ALAN CARLTON
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Black Sheep

13/5/2016

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First patient of the week. A new patient. A retired male in his sixties. Thin, dressed in jeans and a tight t-shirt. Cynical and self-pitying. He aggressively informs me, "I want my teeth cleaned, nothing else." He dares me to disagree.
​
This is going to end in tears.  I could slow down, stop, and carefully tell him what I believe and why.  I could slowly explain why we need to get a proper history and do a thorough exam before we begin treatment but sometimes it’s easier to instantly dislike someone. It saves time.
 
I say, “We are having a look at your teeth”, recline the chair and begin probing his teeth. I slowly chart his mouth as he gradually becomes more irritated. He tries to talk above my fingers in his mouth, “the filling is okay.  There’s nothing wrong with it.” I continue probing, looking to the goldfish for assistance.   I slowly peer at the teeth.
 
He’s still wants to say something and I carefully grab a perio probe and begin probing.
“My teeth are fine. I just want my teeth cleaned. That’s all.”
 
I reach over and sit the chair up.  As the chair rises he looks around baffled and confused.  I tell him, “I think you should see someone else.”
 
The chair spits him out and as he rushes out the door he yells,” I think I should. “
 
I start to say, “Have a good day. “ But Jessica is the only one listening. He’s gone. I can hear him racing down the corridor, the front door slamming and then silence.
Jessica says, “That’s a bummer first thing of the week.”
 
I disagree.  By Friday we would have forgotten him.  Better now. 
I tell Jessica, “I should do that more often.” but I’m shaking and the pressure has built and she is not convinced.  Give me something to hit. I should have yelled at him.
 
Beryl approaches and asks, “What was that all about?”
 
“I’m right.  I know I am.  You can’t clean teeth without looking at them.  The idea is ridiculous. You have to know what to look before you can do anything. I know I’m right.”  I desperately plead my case.
 
The next patient is waiting.  A lady who wants to know how her gums are, how her cleaning is going. ”Because I’ve been working very hard at it and I’m expecting some good news.”
 
Her cleaning is constantly improving and is now close to perfect but I’m distracted by the previous patient.
 
I can cope with anxious patients or patients that disagreement with me (I actually  enjoy them) or honest ignorance but I hate the ones who don’t believe my motives, don’t trust me, think I’m only trying to rip them off. I can cope with someone who says, “I want a second opinion”, “let me think about it” or “I don’t believe you” but this guy didn’t trust me. He didn’t believe me. But this lady does. In fact I’m continually surprised by the trust people have.
 
I really should do it more often.  Stand by something.  I normally end up compromising. Because I like the person and they might change and improve or because it‘s stressful laying down the law.  To be fair to this guy I should have told him why I didn’t want to continue our relationship but to be fair to me he ran out of the surgery before I could. The next patient is another true believer and the first patient is beginning to recede and I‘m reminded of Jesus Christ and how he spent more time worrying about the stray sheep then the good sheep.
 
I imagine him ringing back to apologise: “I’m sorry I walked out on you. I’m sorry I didn’t trust you.  Can I please return? I‘ll pay for the last visit.”
But it’s not going to happen.  What will happen is him complaining to his friends. 
And at the end of the day I have spent time stressing  and worrying about one black sheep, distracted and anxious and taking the good patients for granted. Assuming that they’ll be satisfied and that they will return.   I think JC was wrong on this one. Tomorrow I’ll worry about the good sheep, the ones that trust and respect me.  It’s a lot easier and there’s a lot more of them. 
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    Author

    This blog is the fictional story of a dentist.  The dentist  works with Jessica and Beryl in a town a lot like Hobart.   The blog tells the story of what these people get up to and the work that they do.  If you feel that you recognize yourself in one of the stories please remember it is fictional and the characters and stories are all fictional. Though  all the stories are based on my time as a dentist in Hobart and  are based on things which actually did happen.  
    ​Writing these stories I often had to think about what is true and what is fictional.

    Categories

    All
    A Day In The Life
    An Old Lady Goes To The Dentist
    A Small Sad Lonely Death Notice
    A Teenage Girl Anxious And Stressed
    Back In Control
    Black Sheep
    Cementing A Single Veneer
    Dear Alan


