It is a Small World Afterall!

Yesterday I was reminded again on how small a world we live in and how we are all more connected than we realize – ESPECIALLY here in the dental field!!!

I happened to see a little garage sale that one of our neighbors was having on my way home yesterday. We’ve been looking for a mirror and I saw a beautiful wooden framed mirror with elegant detail that caught my eye in passing! So I turned around, parked, and walked over. I bought the lovely mirror for $25 and also acquired a lovely handmade pottery lamp! I don’t usually speak very much to vendors about personal matters but she helped me take the mirror over to my car and we started a brief conversation. She said that she recently moved to San Francisco from Berkeley. One of the offices that I work at is in Berkeley – so I mentioned that I worked there and had done my undergraduate studies there also! I asked her what she was doing in San Francisco and she stated that she was going to graduate school. Then she asked me what I did, and I mentioned that I was a dentist! She looked at me in surprise and said that she is going to be starting dental school this year!!! Then she said that she also went to school in Berkeley. Before I left she mentioned that she needed help collecting extracted teeth for school and I offered to help her and gave her my email and she will be dropping off a jar of bleach at one of my offices.

After this brief exchange, as I drove home with my mirror and lamp contraband, I reflected on this coincidence and wondered what exactly had led us to talk about our shared profession and share a bit of our lives –each with an almost complete stranger. I don’t usually ask people why they are moving, or think to believe they would tell me. I don’t usually stop at random garage sales let alone go out of my way to turn around and return. I was surprised again, pleasantly so, at how we are all connected in the world – especially dental world.

The lesson I’ve learned is that we are often surprisingly rewarded by extending ourselves to others and also that it just goes to show that we should be nice to EVERYONE that we can because you might see them again in the future – in the more immediate future than you think!!! I’ll probably see this young lady at dental meetings or our paths might cross again in the future!

It’s a small world…afterall!!

Lights...Camera...Zoom!!!

What do we see on the front of most magazines, on the television with actors, with news reporters, and on most dental websites? Beautiful people with BRIGHT and BEAUTIFUL and WHITE smiles. Are most of these bright smiles natural? Or were they enhanced? Were they Zoomed???

More recently I was speaking to a lady about her treatment plan and she asked me about whitening her teeth. Whitening your teeth, and timing it appropriately, is truly a part of treatment planning. Whether it is needed or desired - that is dictated by the patient. I looked at her teeth and to me they were BEAUTIFUL – one of the whitest shades we have.  She wanted them WHITER?!? How was this possible?  Similarly, I have many people who have many other dental issues that need to be stabilized before teeth whitening should be done, but that is their main concern. There was even a cartoon parody of this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfR0mT2DSDw&feature=related

While I appreciate the humor, I am not saying that whitening is not a priority in the dental field. I myself recently had the opportunity to have my teeth whitened for my recent wedding– our office uses Zoom for in-house bleaching. Our dental assistant was being trained and I was to be the guinea pig (only I was a willing patient since I wanted it for those memorable wedding pictures!!!!)  It was well worth the 45 minutes of treatment and after a mouth-full of cotton, you could find me in the DARK! (Just like Ross in that funny Friends episode!)  I also have the bleaching tray moulds so that I can bleach at home. I LOVE whitening my teeth – it is true - it makes me feel younger, look more tan, and I just want to smile more!  BLING!!!

But I just want to mention a few things you should consider before whitening your teeth.

A)    Are your gums and teeth healthy? Are your teeth free of cavities, and are your gums healthy? It is important to first address these issues before you whiten your teeth

A)   Do you have previous crowns or fillings on your teeth already? If so, these will not get lighter with whitening and will not change color. You might need to have them replaced in the most extreme situations if you are not happy with their color

B)    Are your teeth sensitive?

a.       My teeth are VERY sensitive -  If this is a concern, I recommend using a fluoride mouthrinse (ACT for example) for at least a week before whitening. If possible, a prescription for Prevident 5000+ would be recommended for those VERY sensitive people, like myself. This should cost ~$20 (you can ask for a prescription from your dentist)

C)     What are staining foods and do you consume a lot of them in your diet?

a.       Coffee, tea, red wine, tomatoes, acidic foods

D)    Do you smoke?

a.       If you do, and are considering quitting or try to quit again, possibly you can use teeth whitening as an incentive. Smoking is not only harmful to your entire health, but from a dental perspective it changes circulation of your gums, it is one of the risk factors in periodontal (gum) disease, and oral cancer, and it stains your teeth, among other harmful effects. 

