It’s that time of the year when storms in Workland can knock power out for seconds to hours. It’s an annual ritual for us to have at least 1 patient per year experience a power failure during a procedure.

I only work during the day and we have lots of windows in the treatment rooms at the office but storm clouds are quite dark and so we usually have to break out the flashlights in order to finish things up. I haven’t needed a power generator…yet. That’s unlike the periodontists next door.

A patient that I saw back in 2005 during a power failure returned yesterday for me to check out an unrelated tooth. Here’s my treatment note from back then:

shot10june08.jpg

Here’s my post-op xray of the tooth I worked on (I did the 5 and the 7):

waltersn07july05.jpg

And here’s the tooth as it stands today:

waltersn27may08.jpg

There’s a massive screw post that her dentist has placed almost to the apex. I don’t know how long this tooth will survive before it either splits along the root or bacterial leakage happens alongside the post.

Morale of story? Not really sure, but it has something to do with power failures affecting root canal treatment prognosis less than irresponsible dentistry does.



  • http://www.amid.com/werd/ Rudy

    The impatient patient. Was your service that bad, she had to go look for another dentist? It wasn’t your fault the power went out.

    Rudy’s last blog post..Fuel Saving Techniques – Smart Driving

  • http://www.endodontics.ca Periapex

    I do the root canal work, patients go back to their dentist afterwards for the other work (fillings, crowns, etc). And therein lies the problem. When poorly done restorative work fails, the root canal gets infected, and often the endodontist gets blamed for crappy work.

  • person who is roasting in this heat

    (((cringe)))

    screw posts are the anti-christ.

  • http://www.edkieu.com Edgar

    That post looks horrid. I’d really be rather upset if I did the endo and someone did this to the tooth.

  • http://www.endodontics.ca Periapex

    person: At least this post isn’t a tapered screw. Those are the worst.

    Edgar: I used to get more upset than I now do about stuff that like this that I see. I’ve probably just become numb. The blog has probably been therapeutic that way for me. It was the main reason that I started it in the first place.

  • http://www.wcbs.org.uk/ canal boats

    OUCH!
    .-= canal boats´s last blog: Homepage2 =-.

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