Date:17/02/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/02/17/stories/2007021702121500.htm

National

An "obedient and excellent patient"

Special Correspondent

Jyoti Basu undergoes root canal treatment

Jyoti Basu

KOLKATA: An "obedient and excellent patient" is how dental surgeon Dibyendu Majumdar, has described 92-year-old Marxist leader, Jyoti Basu, who underwent a root canal treatment of his wisdom tooth at a hospital here on Friday.

"He is such an excellent patient, keeping his mouth open for the whole of 45 minutes without a twitch... I did not think for a moment that I was treating a patient as old as he is", he said.

The upper molar had been causing the veteran Marxist leader considerable pain for some time. An extraction, he was advised, might be required but Mr. Basu insisted that he did not want to lose his tooth.

So, root canal therapy was suggested.

Mr. Basu, who had earlier attended a meeting of the State Secretariat of the Communist Party of India [Marxist] at the party headquarters, went to the Dr. Rafi Ahmed Dental Hospital in the central part of the city, accompanied by an aide.

Dr. Majumdar who is also acting principal of the hospital, has been Mr. Basu's dentist for the past year.