" I've Never Seen a Smiling Face that was not Beautiful "
How much this means to me. Having had my own practice in Bangalore, I have always found all of the patients walkin into my clinic beautiful even behind the pain ! All of them walked in with a concern about their Oral Health even if it was forced by their body. I am here to share my experiences from the time I was allowed to treat patients towards a successful career.. All of us gain information from others' experiences is what I feel. Every new day was a new experience to me and I was getting abundance in knowledge with every passing day ! I quote a saying here by Alfred Shenwold
"Learn all you can from the mistake of others. You won't have time to make them all yourself !!"
My blog space would be more interactive like the kind of person I am ! Let me read all that you wanted to know about Dental / Oral Health !
How much this means to me. Having had my own practice in Bangalore, I have always found all of the patients walkin into my clinic beautiful even behind the pain ! All of them walked in with a concern about their Oral Health even if it was forced by their body. I am here to share my experiences from the time I was allowed to treat patients towards a successful career.. All of us gain information from others' experiences is what I feel. Every new day was a new experience to me and I was getting abundance in knowledge with every passing day ! I quote a saying here by Alfred Shenwold
"Learn all you can from the mistake of others. You won't have time to make them all yourself !!"
My blog space would be more interactive like the kind of person I am ! Let me read all that you wanted to know about Dental / Oral Health !
My Patient Sweetie !!!
Posted 27th June 2008 at 04:52 PM by Drpreethis
It was a gloomy evening that day, a typical sight in Bangalore... Munching the hot vadas my mom made and burning my tongue in a greed I left for my practice grunting. 
As usual my assistant was talking to the
neighbours explaining how fed up she is with her husband..having a close watch on who enters her doctor amma's premises without her knowledge !!!
With a nod at her and still cursing my greed I entered into the second best place in my world " my dental office" ... I was greeted by an impatient mom who smiled and said Hello, doctor my daughter needs extraction !!
I was all the more grunting when I heard a patient already ready with the treatment plan !!
( Now which doctor would want to hear that unless they are sure of the problem ) Atleast I wouldnt as I extract teeth only as a last resort and not as a first line treatment. My Juniors were busy talking to a patient inside and usually ensure patients who come with pain are treated first regardless of appointments.
I smiled at this worried mom and said please sit down.. I still remember the look of her daughter which to me meant 'Here comes the Monster Dentist!!
Parents have an usual habit of saying their naughty kids that the doctors would prick an injection for bad behaviour !! Huh ?? Would I do it to my kid just because I am Doctor and she / he is naughty.. ? Why would I ' hurt ' any kid then ? Sometimes we are posed as threats to
Kid world for whatever reason !!
To my dismay I found my juniors even having a quick look through the corner of their eyes as to ' Ma'am is around !!! I gave up !!
Fearing and crawling my child patient walkd into the consultation room with her mom who was desperate to get the darn teeth removed !! I smiled and asked her daughter how she was doing ? Mommy plunged in ' Doctor , her teeth has to be removed. But why .. i said. She has pain was the quick reply ! I nodded .. Her daughter pulled her hand anxiously and she replied Move away it pains ! I snapped in ' So when are you getting your hand removed ? She thought she visited a wrong place and this must be a mental asylum !! I told her I went by her logic. If pain is the reason for her daughter's extraction then her painful hand needs to see the same fate
!! She was in no mood to smile and said but I have two hands only she has lotts of teeth !!! I definitely buy that logic now !! You cant blame her .. isn't ?? I said maybe when you are leaving I shall ask you the same question back . She smiled very confidently having felt she outsmarted a Dentist !!
I cajoled the kid to my examination chair promising I would not do anything that should hurt and she is free to walk away the moment she feels so ! She happily held my hand and came in with me to see the blue fighter fish in the bowl around my chair !!
