- Published on
Find the Joy in Your Everyday Practice Life: Part I
Recapture the passion for your dental practice! The key to this is the way you see everything.
The orthodontic wing of the American Dental Clinic in Abu Dhabi, where I practice.
The American Dental Clinic in Khalifa City, Abu Dhabi, UAE.
It’s not only about technical skills! What are the differences that make the differences?
You can recapture the passion. Here I will share a totally different perspective that will change your attitude and mental approach to your practice, and will change your life!
Q: What do you have to change to make things change?
A: The way you see everything.
That may sound overwhelming, or ridiculous. Yet, no, it is actually a tiny simple shift in your thinking that can take you to the happiness you want, that can set you apart from other dentists. When your perspective on life changes, it can create powerful change. And, it all flows from love.
You see, when you start understanding that every tiny decision you make takes you where you go, AND, how your decisions are based on your beliefs,
NOW, you can change everything easily. It’s easy to do - and easy NOT to do! (I will introduce you to Jeff Olson in a bit, from whom I learned how it’s easy to do — and easy NOT to do.)
OK, now back to the way you see everything, and what love has to do with it. The two emotions from which all other emotions come, are fear — and love. In fear we worry. In fear we feel anxious, less than, depressed, despair, disgusted, helpless, even angry and lost. In love we feel grateful, hopeful, capable, curious and happy.
So, to begin to see everything differently, to begin to see things in your life change, you can look through the eyes of gratitude. Gratitude is abundance-thinking. When our view is one of abundance, our emotions are positive and our actions follow. When our thoughts are of stresses, our view is one of lack. And seeing lack, our emotions are negative, borne of fear. Our resulting actions stem from the fear.
When you look at for what you are grateful, your gratitude creates thoughts that change your emotion AND your actions. It all flows from love.
Bo Sanchez, Motivational Speaker, says there are three kinds of gratitude: Situational, Simple, and Sacred. In situational, you feel gratitude for a “big thing” like a new car, or getting engaged. Because we don’t have “big things” coming into our lives every day, we feel situational gratitude only occasionally.
Simple gratitude is what you feel across your life, and for all the simple things - your home, your family, your food, and so forth. That gratitude is better than situational, because you can feel it much more often so its feelings of abundance have the chance to impact your emotions and actions fairly frequently.
Finally, sacred gratitude is across the board feeling grateful for everything. This includes even the hard stuff, the challenges, the grief in loss, knowing no matter how difficult, there is benefit to you to come. That’s the best sort of gratitude because it is all the time, and for everything.
Now, go out there and think about the abundance of your life. Read over this a few times so you can put it into practice. You’ll start seeing EVERYTHING differently!
And next time, we’ll talk about more critical elements to finding joy. Gratitude is more than enough for now!
You can recapture the passion. Here I will share a totally different perspective that will change your attitude and mental approach to your practice, and will change your life!
Q: What do you have to change to make things change?
A: The way you see everything.
That may sound overwhelming, or ridiculous. Yet, no, it is actually a tiny simple shift in your thinking that can take you to the happiness you want, that can set you apart from other dentists. When your perspective on life changes, it can create powerful change. And, it all flows from love.
You see, when you start understanding that every tiny decision you make takes you where you go, AND, how your decisions are based on your beliefs,
NOW, you can change everything easily. It’s easy to do - and easy NOT to do! (I will introduce you to Jeff Olson in a bit, from whom I learned how it’s easy to do — and easy NOT to do.)
OK, now back to the way you see everything, and what love has to do with it. The two emotions from which all other emotions come, are fear — and love. In fear we worry. In fear we feel anxious, less than, depressed, despair, disgusted, helpless, even angry and lost. In love we feel grateful, hopeful, capable, curious and happy.
So, to begin to see everything differently, to begin to see things in your life change, you can look through the eyes of gratitude. Gratitude is abundance-thinking. When our view is one of abundance, our emotions are positive and our actions follow. When our thoughts are of stresses, our view is one of lack. And seeing lack, our emotions are negative, borne of fear. Our resulting actions stem from the fear.
When you look at for what you are grateful, your gratitude creates thoughts that change your emotion AND your actions. It all flows from love.
Bo Sanchez, Motivational Speaker, says there are three kinds of gratitude: Situational, Simple, and Sacred. In situational, you feel gratitude for a “big thing” like a new car, or getting engaged. Because we don’t have “big things” coming into our lives every day, we feel situational gratitude only occasionally.
Simple gratitude is what you feel across your life, and for all the simple things - your home, your family, your food, and so forth. That gratitude is better than situational, because you can feel it much more often so its feelings of abundance have the chance to impact your emotions and actions fairly frequently.
Finally, sacred gratitude is across the board feeling grateful for everything. This includes even the hard stuff, the challenges, the grief in loss, knowing no matter how difficult, there is benefit to you to come. That’s the best sort of gratitude because it is all the time, and for everything.
Now, go out there and think about the abundance of your life. Read over this a few times so you can put it into practice. You’ll start seeing EVERYTHING differently!
And next time, we’ll talk about more critical elements to finding joy. Gratitude is more than enough for now!
- Published on
Find the Joy in Your Everyday Practice Life:
Part II - The Critical Elements
A classic book for improving your life and your business is Dr Norman Vincent Peale's "You Can If You Think You Can."
Though it was written for parents, Dr Chris Baker's book, "Your Child's Smile," has been used as a textbook for dentists who want to treat children.
Dr. Wayne Dyer's classic work, "You'll see it when you believe it," takes readers on a step-by-step path toward living and loving both life and career.
Critical element 1: Gratitude
As you drive in to your practice in the morning, spend the drive-time in gratitude, loving your life and yourself.
Think about your simple gratitude, and about your sacred gratitude. While you may have some current situational gratitude - the new car you are driving, your daughter’s amazing sports performance last night, also remember the simple gratitudes - your home, your work, your shower this morning, the way your staff makes your patients happy.
And, practice your sacred gratitudes: feeling grateful for everything in your life - even the hard stuff, the challenges, the grief in loss, knowing no matter how difficult, there is benefit to you to come.
There is no substitute for feeling grateful, happy, blessed.
By the time you get to your office, you will be ready for a fantastic day where things seem to turn “your way.” I love the story of the doctor whose staff knew what sort of day “they were in for,” when they noticed how the doctor got out of the car - slowly, slumped, low-energy, or, on some wonderful days, upright, with energy, smiling.
Before you walk through the door, take a nice slow breath through your nose. This engages the peace of your para-sympathetic nervous system. It changes your physiology immediately to one of peace. Then, you can walk in to your office and greet each team member by name.
We all love to hear our name. It has been said that your name is the most beautiful word in the whole world. Yes, greet with love and their name! And feel your gratitude for each one of them. Why not? - the alternative is not going to make you feel happier, and gratitude can make you remember all your joy.
