Yesterday I had the pleasure of going to two weddings - one for one of the office dental assistants who married her childhood sweetheart and the other for a previous friend/ co-resident from my general practice residency. Today I had the pleasure of seeing two friends from college - and we spent the day together, chatting as if the 10-12 years ago was just yesterday, and all the life in between didn't happen. But it did - we are different people, and all our life experiences have happened - but we are still, in our core, the same.
Today being 9.11.11, reflecting on what happened a decade ago with the twin towers in beloved NYC and the Pentagon, and all the lives tragically lost, it makes me realize more and more that our lives are a blink of an eye. It was truly an honor to be included in another person's significant life event (like a wedding or a child's birth). I've known a few of the people from the wedding from over 8 years and my co-residents for almost 5 years. Over that time period so many things have changed - people have gotten engaged or married, some have had children, I met my husband and got engaged/now married, houses have been purchased, jobs have changed...life is truly going by - faster and faster.
It also placed it in perspective that no matter what I decide to do professionally in my dental career future that I need to appreciate the NOW and be thankful that I am blessed to have my husband, my family, my friends - even while we hope and pray for the best in the future.
Life continues...and I call it good.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Friday, September 9, 2011
Fact: many dental working women have moments of a little “Ponytail” envy
I found out last night that it is not only me, but many working women (women dentists) have what I will call – Ponytail envy. You ask – what is Ponytail envy? Read on…
I recently had the honor of being invited to be a part of an all women dental study group and last night was our FIRST meeting!!! We had the opportunity to bring a lot of women from all different areas together, make introductions and histories, and set the groundwork of what we wanted out of our study group and future meetings, topic, venues, etc. I was so happy to be included and it was really an eye opening, really FUN yet mind-tiring evening for me – for many reasons. Just to share a few…(I can’t share everything with you – the table was “like Vegas – no names, what said there will stay there” but I can share what I learned from the evening…)
First was that I was the YOUNGEST (strike one) and ONLY female dental ASSOCIATE (strike two) except for one other lady who has been an associate for 20 years – all of the other women owned their own practices!!! There were women of all ages, of various specialties, but all had very similar experiences as business owners – a realm that I know VERY little about. I realized that as a new dentist, for me, the topics of interest for me – like business management and how to evaluate staff issues and employment law, are hurdles that these ladies have already jumped through. But the key was that they are STILL dealing with those issues today – even after years of practicing. It is a constant learning process – (I knew that but to see it in front of me was amazing).positive & negative…and I’d rather learn from the negative vicariously.
Second that as I have thought in the past, other females share the philosophy that the male “style” of practicing dentistry is very different. Not that we are discriminating or sexist – it is just fact – that women are different than men. How we approach things, generally, are different also! It isn’t any different in dentistry. We laughed because as empathetic females we are empathizing with our patients about their deep cavities and apologize that they need to have a root canal and a crown, instead of the very matter-of-fact male statement – “you have a cavity. You need a root canal and you need a crown and that will be over $3000. Now I know I am generalizing, but we ALL laughed because we ALL do that with our patients! As if it is OUR fault that they have a deep cavity or bleeding gums.
Third- not that I didn’t know this before, but I was so proud of these working female dentists. These lades WORK HARD – some confessed they hadn’t taken a vacation in a LONG time – due to time constraints, health issues, business constraints – boundaries that are often self-enforced. They COULD take a vacation, but many choose not to – letting the patients, finances, production & work schedule and schedules months in advance dictate what can and cannot be done.
My 4th shared lesson and to discuss the title of my entry -is that working ladies around me (ME INCLUDED) have a small amount of PONYTAIL ENVY. All of us career ladies work very hard- we LOVE dentistry and what we do for patients or else we wouldn’t do it. We also want to learn and try to master a craft while at the same time contribute to our families. There are many ladies out there that make the choice of staying home – whether it be with their children, or family preference. And that is wonderful. We understand that we choose to work as much and as hard as we do – probably at the sacrifice of many other facets of life. But we still love and do it. BUT on days that are particularly hard or difficult for us – or we are sick or tired, we wish we could be one of those lucky women that goes on morning walks with their baby stroller, in their beautifully fit tiny clothes on equally tiny bodies, not worry about disability insurance, patient cavities…ponytails swinging – hence the waxes and wanes of PONYTAIL ENVY. It isn’t really envy – but a lifestyle we haven’t embraced and it is very much a “grass is greener” approach in our minds.
I think that my last lesson I want to share is one of the most important. I think that I knew this lesson before – but it was verified further last night. The lesson was that these ladies stressed the importance of PRIORITIES IN LIFE- meaning that work is work and they make that a huge (sometimes overpowering) priority in their lives – but LIFE BALANCE & FAMILY& QUALITY TIME is what really matters. Because if something happens to us, our health, our practice, or anything else work related – patients, their problems, their cavities – they would all continue without us just fine – and all the little stresses that add up – in the end don’t mean that much to anyone, but US.
