Patients do the darnedest things?


Last week I had a patient who quacked like a duck!I kid you not! She was in my chair and evidently when I lay her back she experiences a partial airway obstruction . I was treating her anterior teeth and she helped me by retracting her tongue. Every so often she would make what sounded like a duck quacking noise with her tongue. I believe she was experiencing "wake apnea" and needed to breathe better. Her tongue must have been blocking her airway.

It was a little like having a version Felix Unger in my chair. At first I tried to get her to stop, but I guess she just couldn't help herself and needed to do it to breathe better.

Luckily she was able to repress the urge momentarily while I placed the bonding into her tooth. She is a great patient but her quirk can make dentistry challenging. This brings up the fact that a number of patients seem to have "tics" while receiving dental treatment. Some patients have a phlem problem and need to take breaks to clear their throats. Some need to rinse out repeatedly each time I take a small break from drilling .  Others feel the need to rehydrate their teeth every chance they get. Their constant wetting of their tooth can pose a problem since I need to inspect their  dried tooth surface in order  to see fine detail in the prep and to inspect whether decay removal is complete.

Others use each 30 second break to check for new texts and respond. This can delay completion of their dental work.  It would seem to be common sense to put your phone on silent  while receiving dental treatment but in my experience, many people do not and they feel the need to check who is calling when it rings.

When I was younger and more inexperienced, I thought I might change peoples behaviors when in the dental chair, but as time goes by I realize that its much smarter to  pick my battles, whether in my office or in the outside world, it pays to be patient and tolerant of others quirks. Live and let live will be my montre for 2017.

from Ask Dr. Spindel - http://ift.tt/2nAO5gu - http://ift.tt/1SpPbm6

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