Here is a true
story that happened to me soon after I qualified.
An
elderly lady came into my surgery wanting new false teeth, which I agreed to
provide as her old ones were badly stained and worn down. We went through the
usual impression and bite recording stages and came to the day when the teeth
were set up on wax gums to try in. The lady looked at them in the mirror and
said that she would like lighter teeth on them. The dentures were sent away to
the laboratory to be altered with one shade lighter tooth and a week later we
tried them in again. She looked at them again and said, " I'd like to go
back to the old colour but try a smaller tooth". This was arranged with
one size smaller tooth. Another week later they were tried in again when she
said the teeth looked too small and she would like them the same size as last
week but set longer in the gum.
Sixteen weeks
and sixteen try ins later the teeth were back as they were set up originally
and the patient accepted the appearance. Finally the day arrived when the patient
would get her finished denture. She came in to have them fitted, a few minor
adjustments were made and she accepted them. She then proceeded to take them
out and put them in her bag and placed her old, grotty pair in her mouth.
I told her
that she should put her new pair in so that they would bed in and she could get
used to them. Her reply stunned me. " I have terminal cancer," she
said, " and I only have a few more weeks to live, I just wanted nice teeth
to be buried in".