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  • Home
  • Photos
    • photos >
      • All Saints Church
      • Anglesea Barracks
      • Art Mob
      • Boer War
      • Botanical Gardens
      • Brooke Street Pier
      • Brunswick Hotel
      • Campbell Street
      • Castray Esplanade
      • Cenotaph
      • Constitution Dock
      • St David's Cathedral
    • photos >
      • St David's Park
      • Elizabeth St Mall
      • Elizabeth St Pier
      • Franklin Square
      • Hadley's Hotel
      • Hobart GPO
      • Hobart Congregational Church
      • Hobart Rivulet
      • Hobart Town Hall
      • Holy Trinity Church
      • Heading South Sculpture
      • Hutchins Old School
    • photos >
      • Kunanyi / Mt Wellington
      • MacQuarie Street Primary School
      • Maritime Museum
      • MacQuarie Wharf
      • Parliament House
      • Penitentary
      • Railway Roundabout
      • Regatta
      • RHH
      • Royal Visits 1868 1901 1920 1927 1934
      • Royal visit 1954
      • Salamanca Place
    • photos >
      • Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race
      • Theatre Royal
      • Victoria Dock
      • Saint David's Cathedral
      • Saint David's Park
      • St George Anglican Church
    • Street art: photos >
      • Bidencope Lane
      • Criterion Collins Liverpool Streets
      • Elizabeth Street North Hobart​
      • Kemp Despard Streets
    • Streets: photos >
      • Argyle Street
      • Barrack Street
      • Bathurst Street
      • Brisbane Street
      • Brooker Highway
      • Campbell Street
      • Collins Street
    • Streets: photos >
      • Davey Street
      • Elizabeth Street
      • Goulburn Street
      • Harrington Street
      • Hunter Street
      • Liverpool Street
      • Macquarie Street
      • Murray Street
  • Places
    • Places >
      • All Saint's Church
      • Anglesea Barracks
      • Atheneum Club
      • Baha’i Centre
      • Boer War Memorial
      • Brook Street Pier
      • Brunswick Hotel
      • Boats in the docks
      • Constitution Dock
      • The Drunken Admiral
      • Franklin Square
      • Gas Works
    • Places >
      • Hadley's Hotel
      • Heading South Sculpture
      • Hobart GPO
      • Hobart Synagogue
      • Hobart Town Hall
      • Holy Trinity Church
      • Hunter Street
      • Ingle Hall
      • Old Wool Factory
      • Ordnance Stores
      • Parliament House
      • Penitentiary
      • Princes Park
    • Places >
      • Princes Wharf 1
      • Scots Memorial Church
      • Saint David's Cathedral
      • Saint David's Park
      • Saint George Anglican Church
      • St Michaels Collegiate School
      • Supreme Court
  • History
    • History >
      • Tasmanian Timeline
      • Early Tasmania
      • Mid Nineteenth Century
      • Late Nineteenth Century
      • 20th Century
      • Tasmania’s aborigines
      • Convicts
    • People >
      • John Lee Archer
      • William Bedford
      • Andrew Bent
      • Louis Bernacchi
      • James Blackburn
      • William Bunster
      • William Buckley
      • Thomas Bromfield
      • Luke Castray
      • William Champion
      • David Collins
    • People >
      • John Colvin
      • Charles Darwin
      • Governor Eadley
      • TT Flynn
      • John Franklin
      • Lady Jane Franklin
      • Charles Gaylor
      • Haig: Elizabeth and Andrew
      • Henry Jones
    • People >
      • James Kelly
      • Robert Knopwood
      • Lachlan Macquarie
      • Douglas Mawson
      • Charles McLachlan.
      • George Mure
      • Pearce: Henry and John
      • Robert Pitcairn
      • Poulett-Harris
      • Reid: Arthur and Alison
      • James Clark Ross
      • Ikey Solomon
      • Phillip Smith
      • Abel Tasman
      • Mark Twain
      • AJ White
      • Andrew and Elizabeth Haig
  • Community
    • Hobart Marathon Festival
    • Hadley's Hotel
    • history is not set in bronze
    • Wooden Boat Festival 2019
    • What do you think of Hobart?
    • Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race
    • The Mountain
  • Walking Tours
    • Dave's Walking Tour
    • The Tench Walking Tour
    • Botanical Gardens Circuit
    • ​Alfred’s feeling religious walk
    • Battery Point Sculpture Trail
    • Lachlan gets to the point
    • Street art: Luffy paints the town
  • Blog
    • healing through living
    • This website
    • about another website
    • Acknowledgement
    • Contact
  • The Full Complement
    • Alan Carlton
    • Daniel Frank
    • Paul Barrington
    • Jodi Sutton
    • Jodi Sutton talks about mistakes
    • Jodi Sutton: The phone
    • Ann Heath
    • Maddie Atkins
    • Karen Wong
    • Jo-Anne Cherry
    • Jo-Anne Cherry: Retirement
    • Errol Kilov
    • Garry Owen
    • Katherine Janney
    • Jacques Cawood
    • John Chung
    • Gordon Henry
  • Songs
    • Forty Years Ago
    • Tomorrow
    • Clouds in the River
    • I Woke Up
    • Hold My Hand
    • Cornelian Bay Boathouses
    • Dance on the Deck
    • Eucalyptus Globulus