Had a pretty interesting day today at the office. Morning was pretty normal, drill and fill, check hygiene, extract a tooth etc. Nothing too out of the ordinary.
Pretty normal lunch. Trolled around on CP, ate an apple and a handful of wheat thins.
Then the afternoon hit.
I see inmates from the county jail here in town if they have a tooth ache or something, sheriff or deputy will call up and bring them up in shackles and the whole bit. It's not big deal, most of them are just happy to get out of pain and it's not a problem. So dude comes in, my assistant goes in to ask the normal "which tooth is bothering you, let me get an xray, blah blah". I was in the lab doing something so I wasn't really paying attention. She comes in and says "doc, you will need to come look at something" to which I responded "he need a tooth out, which tooth is hurting"?
"All of them". Huh, ok, weird response but lets go check it out. Sure enough, continued meth use pretty much causes things to not go so well intraorally, so he was pretty much decayed out and most teeth were broken off to the gumline (google meth mouth if you want to see it, i'm not messing with photos). Asked if I could extract all 26 teeth he had left in the 30 minute block we had on the schedule for him.
I laughed, said "nah, which one hurts the worst, we'll take that out". He pointed to one, I numbed it up, used an elevator to take it out, about 30 seconds worth of pressure and it was pretty lose. 2 teeth next to it are super mobile and infected (which starts draining as I get this one out, that smelt nice) so I told him he was getting 2 free extractions since he was already numb in that area and they were loose and I was right there, no harm no foul.
It's always fun when we see the inmates, the Sheriff comes up and sits in the room with them all serious, then when I come in the room we talk about hunting or why the Chiefs always break hearts or something.
He breaks down and starts crying thanking me, that he already felt better (if you saw the amount of infection I drained, you'd see why) and asked if he could make an appointment for when he got out. "Sure, how long you think you'll be in this predicament".
"I figure 4 or 5 years, you scheduling ahead that far yet"? Told him nah, just take care of himself and come see me when he gets out.
Next patient is an amish guy (we have a fairly big amish community near us), super nice guy, needs a crown. Asks if he can barter instead of pay, I ask what is in it for me, said he'd bring me a dozen eggs every week for 6 months (they have chicken barns or something) or I could have a quarter of one of the cows they're butchering. Sold, eggs and beef for a crown, sign me up.
Only problem with that is he scheduled an appointment for himself, but brought 4 other family members who all needed work done.
So we had a waiting room full of inmates and Amish this afternoon. Thought that might be a good name of a band or something. [Reply]
Originally Posted by O.city:
Usually if it’s small bone fragments they’ll be loose. It won’t hurt anything to just monitor it and let it go just don’t let it get infected
If it starts hurting get someone to check it out
Thank you O.city!!!! You are easily among my top 10 favorite CP'ers despite the majority of our interactions, or because of..., being on this thread.
Dentists terrify me. Cold sweat and I will, and have, walk around with pulp exposed for a week because my brain doesn't see calling one of you as a reasonable option.
I'll post photos of the chunks when they makes their way out. (as I know everyone clicking on this thread is on the edge of their seats for that update) [Reply]
Originally Posted by Mephistopheles Janx:
Thank you O.city!!!! You are easily among my top 10 favorite CP'ers despite the majority of our interactions, or because of..., being on this thread.
Dentists terrify me. Cold sweat and I will, and have, walk around with pulp exposed for a week because my brain doesn't see calling one of you as a reasonable option.
I'll post photos of the chunks when they makes their way out. (as I know everyone clicking on this thread is on the edge of their seats for that update)
Anxiety is real man. A couple years ago I went to the dentist. I hadn’t been to the dentist in several years because I’m a jackass. (No cavities though bitches!). Im a grown man. I know what they’re doing in there. There is no pain. Still my shoulders are all tense. Even though I know what’s going on and I’m trying to relax I’m anxious and tense. [Reply]
I take good care of my teeth. I still wear the bottom retainer, from when I was 17 and got my braces off, EVERY night. I got a mouth-guard for my upper teeth a few years ago because I was grinding, and I wear it EVERY night. I brush my teeth 2-3 times per day. I absolutely won't start or end my day without brushing my teeth. I just can't.....that bad smell/taste in there. It has to be gone first thing in the morning before I do anything and also right before bed. No matter how drunk I get, I always brush my teeth before going to bed.