Critical element 2: Your beliefs and thoughts
Decide to love your practice. Assuming you are continuing to practice dentistry, you don’t have to love your practice. Your choices would appear to be three: You can:
1. ...transition/sell your practice if you’re not happy with it,
2. ...keep trudging through your days and practice, facing the difficulties and challenges with dread at the worst, coping at the best, or...
Critical element 3: Decide to love the practice life, and do what you need to do to see it as joyous.
I know one general dentist in a small upper mid-western town who so loves his practice, patients, and staff! His life is full and his family reaps the benefits of a joyous husband and father.
Years ago he did not feel quite that way about his practice. It was much more work, not financially great, and he came to the fork in the road - toward joy? Or toward the "same old, same old"? His beliefs and thoughts had to change, and when they did, he ran smack into the knowledge and guidance he needed to transform his practice to GREAT, and with that, his life to GREAT.
You may think, “Dr. Chris, you have no idea…”, or “It’s just not that simple.”
Indeed, it’s not that simple. But it IS that worth it! And it gets easier and easier. You can turn your beliefs / perspectives of your daily “grind” to daily joy.
You can if you think you can.
Yes, it will take work. Work that has the magnificent outcome of bringing you to a joyous existence.
The work can be magnificently successful if you “get out of the way”, and get into the belief state as soon as possible. Nothing will change until you do.
How do you get out of the way? You might call this release, or surrender, or focusing on what is right in your life/practice. Dr Wayne Dyer liked to remind us, “You’ll see it WHEN YOU BELIEVE IT.”
Focus on what’s right. Act as if. Walk in that door in the morning and act as if your practice is the best place in the world to be. If it were, would you ignore the staff, or would you say a bright and cheery “Good morning, Claire” to each person you see, greeting them by name?
If your practice were such a happy place to be, would you look at the schedule with dread over the patients who are scheduled? Or would you think how lovely it will be to see each one? Act as if…
Believe it TIL you see it!
The change is in YOU.
Your belief, your trust, your joy will change everything, including your practice. And when that happens, you will truly be living your magical, miraculous, magnificent life of your dreams!
Just you wait!
Your staff will become wonderful (or you’ll find new staff who are wonderful and fit your new life well.) Your patients will be delightfully happy with your care (or the grumps will leave.) You will have created your great practice!
More critical elements to come next time!!
As you drive in to your practice in the morning, spend the drive-time in gratitude, loving your life and yourself.
Think about your simple gratitude, and about your sacred gratitude. While you may have some current situational gratitude - the new car you are driving, your daughter’s amazing sports performance last night, also remember the simple gratitudes - your home, your work, your shower this morning, the way your staff makes your patients happy.
And, practice your sacred gratitudes: feeling grateful for everything in your life - even the hard stuff, the challenges, the grief in loss, knowing no matter how difficult, there is benefit to you to come.
There is no substitute for feeling grateful, happy, blessed.
By the time you get to your office, you will be ready for a fantastic day where things seem to turn “your way.” I love the story of the doctor whose staff knew what sort of day “they were in for,” when they noticed how the doctor got out of the car - slowly, slumped, low-energy, or, on some wonderful days, upright, with energy, smiling.
Before you walk through the door, take a nice slow breath through your nose. This engages the peace of your para-sympathetic nervous system. It changes your physiology immediately to one of peace. Then, you can walk in to your office and greet each team member by name.
We all love to hear our name. It has been said that your name is the most beautiful word in the whole world. Yes, greet with love and their name! And feel your gratitude for each one of them. Why not? - the alternative is not going to make you feel happier, and gratitude can make you remember all your joy.
Critical element 2: Your beliefs and thoughts
Decide to love your practice. Assuming you are continuing to practice dentistry, you don’t have to love your practice. Your choices would appear to be three: You can:
1. ...transition/sell your practice if you’re not happy with it,
2. ...keep trudging through your days and practice, facing the difficulties and challenges with dread at the worst, coping at the best, or...
Critical element 3: Decide to love the practice life, and do what you need to do to see it as joyous.
I know one general dentist in a small upper mid-western town who so loves his practice, patients, and staff! His life is full and his family reaps the benefits of a joyous husband and father.
Years ago he did not feel quite that way about his practice. It was much more work, not financially great, and he came to the fork in the road - toward joy? Or toward the "same old, same old"? His beliefs and thoughts had to change, and when they did, he ran smack into the knowledge and guidance he needed to transform his practice to GREAT, and with that, his life to GREAT.
You may think, “Dr. Chris, you have no idea…”, or “It’s just not that simple.”
Indeed, it’s not that simple. But it IS that worth it! And it gets easier and easier. You can turn your beliefs / perspectives of your daily “grind” to daily joy.
You can if you think you can.
Yes, it will take work. Work that has the magnificent outcome of bringing you to a joyous existence.
The work can be magnificently successful if you “get out of the way”, and get into the belief state as soon as possible. Nothing will change until you do.
How do you get out of the way? You might call this release, or surrender, or focusing on what is right in your life/practice. Dr Wayne Dyer liked to remind us, “You’ll see it WHEN YOU BELIEVE IT.”
Focus on what’s right. Act as if. Walk in that door in the morning and act as if your practice is the best place in the world to be. If it were, would you ignore the staff, or would you say a bright and cheery “Good morning, Claire” to each person you see, greeting them by name?
If your practice were such a happy place to be, would you look at the schedule with dread over the patients who are scheduled? Or would you think how lovely it will be to see each one? Act as if…
Believe it TIL you see it!
The change is in YOU.
Your belief, your trust, your joy will change everything, including your practice. And when that happens, you will truly be living your magical, miraculous, magnificent life of your dreams!
Just you wait!
Your staff will become wonderful (or you’ll find new staff who are wonderful and fit your new life well.) Your patients will be delightfully happy with your care (or the grumps will leave.) You will have created your great practice!
More critical elements to come next time!!
- Published on
Both the dental patient and the dentist have a problem!
It’s tough to have the patient’s head positioned comfortably, AND ideally for the dentist.
This challenge makes the dentist’s job difficult because without the best view of the mouth, and without the best light on the mouth, the dentist is working in the dark.
And, it is difficult for the patient to be tolerant and still and be engaged in something interesting during the otherwise boring dental treatment. If the patient is not comfortable, to be tolerant and still is an impossible task for him/her.
It helps if the patient can read a book, pad, or use a game or cell phone during the otherwise boring time in treatment.
Hammacher Schlemmer & Co. started as a New York City hardware store in 1848, and in 1881 began distributing its own catalog (The 1912 catalog was 1,112 pages.) The store was the first to offer the newest and greatest - a pop-up toaster (1930), a portable radio (1930), an electric toothbrush (1955), and a telephone answering machine (1968). Although these amazing products were very practical, Hammacher Schlemmer also sold whimsical and luxury items. Regular customers have included the British royal family, the King and Queen of Spain and Lord Rothschild, many U.S. Presidents and First Ladies decorating the White House, and Princess Grace of Monaco. NYC mayor Rudolph Giuliani renamed one block of 57th Street in NYC as Hammacher Schlemmer Way. The catalog today still has fascinating, unusual and fun items.