My patient was a 8 year old Sweetie. Just like the name ! ( Actually such names are good as I dont have to use any other sweet words to convince them they aare goin to be ok ! )
I examined her and found all her 2nd molars affected with minimal decay. I touched it gently and asked " Does it hurt , Sweetie ! " She smiled and said no. Now I knew she will sit through the treatment. I looked at her mom and said when has she complained of pain. She said after eating anything at all. I gave Sweetie some water and asked her if it pains she replied negative by now the mom was wondering what am up to. I asked what was her family income for which she replied we are not well off ( she must have thought this doctor would charge us a high fee I better play low !! ) I told her to save money by the time she is 12-13 for Orthodontic Braces ( clip treatment ) for Sweetie ! She said we all have good teeth. Yes your kid does and you are in to spoil it now !! She hated me for a second !!!
Babies start teething around 6 or 8 months of age. This is exactly when the mother needs to taper breast feeding and start weening. The baby teeth or Primary teeth as we call are 20 in number. Each arch( upper and lower ) consists of a pair of Central Incisors, a pair of lateral incisors, pair of canines and 2 Molars ( 1st & 2nd ). We dont get al teeth at once do we I asked ? She intellegntly answered No each comes at different ages. I said yes do you know why. She said babies dont need everything at that small age. Sabhaash !! She was delighted and so proud of herself !
Wait til I get home and let my husband know that I am not a dud like
he always says she thought !
I said you are very smart .. Yes babies do not need all the teeth at that young age and that is why nature gives you one at a time so that you can put it to good use. Just that way all of
them do not fall at the same time they leave you at particular ages. Do you know why I asked ? She said we get the permanent teeth then. I flashed a deep grin at her and she wasnt smiling at all ! She said Oh ! ( in dismay !! )
I said yes Ma'am the baby teeth fall at a particular age only when the permanent teeth just below them are ready to erupt. Just like how your baby is in the womb for 9 months to grow and then arrive our teeth too is in
a ' bud ' and takes time to grow. Though it does start budding when the baby is 3 weeks old in the womb it is not ready to erupt into mouth. So the permanent teeth arrives only when it is grown almost full ( except for the root ) . So regardless of when you remove the primary tooth the permanent will not follow until the time. ' The primary teeth are guidance to permanent teeth ' .. They reserve the space for their counterparts and stay exactly above the permanent teeth.
This means the teeth you talking about if removed will leave an empty space till she is 10-12 years for reasons I explained. She immedietly said oh Sweetie cant eat properly then. I said yes also the permanent teeth gets ' confused ' when its time for them to erupt and go haphazard. This will lead to crooked teeth and result in bad smile. So you are ready to spoil her looks even I said.. She retaliated ' My neighbour got her kids teeth just removed and her dentist suggested it' ( You are no good I think and want to make money she must have thought !! ) I said I can suggest what you want or what is right. She knew she had options but taking a chance about Sweetie was the last thing on her mind.. ( which parent wants the worst for their kids )
I continued maybe your neighbour was of the right age and the particular teeth could be removed or she must have felt she cannot afford the treatment and the Dentist would have had no option. I said well.. before you say something.. let me tell you my options.. I either treat Sweetie with the best one or you could see your
neighbour's Dentist.
