Hello to you all,
This is me in the morning of a typical working day! and the one on the right hand side again is me at the end of my day!
7:30AM
Mr. A comes in and complains that one of his bloody teeth is hurting and that his teeth have never been anything to him but bloody trouble!
I can feel my cheeks getting warm!!
2 years ago when I first saw you Mr.A, I advised you to get a bloody filling on that tooth! A year ago I begged you to get a bloody root canal treatment on that tooth! Every time you said, “Ah don’t worry about it, it’s not hurting!”
My dears, the fact that your teeth do not hurt does not mean it’s ok to ignore them. At some stage one of your teeth is gonna flare up or break into pieces!
8:30AM
Ms. B has come for a clean and some whitening, only after 5 years not being to the dentist!
She says, “I know I’ve got some holes in my back teeth but I really do not want to spend any money on my teeth at the moment, just a clean!”
I look at her professionally manicured nails and designer handbag and say “It’s absolutely your decision but please don’t leave them for too long” and think to myself, I can see you and your swollen face in a year!
All of us prefer to spend our money somewhere else rather than at the dentist but for God sake – prioritize! Believe me, the health of your teeth is directly related to your general body health.
9:30
I enter the room.
Mr. C (20 years old) “I’ve got a hole in my tooth, just rip it out! I don’t want a filling or anything else!”
Me “Hello, how are you?” and start a long debate with him on why it’s better to save teeth rather than “ripping them out”.
Loosing teeth when you’re this young, obviously will leave you with no teeth when you get to your 40ies.
Please, do a quick research from family and friends. How many of them prefer their dentures to their natural teeth? You’ll come to the conclusion saving teeth is the better option.
10:30AM
Ms. D: “Ah, how much I hate you!”
Me: “Excuse me?”
Ms. D: “I hate dentists in general but don’t take it personally!”
Me: “Oh, of course not!”
Actually, the above conversation happen at least a couple times a day!
12:30
Mr. E is back with another broken tooth! He lost his back teeth a few years ago and says he has no problem chewing and never wanted to have them replaced.
Now every couple months he’s back with broken or chipped front teeth. Like every other time, I explain to him that front teeth are meant for biting not for chewing and now he chews with them due to lack of back support. The front teeth started falling apart and he needs to get those back teeth replaced, otherwise, very soon, he’ll lose his front teeth.
AND, I was so expecting to hear him saying, “No just patch them up,” but this time he said, “Ok, well how do we do that?”
I admit I resisted hugging the old man for a sec!!
It’s so important to replace teeth when you lose one. Every part of the mouth goes through unfavorable changes when you lose a tooth.
13:30
Mrs. F complains of a loose tooth.
After checking her mouth and not being able to find anything, I send her for an x-ray.
We find an impacted wisdom tooth that has changed into a cyst and has become a bit nasty so she needs to see a specialist for surgery to remove the loose tooth, the cyst and the wisdom tooth. Considering she’s in her 50ies and should know better, I ask her how come she never did anything about that wisdom tooth. She says she was told about it years ago but was told it’s ok to leave it.
Yes it is ok to leave impacted wisdom teeth but it’s important to check them with an x-ray every few years to make sure these sort of nasty changes do not happen.
My personal experience is that most people end up with some sort of problem with their wisdom teeth so isn’t it better to have them out while you’re young and the bones are still flexible and you can recover faster?
14:30
Mr. G is complaining of severe sensitivity to cold drinks and food from most of his teeth.
Even when he’s talking about his problem I can guess what the problem is – harsh brushing!
And yes, he uses a hard tooth brush and scrubs those poor teeth and gums till they feel squeaky clean.
As a result, he’s pushed his gums back causing gum recession and now he’s started wearing off his teeth. I tell him he has to change his brushing method to vertical and use a soft tooth brush and he gets annoyed, saying his teeth won’t feel clean with a soft tooth brush!
It took me a good 45 minutes of non-stop talking and using every single model and picture and reference book in the practice and even some Googling to convince him he has to go gentle on his teeth.
Guys, I promise you, pinky swore, that your teeth will be perfectly clean if you use a soft tooth brush and a bit less pressure!
15:30
Mrs. H is back for her routine checkup and clean.
She says, “Good news, since you said sugary drinks are bad for teeth and you know how I was addicted to Coke – I have now switched to diet Coke!”
EEEK!!
Please be aware that diet drinks usually have much more acid (Fizz) in them to hide the bad taste of artificial sweeteners. My personal opinion is to eat and drink anything you like but in moderation!
16:30
I check my phone for emails while walking to my car and see an email from a patient that was forwarded to me.
It was a photo of this young gorgeous patient of mine whose teeth we worked on for a few months before her wedding day. She is laughing, showing all her teeth, and this message with it:
“I would never have been able to laugh on the most important day of my life if it wasn’t for you!!”
I start wailing and freak out the guy standing next to me in the lift!!