November/December 2010 | Page 8

Impressions

a secret . That doesn ’ t work so well with a nine-year-old . About 30 minutes later , as I was ready to leave , I was told to report to the O . R . director ’ s office . Let ’ s say I was reprimanded and told that I was to get the tooth back or face disciplinary action and loss of my hospital privileges . I asked what the big deal was and I was told that the family could use the tooth in a lawsuit if they wanted , so no surgical material is ever allowed to be given to a patient . I pled Katie ’ s case by arguing that the girl wanted the tooth for the tooth fairy . How was I supposed to go and get the tooth back from Katie ? The O . R . director said that it wasn ’ t her problem , just get the tooth ! I returned to recovery room and spoke with her mother , Allyson . I told her the hospital needed to keep the tooth . Allyson said that her daughter would be heartbroken , and I knew she would . I had to think quickly . I went to Katie and I asked her to show me the tooth again . I told her that the hospital had a rule about giving teeth back . I told her that I had to clean it in a special solution and would need to keep it for one day . If she gave me the tooth I would give it back to her tomorrow . Reluctantly she handed the tooth over . I went back to the director ’ s office and threw it onto her desk and said , “ Happy now ?” As you can imagine , I got the evil eye from her , but I didn ’ t care .
Luckily the next day I called the local pediatric dentist and explained the events of the previous day . After we stopped laughing , I asked if he had any primary lower left second molars hanging around . He said he had a whole jar of teeth for the taking . I went over to the office at lunchtime and plucked out one similar to the one
I ’ d given back . Later that day I called Allyson and told her that I had a replacement . She came by at the end of the day and couldn ’ t have been happier to have something to give to Katie .
The next week Katie came to the office for a post-op check . She gave me a handmade thank you card and told me that the tooth fairy gave her $ 5 . I said that she must have been a really good girl to get that much money . She then said she thought she got more money than after she lost her last tooth because I did such a good job of cleaning the tooth at the hospital before giving it back . She also asked if I would clean the next tooth she lost . I said , “ Sure !”
Some rules are made to be broken .
— BRT
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November / December 2010 • Pennsylvania Dental Journal