Category Archives: Dental

Not an ideal way to work up an appetite – have a crying 7 year old puke in your hand just before lunch.

I think motherhood has made me immune to the effects of such events but I almost lost my assistant.  We decided to try again another day.  Maybe sedation will calm him a bit.

Sure hope so.

I spent my day in the OR. Three long cases. It is good to get these big cases done but it is a long and tiring way to do dentistry. In my opinion.

It is understandable to need to do very small children this way. We sometimes don’t have a lot of sympathy for the parents who in many cases have neglected their child’s health. It is easier not to brush a toddler’ s teeth than to struggle with them to get it done. It is easier to give the child candy or juice than to say no and have to deal with a tantrum. But it leads to a child that suffers in the long run.
It is harder to have to do a teenage child this way. It is hard to be patient with a child this age who is terrified. It has to be harder to be the parent of a child acting out when they should be a beautiful teen with a beautiful smile.

Today I paced outside the OR praying the teen would calm down and let the anesthetist do his work – so I could do my work – so she would not be in pain any more. It takes a lot of fear to need such pain to drive such a terrified child to accept help. And it makes me wonder if we will see the person again or if it will take another horrible episode of pain to bring her back.

How do I help a patient who has jaw pain mostly when she puts on her lipstick?

Last day of work.

Yipee!  Vacation has begun.  I think half my patients today thought I had already left.  They didn’t chance it so stayed away.  No kidding!  50% no shows!

I went by the grocery store on the way home to get some pork chops – the really nice ones.  Thick.  Already seasoned.  Just right for the barbeque.

They were all sold out.  Not to be outdone – and as a result a lot less money spent – I found the thickest ones I could and bought those instead.

They had bones.  My piece had a couple of little slivers of bone on the side where the meat should be.  As I bit into this wonderful piece of meat, there was a tiny crunch.  Yep, you guessed it.  A chunk of tooth was neatly deposited onto the counter where I sat.  The whole lingual cusp of tooth 45.  No pain really.  Except if I touched it directly with my tongue.  Hard not to do when one is eating. 

What to do?  Call  Cheryl Lyn the locum dentist of course.  No answer. 

I am the dentist on call.  I looked to see if this was something I would attempt myself. 

Not with trifocals. 

So I called one of my wonderful assistants.  She was home and came down right away to fix up the boss! 

I owe her big time.  What a way to start vacation.

Today was our regular biweekly sedation occasion.  
Every two weeks we give some unlucky child the chance to be sedated while having their dental work done.

The fact that they will not sit in the chair short of some major restraining force being exercised against them has something to do with the choice.  A parent usually wants their little terror not to have to experience the horrors or pain of dentistry so in the interests of their child being "out of it" for the necessary work, we give them a tasty little drink – grape juice laced with a nice little bitter amnesiac.

At least half the time it works slick.  The kid drinks the drink without barfing.  Fifteen minutes later they could care less if we do their work, freezing and all.  We carry them into the "quiet room", close the door, wrap them like a cocoon, and get the work done with no incident.  It is safe and we know that most of what we do will not be remembered by the child.  In theory it makes it easier for the child to come back since they don’t remember a bad experience.

Today was our regular biweekly sedation occasion.  
Every two weeks we give some unlucky child the chance to be sedated while having their dental work done.

The fact that they will not sit in the chair short of some major restraining force being exercised against them has something to do with the choice.  A parent usually wants their little terror not to have to experience the horrors or pain of dentistry so in the interests of their child being "out of it" for the necessary work, we give them a tasty little drink – grape juice laced with a nice little bitter amnesiac.

At least half the time it works slick.  The kid drinks the drink without barfing.  Fifteen minutes later they could care less if we do their work, freezing and all.  We carry them into the "quiet room", close the door, wrap them like a cocoon, and get the work done with no incident.  It is safe and we know that most of what we do will not be remembered by the child.  In theory it makes it easier for the child to come back since they don’t remember a bad experience.

Trouble is, I think we need some sort of drink for the parents.  Their memories are too good.  If the sweet little thing with the painfuly abcessed tooth cries, they wonder if we were proceeding without enough freezing.  And in spite of all our wornings about the medication often causing the child to become very angry as it wears off, they assume the crying and kicking and rolling on the floor in anger is due to pain.

It seems like we just can’t win.  We are trying to help by offering this service and most parents just don’t seem to understand the value of what we are providing for them. 

About half our patients just do not call to confirm if they are coming or not.  Today only 2 of 6 children booked had parents that took the time to confirm the appointment.

I just have a hard time understanding parents that would rather let their child’s teeth decay than keep an appointment to fix them.  Believe me cost is not a factor.  

Very frustrating.  I am needing some way to solve this situation before my staff gives up on trying to track down and book these kids.

…a patient who slips a handful of Lindor chocolate balls into your pocket as you do her dental check-up.