She was in no mood to even think of leaving my office.. 'But She has pain' she worried. I said yes that is because she has a hole in her teeth and that needs to be filled. Imagine you had a cut and something gets into it would it not trouble you ?? She was thrilled with the logic I gave !! It hasnt got so deep that it needs to be removed and can be filled right now. She asked me the cost and I explained what it would save her in the long run of her daughter's life. I told her just like how we have a right and a left hand and cannot do without both we need all the teeth as each one has a purpose. ( She knew I was hittin on her hard !! ;) ..) The front teeth are used for biting / cutting and the back teeth are used for chewing / grinding. I mocked at her wether she could do things that her left hand did with the right one !! Yuckk , No way she sheepishly answered. ( Slap stick comedy comes handy sometimes !! ) If you carefully examine all our pairs of teeth are uniquely different shapes that is designed for particular function. Our Creator was a Genius I said to myself ! If the tooth is filled she would have pain no more as there is no food getting into the space. If the decay was deeper a similar treatment like RCT done in adults can be done in kids called ' Pulpectomy ' . ( For this we need to understand the parts of teeth which I shall write soon about ). But sometimes the roots maybe so thin and badly affected that saving the tooth would be impossible. Then we go for the Butchering business and maintain the ' space ' with a ' Space Maintainer ' till the adult one arrives. Believe me it is going to be such a distress to the kid that they might throw it on your face someday ! Unless it is a Medically comproised kid and a Space Maintainer is a must. We Dentists do not intend to make enemies out of Kids. Sweetie has to just go for a filling and she will be alright I promised. Mommy dear said Sweetie is scared .. and to her shock her daughter snapped at her
No , Mamma ! The mother wanted to run away . She said please give us an appointment. What a relieved and proud Mommy she looked conviced that she made a right decision about her Sweetheart.. My juniors meanwhile couldnt stop
cuddling the lil kid and I had to sternly look at them once a while. As the appointment was being taken I called Sweetie and told her that I would not hurt her and would just remove the black portion and put any sweetless choclate with a colour of her choice ( we have some unique different coloured cements for children .. from big brands ) . She said I love pink I said I shal give her that unless she promises me that she will
gargle her mouth after she eats just anything even at school . She said " Promise, Aunty ! "
God I still remember that beautiful face !! It didnt stp here.. to drop all our jaws down she asked ' So Aunty, when do i come to fill up the blanks ' !!!!!???!!! What a logic isn't? Kids have such a naive charm ! I couldnt stop myself from hugging this creation and said Tommorow , Dear ! Ok she said and kissed me.. looked like I was under her spell !! Kidss !!!
I looked at her mom as my junior collected the consultation fee and inquired ' Are all your Daughter's teeth as important as your two Hands ??' She smiled meekly Aaama Doctor ( Meaning yes, doctor in Tamil ).
Sweetie said Bye and left me wondering !!
When am I gonna have Kids ???
P S - I have attached few photos which shows -
Pic 1 - Pattern of how primary and permanent teeth are placed in the mouth
Pic 2 - The Dental Arch with name of teeth
Pic 3 - Primary teeth eruption and Shedding
As usual my assistant was talking to the
neighbours explaining how fed up she is with her husband..having a close watch on who enters her doctor amma's premises without her knowledge !!!
With a nod at her and still cursing my greed I entered into the second best place in my world " my dental office" ... I was greeted by an impatient mom who smiled and said Hello, doctor my daughter needs extraction !!
I was all the more grunting when I heard a patient already ready with the treatment plan !!
( Now which doctor would want to hear that unless they are sure of the problem ) Atleast I wouldnt as I extract teeth only as a last resort and not as a first line treatment. My Juniors were busy talking to a patient inside and usually ensure patients who come with pain are treated first regardless of appointments. I smiled at this worried mom and said please sit down.. I still remember the look of her daughter which to me meant 'Here comes the Monster Dentist!!
Parents have an usual habit of saying their naughty kids that the doctors would prick an injection for bad behaviour !! Huh ?? Would I do it to my kid just because I am Doctor and she / he is naughty.. ? Why would I ' hurt ' any kid then ? Sometimes we are posed as threats to
Kid world for whatever reason !!
To my dismay I found my juniors even having a quick look through the corner of their eyes as to ' Ma'am is around !!! I gave up !!
