This happened when i was posted in the Dept of Oral and Maxillofacial surgery.
An elderly gentleman who spoke broken English came in with a very loose tooth, explaining that he had tried to remove it himself but it was just too painful. After determining that the tooth had lost nearly all bony support from gum disease, we numbed it up and allowed five minutes to complete anesthesia. The patient discovered that he was numb enough to wiggle the tooth out himself, so he made a quick exit out the back door without saying anything!
We heard some of this, and made it to a window in time to wave goodbye. We figured that the patient probably had a financial hardship, so we never billed him.
To tell the truth, we never bill anyone for a simple extraction, but that man did not seem to know that.....
An elderly gentleman who spoke broken English came in with a very loose tooth, explaining that he had tried to remove it himself but it was just too painful. After determining that the tooth had lost nearly all bony support from gum disease, we numbed it up and allowed five minutes to complete anesthesia. The patient discovered that he was numb enough to wiggle the tooth out himself, so he made a quick exit out the back door without saying anything!
To tell the truth, we never bill anyone for a simple extraction, but that man did not seem to know that.....
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