Dentist unpacks: “The ecofreaks annoyed me the most”

Medicine has always interested me. But I didn’t want to go to the hospital. Not this rush, not this depressed mood and not this smell. Never. That’s why I decided I wanted to be a dentist. I’ve been doing this for a few years now. I like my job because it’s a good mix of manual work and patient contact.

But it is precisely these patients that often drive me crazy. Because the whole treatment depends on how my patients behave. Every day I deal with nagging and anxious children, who sometimes refuse any treatment.

Early in my career I treated adult patients. They are generally more fun than children. Because they know that although they suffer during the treatment, they eventually leave the practice with healthy teeth.

But even then I had to deal with a few “specialists”. What annoyed me the most was the eco-freaks who wouldn’t use fluoride by hook or by crook. For the ignorant among you: Fluoride is a trace element. It is found in the body in bones and teeth and strengthens them. Most conventional toothpastes contain fluoride. In this way, the tooth enamel can be strengthened.

Of course, it can be harmful in large quantities. But it is important for protecting the teeth. Unfortunately, some don’t get it. I then explained to these ecofreaks that I learned during my five-year internship as a dentist that this fluoride is really important. But they always knew better. Well, I don’t care if I have to treat them for tooth decay every year. Loyal patients are always welcome.

But there are many more little ‘specialists’ among the children. Sometimes I surprise myself at their tricks. A boy once put on a wonderful show: he pretended to cough for fifteen minutes. I knew, of course, that this was just a staging. I still couldn’t handle the main character of the drama.

Since it was in the middle of the corona pandemic, I had no choice but to send the boy back home because he was coughing horribly. The little actor had to trot again a few weeks later – then I was able to carry out the treatment as planned.

I have even heard from other colleagues that children specifically vomited so that they could not be treated. The treatment is then actually always postponed. The vomiting is a kind of triumph. The child is the winner, the dentist the loser.

If the kids haven’t just hatched a master plan and put themselves in the victim role, they’re being unfiltered and honest. Like the only girl who cried when she came into my office. She sobbed, “The woman wants to take my teeth from me!” She was right. I wanted to pull her teeth. But I didn’t tell her that. Instead, I gave her some nitrous oxide and numbed the area to be treated with a syringe. Before some people worry, it’s perfectly normal for children under the age of six to get laughing gas. That relaxes their overheated mind.

I first filled a hole in the frightened patient and then secretly pulled another tooth. She didn’t really get it. She wasn’t in any pain either. After the treatment, she was just glad the nightmare was over. For me it is always a success if the children do not have to feel any pain during the treatment.

Another girl came in and yelled, “No! Not her again!” As a dentist, for many I am the monster who likes to torment people. But that’s not true at all. I am a dentist because I want to help people. Unfortunately, the children do not understand this yet.

Children are ultimately a product of their parents’ upbringing. They can be really dirty. Sometimes their behavior is gross negligence: one child had eight cavities in twenty baby teeth. Frankly, that borders on abuse.

And then there are the parents who say their children have so many cavities in their teeth because it’s hereditary. The parents themselves also had a lot of tooth decay. Then I think to myself, “The only thing that’s genetic is probably stupidity. And the lack of understanding of how important it is to brush your teeth.”

And I wonder something else every day: “Who doesn’t brush their child’s teeth before going to the dentist?” That’s common sense. one would think. But practice shows me that there are a lot of people who don’t get it yet.

The worst moments are when I see a child in the waiting room drinking his Capri Sun or Fanta before the treatment. Then I know: «Now there is a root canal treatment. And tears.”

With young people it is different. They drink Red Bull by the liter and smoke like the brush binders. I then tell them that by the time they are 30 they will need new dentures if they continue like this. But they don’t care. They also don’t understand that smoking joints is also smoking. To treat them right, I always have to be very specific about whether they don’t smoke joints as well. Actually still funny.

But there are also situations that are not funny or annoying. Sometimes I feel sorry for the families. I keep seeing families where the money just isn’t enough. There are children whose parents cannot afford braces. These children often have very bad teeth. But then they just have to live with it. This is unfair, because neither the children nor the parents can do anything about the position of the teeth.

There are also fun moments: the children always come up with drawings that I can use in practice. And sometimes homemade sweets. Very sweet pastries. Caries promoting. But the will counts.