I can’t wait to go to our next meeting!!! We are trying to think of a name – what do you think of “Chicks with Burs” – too chicky??
image courtesy of: mylilventure.com
I recently had the honor of being invited to be a part of an all women dental study group and last night was our FIRST meeting!!! We had the opportunity to bring a lot of women from all different areas together, make introductions and histories, and set the groundwork of what we wanted out of our study group and future meetings, topic, venues, etc. I was so happy to be included and it was really an eye opening, really FUN yet mind-tiring evening for me – for many reasons. Just to share a few…(I can’t share everything with you – the table was “like Vegas – no names, what said there will stay there” but I can share what I learned from the evening…)
First was that I was the YOUNGEST (strike one) and ONLY female dental ASSOCIATE (strike two) except for one other lady who has been an associate for 20 years – all of the other women owned their own practices!!! There were women of all ages, of various specialties, but all had very similar experiences as business owners – a realm that I know VERY little about. I realized that as a new dentist, for me, the topics of interest for me – like business management and how to evaluate staff issues and employment law, are hurdles that these ladies have already jumped through. But the key was that they are STILL dealing with those issues today – even after years of practicing. It is a constant learning process – (I knew that but to see it in front of me was amazing).positive & negative…and I’d rather learn from the negative vicariously.
Second that as I have thought in the past, other females share the philosophy that the male “style” of practicing dentistry is very different. Not that we are discriminating or sexist – it is just fact – that women are different than men. How we approach things, generally, are different also! It isn’t any different in dentistry. We laughed because as empathetic females we are empathizing with our patients about their deep cavities and apologize that they need to have a root canal and a crown, instead of the very matter-of-fact male statement – “you have a cavity. You need a root canal and you need a crown and that will be over $3000. Now I know I am generalizing, but we ALL laughed because we ALL do that with our patients! As if it is OUR fault that they have a deep cavity or bleeding gums.
Third- not that I didn’t know this before, but I was so proud of these working female dentists. These lades WORK HARD – some confessed they hadn’t taken a vacation in a LONG time – due to time constraints, health issues, business constraints – boundaries that are often self-enforced. They COULD take a vacation, but many choose not to – letting the patients, finances, production & work schedule and schedules months in advance dictate what can and cannot be done.
My 4th shared lesson and to discuss the title of my entry -is that working ladies around me (ME INCLUDED) have a small amount of PONYTAIL ENVY. All of us career ladies work very hard- we LOVE dentistry and what we do for patients or else we wouldn’t do it. We also want to learn and try to master a craft while at the same time contribute to our families. There are many ladies out there that make the choice of staying home – whether it be with their children, or family preference. And that is wonderful. We understand that we choose to work as much and as hard as we do – probably at the sacrifice of many other facets of life. But we still love and do it. BUT on days that are particularly hard or difficult for us – or we are sick or tired, we wish we could be one of those lucky women that goes on morning walks with their baby stroller, in their beautifully fit tiny clothes on equally tiny bodies, not worry about disability insurance, patient cavities…ponytails swinging – hence the waxes and wanes of PONYTAIL ENVY. It isn’t really envy – but a lifestyle we haven’t embraced and it is very much a “grass is greener” approach in our minds.
I think that my last lesson I want to share is one of the most important. I think that I knew this lesson before – but it was verified further last night. The lesson was that these ladies stressed the importance of PRIORITIES IN LIFE- meaning that work is work and they make that a huge (sometimes overpowering) priority in their lives – but LIFE BALANCE & FAMILY& QUALITY TIME is what really matters. Because if something happens to us, our health, our practice, or anything else work related – patients, their problems, their cavities – they would all continue without us just fine – and all the little stresses that add up – in the end don’t mean that much to anyone, but US.
I can’t wait to go to our next meeting!!! We are trying to think of a name – what do you think of “Chicks with Burs” – too chicky??
image courtesy of: mylilventure.com
Never judge a tooth by it’s xray
I don’t know if this has happened to you – but until 3:30 PM today my day had been – for the most part – wonderful and smooth. After a holiday weekend it is hard to return to work but you get back into the groove of work very quickly. Flux of patients in… treatment… patients out and thankfully smiling all throughout. It was, so far, a great day. Then, imagine it – the last patient of the day – an emergency walk-in. I had been efficient throughout the day, writing notes, reviewing charts – not just because I wanted to but I had to return to the bay area (a drive over 90 minutes for an evening meeting) and I needed to “make like a tree and leave.”
So after examination, appropriate xrays, and evaluation – it was decided that the lower right tooth was broken below the gumline and bone) and it was to be extracted. Consent was achieved, BP and no blood thinners or allergies, and we proceeded with the extraction.
