Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Adebowale Mbala (Dentist) in Sickbay - Dentist’s Office
[snip]

Once his bag was packed, Ade left and made his way to Sickbay. Doctor Hunter had mentioned that his patient, D’Nesh was not yet quite ready for dentistry work on her broken teeth. Ade had already seen how she reacted to people doing anything to her that she didn’t like, and so he was happy to wait until she was really quite ready, and probably heavily sedated too. However, he did need to tidy up his office cum surgery before it was ready for a new patient. Actually, you couldn’t really call it an office or a surgery, as it was barely much larger than a cloakroom or broom cupboard. Space in Sickbay was at a premium, and Ade wasn’t sure that Doctor Cross liked him much. However, it was large enough to perform the necessary procedures that he could offer.

Ade did offer a wide range of treatments for maintaining oral health, such as routine check-ups, cleanings, and fillings, as well as restorative services like crowns, bridges, and root canals. Other services include cosmetic treatments like teeth whitening and veneers, orthodontic care for straightening teeth, and surgical options like wisdom tooth removal and dental implants. For more urgent issues, emergency dental care was also available.

Long gone are the days when teeth were extracted by physically pulling them one at a time under crude anaesthetics, now he uses a specialist transporter-based device, which removes complete teeth and their roots with minimal pain, but do be careful to sit perfectly still in the chair. These days, he doesn’t get much work, except for that one time we found the parasitic calcareous aliens.

He took the most direct route via the turbolift.

Hunter saw Ade going into his small treatment room, in a way he felt sorry for the dentist especially at what had transpired in sickbay months ago . He walked over before the dentist went inside ‘’ Ade can you spare some time for an oral check up?’‘.

“Sure, once I’ve tidied up a little,” Ade replied. “Is there a particular reason for concern?”

Hunter shook his head ‘’Not really just a routine check - up ,though I would like to whiten them up .I’ll wait until you are ready and call me ‘’ at that point he heard the Captain’s voice over the comm ‘’ Guess we are ready to leave on another mission ,excuse me for now must see Cross and follow any orders ‘’.

“Not so fast!” Ade said, as he took a tray and cleared some old food from his desk to the bin at the side, shelved a couple of other books that were lying haphazardly on the desktop, and then knocked a shoe off the chair onto the floor before sitting down in it.

“Right! In that case,” he said with a professional air, gesturing invitingly, “the Dentist will see the next patient…” Then adding, in case Hunter was unsure, “You can go and tell D’Nesh to come in. And you don’t need to reply to Cross immediately. Department Heads like to be kept waiting a while. It makes them feel better and more important.”

But Hunter had already gone.

I do hope that he get’s his promotion for all this hard work and stress he’s having to endure, thought Ade. “Oh! Well!”

Ade laid lack in his chair and thought about maybe tidying up the room some more.

There was a slight knock on the dentist door , Ade would see Kate’s head appear ‘’Sorry to disturb you but I brought D’Nesh as two of her front teeth are chipped’’ .Kate opened the door wider and there was the Orion young woman looking terrified, the nursing officer was holding her hand ‘’Now be good there is nothing to be afraid of ‘’ .
D’Nesh didn’t budge and Kate had to drag her in.

“Is it okay if I’m afraid?” Ade asked Kate. “I saw what she can do when she’s angry, and she’s the kind of person who really does have a bite as big as their bark!”

‘’Oh no there is no reason for that ‘’Jane replied half unconvinced herself ‘’ D’Nesh acted that way cause she had no idea who we where and thought it would be the same as her previous live ‘’
The N.O led her to the couch ‘’Now remember Ade is going to make your front teeth nice again ‘’ .The Orion young women looked around as she sat on the couch, giggling on seeing one shoe lying around, then looked at the dentist with suspicion.

Ade turned to D’Nesh, “I can’t promise this won’t hurt, but I have anaesthetics that will take that away almost completely… They used to call me Painless! Well, a couple of patients did, but anyway, it looks like it’s already hurting pretty bad right now… and iIt shouldn’t take very long, but I need to look at it first before I know for sure. I’m hoping that I can put a cap on the broken tooth, and that wouldn’t take very long at all! So, is that okay?”

• Ade, Dentist

Initially, there was no reply from the Orion girl, and Ade would not proceed without getting some kind of acknowledgement of agreement from her.

Sickbay was a buzz of activity facilitated the process of making sure everything they needed was in stoke , while the nursing officer went through with the lecture of Triage to the junior nurses .

Hunter entered Cross’s office putting two Padds on her desk ‘’More paper work ? ‘’ she asked. ‘’The crew member finally revealed how he got injured ..flirting with someone’s else partner anyway he has been discharged and doctor Kim took the O,D when he found out his fiance had married someone else ‘’ the doctor rolled his eyes ‘’Anyway in my opinion its not worth taking it to the Captain ‘’ he pointed at the Padds.
‘’I agree ‘’Cross replied ‘’I’m sure he has better things to do ,I don’t want to bother him with insignificant ,minor and matters that are unspecified, anyway how is doctor Kim psychologically ?’‘.

‘’Well he came running to sickbay after he swallowed the pills guess he was quick to change his mind about dying by suicide ‘’ Hunter replied.

Ade walked over and closed the door. All that noise and shouting coming from Sickbay was distracting and unnecessary. He wished that his Treatment Room was a little more inviting and tidy, but he could at the very least make it quiet and calm.

“D’Nesh!” Ade asked, “If it is okay with you then I’d like to give you this hypospray to your mouth. It will take away all feeling and any pain. Then I’ll need you to lean forward and put your face into this framework. A machine will scan your teeth and jaws and tell me exactly what needs to be done to repair the damage… but I need your consent to do that.”

D’ Nesh had no idea what the dentist was talking about ,all she knew was that he was going to fix her teeth.He was using words she did not understand, the consent was given by shutting her eyes tight and opening her mouth as wide as she could.

Ade took that as a yes… or a maybe? So, he gave her the painkilling hypospray but stood as far back as he could in case of any biting. The anaesthetic would work its wonders quite quickly, and after that D’Nesh would less movement possible from her jaw in any case.

He brought over the machine to scan her jaw and the situation of her teeth. he hadn’t worked on an Orion patient before, so he had no idea if their teeth were the same as other humanoids. He wasn’t even sure how many there should be. Everyday is a new chance to learn!

The scan was completed and he went to look at the image. Remarkably, it seemed that, as far as teeth were concerned, Orion women were very similar to human women. Same number of teeth, same calcium density, same combination of teeth types. He could also see the damage. Two very clean breaks to the top incisors. They could be repaired and capped very easily in no time at all.

He checked that D’Nesh still looked happy before he set about his work.

Her eyes where still fixed on the dentist, the hypospray did hurt a bit but she was used to pain.On the other hand Kate was standing next to her ready just in case D’Nesh would decide to attack Ade.

With the analysis complete, he prepared the necessary materials for the procedure, confident that the restoration would be straightforward. As he adjusted the settings on the dental equipment, he briefly wondered what could have caused such clean fractures, but set the thought aside, focusing instead on ensuring the results would be seamless and undetectable when finished.

• Ade, Dentist

It was as if Kate could read Ade’s mind ‘’Her teeth got broken when she got beaten up ,after she ended up in an underground Tavern full of drunken men who wanted her to dance for them but she refused ‘’ .

Kate N.O