Our First Convict Patient.

Patients February 21st, 2008

handcuffs.gifWe’ll be seeing our first patient from Correctional Services soon for a consultation. He’ll have the full orange jumpsuit, shackles, and complement of guards.

We’re not allowed to tell him when his subsequent appointments will be (if any).

The jail recommended that we schedule him either first thing in the morning or last thing in the day so that we don’t scare our other patients away.


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  • http://fightingwithwriting.blogspot.com/ Tam

    If there’s anywhere a man in an orange jumpsuit will behave, I’m sure it’s a dentist’s surgery.

    Doesn’t matter how bad-ass you are, you just don’t want to mess with the man with the tools.

  • http://www.endodontics.ca Periapex

    I’m not worried about him messing with me. He can’t hurt us too badly with a dental drill and pick.

    It just won’t look good if he manages to escape from here…

  • person who can’t speak english

    wow, that’s so cool! i would say make him the last patient, and book him about a half hour or so after your second-to-last patient leaves. that way you avoid the run-in AND you have something to look foward to all day!

    why are you doing this, btw?

  • http://www.endodontics.ca Periapex

    Because my receptionist said I am…

    He’s being referred by a dentist that sporadically sends patients my way. Actually, he hasn’t sent any in a long while, come to think of it. Anyway he’s one of the dentists who sees patients at the jail and I guess feels that this guy might need some endo work.

  • http://www.dentalaggregate.com Lin

    In our office, we haven’t had any patients coming from jail for treatment, but we did have police show up one day last year to arrest someone in the dental chair and haul them off in handcuffs.

    I later learned from his parents who are patients that their son is serving time for aggravated assault. Yikes!

  • http://www.endodontics.ca Periapex

    Not sure what’s worse: cops showing up and carting a patient off or paramedics showing up and carting a patient off. Hmm. My vote is the second one.

    Sounds like someone in your office might have ratted your patient out to the fuzz…You’ve got an informant over there.

  • http://www.dentalaggregate.com Lin

    oops, I should have explained better. Actually the police had turned up at the parents home looking for him, and they told the police he was at our office getting his teeth cleaned. The police showed up and off he went in handcuffs. The police wouldn’t/didn’t tell us anything, but the parents explained later, apologizing profusely for “embarrassment”. We actually felt terrible for them, and didn’t even think about appearances at the office.

  • http://www.endodontics.ca Periapex

    We have a regular stream of soldiers in full camouflage coming into the office. We’ve also had a cop show up for an appointment during her lunch hour. Her partner was nice enough to wait in the reception room and look after her bullet proof vest and gun.

    So our patients get their share of curious happenings in the office.

    We’ve never had a take-down in the office though.

  • http://www.sexyadsblog.com SexyOldBroad

    Reading all of this reminds me that regardless what these people have done that has put them in the orange suit and chains, they are still people with an occasional owie just like the rest of us.

  • http://www.endodontics.ca Periapex

    You are so right…

  • http://kamalalewis.wordpress.com Kamala

    When I started, I regularly saw emergency patients from the prison in the town nearby. One time the lights went out when I was about to take out a tooth and I thought my world was about to end! (We have no windows-it was really dark!) Anyway, once everybody settled down, I tried to reschedule the patient. He was already numb and didn’t want to go through the shots again. So, we improvised, set a folding chair outside, and proceeded with the extraction!

  • http://www.endodontics.ca Periapex

    That’s like that picture you posted of your patient in Belize…

    Out here in Workland we lose power once or twice a year. Not a huge problem for me because I can throw Cavit into the tooth and recall the patient.

    The periodontists next door have a portable battery backup so they can get some light into the mouth to suture things up. I guess Periopack wouldn’t be enough to temporize their patients.

  • http://whatsuphighup.blogspot.com Laney

    well, i think it’s better the prisoner comes to you than you guys going into the prison! that would freak me right out and i would never do it, for no amount of money! i’ve gone to a home for the mentally challanged and “attempted” to clean their teeth there….and that was a disaster! one ended up punching me in the face sending my glasses flying out (didn’t break them luckily) but in any case that wasn’t an experience i like to remember!

  • http://www.endodontics.ca Periapex

    Hi Laney. The two situations are quite different though. Jailhouse patients are likely not going to be combative like patients suffering dementia or other psychotic problems.

    I know well how dangerous patients like that can be to work on. You need to use a scissors mouth prop cranked open fully and never, ever, get any of your fingers in between their teeth. Often you need 1-2 other people to help you hold their head steady and hands down.

  • http://whatsuphighup.blogspot.com Laney

    they used a wooden block to prop that guys’s mouth open! anyways, that was quite disturbing for me and i’m glad i don’t have to do it anymore! my poor friend “A” who took over for me down there (you know her) has to deal with it now, poor thing!

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