My Brother, The Dentist

Chapter 26-

~Sam's POV~

With my first booked appointment of the day being in only 15 minutes, I had a short amount of time to see what I would be dealing with today. I logged into my computer and noticed the first appointment was with quadruplets, aged 3 years old. Wow, this was going to be eventful, but it's what comes with being a dentist that specialises in child's dental care!

Dead on 8:30, I left my office, headed round the corner and noticed two adults and 4 children in the waiting room, the children running around manically. I cleared my throat, looked down at my clipboard and began reading out the patient's names;

"Nathan, Elinor, Matthew and Rosie please."

The parents began to stand up but I approached them before they could move any further.

"Hello, I'm Dr. Chespin" I said smoothly, shaking their hands firmly. "Is this their first dentist appointment?" I asked with curiosity. The parents subtly nodded their heads 'yes'.
"So how would you like to do this? I have a small play room where they can go, so we could either take them into the dental room one by one, or just take them all in at once. The choice is yours."

Both parents turned to each other and murmured for a second, then the mother turned back to me and replied with "I think one at a time would be best, if that's okay with you" she smiled nervously.

"Of course, would you all like to follow me?"

The children's mother and father beckoned their children over and I led them all into the playroom where there were toys galore, from building blocks to colouring!

"Okay, we'll have a look at Nathan's teeth first then please" I said calmly, feeling slightly overwhelmed by the noise the children were making.

"Come here Nathan" the mother beckoned, causing Nathan to follow me and his mother into the dental room, leaving the father and 3 other children in the play room.

"Okay then, Mum you can sit on that seat there" I began, pointing at a seat in the corner, "and Nathan you can sit in my big boy seat right here!"

"That chair is big!" Nathan stated excitedly, attempting to climb on the chair.

"Do you need some help Nathan?" I asked, worried he was going to hurt himself.

"No I will do it!" he said, pushing me away.

"He's very independent" his mother laughed at me.

"I noticed" I grinned back, showing off my chompers.

Once Nathan was seated comfortably on the chair, I began to talk to him in order to calm any nerves he had, and also so I could get my tools ready without him paying too much attention.

"So how old are you then, Nathan?"
"I'm 3, I'm a big boy!"
"Yes you definitely are, you did very well to get on the chair!"
"Thanks!" Nathan giggled.

I then sat on my stool beside Nathan ready to start the checkup.

"So today Nathan i'm just going to count your teeth and brush them, is that okay?" I asked, whilst snapping on some gloves so he was less likely to notice.
Nathan nodded his head and looked at my hands curiously.

"Now I'm going to send the chair on a little ride backwards so it's like you're laying in bed, ready?" I slowly lowered the chair so it was face to the floor. "Now I'm going to shine my big light in your mouth so I can see how clean your teeth are!" I positioned the light to his tiny mouth, then grabbed a mask. The children always get scared of the mask as it's impossible to hide. I place it over my nose and mouth and hook it onto my ears, then grab my mirror and explorer.

"Now can you open up really wide for me Nathan and say ah?"

"Ahhhhhh!" Nathan holds, opening his mouth wide.

"Wow that's excellent Nathan, now just stay like that, you're doing so great!"
I continue to praise Nathan throughout the examination to keep him distracted, although he kept trying to close his mouth he was good as gold!

I finally sit the chair up and give Nathan a big high-five for being such a brave boy!

"I'm so proud of you Nathan, you did awesome!" I smiled down at the young lad who looked very proud of himself.
"Now you can go tell your brother and sisters how to do it!" I hinted, hoping they'd be as good as he was. And funnily enough they were! Well, until the last checkup of the quadruplets...

~ ~ ~

"And finally we'll check Rosie's teeth please" I say to the children's mother, who goes to collect the young girl and brings her into the room, whilst I set out fresh tools and stretch on clean gloves.

"Hello Rosie" I smile. "Do you want to come sit in my chair so I can have a look at your lovely teeth?"

Rosie shakes her head 'no' and clings onto her mother's leg, not making any eye contact with me.

"Go on Rosie" her mother persuades, "I can hold your hand if you like."

"No mummy, I don't want to!" Rosie begins to cry, hiding behind her mum, who then picks her up and holds the young girl in her arms.

"Come on Rosie, it'll be okay. Dr. Chespin here just wants to see how beautiful your teeth are, that's all" Rosie's mother explains, comforting her child.

"I bet they're lovely" I reinforced, wanting to gain trust.

"No! Never!" Rosie screamed, hitting her hand towards me in a desperate attempt to send me away.

"Should we just leave her checkup?" I ask to the mother, not wanting to scare Rosie.

"Well, I'd rather have her teeth checked if I'm honest, just to be on the safe-side" she returned, looking for my help.

"Well if you put her legs either side of you, hold her hands down and lay her head back on me, I could quickly take a look, if that's what you really want" I say, not overly comfortable with the whole idea. I'd done this method before but it wasn't nice to witness, a screaming child having tools stuck in their mouth; some may say it's torture putting it like that!

"Yes please" she replied cowardly, following my instructions. I roll my stool across to sit opposite Rosie's mother, and the crying girl's head is laid into my lap, who then expectedly begins to scream. It was difficult looking at her teeth as she wasn't willing to open her mouth at all, but I got a good glimpse and no signs of decay could be seen, so I passed Rosie back to her mother and all was finished.

We all join each other in the play room and I hand out stickers, small toys and sugar-free candy to the four children, who all thank me wonderfully, except for Rosie- but I couldn't blame her!

I waved them all off from my dental practice and finally took a well deserved 10 minute break!