It was July 17, 2001: the day we officially met for the first time. It was our first real date and the day my budding romance with dentistry began. Everything was new and exciting. There was no time to notice any red flags because I was too taken by the potential of how amazing my new life would be. Our 10-year relationship was off to a great start, and I looked forward to the long life we would share together. During the initial phase of our courtship, dentistry showered me with a lot of wonderful gifts and unexpected attention. Life...
It was just another day in dental school. Another test in the big lecture hall where we had most of our classes. Total silence. Then, like a balloon popping, it burst out of nowhere. A very loud fart. Then total silence again. I flinched in my seat and stiffened up, visibly uncomfortable. “Don’t look around,” I thought to myself. “This is way too humiliating.” (more…)
I was surprised to find myself struggling to write this post about hating dental school. I know I hated a lot about it when I was there. When I sat down to write the last post, I found myself sifting through old photos and yearbooks, laughing, and feeling warm fuzzies. It was easy to write about what I loved. So I couldn’t wait to write about how much I hated it, thinking I would come up with some really rich material. But when I sat down to write it, the fire wasn’t there, and it was much harder than I...
It’s easy to look back on the past and see things we didn’t notice at the time. With so much wisdom we feel qualified to judge ourselves and challenge why we made certain choices– as if we should have known better. So I have to ask: is hindsight always 20/20? Are we really seeing more clearly, or is it just a way we skew things to prove to ourselves that we are smarter than we were before; as if that will justify any mistakes we may have made? I don’t know the answer, but I suddenly feel pretty qualified to...
One of the most common questions I often heard from patients was, “why did you choose to become a dentist?” It always made me smile because the question usually arose from different intentions. Many were simply curious and fascinated to learn how one falls into this career. They just wanted to get to know a little bit about me. Some were curious and fascinated because they always thought it would be so hard to “be in people’s mouths all day.” They admired my strength. Others, well, they were curious and fascinated because they found it unfathomable that anyone would even consider...
Five days ago I published a blog post that turned out to be, well, quite a surprise. I thought my 50 friends, family, and new blogging friends who followed me would see it, get a little chuckle, maybe comment and click the like button, and I would be on to the next post. Just as I have done for the past year. But I guess I said something that struck a chord. (more…)
