On my fourth day at Dr. Siegel’s office, I started off by observing a patient that had a chipped tooth and needed a dental crown added on. Dr. Siegel shaved down the crown until it fit the patient’s tooth perfectly and until the patient could bite down with her jaw comfortably. Dr. Siegel explained to me that dental crowns are the longest procedure to complete since it takes at least one hour to put on a singular crown.
Another patient that I saw on my fourth day came in with complaints of bleeding gums. Dr. Siegel started by deep cleaning the gums and teeth. When she did this, she noticed that the gums were red under the teeth and white and black farther down. So, she numbed the patient’s mouth and continued cleaning the gums. Then, she rinsed the gums with a solution called chlorhexidine which reduces the amount of bacteria. The patient was instructed to rinse out her mouth twice a day with chlorhexidine in hopes that the bleeding in her gums would terminate. Above is the X-ray of the patient’s mouth. Dr. Siegel diagnosed this case of bleeding gums as Acute Necrotizing Ulcerative Gingivitis (ANUG).
My fourth day was very insightful!!!