About 15 years ago, I was browsing through the current Hammacher Schlemmer catalog and saw this ad:
It’s tough to have the patient’s head positioned comfortably, AND ideally for the dentist.
This challenge makes the dentist’s job difficult because without the best view of the mouth, and without the best light on the mouth, the dentist is working in the dark.
And, it is difficult for the patient to be tolerant and still and be engaged in something interesting during the otherwise boring dental treatment. If the patient is not comfortable, to be tolerant and still is an impossible task for him/her.
It helps if the patient can read a book, pad, or use a game or cell phone during the otherwise boring time in treatment.
Hammacher Schlemmer & Co. started as a New York City hardware store in 1848, and in 1881 began distributing its own catalog (The 1912 catalog was 1,112 pages.) The store was the first to offer the newest and greatest - a pop-up toaster (1930), a portable radio (1930), an electric toothbrush (1955), and a telephone answering machine (1968). Although these amazing products were very practical, Hammacher Schlemmer also sold whimsical and luxury items. Regular customers have included the British royal family, the King and Queen of Spain and Lord Rothschild, many U.S. Presidents and First Ladies decorating the White House, and Princess Grace of Monaco. NYC mayor Rudolph Giuliani renamed one block of 57th Street in NYC as Hammacher Schlemmer Way. The catalog today still has fascinating, unusual and fun items.
About 15 years ago, I was browsing through the current Hammacher Schlemmer catalog and saw this ad:
I thought, “Wow! I know what those are for! - those are for dental patients in the dental chair!” And sure enough - FINALLY - a solution that works fantastically. At the time I called them ‘gameboy glasses’, because then, gameboys were what every child wanted to play with while in the dental chair!
These glasses are fantastic - today! For the patient, they can comfortably hold their book, pad, phone, with their arms resting on their torso, and see it well. The operator’s hands and instruments working on the patient’s mouth are not in the patient’s way at all.
For the operator, the dental light beam is able to shine on the oral treatment area perfectly without the patient blocking the light or the view at all. AND, perhaps the biggest bonus is that in order for the patient to have their head at the angle where the glasses work best, they tend to tip the chin up a bit.
In other words, the patient naturally tips his head up, which makes the view perfect! EXACTLY where we dentists want the patient’s head to be.
You can order them from Amazon (see photos on left ). I recommend having a pair at each chair. Once they have used the glasses, the patients will ask for them each visit. And you will be happy with the result.
For my child patients, whether they are reading a book, a pad, a phone, or watching a movie on our computer monitor, they are engaged, comfortable and off on “planet-la-la land.”
Talk about a win-win solution for you... and for your patients!
These glasses are fantastic - today! For the patient, they can comfortably hold their book, pad, phone, with their arms resting on their torso, and see it well. The operator’s hands and instruments working on the patient’s mouth are not in the patient’s way at all.
For the operator, the dental light beam is able to shine on the oral treatment area perfectly without the patient blocking the light or the view at all. AND, perhaps the biggest bonus is that in order for the patient to have their head at the angle where the glasses work best, they tend to tip the chin up a bit.
In other words, the patient naturally tips his head up, which makes the view perfect! EXACTLY where we dentists want the patient’s head to be.
You can order them from Amazon (see photos on left ). I recommend having a pair at each chair. Once they have used the glasses, the patients will ask for them each visit. And you will be happy with the result.
For my child patients, whether they are reading a book, a pad, a phone, or watching a movie on our computer monitor, they are engaged, comfortable and off on “planet-la-la land.”
Talk about a win-win solution for you... and for your patients!
- Published on
The microbes we need for good health develop a healthy immune system in children.
Microbes found in the soil have proven to be especially good for children's health.
The problem with antibacterial soaps and sanitizers is that they kill good bacteria necessary for health as well as killing bad bacteria.
My nursing school education is precious to me.
Quite frankly, it’s also precious to lots of parents and children who are in my day-to-day community of love.
Very often, I hear questions like,
“You’re a nurse - let me ask you…”
“Can I ask you as a nurse…?”
“As a nurse, what would you tell me about…?”
My answers and knowledge come from:
- my incredible diploma nursing school education (Memorial Baptist Hospital, Houston);
- an amazing dental school education, residency and fellowship (University of Kentucky College of Dentistry and University of Connecticut School of Dental Medicine);
- having been the oldest sister of six children;
- having raised four children of my own, and
- more than 25 years in practice of pediatric dentistry and orthodontics.
Germ-a-phobia
Interesting that “direc-ly” (as we Texans say) out of nursing training, (and having grown up in a household where cleanliness was indeed next to godliness), I had learned to be a relative germaphobe.
I understood the role of micro-organisms in many diseases, and in our operating room semester, we certainly learned how to effectively wash our hands (also known as “scrubbing”). Our nursing instructors did not subscribe to the belief in the “5-second rule,” or any other such thinking that if something touched the floor, and it were only there a few seconds, that somehow the bacterial load was not virulent.
Uh-oh - we have a problem
Having followed the literature for all these years with strong curiosity and interest in things medical. I have now tempered my thinking about germs. This change in thinking revolves around research on the immune system, AND the science showing that the chemicals that kill the “bad bugs,” also kill the “good bugs.”
About the immune system: Turns out the good bugs (the microbes we need) develop a healthy immune system in children. Failure to develop the immune system puts children at higher risk for allergies, asthma, diabetes and even obesity.
About the bugs, good and bad: The body’s microbiome is the vast array of micro-organisms in the body, which are about equal in number to the cells in the body. We cannot live without the good organisms.
There are also pathologic (disease-producing) bugs that I call the “bad” bugs. An anti-bacterial soap, for example, will kill those bad bugs. Unfortunately, it kills most of the “good” bugs as well. Without the balance of the good bugs, the bad bugs will grow and prosper and one’s risk of disease is actually greater.
Now we have antibacterial soaps, antibacterial gels and sprays, antibacterial cleaning wipes and other disinfecting cleaning products. Our children are growing up in clean, disinfected, sterile environments, protected from germs in every way possible. At the same time, rates of allergies, autoimmune problems and gut related disorders are increasing (especially in children).
Could there be a connection? The scientists answer with a resounding YES!
And we have some answers
Scientists find that widespread use of these disinfecting and antibacterial products (and the removal/avoidance of dirt) prevents proper formation of healthy gut (GI tract) bacteria.
Restoring the good bacteria could be the key to boosting immune function, reducing multiple sclerosis, Type I Diabetes, allergies and digestive problems like celiac disease, GERD, IBS. Restoring the good bugs can even reduce anxiety and improve mood.
