Surround Yourself with Good People

The people you surround yourself with make your life either good or bad. At the dentist office you aren’t just with co-workers, you’re with patients. The great thing about that is if one patient is quiet, that’s okay. The next patient could be one that makes you laugh.

I love when little kids came in for the first time! We would clean their parent’s teeth first and let them watch. By doing that they are less likely to be scared of the instruments going into their mouths. When it comes to the polishing part of the cleaning we would put the instrument on their fingernails to show that it doesn’t hurt even though it makes a scary noise. When we would describe the feeling we would tell them that it kind of tickles and they might want to laugh.

This one little girl was concerned that we were gluing her teeth with the polish. The mom and hygienist couldn’t understand why she kept saying glue and scream when the instrument got close to her mouth. I understood what the little girl was concerned about. The hygienist had previously described the polish as glue. She did that because the polish is put on so your teeth stay smooth.  When your teeth are smooth it prevents bacteria from sticking to your teeth.

                           

Those were the appointments I lived for. It’s crazy what little kids pick up. They are so smart. On the other hand, the elderly spend a lot of time at the dentist because as we age our teeth start to fail out and have problems. The ones that come in very few months or so I got close with. I started to learn about their family and what was going on in their life. They started to get to know me as well. It was especially neat when their other family member would come in because you not only felt like part of the family at the dentist office but also a part of your patients family.

Obviously I love the dentist office so when my internship ended I was sad to leave the family. I hope to one day go back and be a dentist at the office and rejoin my family and add others to it as well. I learn that who you surround yourself with determines how you view life. Feeling like you’re apart of something that special is truly amazing.