A DAY IN PEDIATRICS

I hear how my medical colleagues complain about pediatrics, but I always felt dentistry was sweet, so pediatrics postings shouldn't be that bad. Did I mention I had always wanted to be a pediatric dentist?

So, the last posting for my internship was pediatrics, and Lord knows I have been looking forward to it because, if you didn't know by now, children are my favorite patients.

When I resumed the posting, there was a decline in the patient turnout because they were either preparing for exams or writing exams. So, I spent my first two weeks chilling. It was around this time that I joined Hive; I was able to explore communities and plan my posts ahead of time. I was also able to publish a book on Amazon under the pen name "Dr. Brenda Whales." I'll leave a link below.

10 Proven Strategies to Building Resilience in Children by Dr. Brenda Whales

Please support your girl by checking it out.

Now, you understand just how much free time I had on my hands, and not being able to stay idle for a long time, I made sure I always had something to do. What I didn't know was that my work was still doing "press-up." My colleagues were already teasing and asking if I wasn't missing my babies yet.

Once exams were over, I don't know how it is done in your country, but my fellow Nigerians will understand that after exams was the "end of the year party," and I always looked forward to it. So the week of the party was to prepare, get your clothes and shoes set, and get your hair done. My point is, I didn't expect to see any children in the clinic, but surprise!

First, one of my favorite patients came in to wash her teeth (I call all my babies my favorite patients). She is exceptionally inquisitive; she wants to be a surgeon but is considering dentistry. She kept asking what the names of the various instruments I was using were and why I kept changing them in the middle of the procedure.

Then we had a trauma patient come in. She fell off the top bunk and broke her front baby teeth, but luckily she didn't break her front adult teeth. They were loose, though, and her upper gums were detached from her teeth.

Degloving gum (gingiva) following trauma is when the gums are ripped or torn away from the underlying mucosa and teeth. It is an emergency!
Treatment: repositioning and realigning the displaced gums with sutures using different suturing techniques.

In her case, her baby teeth were extracted, and her gums were repositioned and realigned using sutures. Then, the permanent teeth that were loose were splinted while healing took place so they could be firmer.

Her only concern was if we could get her teeth back to normal again because she would like to wear braces. I just explained that she had nothing to worry about if she was willing to follow postoperative instructions.

Braces are permanent dental appliances used by orthodontists to correct malocclusions such as proclined, crowded, or rotated teeth. One of the requirements to be fulfilled is that the teeth must be firm. So you understand why she was concerned.

Source Wikimedia

Just after the procedure was concluded, there was another trauma case already: an 8-year-old boy who fell off a bike on his way to school and broke his adult front teeth. After taking the history, assessing the patient, and doing all the necessary investigations, one of the broken teeth already involved the pulp.

A quick anatomy of the teeth has three major parts: enamel, dentine, and pulp. The pulp is the innermost part of the tooth that consists of the blood vessels and nerves; it is essentially the life of the tooth. So, when the Pulp is affected or exposed, it can be painful, infected, or necrosed (dead).

Source Wikimedia</center

In his case, the topmost layer of the pulp was infected. Hence, we did a pulpotomy, where we removed the topmost layer of the pulp, placed antibiotics in the canal, and sealed it with a temporary restoration material.

Pulpotomies are most commonly performed on children with baby teeth, but they can also be performed on adults and older children with permanent teeth. It entails removing the top infected Pulp while treating the remaining Pulp.

Source Wikimedia

When we were done with this case, it was around 6:30 p.m. for a clinic that closes at 4 p.m. We were exhausted; I was famished because I hadn't eaten all day.

Forget the smiles; we were fagged out.

I loved every moment of my posting, though, regardless of the workload and having to deal with a lot of tantrums from my patients. Now, the question is, "Will I still tread this path?"

I've come to realize how broad and beautiful dentistry is, and I've fallen in love with other aspects of my profession, but I guess only time will tell.