A patient brought it to our attention that maybe his upper denture needed relining. The reason – He stated that he was a “preacher of the Gospel” and that if he was preaching for about 45 minutes he sometimes would cough and they would come loose.
In the back of my mind I am thinking – ahhh – God has his ways of getting a preacher to shut up. Should I interfere with that?
Filed under Day to Day, Dental
That’s how he described it. No kidding. That was the place they sent you to get your dental work done back when he was a kid in school in New Zealand. That’s what all the kids called it.
And he says he can’t remember them ever using local anaesthetic to numb the pain. Figures they were trying to save money since it was a government program.
But then he admitted that he didn’t really know for sure if that was true. The “Murder house” was across the school yard. He had to cross an open field to get there when they sent for him. The open field was a perfect opportunity to escape.
And to think that I admired this program when it was touted as the example of a wonderful public school delivered dental program.
I expect his memory of it is a bit colored by fear. But his story provided us with an occasion to laugh this morning and that was good.
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I guess this is just one of those weeks that seems endless and terribly busy. It’s Wednesday already so half the work week is gone.
Before I know it Christmas will be here and I am in no way ready for that big event. It is a big family event and it is good but for some reason it makes me feel tired this year. I am very glad that Rachelle is coming home for a few weeks. I hope she will help me make some goodies, decorate the tree and help make the tourtiere.
I am on call this week too so maybe that is part of the busyness at work. There have been a lot of emergencies added to our regular schedule. Emergencies are always such an unknown. There is always a certain amount of paperwork so if they are late at all, some of the appointment time is gone. Then I have to figure out what their emergency is. Sometimes it is not an emergency at all but some vague pain in the tooth stimulated their brains to equate any sort of discomfort with toothache and thus to the patient it is an emergency. Therefore, being a diligent dentist with diligent staff, they are fit into the schedule – somewhere.
Add to that a weekend that had no breaks for me, a council meeting last night, trying to meet a deadline that I set for my next quiz in Greek in order to keep up and meet my goal of when I want to complete the course, too many late nights combined with waking up too often in the middle of the night or too early in the morning – and I am becoming so very tired.
Oh, yeah, and I am trying to practice hard at the Christmas carols the orchestra is playing for our local Festival of Trees.
I guess my tiredness is well earned.
Maybe I should just go to bed.
Filed under Christmas, Day to Day, Dental
It seems that I have made the front page of the paper. That’s right. Me and not my usually newsworthy husband.
Prince Albert Daily Herald – front page – Top Story
Not like I am bragging or anything. This is more likely to get me in trouble with the people at my college who might see it as a form of advertising than to cause a rise to fame.
Its a good story about a work that I have been involved with from its start-up here in PA and it tells the story of what we do pretty well. It is a work I love to do.
But when I told the reporter that I do this work because I like children and that I do this because it fits with how I practice and who I am, how on earth did this get translated into a phrase like “affinity” for children? Maybe it is just too big a word for me.
Filed under Day to Day, Dental, In the News
a compressor malfunction at the office. Dentists can’t do much without compressed air these days. So we ran way behind and had some people a bit irritated with us at the end of the day.
Also had some extractions that took waaaaay too long, due to one tooth shattering each time we moved it and other teeth not wanting to get numb. That was tiring. Good patient but tiring work.
Now, I am done. In more ways than one. Have to go home now and start the night job. I have no idea what to cook for supper. I wish I could just eat a sandwich on the couch with my feet up. Wonder if I can convince others that this is a good idea?
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Filed under Day to Day, Dental
Maybe people thought that it was not right to go to a dental appointment and vote on the same day.
I think they might think that.
Otherwise, why am I sitting here waiting for patients that are not showing up?
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Filed under Day to Day, Dental, Reflections
I managed to change the picture on the blog header – with some minor glitches that I actually was able to figure out. Things were looking a little blank earlier. It has been one of those days.
