First Live Specimen,or should I say Patient ?!

“Call Swetha immediately, She's got a case to attend..” is what my prof had told one of my friends. It was the day before the very first day of prostho posting. Prosthodonticts is a dept that deals with replacement of missing tooth or teeth. Yep, the dentures your grandparents wear belong to this branch of dentistry. Getting back to where we were, I was certainly not primed for the process. Mind you, it was my first patient!! I had worked on dummies earlier. But this person greets me with a big smile and calls me doctor! He he.. Poor guy. He had the least knowledge of being my first live specimen! I was minimally equipped. Neither was I mentally prepared. Since I was the first roll on in my batch, I was alloted the case. Its always lucky to be the first roll on, but back then, I did not feel so! I did not expect my prof to call me and intimate about the patient a day earlier! Quickly, as quick as less than less than ten mins, I begged, borrowed n stole the necessary stuffs from different places in the clinic, just to ensure I do not obviously get caught! :D

Things all set, patient still smiling and my hand still trembling! Next what? Ya, taking impression of the patient's teeth so that I can place an appropriate denture. The lab assistant tells me that the measuring jar is missing, and i have to do the calculation for myself to carefully measure the liquid and powder ratio to obtain a fine mix. Thanks lady, thats a lot of help! Struggled for the first 25 mins and later stabilized. An intern kept directing me and my doom, she was a screwed lady that day! She hardly knew the consistency of the mix! Her directions totally messed up, but blame not her. She was at least amiable !!

The problems seemed to be solved but NO! It got worse. My patient was this totally uncooperative person who kept biting my hand and nauseating every time I took the impression tray close to his mouth! The entire dept freaked out and my profs stepped in at the right time to save me from collapsing! Eventually the process of impression making was done!

Seems like a comedy story now. The way I was sweating, the way my hands were trembling and the nervous smile on my face. But just in a matter of weeks, it seems to be an art, the art of working, as they call it! Today it appears way to simple. Helping my friends who have this first patient syndrome, quite comical!

But beyond all this, there is this amazing co-incidence. I get the blessings of my parents before I commence anything. I did the same that day. Soon after I entered the clinic, the sister handed me the file of my patient. The name read Mr. Bala. I was moved. It felt as though my parents were there next to me by the clinic to watch all this. Well, my dad's name is Bala too.... :)

Written by Swetha

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