In September, 2016, the US FDA banned anti-microbial agents in soaps. In one year, these may not be sold. As clinical research has shown many times, antibacterial soap is no more effective at cleaning your skin than plain old soap and water.
The concern about the anti-microbial agents is for the harm they may do in killing the good bugs with the bad bugs.
The antimicrobial agent Triclosan, found in soaps and other disinfecting products, is a hormone disruptor and may be affecting our endocrine systems and contributing to the occurrence of reproductive system cancers (breast, prostate, uterine, testicular, ovarian…).
Triclosan is also known to impair muscle function. Researchers have shown that the effect of this antimicrobial agent on the heart muscle acts like a potent cardiac depressant.
Antibiotic resistance is worse in the presence of these antimicrobial agents.
Kudos to the FDA! Now, our immune systems’ work to rid the body of bad bugs will be more effective and we may be much, much healthier. In the meantime, since the manufacturers have one year to stop selling these bad products, you can reduce your use of antimicrobial products, to keep your family and yourself healthier, less at risk of infections, and of heart problems and cancers!
Another important answer
We want to restore the good bugs. We are getting rid of the disinfecting products that are killing them.
Where do you find the healthy bacteria?
Probiotic supplements, like the chewable American Health Probiotic Acidophilus are a good start.
And this is probably even more surprising! It turns out there are SBO’s (soil-based organisms) that are stronger good bugs. These bugs survive best in the digestive tract and give the most benefit.
The scientists who wrote the book “Let Them Eat Dirt: Saving Your Child from an Oversanitized World" say, keeping children too clean keeps them away from many of the microbes necessary for a healthy immune system. The book's authors, Brett Finlay and Marie-Claire Arrieta, experts in micro-organisms and immunology, show evidence that allowing children to get dirty exposes them to healthy germs that are actually good for their health. “If we miss out on that exposure, the immune system is not going to mature,” Arrieta reports.
Another book for you to check out is by Mary Ruebush, a microbiology and immunology instructor, who wrote, “Why Dirt Is Good” .
She says, “What a child is doing when he puts things in his mouth, is necessary for protection, and it also plays a critical role in [developing] the immune response.”
Let ‘em play in the dirt!
Children should be allowed to get dirty when they play.
Quite frankly, it’s also precious to lots of parents and children who are in my day-to-day community of love.
Very often, I hear questions like,
“You’re a nurse - let me ask you…”
“Can I ask you as a nurse…?”
“As a nurse, what would you tell me about…?”
My answers and knowledge come from:
- my incredible diploma nursing school education (Memorial Baptist Hospital, Houston);
- an amazing dental school education, residency and fellowship (University of Kentucky College of Dentistry and University of Connecticut School of Dental Medicine);
- having been the oldest sister of six children;
- having raised four children of my own, and
- more than 25 years in practice of pediatric dentistry and orthodontics.
Germ-a-phobia
Interesting that “direc-ly” (as we Texans say) out of nursing training, (and having grown up in a household where cleanliness was indeed next to godliness), I had learned to be a relative germaphobe.
I understood the role of micro-organisms in many diseases, and in our operating room semester, we certainly learned how to effectively wash our hands (also known as “scrubbing”). Our nursing instructors did not subscribe to the belief in the “5-second rule,” or any other such thinking that if something touched the floor, and it were only there a few seconds, that somehow the bacterial load was not virulent.
Uh-oh - we have a problem
Having followed the literature for all these years with strong curiosity and interest in things medical. I have now tempered my thinking about germs. This change in thinking revolves around research on the immune system, AND the science showing that the chemicals that kill the “bad bugs,” also kill the “good bugs.”
About the immune system: Turns out the good bugs (the microbes we need) develop a healthy immune system in children. Failure to develop the immune system puts children at higher risk for allergies, asthma, diabetes and even obesity.
About the bugs, good and bad: The body’s microbiome is the vast array of micro-organisms in the body, which are about equal in number to the cells in the body. We cannot live without the good organisms.
There are also pathologic (disease-producing) bugs that I call the “bad” bugs. An anti-bacterial soap, for example, will kill those bad bugs. Unfortunately, it kills most of the “good” bugs as well. Without the balance of the good bugs, the bad bugs will grow and prosper and one’s risk of disease is actually greater.
Now we have antibacterial soaps, antibacterial gels and sprays, antibacterial cleaning wipes and other disinfecting cleaning products. Our children are growing up in clean, disinfected, sterile environments, protected from germs in every way possible. At the same time, rates of allergies, autoimmune problems and gut related disorders are increasing (especially in children).
Could there be a connection? The scientists answer with a resounding YES!
And we have some answers
Scientists find that widespread use of these disinfecting and antibacterial products (and the removal/avoidance of dirt) prevents proper formation of healthy gut (GI tract) bacteria.
Restoring the good bacteria could be the key to boosting immune function, reducing multiple sclerosis, Type I Diabetes, allergies and digestive problems like celiac disease, GERD, IBS. Restoring the good bugs can even reduce anxiety and improve mood.
In September, 2016, the US FDA banned anti-microbial agents in soaps. In one year, these may not be sold. As clinical research has shown many times, antibacterial soap is no more effective at cleaning your skin than plain old soap and water.
The concern about the anti-microbial agents is for the harm they may do in killing the good bugs with the bad bugs.
The antimicrobial agent Triclosan, found in soaps and other disinfecting products, is a hormone disruptor and may be affecting our endocrine systems and contributing to the occurrence of reproductive system cancers (breast, prostate, uterine, testicular, ovarian…).
Triclosan is also known to impair muscle function. Researchers have shown that the effect of this antimicrobial agent on the heart muscle acts like a potent cardiac depressant.
Antibiotic resistance is worse in the presence of these antimicrobial agents.
Kudos to the FDA! Now, our immune systems’ work to rid the body of bad bugs will be more effective and we may be much, much healthier. In the meantime, since the manufacturers have one year to stop selling these bad products, you can reduce your use of antimicrobial products, to keep your family and yourself healthier, less at risk of infections, and of heart problems and cancers!
Another important answer
We want to restore the good bugs. We are getting rid of the disinfecting products that are killing them.
Where do you find the healthy bacteria?
Probiotic supplements, like the chewable American Health Probiotic Acidophilus are a good start.
And this is probably even more surprising! It turns out there are SBO’s (soil-based organisms) that are stronger good bugs. These bugs survive best in the digestive tract and give the most benefit.
The scientists who wrote the book “Let Them Eat Dirt: Saving Your Child from an Oversanitized World" say, keeping children too clean keeps them away from many of the microbes necessary for a healthy immune system. The book's authors, Brett Finlay and Marie-Claire Arrieta, experts in micro-organisms and immunology, show evidence that allowing children to get dirty exposes them to healthy germs that are actually good for their health. “If we miss out on that exposure, the immune system is not going to mature,” Arrieta reports.
