A dentist in Thornbury managed to finish an operation during a blackout using the flashlight from his mobile phone.
A dentist in Thornbury managed to finish an operation during a blackout using the flashlight from his mobile phone.The patient, Ken Griffin, has been praising Dr Haroon Syed for being “the MacGyver of dentists.” Dr Syed was partway through a cap replacement when the power went off at the Thornbury Smiles clinic.
“Literally I got in the chair, he’d put the anaesthetic in and started drilling away at the tooth, and he was halfway through the procedure when the light that was shining in my face went out,” Griffin told Leader.
“I just thought the bulb had gone because the drill was still working, but as it turns out the drill works off a compressor and the compressor still had a little air in it.
“He basically didn’t skip a beat, he got the blinds open in the surgery and had his nurse using the torch on his iPhone to make sure he had all the light he needed, and because the drill was working he basically ploughed on.”
Dr Syed was concerned that should he wait for the power to return Griffin’s anaesthetic would wear off and the patient would be in pain.
“It was a bit of a panicky situation to be honest, because it was quite a big filling and I didn’t want him to be in a lot of pain,” Dr Syed said.
“This is the first time I’ve done anything like that, having to work with no light. Things just worked out really well for that moment.”
Griffin could not be more pleased with Dr Syed’s work and has been praising the doctor’s improvisation skills.
“I’ve been telling all my friends that he’s the MacGyver of dentists,” said Griffin.
Dr Syed’s sudden lean into fame hasn’t gone to his head, the dentist joked that he was unsurprised by his new found fame.
“It’s a fantastic feeling, I knew I was going to be famous one day, and now it’s happened,” Dr Syed joked.
“Really it was just a nice experience, it’s nice we had the ability to just push along and get the work done.”
