heart attack

Funny thing was happened in clinic last night. So, this patient came from Borneo. 1 day only in Surabaya. And the next day, he has to fly back to Borneo.

He has missing almost all of his teeth in upper arch. Only upper left and right canines, and upper two front teeth remaining. He considered for new denture -later, after his next visit to Surabaya.

FYI, his old denture was broken, his oral hygiene was not really good, his remaining teeth were not in good condition also, especially the two front teeth. They were very mobile, 4" mobility, perharps more, so I suggested to take them out, later -not now. Because he'll go home tomorrow, and I can't let him leave my office without 2 front teeth

Very first thing to do, I'll clean 'em up. Clean all the remaining teeth before taking an initial impression. I was cleaning the upper right canine when suddenly....

1 tooth fell down.

IT WAS SUDDENLY FELL DOWN

OMG, and I haven't touched it yet.

Panic ? Of course ! You don't intend to pull a tooth, but that tooth was falling down itself. Who now got a jawdropped or heart attack ? The dentist. Yes, of course ! I thought, my heart stopped beating for seconds when I saw 1 of his front tooth was falling.

Me : "Waduh Pak, Pak, giginya copot nih Pak..." - "Sir, sir, your tooth pulled out..."
Patient : "Iya dok, memang sudah lepas" - "Yes doc, it's pulled out already."
Me : "Sorry ?"
Patient : "Cuma saya tancepin lagi." - "But I positioned it back."
Me : "Bapak .... lem ?" - "You... glued it ?"
Patient : "Pake UHU dok." - "With UHU (the glue), doc."

And yes, I saw the real glue in the socket, I thought he tried very hard to make the tooth attached to the gum. With glue !

I know sometimes -SOMETIMES !- patients were sooo desperate with their chipped tooth, and just glued it. But, it's my first time since my career as a dentist, seeing an EXTRACTED tooth was glued to the gum.