4F

It had been a long week; looking back, it had been a long few months and I was ready for a vacation. I was in (middle) seat 22E, American Airlines headed for the Tropics with my family. It was an overnight flight and I had just closed my eyes when a classic P/A line awakened me: “If there is a doctor on the plane, please immediately identify yourself to a flight attendant”.

OK, for us general dentists this can be an awkward moment. We’re “doctors” but not the highly exalted M.D. variety. So I decided to wait a bit to see if a “real doctor” swaggered up the aisles. No movement. After a long 10 seconds...

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Art and Science of Dentists

As dentists we are a varied lot. To many, we are a resource in the path to oral health or the relief of pain. To others we have become a necessary partner in the pursuit of vanity. However we may be used or perceived, at our core we are part scientist and part artist. But how much of each? Or is it one more than the other?

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Oscar’s Front Tooth

Oscar is a gregarious, healthy 9-year-old boy who loves baseball. He is the star first
baseman on his North Long Beach Little League team. Like many boys his age, he has an
easy, big smile with protruding upper front teeth.

The cloudy 2nd Saturday in May would, unfortunately, be one Oscar would never forget.
Oscar was at “Opening Day” of Little League Baseball. He was waiting for his turn “on
deck” when his teammate swung and missed a pitch, losing control of the bat. The bat
went flying through the air, striking Oscar in the face. Oscar was wearing a helmet but
not a mouth guard and the blow knocked out his upper right front tooth. After much
panic, confusion and shock, Oscar’s tooth was located by a spectator who knew what to
do:

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Crisis? What Crisis?

History is a ruthless yet sagacious teacher. In 1975 the British rock group Supertramp released their 4^th studio album. (Youth alert- yes, we’ve covered this subject before- an album is an analog pressed recording on a 10” vinyl disk, packaged in a similarly sized square package with text and pictures you could actually ponder). The band’s cover picture was a satirical commentary of life in the mid 1970’s; Smog and acid rain had reached unhealthy levels. Then president Richard Nixon had just resigned after the controversy of Watergate. Though in short supply, oil was $13.00/barrel. A new home cost about $35,000. Our nations inflation rate was 11.3%. The North Vietnamese had just re-taken Saigon, ending the Vietnam War. Two unknown math nerds named Paul Allen and Bill Gates founded Microsoft. And, take note of these last two factoids: our national unemployment rate was 9.2% and president Gerald Ford signed a 2.3 Billion dollar bailout loan to New York City to help them avoid bankruptcy. These were truly times of economic crisis. For those with selective memories, history does indeed repeat itself.

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