So next time you consider bleaching, GO FOR IT – but don’t forget to consider what I’ve listed. If you have, then LIGHTS…CAMERA….ZOOM, ZOOM!!!

image courtesy of: columbiamedicalsolutions.com

Today's Media & the Humanization/Humorization of Dentistry

Have you seen the ads & previews for the movie "Horrible Bosses"– with Jennifer Aniston who plays a very HOT but sex-crazy dentist but who sexually harasses her staff & patients? And do you remember the dentist played by Ed Helms in the movie “The Hangover” where he pulled out his own tooth? Or have you seen the movie “The Dentist” and “The Dentist II” – both of which are basically about dentists that go crazy and are psycho killers??? Or Matthew Perry’s character as a dentist who helps in assassinations with Bruce Willis in the Whole Nine (and then Ten) Yards? And when is the last time you saw a fun Twitter or Facebook message from your dentist or hygienist??

Well, as a member of the dental profession, I get SOOOOOO excited when I find out that a character is playing a dentist. It just tickles me!  BUT - then I'm just as equally disappointed sometimes after I see what the character portrays!!! Publicity is publicity (bad or good right)?? NO!!! Another reason why I started this blog is that I noticed that dentistry is seldom portrayed in a positive light in social media (TV, movies, etc). And why should it- because it isn’t the most enjoyable experience for everyone and it isn’t really REALLY funny. But it CAN be.  If you meet most dentists, we are pretty AWESOME people (am I bias??? hmmm)... But truly I think we are generally VERY pleasant –personal, we smile and make jokes often. We are GREAT listeners and we have (for the most part) excellent chair-side manners. We volunteer often, and we enjoying giving back to our community. (Be honest now, I’m sure you laugh JUST A LITTLE BIT in the chair – you just don’t remember it because right after we make you open your mouth and we look around and you can’t get a word in edgewise…and that isn’t fun…for anyone.) And there are always references to a terrible situation and joke that “oh THAT is just about as fun as going to the dentist” – meaning it is more like torture.  

Now - I haven’t seen “Horrible Bosses” yet, and I REALLY enjoyed the dentist character in “the Hangover.” You’ve never heard anyone laugh out loud so hard as me than in the Hangover scene when he is pulling out his own tooth (I even read in a magazine that he really has a dental implant which is why the scene looks so REAL – because I was trying to figure out how they did that!!!) I LOVE sarcasm and humor – I thrive on it.

But I recently went on Twitter and Facebook and when I looked up dentistry there were either important yet long articles with no pictures (or if they had pictures it was of bleeding gums or the most extreme gross teeth you can imagine). And while there were some great blogs and posts and topics of interest especially to all those in the dental field, a lot of posts were from vendors trying to sell their products, etc.  They didn’t appeal to the public!

So I truly feel that we need to humanize and HUMORIZE dentistry – make it relatable and funny while still putting the profession in a positive light. I’m not asking the television or movie industries to make dentists the smart-yet-somewhat-boring-goodie-to-shoes but maybe it is the DENTIST that saves the day! Or we can be like the hilarious & sarcastic yet smart OB-GYN who delivers the baby for Hugh Grant in the movie 9 months! We are the unsung heroes in identification in such tragedies at 9/11, and we are the unsung heroes when you are having an emergency. Why can’t we have our own television series like Grey’s Anatomy or The Practice where all the characters are amazingly good looking, and they are all dentists, and the characters solve mysteries in dental diagnostics?!?!? I’d watch it!!!

I know I’m not going to be able to change the precedent of media negativity towards the profession, but I’m DARN well going to try….at least here is my contribution…..

So CHEERS to the HUMORIZATION and the HUMANIZATION of dentistry!   

Image courtesy of: today.msnbc.msn.com