Judgement.

one month back I consulted a patient who had severe pain in the left maxilla. This is his OPG.

He needed root canals for 24 and 25. He was also missing 26, 27, and 46 and had a deep carious lesion with 17. He wanted me to treat all the problems so I gave him a treatment plan that explained all the procedures as well as the charges. The patient requested me to start with the root canal on the left side and then the implants immediately afterwards.

Now this was a good case, something that would have generated a good amount of revenue for the practice and I was a little impatient inside to finish all the treatments as soon as I could. However, as soon as the root canal of 24 was over, the patient vanished!

Till the time he vanished, he wanted to get everything done, and as soon as he was relieved of his pain, he stopped coming to the clinic. Now this was a big case, and not being able to finish it irked me.

Life went on, other cases came, implants were done for them and forgot about this patient completely.

Suddenly exactly after a month this patient called and took the appointment today.

He was having pain in his left upper 2nd molar. I consulted and told him that a root canal, which was previously advised, would have to be done. He wanted to get rid of the pain so we started with the root canals. Inside, I was curious as to where he vanished after getting the first root canal done a month back. Maybe my charges were high, maybe he did not realise the importance of the treatment I suggested, or maybe he was just too casual about it. There were n number of reasons hovering in my mind.

Once the procedure was over, I asked him, "Mr X, where did you vanish after the first root canal? was it the finances that I quoted that stopped you from getting the complete treatment done?"

He looked at me as if I had offended him.

"Sir, finances were never an issue, I was preparing for a government tender, a significant one, I wanted to win it and once the pain had gone, my mind was completely on that tender. I won it yesterday and here I am today. Now I will get everything done."

He then went outside and deposited Rs 50,000.

I sat in my chair and thought about the whole incident. Sometimes we think that the patient is not taking their dental health seriously, which in certain cases is true. But life many times takes over priority changes, and things become more important at times for the patients - a child's marriage, a child's divorce, a grandchild's birth, highway tender, a legal case whose dates are suddenly announced, the rogue driver who just vanished etc.

Everything will happen, but it will take its own sweet time, there is no point in stressing over what went wrong and why the patient did not turn up. The only thing that is actually in your hands is to do the best treatment possible, to the best of your ability.