Another book for you to check out is by Mary Ruebush, a microbiology and immunology instructor, who wrote, “Why Dirt Is Good” .
She says, “What a child is doing when he puts things in his mouth, is necessary for protection, and it also plays a critical role in [developing] the immune response.”
Let ‘em play in the dirt!
Children should be allowed to get dirty when they play.
- Published on
Dr. Chris Baker's groundbreaking book, Your Child's Smile, is a parents guide for their children's oral health. It is available on Amazon.com.
You can have happy and loyal transfer patients!
In the UAE, because the expats come and go so often, we are accepting and sending many patients in transfer situations. And it works fine - even well. You can do it too!
Earlier this month, I promised to tell you what to do when the mother and her daughter, a cute transfer patient, are sitting there, waiting for you to tell them about her transfer orthodontic treatment.
How can you take (most) transfer orthodontic patients and enjoy them? Part of the answer lies in how you charge them, so they don’t feel taken advantage of -- and so you don’t feel taken advantage of. And, how do you work with and communicate the unknown amount of treatment time left?
I've heard quotes like these from parents, “The other doctor told me we would need to ‘take off the braces, and start over,'” and “We just saw another dentist who said, ‘Whoever was doing your treatment didn’t know what they were doing.’”
There are NO benefits to tearing down the decisions the parent/patient has made in the past, in their choice of practitioners, in their lack of compliance, in "the other dentist’s work", etc. That only serves to make the parent, patient and you feel bad.
And this approach makes you either look bad, OR, for a little while, like the “knight in shining armor.” (In time, the parent/patient may decide you are not this hero. When a dentist tries the "knight in shining armor" approach and fails, things get even worse.)
Better communications include statements like:
Here is a great approach for charging transfer patients:
A transfer patient is not an opportunity to take advantage of the parents and their money. Immediately charging a full case fee is not a good approach.
I have developed a fee structure that works well for the patients and for us. Remember parents have already paid a lot of money and are distressed when they are told that it will cost them a full case because you are "starting over."
Here is my method:
Make an upfront charge to cover new records that you need, unless they come with very recent progress records. For example, if they have not had ceph tracings and other diagnostics you need, it is appropriate to give them a records fee that allows you to do just that.
If your diagnostic workup for that patient shows you do indeed need to replace all or many of the brackets, then you can have an upfront fee that covers that cost for the first visit. This means, when they start, they might pay as much as $1000 or $1500 for the ‘start-up’. Don't charge this if you don't need to replace brackets.
Following that, there is be a per month charge which includes any patient visits that month, whether 1, 2 or even 3 times. That monthly fee might be $350, or whatever is typical on your patient contracts, after your “down-payment” has been paid at bracketing.
Again, our office charges it monthly, even if we need to see the patient more than once, to change power chain, etc. We charge only once for that month. If we don't need to see a patient for 6-8 weeks, they pay for the month in which we see them.
This monthly fee will go on for as long as the treatment time requires. Then there is a removal and retainer delivery fee at the end, usually about $1000 to 1500 in our practice.
I have had patients who needed four or five months of finish up treatment, and I have had patients who needed a year and a half or more.
Also, I have had patients whose previous practitioner did not diagnose an ectopic tooth that was not a erupting, or an open bite that would need to be treated over a longer period of time, or with TAD’s etc. etc.
Most transfer patients need several months to a year or so of treatment. Many do need at least several brackets re-bracketed due to position changes that you need. If it is minimal, we absorb that in the monthly fee, and just begin the monthly fee when we see them for the first treatment visit.
However, if you use .022 wires and the transfer patient has an .018, or vice versa, you may wish to change the brackets. Again if that is needed, charge that initial fee to cover the removal and rebracketing.
Oh, and by the way, if the patient needs something at the transfer exam appointment, we ‘throw that in’ for, say, a module change or a pack of elastics.
Make sure your total fee for everything does not exceed your normal case fee that would be charged for that patient
Often patients are happy to be more compliant because the parents understand that their fees will be based on how many months the patient needs to be in treatment.
Sometimes patients come in with worsened appearances in their dentition or occlusion, due to the orthodontic care they have already received. I have had patients from several various countries come to our practice in the UAE with this situation. The first thing to do is take the wires out and let the teeth settle for about a month and see where everything is, then take your progress records and proceed.
In the UAE, because the expats come and go so often, we are accepting and sending many patients in transfer situations. And it works fine - even well. You can do it too!
Earlier this month, I promised to tell you what to do when the mother and her daughter, a cute transfer patient, are sitting there, waiting for you to tell them about her transfer orthodontic treatment.
How can you take (most) transfer orthodontic patients and enjoy them? Part of the answer lies in how you charge them, so they don’t feel taken advantage of -- and so you don’t feel taken advantage of. And, how do you work with and communicate the unknown amount of treatment time left?
I've heard quotes like these from parents, “The other doctor told me we would need to ‘take off the braces, and start over,'” and “We just saw another dentist who said, ‘Whoever was doing your treatment didn’t know what they were doing.’”
There are NO benefits to tearing down the decisions the parent/patient has made in the past, in their choice of practitioners, in their lack of compliance, in "the other dentist’s work", etc. That only serves to make the parent, patient and you feel bad.
And this approach makes you either look bad, OR, for a little while, like the “knight in shining armor.” (In time, the parent/patient may decide you are not this hero. When a dentist tries the "knight in shining armor" approach and fails, things get even worse.)
Better communications include statements like:
- "Let me show you where your child is right now with her bite…" Then, show the patient's occlusion, molar relationship, canine relationship, overbite, overjet, and other issues.
- "My best 'guesstimate' is treatment for approximately (x) months, depending on how well she wears elastics, how long eruption of the ectopic tooth takes.., and then retainers."
- "We may need to replace some brackets to provide the best results in my hands, and be the most time-efficient." And/or, say, "There are two sizes of ‘slots’ in brackets. These brackets on her teeth are the ‘other’ size, so we will switch the brackets to the size we use, so that our wires and sequences work the best for your child."
- "Today I recommend records as to where she is now - photography of her teeth, (x-ray if needed, and models for measurement if needed.) The cost for those records is ___."
- "Your next visit will start with a review conference where you and I can review the treatment remaining, and the plan to accomplish it. Then, we will proceed to x-y-z (bracket revision, wire change, etc.)"
- "The fees for her remaining treatment will be..." (Doctor, read and think about the following, and then you can project fees that the parent or adult patient will feel are ‘fair’ or ‘appropriate.’"
Here is a great approach for charging transfer patients:
A transfer patient is not an opportunity to take advantage of the parents and their money. Immediately charging a full case fee is not a good approach.
I have developed a fee structure that works well for the patients and for us. Remember parents have already paid a lot of money and are distressed when they are told that it will cost them a full case because you are "starting over."
