WOMEN CAN...

by Liudmila Karkhu

(This is a summary of the article. It should be said that in the countryside and in small towns and provincial cities during the Soviet period, and even now in many places, a doctor is called on to provide all kinds of medical services and often became a specialist in more than one area. This was true of Natalia Zalepilova, who, some years after becoming a dentist, at her own wish and initiative also got specialized training in cosmetic surgery. -- editor).

Everyone in town knows Natalia Viktorovna Zalepilova. She is an oral surgeon, a specialist in electro-surgery at the main city hospital. She provides dental treatment for adults as well as children of all ages, and for those who are seriously ill and have psychiatric disorders, and indeed she treats everyone referred to her from the city dental polyclinic. In Russia people like Natalia Viktorovna are called "obsessed," because she does so much work. She is the only woman in the region who is qualified to perform operations and treatment on the teeth with general anesthesia. She has been working as a dentist in Monchegorsk since 1973 and for most of those years she used only gas as anesthesia.

In l990 she began using injections of general anesthesia for patients who needed it, particularly those who are mentally disturbed or who have some other serious illness such as epilepsy, and must be put to sleep in the dentist's chair. In a short period of time, the doctor has to accomplish a lot, treating and pulling teeth and preparing to create artificial teeth. The anesthesiologist and the nurse attentively monitor the patient's vital signs throughout the operation, the nurse prepares fillings and instruments, passing them to the doctor with lightning speed. Because of their precise cooperation, and the high qualifications of each member of the team -- the dentist, the anesthesiologist, the anesthesia assistants, and the nurses -- they achieve a remarkable efficiency. The whole process takes perhaps one hour and a half. The hospital also has a successful record with teams including two dentists -- one working on the right, the other to the left of the patient. Treatment with four hands speeds up the treatment process, and minimizes the amount of time the patient must be under anesthesia. Operations at the dental surgeon's office can take three hours.

Natalia works with her own methodology. In Moscow they put in a temporary filling, and say, "Come back tomorrow and we will put in a real filling." Zalyipilova takes into consideration the fear of dentists. She does not begin her work with each patient until she has already studied the patient's condition and the x-rays. And when the patient wakes up after the anesthesia, everything is already done. In addition, the doctor has managed to put metal crowns on the teeth while the patient is still asleep. She learned this technique at the same time as the basic work.

"Is it easy to work with sleeping patients?"

"It is harder than it seems at first glance," answers Natalia Viktorovna. "It requires great psychological and emotional concentration, hard work, and great experience from the doctor and the doctor's assistants. Nurse Nataliya Kudryashova has been working with me since 1990. She has learned how to prepare all varieties of filling materials and is the right hand of the dentist" For the most part, this method of treating patients under anesthesia is not very common in Russia. The method is used in regional centers and major cities such as Moscow, St. Petersburg, Ekaterinburg, and in our own Monchegorsk. The reason is that in order to do this type of work, a dentist must have a specialized team of assistants

as well as specialized equipment. These things are all very expensive now in Russia. Each year Dr. Zalepilova treats over 300 of these patients in her office. All her life Natalia dreamed of making people more beautiful, not just with a big white smile but with a beautiful face as well. Her main work has been the dental surgery described above, and she also has a diploma in cosmetic surgery and does this work at the central city hospital. ...

Natalia's husband is also a dentist and he supports her professional growth With him she can always discuss medical issues and not just family concerns. She believes it is very good to have two doctors in the family, and regrets that her sons did not go into medicine. It seems their mother was always at work and for too long hours. "But I did tell them they must marry doctors," she jokes half-seriously. "Only then will my hopes be fulfilled."