I still remember that day. It was one of those Mondays when you come to work feeling lazy because it is the first day of the week. So I came to the dental school, but my patient did not show. I thought I will have some rest, but no of course, there is always an emergency to see.
My emergency patient was white, tall and bold. His body was full of tattoos. He seemed mad for a reason. I called him, he looked at me in a disrespectful way and sat on the dental chair. However, I didn`t care. I always thought every patient has the right to be treated, and I know no one likes dentists.
I took a quick look at his chart and I found that he was here last friday, seen by a colleague who perscribed some pain meds. "How can I help you today?" I asked. "I have pain in my tooth" he answered in an angry tone. "Where you here last friday?" I asked. "Yes, but I only had pain med because I came late!". I did my exam and while I was checking his chart. The patient asked for some water. I told him we only have tab water and he agreed to have it. However, he didn`t drink it. He only had a sip of it. I found that this patient had a history of head and neck cancer and he had radiotherapy in his jaws. I went to do a consult and when I came back I informed the patient that taking this tooth out can not be done here in the clinic. He needs an oral surgeon to do it because of the possible post operative complications.
The patient didn`t look comfortable at this moment. He asked me to talk to my supervisor. I was confident that I didn`t do any harm, however, I could feel his discomfort which I didn`t know any reason for it. I called my supervisor and professor and said "Can you come because there is a patient who wants to complain form me?!" And we laughed.
When my supervisor came, the patient started complaining: "I came last friday at the end of the day. The dentist who saw me was not nice at all. I asked him for some water and he gave me very hot water that I couldn`t drink. Today, I asked this nice lady and she brought me some tab water that I can drink". I was surprised, he was testing me!.
I went to the oral surgery department to guarantee and appointment for the patient. Then I went back to guide him to his new appointment. While we were walking, he asked me in a very polite way: "Can I ask you a private question?" I hesitated a little bit, then I said yes. "As you are covering your head, I will assume you are a muslim, right?". "right" I answered. "Do you read Quran?" he asked. "Everyday" I answered. Then he apologized and said: "Well, I wish all the misunderstanding for this religion changes and people know the truth about it..." and he said lots of things I did not pay attention for because I was thinking. Why did he apologize? Then I realized why he looked at me in a disrespectful way at the beginning . And I realized what can hard work change. If I tried to talk to him to change his idea about muslims, I may need years of talk without success. But deeds do what words are not able to do.
Warm regards...