Here is my method:
Make an upfront charge to cover new records that you need, unless they come with very recent progress records. For example, if they have not had ceph tracings and other diagnostics you need, it is appropriate to give them a records fee that allows you to do just that.
If your diagnostic workup for that patient shows you do indeed need to replace all or many of the brackets, then you can have an upfront fee that covers that cost for the first visit. This means, when they start, they might pay as much as $1000 or $1500 for the ‘start-up’. Don't charge this if you don't need to replace brackets.
Following that, there is be a per month charge which includes any patient visits that month, whether 1, 2 or even 3 times. That monthly fee might be $350, or whatever is typical on your patient contracts, after your “down-payment” has been paid at bracketing.
Again, our office charges it monthly, even if we need to see the patient more than once, to change power chain, etc. We charge only once for that month. If we don't need to see a patient for 6-8 weeks, they pay for the month in which we see them.
This monthly fee will go on for as long as the treatment time requires. Then there is a removal and retainer delivery fee at the end, usually about $1000 to 1500 in our practice.
I have had patients who needed four or five months of finish up treatment, and I have had patients who needed a year and a half or more.
Also, I have had patients whose previous practitioner did not diagnose an ectopic tooth that was not a erupting, or an open bite that would need to be treated over a longer period of time, or with TAD’s etc. etc.
Most transfer patients need several months to a year or so of treatment. Many do need at least several brackets re-bracketed due to position changes that you need. If it is minimal, we absorb that in the monthly fee, and just begin the monthly fee when we see them for the first treatment visit.
However, if you use .022 wires and the transfer patient has an .018, or vice versa, you may wish to change the brackets. Again if that is needed, charge that initial fee to cover the removal and rebracketing.
Oh, and by the way, if the patient needs something at the transfer exam appointment, we ‘throw that in’ for, say, a module change or a pack of elastics.
Make sure your total fee for everything does not exceed your normal case fee that would be charged for that patient
Often patients are happy to be more compliant because the parents understand that their fees will be based on how many months the patient needs to be in treatment.
Sometimes patients come in with worsened appearances in their dentition or occlusion, due to the orthodontic care they have already received. I have had patients from several various countries come to our practice in the UAE with this situation. The first thing to do is take the wires out and let the teeth settle for about a month and see where everything is, then take your progress records and proceed.
- Published on
Dr. Chris Baker's groundbreaking book, Your Child's Smile, is a guide for dentists treating children, orthodontists, and for parents concerned with their child's dental health.
Dentists, you know the story: A patient comes in and you're asked to “finish” an already-begun orthodontic treatment. The mother says, “We only have four months left,” or something like that.
So, you look at the patient, wanting to please the parent, and wanting to take the case (you ARE in business to make money as well as care for patients).
Yet you think, “I have NO idea what this patient’s remaining treatment will entail - it sure looks like a lot more than four months, and I don’t know where they started.” When you look at the records the parent presents you, they are not a lot of help.
You hate to commit to anything just yet. What do you do right now, as the mother and her cute little girl are waiting to hear your response???
What you do know:
What you don’t know (the "Accursed Unknowns"):
*Note: It’s important for you to understand, that you can ONLY do a great job for your patients if you can love them as you interact and treat them. This goes for patients AND parents. So, if the parents’ needs, personalities and expectations are not easy for you to meet and love, it will be very difficult for you to treat them.
It is best for both you and your patients and their parents, that you work to identify if the relationship can work, or if it may not. Do NOT take them on as patients if you have doubts.
So, as to transfer orthodontic patients. The typical answer by many-to-most orthodontic practitioners, to a transfer patient/parent is something along the line of “I don’t take transfer patients,” or “We’ll have to take the braces off and start over,” or “I have no idea what your previous practitioner was doing/thinking…”
Why this answer? Because of the “Accursed Unknowns” and our own "inside-the-box" thinking.
The problem with us and orthodontics is that, as engineers and artists, we get so stuck in our idea of what we've learned and what our "system" is, that we have a hard time thinking "outside our box."
The dentist's approach to orthodontics is often so formulaic that he/she never looks outside the box. Sometimes the best treatment for an orthodontic patient IS outside that box.
In my next blog, I will tell you what to do as the mother and cute girl are waiting to hear your response, to wit, how to how to take (most) transfer orthodontic patients and enjoy them; how to charge them so they don’t feel taken advantage of; and you don’t feel taken advantage of; and how to work with and communicate the unknown amount of treatment time left.
So, you look at the patient, wanting to please the parent, and wanting to take the case (you ARE in business to make money as well as care for patients).
Yet you think, “I have NO idea what this patient’s remaining treatment will entail - it sure looks like a lot more than four months, and I don’t know where they started.” When you look at the records the parent presents you, they are not a lot of help.
You hate to commit to anything just yet. What do you do right now, as the mother and her cute little girl are waiting to hear your response???
What you do know:
- There is a patient sitting in your chair, whose parent wants you to treat her.
- They seem nice. (If the parent seems to be unsure, unhappy, demanding or difficult, obviously you have poor or no chance at a therapeutic relationship, so don’t take the case - * see my note below.)
What you don’t know (the "Accursed Unknowns"):
- What the REAL starting point was
- How the patient's teeth have responded.
- How compliant the patient has been with plaque control, appointments and wear of appliances…
- What the mom’s expectations of you really are, so you have no idea if you can meet those expectations. (Or, if you even want to try.)
- How much treatment time truly remains, in your hands.
*Note: It’s important for you to understand, that you can ONLY do a great job for your patients if you can love them as you interact and treat them. This goes for patients AND parents. So, if the parents’ needs, personalities and expectations are not easy for you to meet and love, it will be very difficult for you to treat them.
It is best for both you and your patients and their parents, that you work to identify if the relationship can work, or if it may not. Do NOT take them on as patients if you have doubts.
So, as to transfer orthodontic patients. The typical answer by many-to-most orthodontic practitioners, to a transfer patient/parent is something along the line of “I don’t take transfer patients,” or “We’ll have to take the braces off and start over,” or “I have no idea what your previous practitioner was doing/thinking…”
Why this answer? Because of the “Accursed Unknowns” and our own "inside-the-box" thinking.
The problem with us and orthodontics is that, as engineers and artists, we get so stuck in our idea of what we've learned and what our "system" is, that we have a hard time thinking "outside our box."
The dentist's approach to orthodontics is often so formulaic that he/she never looks outside the box. Sometimes the best treatment for an orthodontic patient IS outside that box.
In my next blog, I will tell you what to do as the mother and cute girl are waiting to hear your response, to wit, how to how to take (most) transfer orthodontic patients and enjoy them; how to charge them so they don’t feel taken advantage of; and you don’t feel taken advantage of; and how to work with and communicate the unknown amount of treatment time left.
- Published on
The brilliant Dr. Walter Doyle was the first dentist in the world to have taken and passed the boards in both pediatric dentistry and orthodontics.
