Page 56 of Family Bonds: Coy & Angel

“So I’m learning,” Angel said. “I might have to put a lock on that drawer.”

He laughed and turned into his room next to where Angel had gone in. He knew she had several patients today. She was getting busier and thriving just as he’d hoped.

He could have given her this patient, but since his sister-in-law had called him personally about her employee’s accident and broken teeth, he was going to take care of it.

“Hi, Andi,” he said when he walked into the room and saw her sitting there. “Ready for this?”

“As ready as I’m going to be,” Andi said.

Mandy was already in there getting everything ready. “Mandy is going to numb you with some gel before the shots. You shouldn’t feel much pain at all. If any. But you’ll feel some vibrations as I try to smooth your teeth down so that the resin will adhere better. Then we’ll get you all set and out of here in less than forty minutes or so.”

“That’s not bad,” Andi said. “I thought it’d be longer.”

“I’m fast,” he said, winking. “And good.”

“I’m banking on both of them,” Andi said.

Mandy stuck some numbing gel on her gums while he said, “I’ll be back in about five minutes. Going to check on a few more patients.”

He moved into Abby’s room and checked on her patient whom he’d noticed she was finishing up with.

“How are you doing, Brice?” he asked the teen in the chair.

“I’ll be better when I’m out of here, Dr. Bond. I hate the way my teeth hurt after,” Brice said.

He frowned and looked at Abby. It’s not the first time he’d heard that from Abby’s patients. He knew she was thorough and he appreciated it, but there was a line to not cause pain either.

“Brice doesn’t like to floss,” Abby said. “I told him if he did it wouldn’t hurt as much. I used the water pick this time to make it easier.”

He couldn’t fault her for that, even if he could fault her for not getting the hint he wasn’t interested. “Let’s take a look,” he said. “Open wide.”

He finished up and then told the teen to floss as Abby had instructed.

He was leaving the room when Mandy waved him back into Andi’s room.

Coy used to be running back and forth between patients like this all the time, but now he didn’t feel as if he had to.

He swapped out his gloves, gave Andi two shots of Novocain, then left to check on another patient.

When he was done with that patient, he returned after popping his head in to let Angel know to get the next few while he was busy.

“Let’s see how you’re doing,” he said. He put another pair of gloves on and pulled his mask up to cover his mouth and nose. Andi opened her mouth again and he was poking around. “Do you feel anything?”

“Nope,” she said.

“Good,” he said. “We can get started. You’re going to hear noise. It’s just the sander. Don’t worry. I’ll make sure my hand doesn’t slip and hit another tooth.”

“Dentist humor?” Andi asked.

He was grinning and then put a shield over his face.

“I can tell by the look on your face I just made you nervous. I don’t like goggles, as they tend to steam up with the mask. I can’t get my eyes scratched if something did come out and it has happened.”

“Good idea,” Andi said. “I’d rather you focus on the right teeth too.”

She lay back in the chair while he got to work. He knew she’d had a head injury recently and tried to be as fast and gentle as he could to not cause her any pain or discomfort.

She was as relaxed as much as people get in the chair. At least she wasn’t white knuckle gripping the arms of the chair like others had done. You could only try to comfort people as much as possible.

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