Into and Out of The Mouths of Babes (eBook)

A Personal and Professional Memoire of &quote;Dr. Sawdust,&quote; a Pediatric Dentist

Gregory L. Psaltis DDS (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2022 | 1. Auflage
278 Seiten
Bookbaby (Verlag)
978-1-6678-3988-2 (ISBN)

Infos

Few people think of dentistry with warmth and joy. A different world exists within that profession, though. It is pediatric dentistry. The care of children is largely about the relationship built by the dentist with the patient, as well as with the parents. In this book, Dr. Psaltis describes his pathway to a fulfilling professional life that has included funny, touching, sad and inspiring stories. The book is a combination of personal memoire and a professional life. It is also a book about crucial moments that change one's life in an instance. From a frightened and pained nine-year-old dental patient to an international speaker, Dr. Psaltis relates the unexpected pathway that led him to a career that was well beyond his expectations. The stories he tells exceeded the expectations of fearful parents and trusting children. The other element that grows from the start of the book to the end is the circle of life manifesting in a marvelous fashion. Dr. Psaltis's career choice began when he discovered his specialty while caring for children of migrant workers in California. The closure of his career found him treating more latino children on his humanitarian dental projects in Mexico. Sweet, funny, touching are just some of the words that describe this surprising exposé of a part of dentistry that might change many people's opinion of the profession.

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Into and Out of the Mouths of Babes is a book about inspiration, humor, hope and successes in unexpected places. It is a memoire of an experienced pediatric dentist that spans the time between his own first visit with a dentist to his long career as a pediatric dentist, professional speaker and creator of a humanitarian dental project that provides comprehensive care for hundreds of children in Mexico. While the book is built around dentistry, the largest part of the book is about the funny, sweet, touching and sometimes tearful interactions with patients and their parents. While many may consider the choice of pediatric dentistry to be an odd, if not terrible one, the reality of dealing with children in the dental setting is usually the opposite. They are far better patients than many adults. The true stories in this book are included in professional lectures at major dental meetings in the United States and internationally. They always result in hearty responses, which is a part of my reason to believe why they would be popular for a broader audience. The book is about human nature and human interaction. While I was watching the PBS remake of All Creatures Great and Small, it struck me that James Herriott's books dealt with his treatment of animals and their owners. While it was built around his professional experiences, the appeal came from his descriptions of the animals and the people who owned them. I believe people also like stories about children and families. My hope and goal are that this book will paint a very personal picture of the dental profession, which is rarely treated well by Hollywood or comedians. As a pediatric dentist for 47 years, a speaker for 27 and a volunteer in Mexico for 16, my experiences could fill a book and now that has become a reality. From successful appointments with special needs children to learning Spanish to gifts, pictures and strange pronunciations of Dr. Psaltis's name, the core of this book is all about how simple human contact can be the best form of care. Pediatric dentists are always doing two things simultaneously-treating teeth and caring for children. As the book makes clear, it is the latter that makes the specialty what it is. The legacy of all pediatric dentists is not the fillings they placed. Many of them will end up under a pillow with the teeth that held them. The best accomplishment by pediatric dentists is always about watching children succeed in a place where their parents think they cannot. They lay the groundwork for a lifetime of oral health by helping children realize a dental office is both a safe place and a place they will continue to go for a lifetime. Those experiences can be very satisfying as well as fun, emotional and memorable. They are also the core of this book.

Textauszug

Introduction

Muy especiál

“Muy especiál, muy especiál,” her grateful father said to me over and over while vigorously and enthusiastically shaking my hand. I was afraid his enthusiasm might result in dislodging my shoulder, but I was grateful for his lively response. His wife merely sat and stared at me, sobbing and daubing the tears from her eyes. It was yet another special moment for me and perhaps the crowning one of my career. It reflected on all I had learned, experienced, and enjoyed during my career as a pediatric dentist. Just like the father’s assessment of me, it was “very special” for me as well. It encapsulated so much in a brief moment. How could I ever explain this to others?

I begin toward the end of my career experiences simply because retrospection leads to introspection, taking away the busy moments of one’s life when appreciation and understanding may fall away in the midst of “doing.” I have filled so many teeth, reluctantly extracted many and “counted” innumerable teeth (the euphemism for an oral examination) that I revel in the memories of my career choice that brought me so many more rewards than I could have imagined. Even in my moments of self-doubt or in my moments of undue optimism, I had never dared to conceive of the satisfaction that my work ultimately brought me. Many may regard being a dentist as unthinkable. “How can you work in people’s mouths?” they often ask. At least I’m on the better end of the alimentary tract in my opinion. Others would question my choice of specialty. Learning that I was a pediatric dentist, some would pose the question, “So you only see children?” Yes. Their next question would be “why?” My answer was simple, unexpected, but entirely truthful. “Because the alternative is seeing adults,” I would say.

Pediatric dentistry is certainly dentistry. It involves the many aspects of oral care that one traditionally assumes would be done by a dentist. The technical details of my career were repetitive, mostly simple and, after my first few years, not all that interesting. I always took it very seriously, but the aspect of working with children that never failed to hold my interest was the interaction with the young patients. I also cherished the opportunity to create the attitude toward dental care rather than change it. Many of the parents who brought their children into the practice were unabashedly fearful while their children sat quietly and happily during our attention to their teeth. I always felt fortunate to welcome patients who still had not yet developed an opinion about dental care and guide them to a place of genuine accomplishment and confidence. In the end, it was always the best work I ever did. Many of the teeth I treated ultimately fell out, but the attitudes I nurtured were far less likely to exfoliate like baby teeth. It also thrilled me to witness parents watching their children accept care with such facility. I’m sure some parents doubted their own children’s resilience and perhaps also doubted their own, with haunting memories of dental experiences in their own past. Then, before their own eyes, they could witness their three-year-old having a filling done without difficulty. Much credit was given to me although the true accomplishment should have gone to the children. After all, I had the easiest part. They were ones having the procedure.

