A few weeks ago I had to have a root canal done on my number 14 molar. Apparently I have a pretty high pain tolerance, because when I went to the dentist complaining of some discomfort related to hot or cold beverages, he opened up the tooth exposing the root and exclaimed, “Wow! This is pretty bad!” That is something you never really want to hear your dentist say, by the way. After letting the fluid drain for a bit, he prepped the tooth for the job. For those of you who have never had a root canal, it involves exposing the nerve chambers within the tooth and then using a metal file (like the one shown below) to scrape out the infected/damaged nerve.
One of the keys to a successful root canal is to ensure that all of the nerve has been removed, thereby eliminating the chance of future pain for the patient. In order to ensure all of the nerve has been removed, the dentist will often take X-Rays of the tooth with the file in the nerve chamber so that he or she can see the contrast between the file and the tooth, allowing him or her to see the depth to which the nerve has been scraped and if any nerve material has been left behind. Once the entirety of the nerve material has been successfully removed, the dentist fills the nerve canals of the tooth with an epoxy-like material and seals off the top of the tooth with a filling or crowns the tooth, protecting the worked-on area.
Due to some difficulties both with my tooth and with my dentist’s X-Ray machine, the procedure described above took a touch over two hours. During that time, my two oldest sons were in the waiting room and I was praying they were not destroying it. At the same time, I was grateful for his thoroughness. For example, at one point he was having a difficult time getting an accurate picture of the depth of the file in my tooth. He took several X-Rays, over and over telling the hygienist, “I want to see this more clearly. If we have left anything behind, Pete is going to be in some pain and I don’t want that.” At no point did he say, “Whatever. I can’t get a good picture. I’m sure it is good enough.”
Those dreaded words. Good enough. How often do we say those words regarding the education of the students entrusted to us? What exactly is good enough anyway? With my root canal, good enough was making sure no nerve material was mistakenly left behind. With our students, is good enough making sure they pass? Getting all of their homework turned in? Completing the missing project? Getting through our class? Walking with their peers at promotion/graduation? Growing by a certain metric on a standardized test?
What if it was your tooth? What if it was your child? How would you define good enough then? Do you have a measure by which you define success with each individual child? If so, what is it and how do you know you have hit it? If not, why not? If it were your child, how would you want his or her teacher to answer that question? Since every one of the students entrusted to us is someone’s child (and therefore perhaps their whole world), shouldn’t we all have an answer to that question? And shouldn’t we be prepared to show evidence of what that measure is and where each child is according to that measure? I am certainly glad my dentist knew what to look for. My tooth is now pain free. Great educators know what to look for with their students, too.
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