Did you know that September was Dental Health Month? We had no choice but to know this, since Molly reminded us when she urged us to take advantage of a special at Family Dentist Tree where she works.
The deal was that if you scheduled an appointment in September--even if the appointment was actually in October--the x-rays were free.
Captain had to take advantage of this special because he broke a tooth and needed it looked at. Turns out he needs a crown on it.
He had his appointment to get the temporary crown put on, courtesy of his daughter, and then came home for a breakfast of a fish omelette (let me just say eeuuww!). First bite of eggs, and the temp crown came off! So back he went to get it recemented.
Since Captain had gone, Molly urged me to also make an appointment, which I did. My appointment was this morning and wasn’t nearly as involved as Captain’s. I just have a couple of cavities that need attention.
Our approach to dental hygiene and care around here, for the most part, is to go when there is an emergency of some sort...broken tooth, pain, sensitivity. Whatever.
Not so Molly. She is the only kid I know who begged to go to the dentist. I’m not making this up, it’s totally true!
As young as kindergarten and on, she would hound me with “Is it time to go back to the dentist? Can you please make an appointment for me at the dentist? Are you sure it isn’t time to go to the dentist? Please, please, please?”
She’s...unique...that way. So it was no surprise when she pursued a career as a dental assistant. For awhile, she wanted to be a teacher or a nurse, but in the end she followed her passion and got a dental assistant license.
When she was in college and I was helping her with her homework, I was stunned--absolutely floored--at the amount of science needed for this degree. She had to know all the names of the facial nerves and which part of the face they were in.
In hindsight, that makes sense since giving anesthesia for dental work would be a fiasco if you got into the wrong nerve cluster!
As part of her schooling, she had to practice doing x-rays on five different people because there are five different ways to do this.
I was her first guinea pig, and she picked the most intrusive, grueling process to try on me. It wasn’t pleasant, but it wasn’t horrible either. She kept telling me I was a real trooper and made it easy for her to be tested on this skill.
Turns out that a few weeks later, she was the guinea pig for a classmate for this same process, and when she was done, she called me and told me she was so sorry she had put me through that.
I assured her again that it wasn’t as bad as she was making it out to be, and I was glad to help her pass her tests.
Even after she got her degree, she still had to take two different licensure exams for the State of Minnesota. Our great state has the most stringent laws and regulations for dental assistant licensure in the nation.
This means that--as she successfully passed the exams--she is now employable from coast to coast!
I don’t know where her love of all things dental came from, but I am happy that she found a career that is fulfilling for her, earns her a good living, and is a job that is available in every town in every state so that she will never have to worry about unemployment no matter where she may end up living.
For me and Captain, we will never, ever share that love with her and will continue to approach dental care on an as-needed (never wanted) basis!
Images used:
http://www.toothzonenetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/dental_health.jpg
http://www.relatably.com/m/img/funny-dental-memes/4-funny-dentist-funny-memes1.jpg
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/83/cf/f9/83cff9d90f2adb46caf3cf6c2bce382a.jpg
http://www.relatably.com/m/img/dental-assistant-memes/cf79cb5953be68b37b2760b6c5e78a8d847febd2a2b8adbec610e4d9de1aa15a.jpg
http://66.media.tumblr.com/ea24c5b609e4874b1416c6ca1ed099af/tumblr_inline_nnopswKvA21ro6j75_400.jpg
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGMNon4vxRjRcZTXzZ8ov0IH42HWteuWut6tKafkclb2CmVdhAjpawAr-4hTyvCNA0lJ99RvPXPBHcnG9eWjxU-yoY6I3TtCF_9kX3-uB6YWoTxA30qlM09j0ZkqjMHmaUHtIBF6bZ0_ZY/s1600/funny-memes17.jpg
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