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Volume3 Issue5
S
upporting
Y
our
P
ractice
Areyouournext “
MaskedDentist
”?
Haveyouany funnyormemorable incidents to sharebasedonyour experiences inclinical practice?
Weare looking for dentistswhowould like to share their storieswith their colleagues—ina safe,
anonymous andnonjudgmentalmanner.We take theMaskedDentist approachbecausewebelieve
that the sharingof experiences isworthwhileandeducative, andwedon’twant tohinder such sharing
if peoplehaveaconcernabout being identified.
Please feel free tocontactDr. O’Keefedirectlyat
.
“Another story from that sameexternshipwas about apatientwho arrived at Bob’s
officewith anolder set of dentures that hehad taken apair of pliers to and removed
all the teeth.WhenBob askedwhyhe’ddone that, thepatient said that set (madeby
another dentist)weren’twhiteenough.
Bobmadeasetwith thewhitestcolourpossible—and thepatient loved it.He introduced
me to the patient on the street one day and the patient hadgreat praise for Bob—and
for his verywhite teeth!”
“Inmy earlydays inpractice, I didextensiveworkwith
seniors and their dentures. I did some challengingwork
with stroke victimswhoneeded special dentures because
of changedbites and sagging faces. Butmynext story
relates to a lady, whohadn’t suffered a stroke. I examinedher
and clearly shehad a set of dentures thatwere two sizes too
big! Imadeher anew set, but shewas reluctant togiveup the
ones shewaswearingbecause theywereher latehusband’s.”
“My final story comes from a nurse who worked in seniors’ care for years. This nurse one-
uppedmy previous story and related an incident inwhich a lady arrived in care andwhen
her husband came to visit hemade a stink because they had “lost” her dentures. Hephoned
to apologize the next day because he found themwhen he took his shirt off and they fell
out of hisbackwhere theyhadbeen lodged. Theyfiguredhehad rolledon to them inbed
anddidnot notice them.”
