Can't think of a title...

I love the VA because I get to meet such amazing heroes of our military. That may sound cheesy, but I just really appreciate what they do for us. I saw a young soldier today who suffered from severe PTSD. I had never seen anything like it before. He was VERY nervous. He would check around his shoulders when I came into the room and couldn't even really handle me working in his mouth. I offered to give him nitrous gas which seemed to help A LOT. He was able to relax a little bit. He also chewed tobacco so I was able to see a "chewing tobacco patch". It looked like a white lesion in the vestibule, where he keeps the tobacco. The doctor and I both urged him to quit and he said he had cut back a lot already. I hope he is able to quit someday soon because not only did he have TERRIBLE breath, but it will really take a toll on his oral and systemic health. I saw another older man who was paraplegic. It was a great learning experience on working with a patient who had a severe physical handicap. He was able to put himself in and out of the dental chair. It was amazing. He also had SEVERE stain. I found out it was from a liquid iron supplement he was taking. (Take note!) It covered his teeth. It was tedious but I got it all off with the ultra-sonic scaler. He went out of there with a brand new smile. Unfortunately he wasn't the type to be too excited so he didn't share in the thrill with me, but I was happy!