Thursday, December 4, 2008

Pedodontists are special people

I was just thinking of funny things that have happened to me recently and I thought I would record one for the ages, just for fun. In the not to distant past I was fulfilling my rotation in our school's pediatric dentistry clinic. Each time I performed my rotation I have had a blast. Usually the kids are great, the staff is great, and the I enjoy all the faculty in the department as well.
Anyway, the other day on my rotation everything was going normal and great as always. Shortly after I arrived I was assigned to a patient and an assistant, after which I logged onto the computer to review all the important information regarding my patient. I was quick to notice a note in the history that this particular child was wiggly and began to cry while they placed a couple sealants. With his age and history I began to wonder how this visit would unfold.
The child was brought back to the chair and I tried my best to help the child feel comfortable by performing the tell show do technique. The child seemed to be Ok for the most part. As I talked with the child I noticed something in his mouth, a piece of candy. I explained the need to take it out. Of course the child didn't want to do that, but after some persuasion (you'll get it back when we're done) it came out. We placed the child back in the correct position and started to get the final things ready. I turned back to the child and once again there was something in the mouth. Yep, another piece of candy. Again, we convinced him, after some persuasion to take it out and sit back again. I think that happened one more time. We tried to keep the child's hands out of his pockets so no more candy would appear. We placed protective sunglasses on and started the nitrous protocol. Both of which we had to keep repositioning because the child would only sit still for short periods of time. As soon as the nitrous started working the patient was anesthatised and a rubber dam was placed. Knowing that our time was limited we tried performing the procedure as quickly as possible. With all our efforts the child ended up pulling the rubber dam off the mouth three different times, two of which there appeared another piece of candy. Needless to say by the final stages of the appointment the child started to whimper and squirm more than before. To our relief the simple filling was complete and restored after about 20 minutes, which seemed like eternity. It was an experience that re-enforced my decision to not persue a specialty in pedo. I love kids and most of the time they can be the best patients, but experiences like this one remind me why I prefer adults.

2 comments:

The Mothership said...

Hmm...I wonder why he had a cavity in the first place??

That is pretty funny.

shaunie said...

Thanks for the funny story! I need to get my two kids into the dentist soon, but I'm nervous about them misbehaving, like this kid. But they definitely won't have candy in their pockets!