A Frustrating and Sad Story

Today I re-started work as a dentist after a week or so studying as an apprentice does, the intricacies of my other business, Logistics. It had been an interesting week learning about the different loaders and containers, going to Port Klang, feeling dwarfed by the huge, huge transporters.

I was ‘accosted’ by one patient who had broken his crown in Australia where he too was an apprentice in an architect’s firm. He waited two weeks with a broken tooth before coming back to Malaysia for treatment as he was terrified of dentists (He is one of very few patients I have tagged on his registeration details as VVNP….a very,very nervous patient!) We soon worked out a treatment plan for him as he also needed surgery for a wisdom tooth.

But the last patient of the day is the one I want to write about ….

This young lady had an extraction done yesterday in another clinic and was in great pain from a reddish swelling on the palate of her mouth. I took one look at it and gasped in horror!

The poor dear had a story to tell.

She went in to this other dentist complaining of pain from her premolars. The dentist said she needed to take out her molar and proceeded to remove it.

The extraction was not the problem! It was done cleanly and was healing ok. What was causing her the pain was due to the injection given for the extraction!

I explained to her that the upper palate has very tightly attached gum to the bone. The injection was probably done so fast and with force which literally tore the gum from her bone.

This caused the whole area to swell and bleed. She now had the equivalent of a bruise on the roof of her mouth that hurt whenever she talked, ate, drank, anything which caused her tongue to touch it!

I then gave her the necessary medications and salves. The frustrating thing to me is, it’s just this sort of dentistry that make people scared of dentists! It’s no wonder that so many people fear dental treatment.