during college i had a period of doubt where i thought maybe i wouldn't be able to pursue dentistry because i would have a hard time hurting other people, for instance, giving a child an injection and making them cry. herman told me that i just have to think of it as helping them in the long run.

anyway, i've given lots of shots already, and will maybe have to give lots more over the next 30 years depending on what i gotta do the rest of my life.
it's still really hard.

as mentioned before, perhaps everyone is depressed during the holidays (21 year old jumped in front of the septa train 2 weeks ago in west philly). since thanksgiving, all the patients have seemed a lot more needy/high maintenance, with more need to vent.

derr..

anyway, i'm always glad to see the cute kids. i feel bad i gotta poke them. but 4 year old W had crazy cavities. on top of that, she wears a pacifier around her neck. hopefully the kids in kindergarten will make fun of her next year so that she'll be motivated to stop using it. (her top front teeth are flared out from the pacifier, so she will have a hard time biting into sandwiches or pizza or salad in the future). it would be sad, but funny, but sad if she turned out to be the popular kid in kindergarten, and then all the other kids started wearing bobos too. coz, kids are like that, wanting things that other kids have.

yesterday 8 year old M came in to extract two baby molars. sad. i love pudgy meaty cheeks! what a beautiful boy. besides all the sugar bugs in his mouth. anyway, we always tell the patients 'you will feel a lot of pushing and pulling, but if there's anything that feels like it hurts or is sharp, then raise your right hand, and we'll give you some more sleepy spray on your tooth.'
i thought he was pretty numb, but right when i put the forcep on the tooth, his right arm shot up and hit taina in the face. i looked up and her goggles were totally crooked. i felt bad for scaring M, but we couldn't help but laugh coz he was so obedient, very literally, and taina took a sec to figure out what hit her.
i think he was really scared through the whole thing, but he was really brave and tough. as soon as he knew we were done removing the 2nd tooth, he shot up like a zombie, and opened his mouth really big in attempt to see what was going on in his mouth in his reflection in the WINDOW. it was SO FUNNY.