the cold dental chair
so i was sitting on the dental chair and this dentist was trying to tear my whole mouth apart. (at least that’s how it felt!) of course i wasn’t in my chatting mood; and i was glad he wasn’t one of those dentists who are trying hard to make a conversation while they put all kinds of cold, funny smelling instruments inside your mouth. the guy actually knew when to open his mouth. i liked that..
i felt naked in there. i am so used to being in control, holding the syringe, saying “just relax, it will be over soon”, giving the shots, so to speak, literally. the sight of blood does not freak me out. only, it is always somebody else’s blood. i admit it was kinda freaky seeing the dentist’s gloves with MY blood on it.
what can i say.? when somebody has your blood in their hands, you let down your defenses. i mean, it’s not everyday that you let somebody smell or touch your blood, right?
i was being sentimental when i asked for my four wisdom teeth. i wanted to put them in my jewelry box. not only because i don’t have any piece of jewelry in there, but also because i have this ridiculous notion that my real wisdom ( no matter how insignificant it is) is in those four ugly looking teeth. i don’t want to loose any little wisdom i have left. but they are keeping the teeth. i didn’t dare ask why.
and the dentist? he was off to the next patient even before i could sarcastically say thank you for tormenting me. i guess he was trained not to bond with his patients huh. at least i linger for a few moments after giving an enema. after all, it’s not everyday that people expose their behind to me, letting down their defenses like some naked babies, right?


I know this is an old post but I thought I’d let you know that we are not allowed to let patients take their teeth with them because it violates OSHA laws. Afterall, the teeth are usually sharp (possibility of skin perforation to someone if you should later decide to throw them away) and of course they contain bioloigical materials.
Even when we have to pull childrens teeth, if the parents request to take the teeth home for the tooth fairy (and what mother wouldn’t?) we either soak them in bleach for a minimum of 20 minutes or give them a quick run the the autoclave, chemiclave or a dryheatclave.Even then thye generally have to sign a release form to take them home.
Just an FYI.
I have been in dental for 10 years but now am an RN student with plans to go to CRNA after having worked in critical care for a while.
Great blog!
Sorry for such a long post.
Dawn
Comment by overactive-imagination — July 31, 2005 @ 7:58 pm
As long as the dentist does a good job, I don’t care what kind of personality or lack thereof he has. It’s a plus if he doesn’t try to engage me in conversation while my mouth is full of equipment.
Comment by Melissa — July 3, 2006 @ 6:21 pm