Vol 4 Dentistry

OK, this post is for all my dental friends.

View from the office parking lot. It’s located in a small shopping center which also has a bowling alley on the upper floor. I have never seen a bowling alley in a mall before but that’s the kind of kooky stuff you see here. There is also a Hello Kitty store in the mall. How funny is that? The only Hello Kitty store in the city and I’m working in the same building as it! Our office is self-contained. It has a separate entrance and elevator.

It's too soon to tell how Firas' dentistry is but he actually does a pretty good initial exam. He takes an FMX and sometimes he also takes a Pano. We can also take lateral Ceph x-rays. And Holy Crap is he ever good at extractions, which I guess we will do a lot of since people’s teeth are so bad here. He interned in oral surgery and from what I’ve seen, this is his strong suit. He is very fast and efficient at it and with seemingly little trauma to the pt.

The x-rays are all ScanX and I’m sorry Margie but I still like digital better. Yes, they’re thinner but they take forever to develop, (we sit in those chairs and load the plates into the tall, tubular looking machine and then arrange them on the computer that is not visible in this picture), and the plates get scratches even though we are super careful.

There doesn’t seem to be any minor decay here. No one comes to the dentist until they’re in pain I guess. And they all have their wisdom teeth.
This photo of Val, the hygienist from Bremerton that I met at the dental convention, is for Amanda and Dacia. I showed her the photos of you guys doing this and she did it too!
The organization in the sterilization room and the operatories was done by Val who clearly has never assisted. Good thing we are not busy because I have had to redo everything. I’ve had to have Firas order so many basic things. It’s getting there. Yes, that’s the world’s smallest ultrasonic cleaner on the counter by the sink. I can’t even fit a small cassette into it. Firas has ordered a new large one for me after I explained to him there is no point using cassettes if you have to take the instruments out of them to clean them and then rebuild them each time. We have an Assistina to run the high and slow handpieces with oil before sterilizing them. Very nice. (Hint, hint, Stan. You need one). We have two sterilizers too, but no overhead cabinetry. This is the consult room, but it mostly gets used as Angela, the office manager’s office. There is no artwork in the office yet, the budget is running thin at this point.
This is the store room- no shelves yet....
This is the surgery room. Clearly, not ready yet. The machine on the right is a general anesthetic delivery system. There is a room off of this one with a large viewing window so the students from the one university in Oman can come and observe.
This is the lab. Not set up yet…. It’s three times as big as it looks in the photo. All the rooms are large.

I think I’m going to be ok here. The staff are nice and I like Firas. The county is so cool, I think it’s worth it.

Brenda and Stan- I miss you! I love you all, in both offices.