Little Liar

I've been too lazy to blog but something happened today and I just have to whinge.

Miss M, a 22 yrs old, was booked in for fillings. She came in complaining about sharp pain when she drinks cold water and she thinks it's because she has holes in her teeth. She has occlusal caries on 16 & 17 but they are not deep enough to cause any pain. 16 & 17 also have Bu gingival recession and exposed roots, which are very sensitive to the air from the triplex. So I explained to her what caused the sensitivity, gave her OHI, recommended topical application of toothpaste for sensitive teeth, blah blah. Then I asked her whether she wants to get the fillings done today. She said no. Then she said something about money but I didn't hear it no thanks to the creaking 50 yrs old chair as I was sitting her up, so I just assumed that she wanted to save up for the fillings.

Few hours later her mum rang up and kicked up a big fuss because I didn't do the fillings today. She claimed that her daughter said I refused to do the fillings for her today because I said she needed a lot of work done and that I didn't have the time to do it. WTF?! She then continued to say that her daughter was booked in for fillings and why didn't I do it, and since I didn't do anything why should she pay for anything. Excuse me, I was providing a service and you are paying me for my time (though I only received $6 for the 30 mins your daughter wasted, I could have been doing something more productive and help other ppl in real pain), besides do you think sterilizing the instruments doesn't cost anything? The mirror I used for examination can get scratched during the cleaning process, that's called depreciation and you are paying for it. My boss also has to pay the dental assistant. And what do you mean by I didn't do anything??? Are you retarded or what??? Even if I just sit there and talk it's consider doing something. Not to mention I actually had to look into her mouth to find out which teeth are sore since your daughter said "I dunno which teeth are causing the pain, it's paining everywhere". What sort of word is "paining" anyway?! Geez.

Anyway, the receptionist insisted that I did offer to do the fillings today but her daughter said no (I even documented in her record "Pt declined to have fillings done today"), she started screaming, "So you're saying my daugher is a liar?! My daughter will never lie to me!". Yeah right, I think your little angel has a big surprise for you. The receptionist then said the patient mentioned something about money so we assumed she didn't have the money to get things done today and didn't do the fillings as she wished. The patient's mum said she gave her daughter the money for the fillings today. Wonderful. The little bitch blew her dental money on something else and just shoved the blame on the dentist. How convenient.

Being the nice person that I always am, I just offered to see her daughter after my last patient of the day. No point arguing with her as obviously she only believes what her angelic and innocent daugher said. When her daugher came back she rang up again and asked whether we would refund the consultation fees. The receptionist firmly stood her ground and replied NO. She immediately blew up again and yelled THEN DON'T BOTHER, and called her daughter to tell her to leave.

Good riddance! Don't ever come back! You are banned!

Pus oozing out from gum Wooohoooo!

My fav dental assistant in Mount Isa always get very excited whenever she sees pus and she would get pretty upset if I drain an abscess when she's not around. This clip is for you Paula. :p If you look carefully you can see the pus oozing out from the gum, how exciting! The tooth could move a lot more than what was shown in the clip. I didn't dare to move it too much for fear it'll fall out! -_-"

As soon as Mr D sat in the chair he pushed his tooth forward to show me the extend of movement. The tooth was parallel to the ground, I was shocked that it hasn't fall out. He was told he had periodontitis aka gum disease 3 yrs ago and it took him 3 yrs to decide that he wanted to save his teeth. A bit too late now. All his teeth have Grade III mobility, it's a wonder he still have them.

My friend HC asked me yesterday what would happen if he leaves his gum disease untreated. WTF. You're a medical doctor, what would happen if you leave an infection untreated??? DUH! I really don't understand why ppl seem to think that the mouth is a seperate entity and anything that happens in the mouth stays in the mouth, is isolated and totally unrelated to the rest of the body. Sheesh. Well buddy sorry to disappoint you but it doesn't work this way. I told him his teeth will fall out. He didn't believe me. See for it yourself.