I have done a few thousand extractions – from full mouth to root tips and I’ve only had three teeth that were truly circumferentially ANKYLOSED – meaning FUSED WITH THE BONE ALL the way around the root. And today, I had the joy of meeting another.
Xrays tell us SO much information in the dental world - it is one more diagnostic tool that helps us in our profession. But today, I was reminded again, that while xrays tell us a lot, they do NOT tell us everything...sorry Superman with your xray vision. On the film the tooth looked thin and the extraction straightforward. But as I started to try to move the tooth, it was breaking and breaking and coming out in pieces -it was SO BRITTLE!!! I was ready to put a stick of dynamite in there but that would have had other repercussions right?
Thankfully, in the end we eventually got all the tooth out – drilling it into little pieces, but I had forgotten, given all the straightforward extractions I had, to never judge a tooth by its x-ray.
image courtesy of: pmsoden.com
So after examination, appropriate xrays, and evaluation – it was decided that the lower right tooth was broken below the gumline and bone) and it was to be extracted. Consent was achieved, BP and no blood thinners or allergies, and we proceeded with the extraction.
I have done a few thousand extractions – from full mouth to root tips and I’ve only had three teeth that were truly circumferentially ANKYLOSED – meaning FUSED WITH THE BONE ALL the way around the root. And today, I had the joy of meeting another.
Xrays tell us SO much information in the dental world - it is one more diagnostic tool that helps us in our profession. But today, I was reminded again, that while xrays tell us a lot, they do NOT tell us everything...sorry Superman with your xray vision. On the film the tooth looked thin and the extraction straightforward. But as I started to try to move the tooth, it was breaking and breaking and coming out in pieces -it was SO BRITTLE!!! I was ready to put a stick of dynamite in there but that would have had other repercussions right?
Thankfully, in the end we eventually got all the tooth out – drilling it into little pieces, but I had forgotten, given all the straightforward extractions I had, to never judge a tooth by its x-ray.
image courtesy of: pmsoden.com
FeatureMeDental – The Story behind the Masks
Welcome FeatureMeDental- the newest part of A Dental Perspective!!!
What is FeatureMeDental?
We all go to our dentist (hopefully at least twice a year) but we often don’t know the personal and wonderful stories and lives behind the masks – the life, the struggle, the satisfaction, the sacrifices, the amazing timing, and the lessons to be learned from those in the dental profession and their successes.
I would love to start ANOTHER dental website but monitoring two websites already takes A LOT of TIME (and my husband would probably go crazy from not seeing me because I”m working on websites all the time). So if you can add time to the clock or until I can save a little more to start ANOTHER site, FeatureMeDental is going to feature dental professionals, interviews, and their stories. Currently I am in the SF bay area but this will feature dental professionals and interviews from all over!!! It is the HISTORY behind the dental professionals and their stories I’m sharing with you!!!
Why FeatureMeDental?
I keep hearing on the news and on the radio about how small businesses will keep our economy from even further crisis. How? By creating jobs, creating employment, helping our local economy thrive by creating products and services that everyone needs! I am in the health field and not many people think of dentistry as a small business – but it IS! Eventually I would love to be a small business owner myself and want to learn all I can from others who have gone before me and actually DONE it before I throw my hand into the fray! And, I love to write and share other people’s stories…and other people’s lives.
So without further adieu – I present – FeatureMeDental. Can’t wait to share my interviews with you and get started!!!
What is FeatureMeDental?
We all go to our dentist (hopefully at least twice a year) but we often don’t know the personal and wonderful stories and lives behind the masks – the life, the struggle, the satisfaction, the sacrifices, the amazing timing, and the lessons to be learned from those in the dental profession and their successes.
I would love to start ANOTHER dental website but monitoring two websites already takes A LOT of TIME (and my husband would probably go crazy from not seeing me because I”m working on websites all the time). So if you can add time to the clock or until I can save a little more to start ANOTHER site, FeatureMeDental is going to feature dental professionals, interviews, and their stories. Currently I am in the SF bay area but this will feature dental professionals and interviews from all over!!! It is the HISTORY behind the dental professionals and their stories I’m sharing with you!!!
Why FeatureMeDental?
I keep hearing on the news and on the radio about how small businesses will keep our economy from even further crisis. How? By creating jobs, creating employment, helping our local economy thrive by creating products and services that everyone needs! I am in the health field and not many people think of dentistry as a small business – but it IS! Eventually I would love to be a small business owner myself and want to learn all I can from others who have gone before me and actually DONE it before I throw my hand into the fray! And, I love to write and share other people’s stories…and other people’s lives.
So without further adieu – I present – FeatureMeDental. Can’t wait to share my interviews with you and get started!!!