Fearing and crawling my child patient walkd into the consultation room with her mom who was desperate to get the darn teeth removed !! I smiled and asked her daughter how she was doing ? Mommy plunged in ' Doctor , her teeth has to be removed. But why .. i said. She has pain was the quick reply ! I nodded .. Her daughter pulled her hand anxiously and she replied Move away it pains ! I snapped in ' So when are you getting your hand removed ? She thought she visited a wrong place and this must be a mental asylum !! I told her I went by her logic. If pain is the reason for her daughter's extraction then her painful hand needs to see the same fate
!! She was in no mood to smile and said but I have two hands only she has lotts of teeth !!! I definitely buy that logic now !! You cant blame her .. isn't ?? I said maybe when you are leaving I shall ask you the same question back . She smiled very confidently having felt she outsmarted a Dentist !!
I cajoled the kid to my examination chair promising I would not do anything that should hurt and she is free to walk away the moment she feels so ! She happily held my hand and came in with me to see the blue fighter fish in the bowl around my chair !!
My patient was a 8 year old Sweetie. Just like the name ! ( Actually such names are good as I dont have to use any other sweet words to convince them they aare goin to be ok ! )
I examined her and found all her 2nd molars affected with minimal decay. I touched it gently and asked " Does it hurt , Sweetie ! " She smiled and said no. Now I knew she will sit through the treatment. I looked at her mom and said when has she complained of pain. She said after eating anything at all. I gave Sweetie some water and asked her if it pains she replied negative by now the mom was wondering what am up to. I asked what was her family income for which she replied we are not well off ( she must have thought this doctor would charge us a high fee I better play low !! ) I told her to save money by the time she is 12-13 for Orthodontic Braces ( clip treatment ) for Sweetie ! She said we all have good teeth. Yes your kid does and you are in to spoil it now !! She hated me for a second !!!
Babies start teething around 6 or 8 months of age. This is exactly when the mother needs to taper breast feeding and start weening. The baby teeth or Primary teeth as we call are 20 in number. Each arch( upper and lower ) consists of a pair of Central Incisors, a pair of lateral incisors, pair of canines and 2 Molars ( 1st & 2nd ). We dont get al teeth at once do we I asked ? She intellegntly answered No each comes at different ages. I said yes do you know why. She said babies dont need everything at that small age. Sabhaash !! She was delighted and so proud of herself !
Wait til I get home and let my husband know that I am not a dud like he always says she thought !
I said you are very smart .. Yes babies do not need all the teeth at that young age and that is why nature gives you one at a time so that you can put it to good use. Just that way all of
them do not fall at the same time they leave you at particular ages. Do you know why I asked ? She said we get the permanent teeth then. I flashed a deep grin at her and she wasnt smiling at all ! She said Oh ! ( in dismay !! )
I said yes Ma'am the baby teeth fall at a particular age only when the permanent teeth just below them are ready to erupt. Just like how your baby is in the womb for 9 months to grow and then arrive our teeth too is in
a ' bud ' and takes time to grow. Though it does start budding when the baby is 3 weeks old in the womb it is not ready to erupt into mouth. So the permanent teeth arrives only when it is grown almost full ( except for the root ) . So regardless of when you remove the primary tooth the permanent will not follow until the time. ' The primary teeth are guidance to permanent teeth ' .. They reserve the space for their counterparts and stay exactly above the permanent teeth.
This means the teeth you talking about if removed will leave an empty space till she is 10-12 years for reasons I explained. She immedietly said oh Sweetie cant eat properly then. I said yes also the permanent teeth gets ' confused ' when its time for them to erupt and go haphazard. This will lead to crooked teeth and result in bad smile. So you are ready to spoil her looks even I said.. She retaliated ' My neighbour got her kids teeth just removed and her dentist suggested it' ( You are no good I think and want to make money she must have thought !! ) I said I can suggest what you want or what is right. She knew she had options but taking a chance about Sweetie was the last thing on her mind.. ( which parent wants the worst for their kids )
I continued maybe your neighbour was of the right age and the particular teeth could be removed or she must have felt she cannot afford the treatment and the Dentist would have had no option. I said well.. before you say something.. let me tell you my options.. I either treat Sweetie with the best one or you could see your
neighbour's Dentist.
