinical experience. Getting to grips with the practical side challenged me the most, but I've found ways to deal with this and created a short guide based on my experience to help.

Stop stressing too much

I know - it's much easier said than done, but we must stop excessively stressing to perform better. The Yerkes-Dodson law highlighting how inordinate stress (i.e. arousal) levels can impair performance.

Although this law has some limitations, more recent statistically significant evidence from a cross-sectional descriptive study shows that stress impairs clinical performance by decreasing concentration and problem-solving activities.1 Furthermore, simulation studies demonstrate that stress can debilitate psychomotor activities.2,3

Don't negatively compare yourself to others

Why couldn't I work as effortlessly, quickly, or even neatly? I find these thoughts stress-inducing, so you may find them triggering too. To combat them, I tell myself that everyone works at their own pace and that I'll reach my desired level of mastery if I consistently put in the effort to progress. I also remind myself of my clinical strengths, e.g. communication, and celebrate small achievements, such as improving my scaling technique.

Be optimistic

My other root of stress was attending my sessions with pessimism. If you expect a situation to have a bad outcome, you will perceive it as more stressful, making it harder to overcome. For example, I used to find it challenging to follow instructions during demonstrations as my higher stress levels would degrade my ability to learn and concentrate. However, after adopting a positive mindset, I found it easier to push through clinical sessions.

Create anecdotes

I think of any clinical mishaps I have as anecdotes I can share in the future. The good thing about this is it makes my mistakes memorable, so I'll avoid making them in the future without feeling bad about myself. For example, I forgot to spray adhesive on my custom tray and surfactant on my phantom head before taking master impressions. The result: a strength test ending up with me snapping the handle off my tray. Yes, it went wrong, but at least I'll avoid making this mistake again, thus improving my clinical performance.

Note feedback

Ask your clinical tutor for feedback and advice, and then note these after clinical sessions. Writing more notes on top of our already busy schedules may be tiresome, but it is beneficial as it gives you a better idea of what to do next time. In addition, if you learn better theoretically, knowing the reason behind specific steps helps a lot when remembering them.