Teaching orthodontics (like at this seminar near Washington, D.C.) is a big part of my life.
Abu Dhabi's Advanced American Dental Clinic is one place where I pursue my love of practicing orthodontics.
Orthodontics began for me in love.
After dental school, I loved the idea of learning about treating the poor growth and bites which can affect a child’s function, face and beauty. I wanted to help the child grow into his or her greatest beauty.
Before going off to the University of Connecticut for pediatric specialty training, while still at University of Kentucky College of Dentistry (as a faculty member), I visited the office of Dr. Walter Doyle, the world’s first dentist to have taken and passed boards in both pediatric dentistry and orthodontics. Wow! It was a privilege.
I was thrilled to see Dr. Doyle's cranio-facial orthopedic approach to young children with adverse growth, though I didn’t understand much then. He was teaching seminars for dentists, particularly pediatric dentists at that time, sharing his knowledge, wisdom and techniques.
Later, in my pediatric residency, I would get Dr. Doyle’s brochures for his seminars and read them longingly, wanting to take the seminars and learn more orthodontics. It had to wait. Connecticut was a “fur piece” from Kentucky.
But, God intervened with manifestation of my dreams!
After my pediatric residency, Orthodontic Faculty member Dr. Sam Weinstein offered me the opportunity to do a fellowship in Orthodontics there, at U of Connecticut. I jumped at the opportunity. Still I looked at the Doyle Seminar brochures and planned when I would be able to take those seminars.
Well, God again stepped in. Manifestations again, only better than I could have imagined.
One day I found myself talking to Dr. Walter Doyle about practicing with him in his Lexington, Kentucky, practice!!! He said, “Of course I would ask that you take my seminars.” OMG as we say!
The word co-incidence comes from a Latin word, congruens, “to come together perfectly.” (Shepherd, HE, The History of Coincide and Coincidence, Am J of Philology 1:3. 271-280)
To come together perfectly. Yes! (The rest is history, as they say.) As the Universe met my yearning to learn orthodontics, also, Walter and I fell in love and became partners in orthodontics and in life.
And in time, after the way-too-soon loss of Walter, the Doyle Seminars, now known as Dr. Chris Baker Seminars, represent my love and passion. They have continued to grip and guide me in my life of learning and teaching of orthodontics.
Coincidences in love and orthodontics - to come together perfectly!
After dental school, I loved the idea of learning about treating the poor growth and bites which can affect a child’s function, face and beauty. I wanted to help the child grow into his or her greatest beauty.
Before going off to the University of Connecticut for pediatric specialty training, while still at University of Kentucky College of Dentistry (as a faculty member), I visited the office of Dr. Walter Doyle, the world’s first dentist to have taken and passed boards in both pediatric dentistry and orthodontics. Wow! It was a privilege.
I was thrilled to see Dr. Doyle's cranio-facial orthopedic approach to young children with adverse growth, though I didn’t understand much then. He was teaching seminars for dentists, particularly pediatric dentists at that time, sharing his knowledge, wisdom and techniques.
Later, in my pediatric residency, I would get Dr. Doyle’s brochures for his seminars and read them longingly, wanting to take the seminars and learn more orthodontics. It had to wait. Connecticut was a “fur piece” from Kentucky.
But, God intervened with manifestation of my dreams!
After my pediatric residency, Orthodontic Faculty member Dr. Sam Weinstein offered me the opportunity to do a fellowship in Orthodontics there, at U of Connecticut. I jumped at the opportunity. Still I looked at the Doyle Seminar brochures and planned when I would be able to take those seminars.
Well, God again stepped in. Manifestations again, only better than I could have imagined.
One day I found myself talking to Dr. Walter Doyle about practicing with him in his Lexington, Kentucky, practice!!! He said, “Of course I would ask that you take my seminars.” OMG as we say!
The word co-incidence comes from a Latin word, congruens, “to come together perfectly.” (Shepherd, HE, The History of Coincide and Coincidence, Am J of Philology 1:3. 271-280)
To come together perfectly. Yes! (The rest is history, as they say.) As the Universe met my yearning to learn orthodontics, also, Walter and I fell in love and became partners in orthodontics and in life.
And in time, after the way-too-soon loss of Walter, the Doyle Seminars, now known as Dr. Chris Baker Seminars, represent my love and passion. They have continued to grip and guide me in my life of learning and teaching of orthodontics.
Coincidences in love and orthodontics - to come together perfectly!
- Published on
Being "bored" helps children develop their imagination and develop problem-solving skills.
Healthy play away from screens is essential for children's development.
“Mom, I’m bo - o - red!”
Many parents jump into action, feeling it’s important to entertain and play with their children so they won’t be bored. And, the children are often entertained with screens, TV, movies, videos, pads, phones, games and computers.
Screen use is damaging to brains (children AND adults) and prevents imagination and pondering. Imagining and pondering are kinds of thinking that have quite the opposite effect to screen use.
These healthful "problem-solving" thinking patterns help the brain develop in ways that teach your child to prioritize, organize, cope and feel empathy and compassion for others. They also help your child learn, perform better, reduce risk of addictions, and have better relationships throughout life.
Studies show screen use is associated with structural and functional damage to brain regions involving emotions, attention, decision-making and thought control. (Lin & Zhou et al, 2012.)
Psychologists and physicians explain sensory overload, lack of restorative sleep and a hyper-aroused nervous system are symptoms of brain damage from electronic screens.
Dr. Victoria Dunckley’s book, Reset Your Child’s Brain, explains the child’s brain damage, symptoms and dysfunction caused by screen use. She explains the children are more impulsive, moody, and can’t pay attention. Dr. Dunckley reports on studies that explain the brain damage includes atrophy (loss) of both the brain's gray matter and white matter.
Screen use thus damages both brain function and brain structure (anatomy).
We used to think of computers as educational for our children, so it became important for children to have computer access at home and at school. Now we are realizing we were wrong about computer access.
Limit screen time. Watching TV, playing video games and spending time on the computer diminishes your child’s imagination by not letting them imagine worlds and outcomes of their own. Screen time also encourages children to be passive and uninvolved, which is unhealthy for mind and body. Better to be outside climbing trees, finding cloud shapes, running about…
Remember, it’s important for your mind to wander, to ponder. The wandering mind comes up with imaginative ideas and solutions.
Through boredom you find your curiosity, persistence, playfulness, and you develop hobbies that you like. Your brain needs you to spend time watching the world go by - people, cars, animals, and clouds.
Can you imagine sitting at the soccer game without looking at your phone? Or waiting in the pick-up line for your children at school? Or at work without looking at your phone all day?
Point is, if you go through your day and don’t look at your phone when you are waiting - for anything or anyone - you will be creating a more resilient, healthy, thicker brain, and enjoying your pondering.