She was in no mood to even think of leaving my office.. 'But She has pain' she worried. I said yes that is because she has a hole in her teeth and that needs to be filled. Imagine you had a cut and something gets into it would it not trouble you ?? She was thrilled with the logic I gave !! It hasnt got so deep that it needs to be removed and can be filled right now. She asked me the cost and I explained what it would save her in the long run of her daughter's life. I told her just like how we have a right and a left hand and cannot do without both we need all the teeth as each one has a purpose. ( She knew I was hittin on her hard !! ;) ..) The front teeth are used for biting / cutting and the back teeth are used for chewing / grinding. I mocked at her wether she could do things that her left hand did with the right one !! Yuckk , No way she sheepishly answered. ( Slap stick comedy comes handy sometimes !! ) If you carefully examine all our pairs of teeth are uniquely different shapes that is designed for particular function. Our Creator was a Genius I said to myself ! If the tooth is filled she would have pain no more as there is no food getting into the space. If the decay was deeper a similar treatment like RCT done in adults can be done in kids called ' Pulpectomy ' . ( For this we need to understand the parts of teeth which I shall write soon about ). But sometimes the roots maybe so thin and badly affected that saving the tooth would be impossible. Then we go for the Butchering business and maintain the ' space ' with a ' Space Maintainer ' till the adult one arrives. Believe me it is going to be such a distress to the kid that they might throw it on your face someday ! Unless it is a Medically comproised kid and a Space Maintainer is a must. We Dentists do not intend to make enemies out of Kids. Sweetie has to just go for a filling and she will be alright I promised. Mommy dear said Sweetie is scared .. and to her shock her daughter snapped at her
No , Mamma ! The mother wanted to run away . She said please give us an appointment. What a relieved and proud Mommy she looked conviced that she made a right decision about her Sweetheart.. My juniors meanwhile couldnt stop
cuddling the lil kid and I had to sternly look at them once a while. As the appointment was being taken I called Sweetie and told her that I would not hurt her and would just remove the black portion and put any sweetless choclate with a colour of her choice ( we have some unique different coloured cements for children .. from big brands ) . She said I love pink I said I shal give her that unless she promises me that she will
gargle her mouth after she eats just anything even at school . She said " Promise, Aunty ! "
God I still remember that beautiful face !! It didnt stp here.. to drop all our jaws down she asked ' So Aunty, when do i come to fill up the blanks ' !!!!!???!!! What a logic isn't? Kids have such a naive charm ! I couldnt stop myself from hugging this creation and said Tommorow , Dear ! Ok she said and kissed me.. looked like I was under her spell !! Kidss !!!
I looked at her mom as my junior collected the consultation fee and inquired ' Are all your Daughter's teeth as important as your two Hands ??' She smiled meekly Aaama Doctor ( Meaning yes, doctor in Tamil ).
Sweetie said Bye and left me wondering !!
When am I gonna have Kids ???
P S - I have attached few photos which shows -
Pic 1 - Pattern of how primary and permanent teeth are placed in the mouth
Pic 2 - The Dental Arch with name of teeth
Pic 3 - Primary teeth eruption and Shedding
Total Comments 2
Comments
 |  Hi preethi..Nice to know about sweetie..Informative pics.Thank you. |
Posted 1st July 2008 at 05:49 AM by SupriyaDinesh  |
| |  Hi Supriya ,Thank u so much.. I am glad you read thru my space .. Hope all mommies out there are informed and found it helpful enough.  |
| Posted 1st July 2008 at 08:35 AM by Drpreethis Updated 1st July 2008 at 08:36 AM by Drpreethis |
Recent Blog Entries by Drpreethis
- " When I Smiled At An Invisible Person " !!! (4th August 2008)
- ' No Smile is as Beautiful as the One that Struggles through the Tears ' !!! (30th July 2008)
- My Patient Sweetie !!! (27th June 2008)
- How can I get Cavities ?? (25th June 2008)