I like going to the dentist too. Give me a deep cleaning every time, I won't complain even if my gums bleed. It kind of feels good.
Thank you O-city. I wish you were my dentist. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Mephistopheles Janx:
Thank you O.city!!!! You are easily among my top 10 favorite CP'ers despite the majority of our interactions, or because of..., being on this thread.
Dentists terrify me. Cold sweat and I will, and have, walk around with pulp exposed for a week because my brain doesn't see calling one of you as a reasonable option.
I'll post photos of the chunks when they makes their way out. (as I know everyone clicking on this thread is on the edge of their seats for that update)
It’s all good man. No one likes the dentist, I’m a lonely guy! [Reply]
Originally Posted by lewdog:
I take good care of my teeth. I still wear the bottom retainer, from when I was 17 and got my braces off, EVERY night. I got a mouth-guard for my upper teeth a few years ago because I was grinding, and I wear it EVERY night. I brush my teeth 2-3 times per day. I absolutely won't start or end my day without brushing my teeth. I just can't.....that bad smell/taste in there. It has to be gone first thing in the morning before I do anything and also right before bed. No matter how drunk I get, I always brush my teeth before going to bed.
I like going to the dentist too. Give me a deep cleaning every time, I won't complain even if my gums bleed. It kind of feels good.
Thank you O-city. I wish you were my dentist.
I enjoy a good cleaning, but time just gets away. We had a cancellation the other day and i had my hygienist check if she had time in her schedule to clean mine. She didnt, but i looked back and it had been like 2 years for me.
O, how has the Covid exposure been at your office? My wife's office has seen some cases come through that tested positive after their visits, but thankfully no one in the office has been infected. She's extremely diligent about her exposure, wears two surgical masks when not sporting her N-95, and takes a bunch of other measures. It's stressful for her. I would tell her to quit, but her dentist absolutely loves her, works with our schedule so she can drop the kids off at school and pick them up, and pays her a premium for a DA. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Red Beans:
O, how has the Covid exposure been at your office? My wife's office has seen some cases come through that tested positive after their visits, but thankfully no one in the office has been infected. She's extremely diligent about her exposure, wears two surgical masks when not sporting her N-95, and takes a bunch of other measures. It's stressful for her. I would tell her to quit, but her dentist absolutely loves her, works with our schedule so she can drop the kids off at school and pick them up, and pays her a premium for a DA.
It's definitely been stressful.
The good news is with the proper PPE and protocols, we're protected so as far as I know there haven't been documented issues in offices yet. It may eventually happen, I dunno, but we're doing all we can.
I had some issues with employees early and it sucked. I did all I could to make it safe short of putting in negative pressure rooms.
Biggest thing is just keeping diligent and doing what we know works. [Reply]
Originally Posted by O.city:
It's definitely been stressful.
The good news is with the proper PPE and protocols, we're protected so as far as I know there haven't been documented issues in offices yet. It may eventually happen, I dunno, but we're doing all we can.
I had some issues with employees early and it sucked. I did all I could to make it safe short of putting in negative pressure rooms.
Biggest thing is just keeping diligent and doing what we know works.
It wouldn't be so bad if you'd stop firing all your injured employees.
So are all of your hygienists very attractive and relatively young white women? If so, did you hire them that way on purpose or is that the only demographic that goes to hygienist school? Every dentist office I've been to follows that description... [Reply]
Originally Posted by loochy:
So are all of your hygienists very attractive and relatively young white women? If so, did you hire them that way on purpose or is that the only demographic that goes to hygienist school? Every dentist office I've been to follows that description...
