A second chance to make a good first impression

One of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic that has rippled through society is that many primary care providers have reconsidered their work to adapt to the new situation. Our pediatrician is still seeing patients as usual (with a lot of plastic screens and so forth), but our house doctor, who had been thinking of retiring for some years finally decided to act upon the idea and shut the clinic. Similarly, our dentist, a very nice lady in her mid-forties decided that it was too much effort to drive every day to the dental clinic where she used to see patients and decide to look for another place with a closer commute. And I know for a fact that this has been the case with many other care providers.

The most immediate result of this reshuffling is that a few weeks ago, when the kids' yearly dental check up was due, the nice dentist we has learned to love was not there to see them and instead it was the head dentist the one who took care of them. Trevor showed (as usual, ahem) slightly deficient hygiene, but otherwise nothing remarkable, so he was out of the chair in a moment. Jason, on the contrary, was found to have a slight darkening under the protective sealing of one of his back teeth, so he was sent for an X-ray, and that already made him a bit antsy. Unfortunately, the image was inconclusive, so the dentist sent for me to discuss the case. In a moment we were left alone in the room, Jason complained "this butcher wants to drill my tooth only because of a slight darkening that I had for ages". It was probably true that the spot had been there, perhaps growing very slowly, but it was clear that something had to be done. However, with all the kerfuffle of the X-ray and the change of doctor, Jason was adamant on not having the filling made that day, so we scheduled a new appointment and forgot about it for a while.

 

Photo: Pogrebnoj-Alexandroff

The appointment was this afternoon. I have thought of not mentioning it to Jason until this very morning in the hopes of not getting him all worked up, but he happened to ask about the dentist yesterday afternoon, so I had no choice but to confess. Luckily, with a bit of perspective and some calm he did not take it badly. He did not seem to have any trouble sleeping yesterday and he had home-schooling today, so it was a pretty relaxed day. He was a bit scared about being injected with the anesthetic and it was quite clear that he did not feel at ease with the dentist. As the common saying goes, you never get a second chance to make a good first impression.

With whatever misgivings he might have, Jason stood to his word and sat meekly at the dentist's chair. He had been checking with me on the procedure, asking when and how he would get the shot in the mouth, how long the numbness would last and so forth, everything a display of just how anxious he was about the whole business, but I think I did a pretty good job at soothing him a bit. However, what really got him going was the way the doctor injected him. He made it very clear: "I am going to pull you on the cheek both to gain access to the side of your teeth but primarily to keep you distracted. I will jerk three or four times and at some point will inject you and, hopefully, you will barely feel it, or not at all." Jason nodded his head even if he did not look convinced and sat back to be injected. The rest went very smooth, the doctor confirmed that there was a very small caries under the sealing, removed everything, re-sealed and was done in less than 45 minutes. There was some joking about not trying to kiss a girl just today and the doctor let us go.

As we were getting in the car, Jason looked at me with an open smile: "I have to say that I have a new respect for the dentist. When he said that I would barely feel the injection he was actually right! I had some misgivings, but he has now blown them away!". Luckily, life sometimes forces us to give someone a second chance and they surprise us pleasantly. How many opportunities have we missed, how many nice people we never got to know because we did not give them a second chance? First impressions are not always right and there is much to gain from giving ourselves another chance to like the people we meet, don't you think? Have a nice evening.