March 19, 2008

Failing still isnt an option

Yesterday I was talked down to ... and in all honesty, I had nothing to say in my defence
If anything, I was disappointed at myself
She was my first but I failed her
The time spent over a yr and a half with me went to waste

Yesterday I reviewed my patient on the work Ive done on her
After over 18 months, her gum problem got even worse than when I first saw her
Now clearly on the Bitewings, I saw 2 massive root caries
Interestingly I just learnt about root caries a few days ago
She was a 2nd yr patient when I was in second yr
Now shes prob classified as a 4th yr patient...funny I'm in 4th yr now too
Nothing to be proud of
The sign that my treatment failed and personally, I failed as a dentist

"Whats her medical history?"
"no medical history of concern, is it?"
"astma? not recently? how recent? ur recent or my recent?"
"Aropax? what is it for? what type is it? u better go look it up"
"wheres the plaque index? I thought u said u did a full examination"
"when was the last time u took a plaque index? thats score was too high"
"that 9mm pocket is actually a 7. That 16D is 6mm"
"two hugh root caries. what does that mean? oral hygience is s**t!!"
"treat this patient as a new case. start all over again"
......utterly humiliated

Incompetent I was ...and maybe still am
Lousy work is like a time bomb, slowing ticking
Bad record keeping comes back and bites u hard...in the butt
Crappy baseline measurement will haunt u for the rest of ur career

On the bright side, I may have 2 more fillings to do and possibly 2 RCT
I really have no shame

Some day... some day I'll be one awesome dentist
Failing still isnt an option

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