Why I love my job.....

Okay, I'm sure you're all sick of the daily text-only posts, but I promise this is a good one. I just had to share this experience I had at work today.
The best part about being a dental hygienist is getting to work with different people every day. It's so great to be able to help people, and get to know them at the same time.
So at 9:30 this morning, I had this old man for a patient. He's tall, overweight, and HILARIOUS. Let me explain. I went into the waiting room, and walked him back to my chair. As we're going down the hall I ask, "So how are you doing this morning?"
He looks at me for a second and then says, "It's too damn early to be at the dentist." (please forgive me for the language, but HE said it not me. And I can't have the full effect unless I quote him word for word). So I sit him down, and I start updating his medical history. I asked him, "so have there been any changes in your health?"
"nope."
And then I look at his list of medications and I read it off to him.
"Are you still taking all of those as perscribed?" And his response literally almost had me on the ground laughing.
"Nah, I don't take my meds anymore.....I just drink beer."
I chuckle to myself....thinking...(is he kidding?) So I shrug it off, and I start taking some x-rays. I ask him, "So, are any of your teeth bothering you?"
And he says, "Well I wouldn't be able to tell you if they were, cuz it's too damn early."
I'm thinking (It's going on ten o'clock! I thought old people got up early!")
So anyway, he's telling me about how he's retired and stuff. He says, "I thought I'd get bored being at home all day, but I love it. Being at home is a full-time job anyway!" So I ask him,
"So what did you do before you retired?"
He says, "I was a dumb-ass mechanic." And I say, "that's not dumb" and he says, "yes it is. But I couldn't do what my dad used to do, I grew up in a mortuary." And (I'm not gonna lie, I was so proud of myself for thinking of this as quickly as I did) I said,
"Yeah, they're all a buncha stiffs."
And he looks at me for a second, and then chuckles and says, "Yeah, exactly."
So then the doctor comes in for his exam afterwards, and HE askes the old man, "So, how have you been? Are you keeping busy?" And again, the old man with his mouth says,
"I'm trying to, it's too damn cold to go fishing though." And I'm not kidding you, by the end of this appointment, I was pretty much crying cuz I was laughing so hard. It's not every day you meet a character like this, and I have to tell you it's one of the funnest things about being a hygienist. I really do love my job. Not only was this guy entertaining, but I was able to help him out quite a bit because he had some pretty serious periodontal disease. And so I got to talk to him about that, and I got to see him learn about these things, and I even got him to commit to come to ANOTHER early appointment to finish up all the scaling.
I really am enjoying work. Today I also saw another woman, who had perio so seriously that we had to extract a tooth cuz there was no bone holding it in. It was literally so loose, I could press down on the crown and it would not only move side to side....but up and down (a lot) as well. She had tobacco stain on every tooth and a pack of cigarettes there in her front shirt pocket, RIGHT where I could see them. When I finished with her cleaning, I literally gave her the lecture of her life about periodontal disease, and how she was well on her way to losing all of her teeth. I talked to her about smoking, and how it causes perio to progress faster and worse, and how it's not only a risk to her health (which she, of course, already knew.....all smokers know it's' bad for them) but that it's also a risk for oral cancer. And I'm not kidding you, this woman seemed so shocked that her teeth were so bad. She told me at the beginning of her appointment that she thought she was doing good at taking care of her teeth at home. After her cleaning, I said "well, you tell me that you think you're taking good care of your teeth, but I HAVE to tell you, the conditions in your mouth right now are NOT showing that." It turned out she was only brushing once a day for a few seconds. I told her that if she didn't start brushing twice a day TODAY, and coming in exactly every three months from now on that she was gonna lose her teeth. She was so surprised, and suddenly motivated to do better. She also told us that she was going to try to quit smoking again (most smokers take almost seven attempts at quitting before they're able to actually do it). So it was really awesome. I think I might have convinced a few people to change today. I only wish I could stick around and see if they actually do it. The whole 3-month think kinda puts a damper on getting to see the results of my efforts. Oh well, some day right? Anyway, sorry this got long really fast. But I just wanted to share some of the great things about being a hygienist.
I'm out!