At work we had people lined up it seemed and we were trying to help these guys who have totally neglected themselves. It seems a bit as if they wait till they are desperate till they come in. So we do our best, we decide that somehow in the next fifteen minutes we are going to achieve anesthesia,have the tooth out and the patient on their way, getting the room ready for the next patient. Only sometimes – well – all the great plans fall through and the extraction requires some extra surgery or the patient doesn’t get numb as fast as we hoped. Then all of a sudden we have four more patients lined up and we are a bit behind. At about 4:45, all of a sudden everyone has been cared for and we are shutting down right on schedule, surprised that the afternoon went as well as it did.
Not only was it a busy day at the office but after work I swung by the store to pick up milk and wraps so that I could make supper and leave some food in the cupboards for the boys who will be dropping in over the weekend.
Then home for a quick supper, packing up my bass as I eat and finishing my packing for the weekend. To orchestra practice then up to the bank, to the gas station and car wash. Dropped a book off at the church, returned home, vacuumed out the car and loaded up my stuff into it. Randall drives it out to Calgary and after a meeting tomorrow, I fly out there to participate in a leadership retreat.
I also started something which I hope will be the beginning of a rewarding pursuit. I signed up for Introductory Greek. Distance learning. I may be crazy but it seemed as if for me this was the place to start.
And I realized that this is not going to be a cheap endeavor!
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Filed under Day to Day, Dental, Travels
Since Friday, I have been in Saskatoon for the annual Scientific Session of the College of Dental Surgeons of Saskatchewan. It was quite the gathering this year – being attended by a record number of people. I think almost 800 were registered.
Usually I don’t bother to go. I’m not big on the golfing aspect that usually takes up the half day before the scientific sessions start. And I am not big on the partying that makes up the evening activities. For the past few years the topics covered at the convention have not been of particular interest to me either and since I didn’t need the continuing ed points, I did not see much reason in going.
I am glad I went this year. Dr David Sweet spoke on Thursday. Topic was Forensic Odontology. Sort of a more realistic version of CSI, but for real. I found it fascinating. Today, I listened to a talk on the Swissair disaster and the role of dentistry in the identification of victims. Fascinating again – to me.
I think I am coming to the conclusion that there is not going to be enough length to my span of years to learn everything that I find fascinating.
Now I am back home, going over tomorrow’s talk for church. The sermon. And also reflecting on how good it was to spend overnight with my kids and grandkids in their home where I feel so comfortable.
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Filed under Day to Day, Dental, Travels
You’d think I had advertised a 10% off for Christians day at the office. First 4 patients were definite yeses – if I’d popped the faith question.
Seems as if a lot of young people are heading back to Bible college somewhere and are making sure their mouths are cleaned up!
And from the genuine nice behaviour of some other patients, I think they might have answered yes if the question was popped. And the one young woman that we gave a new smile to yesterday came in really smiling and happy so that was a huge blessing to me.
So far – a great day. Now we will have to see how the young children of Christian parents do late this afternoon. I’m not counting on smiles if they are like my grandchildren. But I can hope. (Of course I would never judge the faith of the parents by the behaviour of the children – should I?) 🙂
Update
The kids belonging to the perfectly wonderful mother were likewise perfectly wondeful. Way to go Luke and Madeline!
Yeah the cranky pastor was not too badly behaved either.
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Filed under Dental
After work most of our staff headed up to one of the local pubs for wings and drinks. Now, I usually decline. It is not easy to just up and leave a starving family at home while head off to the pub. And sure, they really can look after themselves but there is this huge guilt thing about taking off to a pub after work, let alone leaving my family foodless.
But, tonight we were saying goodbye to the student who has been with us for the last six weeks or so, and he has been good to have around the office. How could I not want to say good bye in style?
I am glad I went. The kids survived and I had a nice glass of wine and some delicious lemon pepper wings.
Now – off on my bike to work those greasy little things off!
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