The Dentist

Went for a root canal treatment last week. Despite assurances from the dentist at a prior consultation that I will feel no pain, I was still fearful of the injections that will render the numbness. My skeptism was partly due to the dentist's behaviour in dismissing my "fears" and probably silently mocking at my cowardice.

It turned out that I actually felt no pain at all. I am quite amazed that the injections into the gum were painless. It could probably be due to the skill and gentleness of the dentist. I was pleasantly surprised. However my hunch that the guy is cold and unsympathetic proves to be true. Throughout the one hour procedure he nagged and pecked at the poor dental nurse relentlessly. He found fault at her tardiness in fetching the equipment, nagged at her absent mindedness when she fumbled amongst the drawers to get the required parts/accessories and mocked that she forgot what she had studied. I gathered the nurse is probably a Malaysian because the dentist was bemoaning about the details required in the application form for her work permit or something. At one instance he called for some heating tool. When she asked him whether it was the black or the blue coloured one he needed, he sarcastically asked her, "Do you need me to try on you in order that you will remember?" My eyes rolled. Had I not been wearing the big goggles to shield the dentist lamp, I am quite confident the dentist would have noticed, given that my facial expressions always reflect my feelings very well. I think his behaviour tentamount to mental abuse given that she has to stay in the same room with him the entire day.

At a dinner amongst a small gathering of ex-counselling course mates and our lecturer, I shared with them my root canal procedure and more interestingly the dentist's behaviour. My ex-lecturer remarked that dentists have the highest suicide rate. We all laughed but she suspected it was because dentists generally feel they are being abhored. You go to the dentist out of sheer necessity and suffer the pain and fright. In addition you hate him for robbing you. Moreover there is very little time for a dentist to build rapport with the clients. The clients have to yank their mouth wide opened once on the dentist chair and prefer to scuttle off the minute they step out of it after bearing with all the drilling noise and sensation. Hence unlike a doctor, the dentist do not receive the appreciation that patients normally bestow a doctor.

That reminds me of a podcast I heard on the topic of compassion by a Buddhist teacher. The speaker spoke about how small acts of compassion can evoke the tenderness in a person and consequentially arouses a sense of well being. He gave the example of how kissing and tugging a child to bed does make one feels good. Perhaps dentists can allocate more time for each appointment to include some small talk with the client or perhaps gracious gestures like allowing the client to choose from a selection of dvd to be played as background music etc. I am sure they will be rewarded with a smile from the client which will give them more positive energy. In the long run the money they sacrifice in having less appointments is well worth it.

I still have 2 more appointments before the procedure is complete. This time I may decline wearing the goggles and let him see my eyes roll and roll if he does exhibit the same mental abusive behaviour. Hmm..... maybe that is a bit too risky. What if he is really neurotic? He may pretend to accidentally drop the drill onto my gums when he sees my rolling eyes! Perhaps it is safer just to offer him my ideas discussed above.