Tooth Fairy In The Making

Are We There Yet?

I have the patient's equivalent of kids screaming at the backseat of the car at the parents saying,' Are we there yet? Are we there yet?' every 3 seconds.

Except my patient says ,"So when will I be seeing you again?"

So here's the story. I was assigned to do a partial denture for this patient who was a young man and wasn't working.

Me: Hi there.
Him: Hi. I'm so happy when you called me. I've been waiting for treatment for ages.
Me: Well, here we are now.
Him: How long is it going to take for you to make this denture?
Me: We're talking about around 6 months (at least 5 sessions every fortnight plus 2 holidays in between).
Him: .......6 months?!?!?!
Me: Well, I'm a student so I take longer to do things and we have holidays.
Him: How many holidays do you have?!

Now he had the audacity to question the number of holidays I had. This was too much!

Me: I'm sorry but that's all I can offer you. If you can't wait 6 months I suggest that you go to a private practice to have that done instead.
Him: Hmph...oh welll, I suppose if that's the best you could do...

Ever since that session, every session he comes in he asks me these two questions - repeatedly (we're talking 10-20 times per session)

"When is the next time I'll be seeing you? How long is this going to take again?"

Argh!!!!!!!

He doesn't shut up all the way until I shove the impression material into his mouth. Not only that - when I take impressions he actually bites on my fingers.

Me: *calmly* You're biting down on my fingers, I want you to open your mouth slightly alright?
Him: *widens mouth slightly for about 5 seconds, and clamps down again*
Me: ........

Ah, the joys of dentistry.

Labels: Dental School

posted by Dental Girl at 7:32 PM