Like Pulling Teeth

My patient was on her way to have surgery and according to an earlier assessment, had a full set of upper and lower dentures. Dentures must be removed prior to surgery because if the anesthesiologist tries to jam a tube down the patient's throat with dentures still in the mouth, they may be dislodged and go down the throat with the tube. That would be bad.

I once forgot to remove the dentures and got into so much trouble that I've become hyper-vigilant in my determination not to do that again. This patient had severe dementia so I couldn't ask her to remove them herself. I just reached in and grabbed them. They had an incredibly snug fit. She must have had an excellent dentist to get them to fit so well. I kept tugging and she was starting to fight me and moan.

The room was dark, so I turned the light on so that I could better find the spot to break the suction to get them loose. What I saw were natural teeth with a few teeth missing in the back. She didn't have dentures, but partials and they had already been removed.

I've got to stop working in the dark. Thank God I didn't use pliers.