What's That? It's Pat!

I used to love the SNL skit "PAT". So it made yesterday's experience all the more hilarious. I walked into the dental operatory (No its not a bad dental joke) and said to the seven year old patient's head in the chair "Hey big guy!" Then my assistant shows me the chart. On the patient label it said the name along with an "M" for the sex. Above said sticker she had written "female". And with that I began the dental visit confused as to if patient was a patricia or patrick. The name was not helpful in figuring out the gender. The child has short curly hair and was overweight with a higher voice. Only the voice made me think female. So the whole appointment I was careful not to use he/she, buddy/honey. It was very hard, I realized I use those terms a lot with my patients. The part that really made me think of the PAT skit was I kept asking questions in hopes of getting a gender clue. The best friends name was some weird name I had never heard of and was unhelpful. Favorite TV show also unhelpful: The Fairly OddParents. Also, the teeth didn't look either male or female. So the patient left and I was able to confirm that it was a girl.