Wednesday, August 8, 2007

You've asked, I finally deliver

******WARNING! IF YOU ARE AT ALL SQUIMISH WITH ALL THINGS HAVING TO DO WITH THE HUMAN BODY THIS MAY NOT BE A POST FOR YOU TO READ*************

So I have had several (i.e. all 2 of you who read this blog) beg continually for pictures from the office of interesting things that happen there. Well, here they are finally!

I must also mention that I took cool pics of a different patient months and months ago but it was with the hygienist's camera and she has still failed to give me those pictures.

Case of the rotting tooth:

So this patient came in off the street, in pain beyond all pain, thinking that he needs a tooth pulled. We take an xray and all around the base of the tooth, like at the gum line in the front part of it, its black, which means basically that its so soft and decayed that the xray beams are going straight through instead of being reflected back on the film to show a nice white area.

This xray is not the actually pic of the tooth in question, but basically shows you what I mean. Imagine though, there is no tooth edge, it just looks like a bomb took out half the tooth.

Anyway, so we measured around the tooth to see what the gum situation is like and it was 8 all the way around. Ever have your gum health measured (may have been a series of 3-2-3's called out by the hygienist of dr?). There is a pocket that your tooth sits in in the gum. The higher the number, the deeper the pocket. 1 meaning very shallow meaning v. good. 12 meaning your tooth is literally hanging on by a string meaning v. deep and v. bad. So you can guess what the 8's meant.

So the dentist numbed the patient up and pulled the tooth right out. And this is what it looked like :

That little bomb crater on the side of the tooth wasn't created by a drill. That was created by good old fashioned decay!!!!!! And before we soaked it in bleach, it was BLACK!!!!

So be warned! Brush and floss! Atleast once a week!!!

4 comments:

Gawain said...

That is one GNARLY tooth. I'm suprised you didn't projectile vomit right into the patient's mouth.

Marie said...

I shall never know such pain. I was addicted to flouride pills as a kid (thought they tasted like candy) and as a result, I have killer teeth. I could hire myself as Jaws of Life at accident scenes.

That rotted tooth is disgusting. Have you ever retched over a patient's mouth when you encounter something really disgusting?

Stefanie said...

No I haven't, although I almost did the other day over a temporary crown. It had been on a patient's tooth for about 5 months so the inside smelled disgusting, even through the mask. I was happy when it was out from under my nose!

Gina said...

I'm fascinated by the tooth! I'm flossing the moment I arrive home.