Tooth Extraction

WiseKid got one of his front teeth knocked up a few years back and had a crown on it (he was playing Blinde Kuh in the dark and tripped over a chair). He was in a little fight and got the crown knocked at, and the tooth was fractured across the tooth, so the whole thing had to be extracted.

Even being private patients we couldn't get an appointment for extraction for a week! So we got lots of pain medication and he hung in there.

Tuesday was extraction day, and the nice doctor explained everything to us. He set the first two shots of novocaine, and then while explaining what he was doing next got his thumb in the way of the needle and managed to jab himself, drawing blood.

Panic - this is a worst-case scenario for health-care professionals. He put the needle down and began dealing with the blood running down his thumb, calling for an assistent to help get his thumb bandaged up. And his concern about this perhaps causing an infection was quite understandable. He quizzed WiseKid about any infectuous diseases, we don't know of any.

He sat down and was preparing to give WiseKid the third shot in the roof of his mouth when *I* started to protest - shouldn't he get a new needle? That needle had been in his thumb and should not be now used again.

He deliberated, finally giving in and looking for a new needle. Since this is prepared by the nurse, he didn't know where to look and had to rummage around. He finally found something, and then put it on to finish off the shot. He managed to spritz it so that the force blew the needle off of the syringe and spritzed the novocaine in his face. Luckily, he was wearing glasses, but he muttered that it was feeling like Friday the 13th.

While we waited for the novocaine to take effect he called his insurance company. They wanted to do a blood test on WiseKid right now. Fine, they were going to send someone over. We got the tooth extracted nicely, sewn up, and the bridge set in place - but no one to draw blood. We waited for about 15 minutes, then the dentist had us come down to the doctor's below, she would draw the blood and do the test.

Okay, but WiseKid is starting to feel the pain. And now the discussion starts - I am supposed to pay for this. I don't want to - he jabbed himself, I'm willing to let him do a blood test, but he needs to pay this himself! No, I ended up having to fill out all the forms for them to send me a bill. I will deduct whatever this sum is from what the dentist charges me, he wants it, not me.

We finally got the blood drawn and headed for home, where WiseKid took to bed with an ice-pack and lots more painkiller. And the TV on full blast. We hope the dentist calmed down, but I rather wish that he would have the same respect for us as for himself: a used needle may not be used on someone else. Period.