“Recognize Me?”

The phrase I hate to hear

Kulfi ice cream seller in Bistupur, Jamshedpur. Photo taken by the author with permission. This picture has nothing much to do with this story, but aren’t you bored of pictures of me at my dental clinic?

I’m a practicing dentist and I’ve worked in the same city for a quarter of a century now. I’ve seen quite a few dental patients.

Of course, some I remember. The lady who sent us an apple pie after her daughter’s third molar surgery. The man who crashed his scooter into a truck the week after he got his six front teeth capped. The head of TATA Motors.

You know, the good, the bad and the powerful — those, I remember.

Still, there are thousands of cases I don’t remember by face or tooth. My motto with root canal is: find it, file it, flush it, fill it and forget it. This doesn’t lend itself to remembering cases.

Yet, people are aghast when I don’t remember them, so I sneak a look at their names on their medical history and many times, I will remember a case I’ve done from this much alone.

Last week, I had a patient who came in and sat down on my dental chair with the dreaded phrase, “Recognize me?”

I didn’t know her from Adam.

A furtive glance at her self-declared medical history told me her name (no bells), stated that she had “no medical problems” and was born in 1977.

I point-blank told her, “No, I don’t recognize you. Please remind me.”