Shadowing Dr.S.O

I thought today would be a fun-filled day with lots of emergency cases before the weekend, as I hear a lot about the crazy cases that occur before the end of the day on Friday when I come into work on Saturdays. However, to my disappointment, this wasn't the case. Nonetheless, I saw some interesting things and even got the new dentist, who was recently hired after graduating this past spring, to talk to me first.

Dentist S.O. works part-time so didn't have as packed of a schedule as the other dentists do, or maybe it was they way her schedule was designed. Anyways, she had an interesting extraction where the patient had been coming in one by one as the pain was getting to her, although it was recommended that she remove all her lower teeth and get dentures. Unfortunately, it seemed that she didn't have the means to afford this kind of treatment and seemed to have opted for coming in when she couldn't bear the pain, which is sad because she couldn't be older than 35.

Another patient hadn't come into the dentist for three years, but had something in her mouth chip yesterday. She came in with her adorable little granddaughter. The granddaughter came in with a baby carrier with her little pig, Pinky, and two toy dog carrying cases with all of her toys in them. However, it was very hard to understand this little girl. Grandma tells me, while the dental assistant is running x-rays of the tooth area, that the little girl has speech problems -- didn't start speaking until she was three and is currently in speech classes.   The little girl and her dad had moved in with grams and gramps after her parents split, you could tell she was spoiled, but that she got a lot of love and attention. But back to grandma, grandma turned out to need another filling and possibly require a crown down the road. Grandma joked, "All my teeth have cavities. I tell my granddaughter, when she doesn't want to brush her teeth, 'Want your teeth to look like grandma's?'"

Mellow day, but nice to see the different styles of practice, treatment, and personal skills of the different dentists where I work. It has also given me the opportunity to actually talk to the dentists and their assistants. When I'm working the receptionist desk on Saturdays, I usually keep to myself doing what I am required to do.

So, there goes another 5 hours of completed shadowing and off to work tomorrow at the dental office. Bright and early at 7 AM.

Coming soon....Second shadowing experience with Orthodontist Dr.S.R.