 How well do the people in your office get along with each other? What responsibility do you have for maintaining a pleasant productive atmosphere in your office? It's generally agreed that dental auxiliaries can help prevent interpersonal problems, or at least minimize the effect that these problems may have on a dental practice. To be most effective in meeting this responsibility, auxiliaries must understand and be sensitive to the needs of other staff members in the office. The following scenarios simulate experiences which are likely to happen in a dental office. They are designed to trigger discussion. None of the situations tells a complete story, nor do any of the problems depicted have a predetermined answer or solution. Solving interpersonal problems or preventing their occurrence is not always easy to do, but hopefully through discussion and personal involvement, you may better understand the concerns of others and react more sensitively to them. Following projection of each scenario, the projector will be stopped for discussion of the situation depicted. During the scenario, consider carefully what is happening, why it is happening, how it could have been prevented, and what you would do if it happened to you. All right Mrs. Owens, open please. We need to place the rubber dam now. How's that? Hey Biff, did you get to the meeting last night? I sure did. Boy, that was so mean. You should have been there. Wish I had made it. If you get a chance, come out to the desk and tell me about it. Okay. I'll do that. Tell you what, why don't you go ahead and place the dam, and I'm going to go out and talk to Mary, and I'll be right back. By myself? Sure. Anyway, you need to practice. Boy, I'm having a difficult time seeing there. Why don't you move around to an 11 o'clock position and straighten up a little bit. Maybe just a little bit more, Marie. May I have some amalgam on the major, please? Amalgam on the distal, please? Okay, that's fine. Don't you want some more amalgam on the major? No, I don't want any more amalgam on the major. Carver, please? I don't want that carver. I want the Hartzell. Dr. Cooper always uses the discoy planing. Well, it might work well for Dr. Cooper, but I'd like the Hartzell, please. Why don't you just try it, Marie? May I have the Hartzell Carver, please? I was only trying to be helpful. You can by giving me the Hartzell Carver. Hey Mrs. Mitchell, we'll be looking forward then to seeing you at three o'clock on Thursday. Okay? And if anything should come up, you'll let us know. Alrighty. Okay, bye-bye now. Certainly was a busy morning. Oh, it sure was. And this afternoon is just as busy. Really? Who do we have coming in at one o'clock? Miss Thompson's coming in. Oh, that's right. Oh, by the way, I'm going to be a little bit late coming in from lunch. Do you think you could cover for me? I don't know. You know, we've got Ginger back to me at one o'clock. Well, I promise I won't be more than 10 or 15 minutes at the most. Please? Okay, but you be back. Don't be long. Okay, thanks. You're a real life saver. How are you today, Miss Thompson? Thank you. Good. You're about 10 minutes early. Yes. We've got a new magazine you might be interested in reading. Dr. Cooper is still at lunch, but you'll be back soon. Have a seat. Thank you. Well, that was a quick lunch. Yeah, it didn't take long. I just got a snack. Miss Thompson's here, but she's about 10 minutes early. Oh, good. Go ahead and seat her. We'll get started early. Well, Delores is gone. She'll be gone for a while. Well, she'll only be gone for a few minutes, won't she? Let's go ahead and get started. Well, she told me she'd be back about a quarter after. Well, I wouldn't... Why didn't she send anything to me if she's going to be gone? She asked me to watch the desk for her. She said she wouldn't be gone long. She promised she'd be right back. Okay, go ahead and seat the patient, and I've got to have you to assist me, okay? But Dr. Cooper... Miss Thompson, you can come in now. Is it still raining outside, Mrs. Duncan? No, it's stopped. Oh, good. I tell you, it's been raining now for what? About five days straight? I think that's about right. What do you think was ever going to stop? I didn't either. Where's Susan today? Oh, she's not working here anymore. Oh, really? No, in fact, she left, I guess, it's been now about three weeks. Oh, I didn't know that. Yes, as a matter of fact, she was having marital problems. Oh, that's a shame. It was really beginning to affect her work. Some days she came in late, or she didn't even come in at all, and so family Dr. North just got tired of it and let her go. Oh, really? Well, you know, she's a real good friend of my daughter's, and I can't wait to get home to ask her about it. That's a deep one. We're going to need a nice firm base, right through here, right there. Okay. That's always going to look good. Well, Dr. North, we've met more detail in the distal. Here are Patricia's radiographs you asked for. Oh, okay, thank you. Delores? Mm-hmm. You've had more training than I have. What's the difference between gingivitis and periodontitis? Why do they get those two confused? Oh, I used to get them confused, too. Well, gingivitis is an inflammation of the gingiva, and periodontitis is an inflammation of the periodontal membrane. Well, in hygiene school, we learned that it's a little more complex than that. Uh, gingivitis can be there acute or chronic, and it is left untreated. It can become a chronic periodontitis. And then when you consider... Oh, Vivian, I don't, you know, she didn't ask for a dictionary definition. Look, that's all right. I'm going to patient to get in. After all, Delores, gingivitis is more complex than what you told her. So we're very impressed.