{"id":878,"date":"2019-01-14T14:09:16","date_gmt":"2019-01-14T14:09:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/?p=878"},"modified":"2019-01-14T14:09:17","modified_gmt":"2019-01-14T14:09:17","slug":"the-precious-gift-of-time-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/the-precious-gift-of-time-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"THE PRECIOUS GIFT OF TIME \u2013 PART 2"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I recently had\nthe opportunity to do some dental hygiene appointments for a hygienist who was\nout for a family emergency. While at first I was not particularly excited about\ndoing this because I have my own busy schedule, I have to say, it was both\ngratifying and eye-opening. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Typically,\nwhen I check a patient after a hygiene exam, I am examining clean teeth and\nwill briefly discuss any concerns the patient or the hygienist has. But on this\nday, I got to spend much more time with patients who I normally only see for\nfive minutes after they see the hygienist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My first\npatient was a 20-year-old, very pleasant and bright young man, who has not had\nto spend very much time in \u201cmy\u201d chair. As I read through his chart to look at\nthe notes the hygienist had made from previous appointments, I noticed that\nthere had been repeated discussions about his homecare. As we started our\nappointment, I realized I was up against the same issues the hygienist had seen\non previous appointments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I asked this\nyoung man, \u201cWhen was the last time you brushed your teeth?\u201d He replied, \u201cIt\u2019s\nbeen a few days because I have been busy.\u201d Of course, I had the reaction that\nyou are probably having right now \u2013 how in the world can you go a few days\nwithout brushing your teeth? As I worked my way through the plaque and heavy\nbleeding due to inflammation from the debris, we talked about the Bruins game\nwe both watched the night before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I know what\nyou thinking \u2013 If you have the time to watch the Bruins, you have the 2 minutes\nit takes to brush your teeth \u2013 I thought the same thing. However, instead of\napproaching it this way and trying to convince him that he needs to work on his\npriorities, we discussed some of the health consequences of long-term\ninflammation as he gets older. We will have to see if this discussion had any\nimpact on him the next time he comes in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another\npatient I saw was an adult woman who has also spent little time in \u201cthe back\u201d\nwith me. Over the past few years, the hygienist\u2019s notes had indicated a history\nof severe headaches and jaw muscle tension as well as my recommendation to\nconsider a nighttime appliance. She took daily medication to manage her\nheadache issues and even had occasional injections to treat her symptoms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On this day\nshe was in severe muscular pain. In addition to completing her dental hygiene\nservices, I had the opportunity to do a more complete exam and have a more in\ndepth discussion about her problem. In spending more time with her I was also\nable to ask more questions and learn much more about her symptoms and possible\netiology. We discussed her concerns about moving forward with treating both her\nheadaches and looking further into some sleep related issues which could be\ncausing her other symptoms. She is still reluctant to move forward with my\nrecommendations because she feels her issues are from another origin. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Changing our\nhabits, like brushing habits, or making a change to improve any aspect of our\nhealth is difficult for many. My experience with these two patients, as well as\nother patients I saw that day, reinforced that making a change is often not as\neasy as just briefly mentioning it. It is important for providers and patients\nto take the time to discuss what the barriers are that are holding them back\nfrom making improvements in their health. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Time is the\nmost important gift a health care provider can give.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. St. Clair\nmaintains a private dental practice in Rowley and Newburyport dedicated to\nhealth-centered family dentistry. If there are certain topics you would like to\nsee written about or questions you have please email them to him at jpstclair@stclairdmd.com<\/a>.\nYou can view all previously written columns at www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I recently had the opportunity to do some dental hygiene appointments for a hygienist who was out for a family emergency. While at first I was not particularly excited about doing this because I have my own busy schedule, I have to say, it was both gratifying and eye-opening. Typically, when I check a patient after a hygiene exam, I am examining clean teeth and will briefly discuss any concerns the patient or the hygienist […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=878"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":884,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878\/revisions\/884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}