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comatose

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So I was shadowing my dentist today, and she had a patient with really horrible looking teeth and gums. Obviously, I was pretty grossed out. This was the first time I've seen a mouth as bad as this one. I was just wondering if this feeling of disgust is natural for aspiring dentists.
 
You'll get used to it. 😀

Like pathologists who get used to dead bodies in various conditions of mutilation all day, you become inured to it after a while. And believe me you will see plenty of cases like that in dental school.

There is a lot of satisfaction though when you take a patient whose mouth is in horrible condition and turn it around 180 degrees by the time you finish the treatment plan. It's amazing how much better someone's oral cavities can look even after just a prophy to get rid of all the odoriferous debris, plaque and calculus and teaching the patient how to properly brush and floss.
 
Its kind of crazy, but when I assist in the clinic I am disappointed unless the patients mouth is completely rotten. Its no fun treating a 16 year old with a tiny type 1 carious lesion. The people who look like they just ate a handful of dirt RULE!!
 
Visit your local Medicaid accepting Pedodontist! You will be immune to all types of grossness after a day!
 
I volunteer at a student run dental clinic (all of us who run it are pre-dents) and we deal with a lot of homeless and underserved. There are a lot of undergrads who have never seen these kind of cases before and decide it's not for them. Although, I agree that if you're willing to face it and get used to it, it's not as bad as you think.
 
noao
right on.
i just PMed you.

Do you think there is a huge gap between patients in private practice clinic than community health center? and also with general poplulation?
 
Originally posted by ecdoesit .

Do you think there is a huge gap between patients in private practice clinic than community health center? and also with general poplulation? [/B]
Click to expand...

I can speak on this one from multiple experiences. First off the outright answer is yes, and no. I can say that when I was in my first practice in suburbia verses where I am in a rural setting now, that the answer was yes, a huge difference, with very few "dental disasters" and a relatively high dental IQ. Now, in the rural setting that I'm in, I see a similiar number of "dental disasters" as I did when I was in the clinic settings of my dental school and residency.

For example, in my office we've averaged over the last 2.5 years 55 new patients a month(figure about 2 per day). We'll see atleast 1 person a week with 10+ cavities(and often needed 2 or 3 endos and a few extactions), we'll also see about 10 kids per year with the "classical baby bottle caries" needing multiple exos and space maintenance.

Basically, the rural environment can often mimic a clinic environment, but thats not to say that I also don't have my share of high dental IQ patients wanting cosmetic services to balance out those "dental disasters". Ahhhh, the joys of private practice in the country!😀 :clap:
 
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