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The bench stand

When I was a dental student, there was a myth about how to deal with complex patients for whom you had provided full dentures.

For the uninitiated here, full dentures are often a really difficult restoration for patients (full false teeth in the mouth, the patient has no teeth left), particularly the lower version of this. 

These can be really difficult to fit, can be sore and uncomfortable, and patients can hate them; they can be a real drain on quality of life.

When you make dentures for patients, this can often be a real long and tired process for both the clinician and the patient, and the patient will return repeatedly to have dentures adjusted, at least hoping that they will be better, but the clinician realises they're unlikely to be any better.

The urban myth at dental school was when a patient came in to tell you that they were having problems with their dentures, take the lower one out and ask your nurse to take it for a bench stand.  The nurse would take the denture away for a few minutes, put it on a bench, let it stand, bring it back, and give it back to the patient to see if that was any better.

Invariably, the patient would say that it felt a little bit better and they could be on their way.

Realising that this would be unethical (possibly) but certainly undesirable, but you get the point.

Sometimes placebos are more important than chemicals.

Sometimes reassurance is more important than action, and sometimes the placebo itself is the best possible therapy (this is not to be mistaken for a long stand or a tin of tartan paint, both things the juniors were asked to go to find from the storeroom on their first day in a new job). 

By Colin Campbell on 30/07/23 18:00