anonymous
14th September 2018
TO ERR IS HUMAN (7)
TO ERR IS HUMAN (7)
In the fifties or around that time a British plastic surgeon, Dr
Eric Peet, used to visit Bombay and perform about 25 to 30 plastic surgical
operations. In fact, he was the one who helped establish the prestigious
Plastic Surgery Department at the K.E.M. Hospital, Bombay.
He was to operate on a very pretty 19-year old Anglo-Indian
girl. The operation was rhinoplasty - i.e., an operation to improve the shape
and size of the nose. She was so beautiful, nobody could fathom the reason for
her wishing to look prettier. I guess it was a case of ‘Mirror, mirror, on the
wall, who is the prettiest of all?'.
Anyway on my pre-anaesthetic visit, in view of the
fact that she was young and beautiful and in possession of an unusually perfect
set of teeth, I assumed it redundant to ask her whether she wore dentures or
bridges or any other artificial dental accessory. The next day, after
administering the general anaesthetic, as I introduced the laryngoscope, to my
great surprise, not to say amusement, her lower set of teeth came out and the
upper set caved in. This nineteen years young, beautiful girl was wearing a set
of dentures! After this incident, I have always inquired after the patient's
dental history even if it involved hurting his/her ego or vanity. A single
bridge or other loose dental accessory can easily get dislodged during
laryngoscopy and land in the patient's larynx with morbid or fatal outcome!