Last Friday Jean, who in this case happens to be my girlfriend, told me she needed a cleaning. Naturally, I said, “Babe, come to the school – they accept every insurance, and I can do it!” She found my logic sound…which might have been our first mistake.
Her appointment arrives and we’re off to a rocky start. Turns out her insurance is literally the only one the school doesn’t accept, and she has to pay $40…when she could have had it for free at a private dentist. She chokes up the cash and I call her back to my chair to start. Well apparently she’s a dentaphobe…and dating a dentist, I KNOW! Flailing at every touch of the scaler, and she could not STOP TALKING. It took me over an hour to finish the prophy, and as a D4 this ain’t exactly my first rodeo when it comes to prophies. Next she tells me she wants whitening trays, so I obliged to take alginates. *Just don’t mess this up man, she’ll hate you forever.*
Out of fear of an over-exaggerated response, I reassure her I’m the best impression taker there is and my patients are always fine. (Yes, I just broke every cardinal rule of dentistry with that one statement, I know.) Turns out, I was scraping the bottom of my alginate container and didn’t pack it tight, making a deceivingly liquid-gooopy mix. I blackout and unwisely decide to go for it. #StillGonnaSendItBro. Sure enough, I capture her uvula and possibly half the esophagus, I’m unsure because I was still coming to as I took the tray out of her mouth.
So now, after what *should have been an easy appointment* all that’s resulted is she has told all our friends and family how bad she thinks I am at impressions, and is my worst advocate for new patients. And that’s why they say never treat friends or family.
