For students and dentists who've worked on patients, how does it feel?

[BoxerRumble]

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Hey there members,

So as I think about this profession more and more, and thinking about dental school and being a future dentist...I wonder how do you guys who've done work on patients feel when you have to inflict some pain on the patient. I've shadowed and saw many times patients moaning, screaming, choking, cringing and wiggling uncomfortably in their chairs. I love every aspect of dentistry except for this. Did you guys at first felt a little remorseful after a procedure, and then maybe it got easier as you do more procedures? Does it take getting use to..or do you never get use to it? Or do some of you not even feel bad when it happens?

I don't know how I'd feel yet, since I've never done any job that required hurting people, even if it's just a bit. But I'm just thinking about it and would love experienced inputs. I'm thinking I would probably get use to it, just like everything in life and accept it. Am I being unreasonably to even think about this? Does this tell me that I have no business becoming a dentist? I appreciate any help with this! Thanks.

 

[aphistis]

Hey there members,

So as I think about this profession more and more, and thinking about dental school and being a future dentist...I wonder how do you guys who've done work on patients feel when you have to inflict some pain on the patient. I've shadowed and saw many times patients moaning, screaming, choking, cringing and wiggling uncomfortably in their chairs. I love every aspect of dentistry except for this. Did you guys at first felt a little remorseful after a procedure, and then maybe it got easier as you do more procedures? Does it take getting use to..or do you never get use to it? Or do some of you not even feel bad when it happens?

I don't know how I'd feel yet, since I've never done any job that required hurting people, even if it's just a bit. But I'm just thinking about it and would love experienced inputs. I'm thinking I would probably get use to it, just like everything in life and accept it. Am I being unreasonably to even think about this? Does this tell me that I have no business becoming a dentist? I appreciate any help with this! Thanks.

It's uncommon, but every once in a while there's a case where I end up inflicting unnecessary pain on a good patient. You'll continue to feel bad about those. It's a good sign when you do, though; it tells you that you still have a healthy professional conscience.

At the other end of the spectrum, there are also patients whose problems are completely their own fault, and no matter how carefully you treat them, they're going to be pissed off and blame you for not just waving your magic wand and fixing them instantly. I never go out of my way to hurt or trouble a patient, but I don't lose any sleep about the pain and inconvenience that is frequently unavoidable when you're treating these kinds of problems.

Most situations fall somewhere in between. You have to be confident in your skills and comfortable in the knowledge that you've done the best you can for the patient. After that, you just have to employ a compassionate chairside manner, and remember that the patient will be better off in the long run for the care you're providing.

 

[jmick101]

Hey there members,

So as I think about this profession more and more, and thinking about dental school and being a future dentist...I wonder how do you guys who've done work on patients feel when you have to inflict some pain on the patient. I've shadowed and saw many times patients moaning, screaming, choking, cringing and wiggling uncomfortably in their chairs. I love every aspect of dentistry except for this. Did you guys at first felt a little remorseful after a procedure, and then maybe it got easier as you do more procedures? Does it take getting use to..or do you never get use to it? Or do some of you not even feel bad when it happens?

I don't know how I'd feel yet, since I've never done any job that required hurting people, even if it's just a bit. But I'm just thinking about it and would love experienced inputs. I'm thinking I would probably get use to it, just like everything in life and accept it. Am I being unreasonably to even think about this? Does this tell me that I have no business becoming a dentist? I appreciate any help with this! Thanks.

Look, what most people don't know is that the quest to provide quality, relatively pain free dentistry is what drove the development of modern anesthetics, beginning with the use of nitrous oxide. Dentistry opened the gates of pain control that has made much of modern medicine possible.

Dentists don't go out of their way to hurt folks, but the pinch of an injection is so much better than the alternatives. Fact is that most people hate needles. I have patients who pierce themselves with safety pins and give themselves tatoos, but still break out in a cold sweat when I bust out the topical and the ol' 30 gauge long. Its regrettable, but again, a needle prick is infinitely better than going without.

 

[Streetwolf]

As long as there's some reason why the pain occurred and can't be avoided, I am "fine" with it (I can handle seeing the pain). I never want any of my patients to be in pain but if it is going to happen regardless, I don't want it to be because I did something incorrectly.

You can't prevent every patient from feeling an injection (especially palatal). And they know it and expect it. So it's easy to get used to that one, as far as seeing people wince for a moment.

I had my first case a month ago though where I got an emergency patient who ended up needing a tooth extracted and felt the whole thing. I brought her into oral surgery clinic and gave 2 carpules of lido. She felt the injection more than my patients usually do, so that was the first sign of things to come. When the attending was helping me out, she started complaining that she felt pain from the periosteal elevator. The attending (an OS with 25+ years experience) gave another 2 carpules. He went in with the forceps and she basically curled up into a ball crying in pain.

That's probably the moment I can pinpoint where I felt the absolute worst for her.

Even with another 2 carpules of septo she still felt it but he eventually got the tooth out. We sent her home with some scripts for pain killers and antibiotics. That area had to have been infected. No way 6 carpules wouldn't work otherwise.

I gave her a call that night making sure she was okay. She really appreciated my call and more importantly UNDERSTOOD that the exo had to be done.

Had I been the one performing the procedure and not the OS could I have finished it? I really don't know. I feel like I've "toughened up" since then. It's perfectly fine and more importantly human to not want to see others in pain or continue hurting others, but sometimes it's the only option. You just have to suck it in and do what's best for the patient.

After that, you just have to employ a compassionate chairside manner

This x 1000.

 

[Thaxil]

My whole life I have been pick on, called nerd and freak, people knocking piles of books from my arm as I walked home from the library. Dishing out the pain is part of the reward of doing dentistry. You get paid to torment people. I consider this payback, and I am just getting started.

Some people really think dentist are out to get them: shake them down, and make them scream. You have to be able to roll with the punches and not take things to heart. I try my best but cant please everyone.

 

[Masseter]

My whole life I have been pick on, called nerd and freak, people knocking piles of books from my arm as I walked home from the library. Dishing out the pain is part of the reward of doing dentistry. You get paid to torment people. I consider this payback, and I am just getting started.

Some people really think dentist are out to get them: shake them down, and make them scream. You have to be able to roll with the punches and not take things to heart. I try my best but cant please everyone.

👍

ahah, thanks for the laugh.

 

[comlk]

feel like crap😡

 

[BoxerRumble]

Thanks for the replies guys. I guess it's nothing to lose sleep over. I guess sometimes I think about those days shadowing...I remember this lady in the other exam room wailing very loudly, like...a whale actually.

 

[mohammed nasser]

Working on patients is very interesting .
One time i was making cavity in patient molar and after finishing the preparation , the bur accidently came in contact with her mucosa while rotating , she became very afraid of me , my assistant told me that she asked him not to leave her cz i would kill her
😀
She was my first case in the dental school
But i enjoyed this in one way or another