I refer to the procedures I did in my practice as the fundraiser to support the really important work I was doing. There were no fees for building a child’s confidence. That was merely a part of the package. Dentists get paid for what they do with their hands, but those in my specialty get paid in other-than-financial ways for what we do with our voices, our words, and our encouragement. At times it feels magical, and I have wondered exactly how it works. As a speaker on the dental continuing education circuit for more than 27 years, I have stood in front of audiences talking about techniques to instill positive attitudes in children’s minds, but in the end, it really is all about one’s own attitude. The cute terminology I used (“sleepy juice” for local anesthetic and “whistle” for drill) made things understandable for my young patients, but if delivered with a sense of irony, embarrassment, or lack of conviction, they would fail to achieve the desired result. It is a choice that a professional makes to either embrace the fun of caring for children or not. Dentistry tends to attract technophiles and that is not always congruent with warm and fuzzy. When the warmth and fuzziness come out in a genuine way, the results can be astonishing, if not “muy especiál.”

Through a lengthy process that is described later, I began caring for children in Mexico solely for my satisfaction. My career had provided so much that I felt it would be rewarding to export my skills to populations that truly had no hope for dental care and would be both appreciative and attentive. After establishing a toehold in Zihuatanejo, Mexico, I created a project in Cabo San Lucas, which brings us back to my opening story. It has been my experience that stories tell more than just the facts, and, in pediatric dentistry, people can easily identify with such stories because they are principally about human nature, not fillings and crowns.

Early on in the Cabo San Lucas project, a child presented for examination. Her name was Magdalena and she was about 15 years old. Magdalena is a child with autism. Both Mr. and Mrs. Lopez warned me in no uncertain terms that Magdalena had never cooperated with any doctor or dentist so that they had little to no optimism about the chances for success with her visit with me. In fact, these are the cases that I like the best because there is no chance of failure! If the appointment doesn’t accomplish anything, the parents are not surprised. However, any success, no matter how small, will be seen as something “very special.” My team of three (myself, a dental hygienist and another dentist) greeted Magdalena as she entered the room, in part of her own accord, and in part due to the physical assistance of her father. She was a girl who we considered too big to physically overcome and I knew immediately that she would be a black or white case. In the face of resistance on her part, my two female cohorts and I would not be able to restrain her and keep her safe with the sharp and high-speed equipment we used. Once in the dental chair, Magdalena showed no signs of enthusiasm for what we proposed. My style with all children of special needs is to treat them like every other child. After all, who really knows what these children understand or not? The fact that children with autism do not communicate with us verbally has never meant that they cannot understand us.

I believe it was the tone of our voices and the gentle, slow pace of our process that helped this girl to understand at some level that we were not a threat. Once her mouth was open, I could examine the child, understanding that I was undoubtedly the first person to ever look at her teeth—often a challenge no matter the age. I was pleasantly surprised and pleased to find her in reasonably good oral health, although she did have some minimal cavities on her permanent molars that required our attention. The purpose of this first visit was only to evaluate both the dental condition as well as the emotional response. I told Mr. and Mrs. Lopez that Magdalena needed fillings and that I wanted to see her again. They expressed some surprise that she had allowed us to look into her mouth but assured us that accomplishing any actual treatment was unlikely. They specifically requested the last appointment of the day so that Magdalena’s screaming wouldn’t frighten any other patients awaiting their appointments.

When the appointed day arrived, we were completing care on our next-to-last child when the atmosphere of the waiting room chilled as if the dementors from Harry Potter had arrived. The air was thick with apprehension, but I knew it wasn’t from the girl. As our previous patient bounced out of the treatment room with a big smile on her face, the Lopez family stared at her with both concern and surprise. We prepared the room for Magdalena and when I went out to bring her back, both parents stood, as if they would be part of the treatment team. I asked them to take their seats and then guided Magdalena into the treatment room. She got into the chair without hesitation, and we began our soft-toned chat with her. I couldn’t sense any fear from her, but I knew that the test would be when the care began.

Step number one in a restorative dental visit (filling, or restoring, teeth) is to numb the oral tissues (gums) with a topical anesthetic so that the penetration of the needle for local anesthetic is more comfortable. When I showed Magdalena the long Q-Tip with the topical gel on it, she clenched her teeth, pursed her lips, and shook her head. There is no question that this is the action that leads many dentists to reach for a referral pad to “go to the kid’s dentist.” However, I am the kid’s dentist and I’d seen this many times. This neither cows nor discourages me from proceeding. As I gently touched her lips to open them, I lightly rubbed the cotton tip and continued to encourage her to open her mouth. She did exactly that. With the topical anesthetic in place, I then moved on to the injection, carefully instructing my two team members to control Magdalena’s head. A sudden jerk can result in a broken needle and in the case of a child who is thrashing, it becomes a nearly...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 8.6.2022
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Biografien / Erfahrungsberichte
• ISBN-10: 1-6678-3988-8 / 1667839888
• ISBN-13: 978-1-6678-3988-2 / 9781667839882