I made a set of dentures for an old lady a month ago. It was a challenging case. Yes, that dreaded bilateral free end saddle again. I took care to design a chrome denture that would not move too much whenever the patient bites. But as free end saddle dentures go, there would always be a dragging effect in the saddle area.
As a rule, I warned the patient not too have such high expectations. As usual, the patient agreed and as usual again, the complaints keep coming in. This time, the one relaying the complaints were none other than her American-accented daughter. The Hokkien-speaking patient was nowhere in sight.
“Just trim the denture here and here.” she said, pointing to the appliance.
“I need your mother to be here to ascertain where the trouble spots are.” I said.
“Let me tell you. They’re here and here.”
“We need to be more precise than that. It’s useless for me to trim the denture without any reference to sore spots in the patient’s mouth.” I tried to explain.
“How do you know it wouldn’t work? You haven’t even tried.”
Well, suffice to say that even people who speak with an American accent may not know how dentures work.
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