Tomorrow is our last day in Gjoa Haven, our flight leaves at three o'clock to reach our next destination - Kugaaruk.
I have had some sweet patients in the past two days. Yesterday I saw a young woman around the same age as me. She already had all of her upper teeth extracted and needed some of her bottom teeth removed as well. Even though she had been through all of this before, she was still incredibly nervous. I told her that she was going to be fine, and to be brave, she could get through this. My words were of little condolence to her though, and frankly, I don't blame her. It doesn't matter how many teeth you have had extracted, the nervousness and fear doesn't go away easily. I told her to hold my hand and squeeze as hard as she needed to, despite the fact that I was probably going to need it in order to do my job. This finally reassured her though, and made her much more calm and relaxed. She stared at me nervously for the entire procedure, much to the dismay of Terry who needed her to be facing towards him. Whenever she squeezed my hand harder, I would look at her, smile and tell her she was doing great. She bravely made it through her three extractions, and with a mouth full of gauze, she looked up at me, sighed a breath of relief, smiled and could not stop thanking me. She was so grateful and all I had to do was give her my hand. It is such an incredible feeling to help someone who is scared, even though I really did nothing at all.
Today I had the pleasure of treating the cutest brother and sister, ages ten and six. We examined the little girl, and everything was fine, with nothing to do. We saw her big brother next, and everything was fine with him too, so I was going to do a cleaning and a fluoride treatment. The little boy was shy, while the little girl was outgoing and curious. She wanted to sit in the chair that I had been sitting in when Terry was in the room, my assistant chair. Since I was now in the hygienist chair, I told her that she could be my assistant, this offer made her incredibly excited. She "helped" me with her brother, sometimes moving the chair up or down when I was trying to work in his mouth. I didn't mind though, she was happy and her brother seemed to think it was pretty funny. The little girl was enjoying her role as dental assistant, but something was missing for her...she wanted a mask like the one that I was wearing. I gladly gave her a mask that she put on immediately. We continued having fun together, but eventually the appointment had to come to an end. They both happily left the office with their Mom. I peered out the window to see them all going home, the little girl with her mask still on.
I still saw many sad cases. There were still lots tears, still massive amounts decay, still young girls needing their front teeth pulled out, I still saw bruises peaking out of the collars of women's shirts, and I still had to add to my Wednesday list of babies with ECC. I wanted to focus on the good things tonight though, the things that make it all worthwhile.
Cecilia (our translator/clerk) and I.
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