The Moments

The moments that make all this horrible, horrible stuff I have to put up with and endure worth it all are the moments when I can do something for someone that makes their life better. Generally, this means completing a treatment and lately, that's been pretty slow in coming.

Today, I got to do it for a little girl who had a cavity on the front of her canine. You could obviously see it when she smiled. Jennifer and I had to privilege of restoring that today and it was absolutely the coolest thing to send her off with a smile of pretty, healthy teeth.

Here's the story: Big pharm test = very little sleep. I've made a pact with myself that I will not perform irreversible treatments when on very little sleep. You're welcome. I'm still a newbie and my patients appreciate this rule whether they know about it or not. When on pedo rotation, however, you don't get to make those calls. After the insanity of our 7:30 am test and a 30 min nap in the library, Jennifer told me I was listed as the operator for a composite on a canine for a little girl. Great. An entire hour to sit in class prepare for this in my head. So I sat down in my seat for our operative class and we covered esthetic facial composites. Great. Whatever.

I raced to the clinic after class and pulled up her chart and we started to get ready. And the patient needed...an esthetic facial composite. See how God takes care of me? : ) This happened the entire course of my first denture and the day I cut my first crown. I don't deserve it.

We didn't even have to numb her up - bonus! I even scraped most of the decay out with a spoon. Mr. Bumpy did make an appearance, but she didn't mind at all. The pedo dispensary probably thought we were crazy asking for a shade guide and two different shades of composite, but we wanted it to look right. Even if it's a primary tooth and will fall out in a few years.

Let's just say that it's always a relief to find that God really has gifted me with the random talents a dentist needs to be successful as I seem to have a decent eye for shades and matching composite (remember the star I got from Dr. Miller?). It's so super easy to feel inadequate and untalented in dental school. The truth of the matter is that I am inadequate and can only do any of this by the grace of and with the help of God. He gives me what I need when I need it. Manna. So when the resident couldn't find where I'd placed the restoration because it blended so well (we switched docs in the middle and he didn't see the prep), it left me on cloud 9 for the rest of the day. These moments are few and far between. And I'm super thankful.