1. When the hygienist is flossing your teeth, don't help her with your tongue. We are perfectly capable of performing this service without your tongue's help.
2. If you believe you are in dire financial straights and tell the hygienist you can't afford certain services, in the next breath don't tell her about the boat that you live on during the summer. That's when I stop feeling sorry for you.
3. Don't light up a cigarette in the dentist's parking lot on your way out...I want to run after you and slap you.
4. If your child (let's say around 5 or 6 years old) is bossing the hygienist around, don't side with the child. The cleanings only get worse if the child thinks they are the boss. It's actually best if the parent waits in the waiting room while services are being rendered. Trust me.
5. Don't refuse x-rays for fear of "glowing" when you leave the office, and then go spend a week on the beach in Florida... Let's take a guess as to which one offers more radiation.
Oh I'll think of some more next time I work. In the meantime- Happy Brushing!!!
13 comments:
I love this post. Growing up in my dad's pediatric dental office, I can relate to these. I may not have helped with the teeth, but I could file charts with the best of them. I remember two girls coming in eating suckers - my dad took a photo.
Thanks for the reminders Kara. Oh, that reminds me I should brush this week! :)
No problem - I can handle all of these...as long as the hygienist doesn't accuse me of eating caramels until I fall asleep mid-chew. Or not brushing, or drinking soda all day.
My confounded teeth.
;-)
I LOVE the feeling of squeaky clean teeth after the cleanings. LOVE IT.
Just a quick view from the other side of the scrape-fest...Why try to carry on a conversation with someone who couldn't and definitely shouldn't try to talk? The fingers of the dentist or hygenist halt any conversing ability that the person may have. I hate it when that happens! Does this ever happen with anyone else?
J.M.- then only time I accuse people of not brushing is when the build up on their teeth looks like cottage cheese. Seriously.
Chris- I can't stand that either. I get a full hour with my patients, so there is usually plenty of time to talk before and after the cleaning. Unless I'm cleaning Barb or Jenny's teeth, then that's different. :)
I love these! So true!
that's funny. I have been terrible with my teeth lately.
Yes Chris, I think of something witty to say (go figure) to a comment the hygenist just said and MMhhuh on haaaaammm is all I can say!!! OH!!!!
Okay I won't use my tonge to help but I will still use it in defence to protected my gums when she doesn't know where my tooth ends and gums begin!
My teeth took such a hit when I was pregnant all the acid stomach juice. It was bad!
My dentist actually said that build up from not flossing doesn't REALLY begin to harm your teeth until your ready to come back for a cleaning. Keep up on cleaning is half the battle!
I would never do any of those things. My hygienist just lets me know how important it is to floss every time I go in. :)
Amanda- the hygienist's job is to go beneath the gumline to get the crud that builds up under there. In a healthy mouth that space is 1-3mm deep. In gum disease patients that space can get muuuch deeper, which means a lot of tooth surface to clean off that you can't see. A tooth brush only goes so far, and it won't remove hard tartar build-up.
I guess I meant the difference between my gums and the floor. I need to find one who's more gentle. Plus we know that I am sensetive.
Good post.
Here are a couple of suggestions from the patient. By the way, I go for a cleaning tomorrow.
1. Don't keep telling me to use a softer toothbrush while you are scraping my gums and teeth with a hard steel intrument.
2. Don't tell me long stories about your family that I don't know or your personal problems.
3. Of course, don't ask me questions while your fingers are in my mouth.
4. Don't squirt water down the back of my throat while I am lying on my back and feeling like I am going to drown.
5. Don't work in my face on days when you have to blow your nose every 2 minutes.
6. When making x-rays, don't jam those hard little cards against my gums so hard that I am about to pass out from the pain and then say, "just hold on a minute" while you do something else.
7. Think about your male patients when you drop that lead apron in their lap.
8. When you make my next appointment, don't expect me to know if Tuesday, October 7 at 9:00 AM is a good time for me. I don't even know what I am doing the rest of the day, much less what I am going to be doing in six months at a particular time. There's a significant chance that I may not even be alive then.
9. Don't tell me how much I owe after my insurance co-pay and wait until after I write a check and then tell me I have a credit on my account because the insurance paid more than expected the last time.
10. I see you dressed in a face shield, a surgical mask,and apron, and rubber gloves. How do I know that the little suction thing you put in my mouth was sterilized after the last person used it, or for that matter the instruments you use?
11. If this is so good for me, why does my mouth feel so good going in to see you and hurt so bad for two days afterward?
12. Do you realize that that instrument that you keep poking me with is sharp and hurts? I honestly have had less pain after major surgery. (of course not without drugs)
Phil, I think you need a therapist or a new hygienist, I'm not sure which...
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