Hallelujah! My Tooth is Out!
ハレルヤ！ 歯が抜けた！
After graduating from dental school, I enrolled in a hospital residency where we were required to stay in the hospital some nights and treat emergencies that came in. Now, tooth pain is rough. I’ve heard people get really religious with a toothache. “Lordy, I can’t take this anymore!” or “Sweet Jesus, this really hurts!” One of the most memorable patients that came in was a sweet tiny old lady. You could tell she was from down South by her accent.
On that night, I made my way over to the emergency room. She sat there with her hands folded in her lap dressed neatly like she was going to church. She pointed to a lower molar that was rotted to the core. It was beyond savable so I told her it needed to be extracted. “Oh no, I don’t want it taken out,” she said. “It’ll only get worse”, I told her. “You can’t leave it like that.” “It will be fine,” she promised me. “I will pray and put holy water on it.”I was speechless. She must have seen my expression so she patted my arm and said, “Don’t worry a thing about me, dear.” And she left.
The next night, she was back. （I guess the praying and holy water didn’t work）. By now, she was willing to part ways with her tooth. I helped her fill out all the paperwork and got the area numb. As tiny as she was, she had tough bone around that tooth! I rocked that tooth, I shook it, I used all my strength but there was not much movement. All the while, she had both hands on my arms and was praying out loud. Suddenly, with a loud “Hallelujah!” she pushed my hands out of her mouth. I almost fell backwards half by surprise and half from her force but the tooth came out in one piece. I was shocked but by the look on her face, it was what she expected to happen. She was sitting calmly in the chair. I gave her some cotton to bite down on while I wrote up the chart. All the time I was thinking, “What just happened?” I never saw her again after that but I can imagine her back at church praising the Lord loudly now that the bothersome tooth is gone!
（次回は4月13日号掲載）
〈Keyword〉
toothache：歯痛
rough：つらい
chart：カルテ、診療記録
（「WEEKLY Biz」2013年3月23日号掲載）
〈プロフィル〉Dr. Clara Lee ニューヨーク大学歯学部卒業。ニューヨーク大学ブルックデール病院でチーフレジデンス修了。13年以上に及ぶ臨床経験は一般歯科、コスメティック、インプラントを含む。インビザライン認定医。Waterside Dental Care院長として古山医師と共に、多くの日本人患者さんを治療。Dentistryをこよなく愛している。記事提供：Waterside dental Care（Tel：212-683-6260）