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!!
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!!
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Dentistry, Helping Hands, and Me: the person behind the mask
I know that I am very blessed and have a lot of fun and excitement in my life. But just like everyone I am dealing with some personal issues– crossroads regarding work, crossroads regarding family, trying to think of future professional plans while still thinking of personal plans and issues, health, my aging parents, my own desire for family, mortgage, bills, student loans, etc. But when I’m at work I realize that how I deal with my own complex and perplexing situations is to not think about them so much and focus on other people. While reflection (and self-reflection) is very important to our ability to learn from situations– I feel that sometimes we take too long to think about ourselves and our worries (current, future, or past situations). It can become a vicious cycle and skewed memories of events that don’t even matter anymore. As we become involved in our own fun, exciting, and complicated lives – worrying about the future, worrying about a bills, worrying about family matters, anything – it is easy to spiral and get lost in your own concerns.
But when I come to work – problems are presented to me that I feel that I can solve or learn from and help solve and REALLY help someone else. It is inevitable that patients share their current life issues when you spend time with them – and I see that everyone is going through their own personal experiences trying to survive, like me, this wonderful and complex situation called LIFE. Even with personal matters on my mind, the smiles and encouragement and help and assistance I give to my patients each day is genuine and out of genuine caring for them and the end result of their improved dental and overall health. And even, if I make them smile for a moment, their mental health…and mine.
I read an article from 2010 after writing my above post today and it talked about how helping others improves mental health (http://www.momlogic.com/2010/01/how_helping_others_improves_me.php) and this holds true probably for many in the medical, dental, health, and public service professions.
And then, I come home tired from work and tired from talking and sharing myself with others, but at the same time I am REFRESHED & REJUVENATED. I have a refreshed, different opinion, perspective of life and appreciation for the important things– family, love, happiness… and all in partly because I am happy that I helped that scheduled list of patients and people during the day. I come home, make and eat dinner and share myself with my friends on the phone, or husband while eating dinner, and realize that perhaps the problems I might have now will settle and resolve, and I SMILE and look forward to the next day of scheduled patients that I can help.
image courtesy of: www.momlogic.com
Disability Insurance and Irks from the Dentist chair
As a young woman in my 30s and having an overactive thyroid (a chronic autoimmune problem that has been a part of me since I was almost 23 years old) my disability policy is about $118 per month with dividends that reduce that by a little – but it is STILL a significant expense through the month. My chronic health issue that was more genetically linked than anything I have done has caused me significant concern in my life all by itself- in the fact I have it, medications, side effects, etc. That it is in underwriting as a rider on my disability insurance is a HUGELY annoying and irksome side effect that I cannot ignore and that I cannot forget every time my back feels a little sore or my thumb hurts a little bit after a full mouth extraction case!!!
As a dentist, it is a catch 22. If you don’t have disability you don’t have the option of having aid. You have disability, you pay out the nose and every little thing from the broken toe as a 3 month old to now comes into effect. As a female dentist, I am at a catch 23 (if there ever was a thing). Disability doesn’t include maternity leave – not even as a partial disability when you can’t work because your stomach is preventing you from moving and everything is swelling. As an independent contractor, I am at a catch 24 (again I am making it up), as I do not have workman’s compensation. Disability is all on me. And The wording in my disability policies regarding my inability to be paid if I ever REALLY NEED disability, unless I am a vegetable (which I hope to God I never have to even think about), really makes me LIVID!!!
I have two different policies with two different companies- but what about the wording policies look like regarding % disability (what makes me 18% disabled vs. 19% vs 20%) and how is that even measured??? Why is one policy significantly less but pays more – is the wording of the policy going to make it impossible for me to get access to disability? So what am I paying for?!?! And why do I still need to keep adding more and more money to a policy that I don’t even know I’ll get access to.
Insurance is something we all have JUST IN CASE – but we ALL pray we don’t ever have to need it. But, in my humble opinion, if we need it, we should be able to get it – without games, without headache. Insurance claims, health or otherwise, and the companies are formidably known for denying claims and people are FIGHTING for payment. In health cases, I strongly believe that this shouldn’t be so. If you are disabled and you have to fight not only for your life, family and livelihood AND have to fight the insurance company just on semantics bothers me IMMENSELY.
So…I guess I am VERY passionate about this. But my question is – what do we do??? What about legislation? What about dentist and people’s rights? I know that some people abuse the system but that is NOT everyone by any means. Do I continue to pay my disability insurance monthly and pray I don’t have to use it, and say YAY and HOORAY because I pay something and get nothing!!!?? Or do I not have disability insurance, and get screwed because I don’t even have the option of having assistance?
I always try to be positive – but so far all the alternatives sound, all around, questionable. HELP!
image courtesy of: sagacheapinsurance.com
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