A patient's big "break"

Today's schedule: one filling, one extraction, and one alveoloplasty. I assisted on the extraction, which went relatively smooth. It was just a typical day at the clinic. Joking around with the staff, talking about dental school, and assisting the dentist - it's what we do.

There was a man who came in today who wasn't on the schedule. He wanted to see if there was an opening because he broke his tooth earlier in the week. Luckily for him, two patients before him did not show up, so we slid him in. He was probably in his late 20s, and he told us that he broke the tooth while eating pizza. As a result, there was a gap in the front of his smile. The reason why he wanted to fix it now was because he happened to have a job interview on Wednesday and did not want the gap to be a distraction to the interviewer. He told us that he applied at Lupe Tortilla Restaurant to be a waiter and was finally given an interview. The dentist placed a metal post in the hole vacated by his broken tooth and filled it with a composite resin. What amazed me was how quickly she was able to shape the resin into the shape of a tooth. The shade of this temporary tooth matched the shade of the rest of his teeth perfectly. When the patient saw the finished result, he was extremely grateful and told us how relieved he was that he no longer had a gap. He felt like this job interview was his one big break in life. By the way he talked about the waiter position, one could think that he was interviewing to be the CEO of a huge corporation. This made me realize that for these less fortunate people, any job is a big step in the right direction for them. I was happy that he was given this opportunity and wished him the best of luck. The patient left the clinic feeling excited and confident.

I guess the message from today's post is: be thankful for what you have in life. Don't take for granted the many blessings you have. What you perceive to be small and petty may actually be another person's treasure.