I like working with kids so I was very excited about my pedo rotation. However, I was somewhat disappointed. Not all pedo patients are the same. There comes a time when a simple rubber cup polishing session will not remove all debris and further time and methods are needed!!! Kids do get calculus too and it is important to give them the same treatment that we would an adult. My patient was a thirteen year old male who was also suffering from developmental disorders. He brushed his teeth once at night and never flossed. When he opened his mouth I saw heavy accumulations of generalized plaque and I'm sure there was calculus below, BUT I wasn't allowed to get that far. The patient was very comfortable and friendly and I started working with the scalers to remove some debris. I was suddenly stopped by the dental assistant whom told me to just polish and that the dentist would remove anything else.I expressed my feelings that this patient had severe build up and would need more than that. Sometimes I feel like everything is a race for time in the pedo clinic. I believe this is one of the most important times to instill habits and oral health education that can follow into adulthood. There was no way that all of that debris could be removed with a rubber cup!!! I started going over oral hygiene instructions and introducing new techniques for my patient, but again I was interrupted. One of the assistants came in and gave her quick spiel on brushing twice and day and that was it. Next thing I knew the patient had a quick dental exam and was well on his way. I was shocked! Patients value their appointment and they come in and pay for a quality cleaning. They deserve adequate oral education and treatment no matter what age they are! ........That's enough venting =)
I could not agree more. In the pedo department I saw numerous of teenage kids who had severe amounts of accumulation. I would probably even say that pedo clinic has the most significant amount of plaque and calculus patients compared to our hygiene clinic. This is an critical point in a young-adult's life to learn good habits. It also makes our school look bad by prematurely sending home patients for the completion of treatment when their is still residual calculus and biofilm left over. This is where our ethics lecture comes in handy. I am not certain if currently they have this, but I feel it would be beneficial to have a standard amount of ethics CE courses every couple of months. The best thing we can do right now is to just to try to get our colleagues to try to always make ethical decisions. Maybe placing signs up in offices discussing ADA Principles of Ethics and Code of Professional Conduct will remind others to remain ethical.
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