Let your children be bored! Enjoy them developing in broader, amazing ways! Can you imagine? They will be smarter, more creative, more buoyant, happier, more quick to recover, stronger than ever, more interested in their world, nicer, more compassionate, more aware, more athletic, more fun to be around.
Let’s be bored
Many parents jump into action, feeling it’s important to entertain and play with their children so they won’t be bored. And, the children are often entertained with screens, TV, movies, videos, pads, phones, games and computers.
Screen use is damaging to brains (children AND adults) and prevents imagination and pondering. Imagining and pondering are kinds of thinking that have quite the opposite effect to screen use.
These healthful "problem-solving" thinking patterns help the brain develop in ways that teach your child to prioritize, organize, cope and feel empathy and compassion for others. They also help your child learn, perform better, reduce risk of addictions, and have better relationships throughout life.
Studies show screen use is associated with structural and functional damage to brain regions involving emotions, attention, decision-making and thought control. (Lin & Zhou et al, 2012.)
Psychologists and physicians explain sensory overload, lack of restorative sleep and a hyper-aroused nervous system are symptoms of brain damage from electronic screens.
Dr. Victoria Dunckley’s book, Reset Your Child’s Brain, explains the child’s brain damage, symptoms and dysfunction caused by screen use. She explains the children are more impulsive, moody, and can’t pay attention. Dr. Dunckley reports on studies that explain the brain damage includes atrophy (loss) of both the brain's gray matter and white matter.
Screen use thus damages both brain function and brain structure (anatomy).
We used to think of computers as educational for our children, so it became important for children to have computer access at home and at school. Now we are realizing we were wrong about computer access.
Limit screen time. Watching TV, playing video games and spending time on the computer diminishes your child’s imagination by not letting them imagine worlds and outcomes of their own. Screen time also encourages children to be passive and uninvolved, which is unhealthy for mind and body. Better to be outside climbing trees, finding cloud shapes, running about…
Remember, it’s important for your mind to wander, to ponder. The wandering mind comes up with imaginative ideas and solutions.
Through boredom you find your curiosity, persistence, playfulness, and you develop hobbies that you like. Your brain needs you to spend time watching the world go by - people, cars, animals, and clouds.
Can you imagine sitting at the soccer game without looking at your phone? Or waiting in the pick-up line for your children at school? Or at work without looking at your phone all day?
Point is, if you go through your day and don’t look at your phone when you are waiting - for anything or anyone - you will be creating a more resilient, healthy, thicker brain, and enjoying your pondering.
Let your children be bored! Enjoy them developing in broader, amazing ways! Can you imagine? They will be smarter, more creative, more buoyant, happier, more quick to recover, stronger than ever, more interested in their world, nicer, more compassionate, more aware, more athletic, more fun to be around.
Let’s be bored
- Published on
"When you're smilin', the whole world smiles with you."
Sure enough, Louis Armstrong was so right! Studies show that smiling is contagious. Ever been around someone who just had something fantastic happen? Their smile and joy makes you feel good, too.
"A smile is the most powerful force in the world."
~ Sujith, produce manager at Spinney’s, Khalifa City, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Why do parents want orthodontic treatment for their children? Why do adults and children want orthodontic treatment?
Simply, of course, to have a beautiful smile.
And, what an honor it is, to have the privilege of providing the orthodontic treatment and see smiles blossoming into beautiful - gorgeous - captivating - radiant - magic.
It takes formal training and lots of experience, to learn how to accomplish the customized, individualized movement of teeth set in soft tissues and bone.
But first, the diagnosis - and this is how to have the most fun with your patients’ orthodontics and smiles!
Include muscles, profile, frenae, tonsils, functional movements, facial considerations, habits, musical instruments - brass, woodwind, violin…
in your examination!
Trace and measure the lateral ceph, frontal ceph, panoramic and models!
Now - go have fun and co-create that smile you’ve designed!
“Every time you smile at someone, it is an act of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.”
~ Mother Teresa
Studies show that just seeing a smile can activate the muscles in your face to make that same expression (smile), without you even being aware that you are doing it. Crazy, right?
Make your smiles change the world!
Sure enough, Louis Armstrong was so right! Studies show that smiling is contagious. Ever been around someone who just had something fantastic happen? Their smile and joy makes you feel good, too.
"A smile is the most powerful force in the world."
~ Sujith, produce manager at Spinney’s, Khalifa City, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Why do parents want orthodontic treatment for their children? Why do adults and children want orthodontic treatment?
Simply, of course, to have a beautiful smile.
And, what an honor it is, to have the privilege of providing the orthodontic treatment and see smiles blossoming into beautiful - gorgeous - captivating - radiant - magic.
It takes formal training and lots of experience, to learn how to accomplish the customized, individualized movement of teeth set in soft tissues and bone.
But first, the diagnosis - and this is how to have the most fun with your patients’ orthodontics and smiles!
- What does the smile look like now - glowing - wonky - ragged - gummy - crowded…?
- Train your staff to snap a bunch of photos and save them in the digital chart. You will be able to see a lot. As I tell the patients, I can study your smile when you aren’t even here.
- How and why did the patient grow the way he did?
- What are the positions and relationships of the skeleton - the skull bones, including the upper and lower jawbones, that hold the teeth?
- What are the positions and relationships of the teeth with each other? Most children have 20 primary (baby, milk) teeth, and another 32 (including the wisdom teeth) to come.
- How many does this patient have?
- Where are those teeth before they erupt - good position - poorer position - impacted?
- How does the patient use their mouth and teeth - chewing, talking, singing, clenching, grinding, biting, sucking, showing emotion and affection, expressions of feeling - frowning, smiling, habits…
- How does the patient breathe - through her nose, or through her mouth?
- What are the growth patterns and expected changes in the future?
Include muscles, profile, frenae, tonsils, functional movements, facial considerations, habits, musical instruments - brass, woodwind, violin…
in your examination!
Trace and measure the lateral ceph, frontal ceph, panoramic and models!
- Make a list of all your findings, skeletal, airway, occlusion, muscles, joint and function, tooth-size discrepancies, ectopic teeth, missing teeth, position of teeth, crossbites, need for sealants, restorative, future implants…
- THEN list treatment recommended to address the findings, in the sequence you feel will work best.
- Include retention as part of your treatment plan.
- Include future needs: periodontal cosmetic procedures, implants, bone augmentation, crown and bridge…
- Describe your “concerns” - the places in treatment that could be particularly complex or problematic.
Now - go have fun and co-create that smile you’ve designed!
“Every time you smile at someone, it is an act of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.”
~ Mother Teresa
Studies show that just seeing a smile can activate the muscles in your face to make that same expression (smile), without you even being aware that you are doing it. Crazy, right?
Make your smiles change the world!
- Published on
Studies show that a smile is a signal to the brain to be happy. This sweet smile certainly makes me happy!
A UK study showed that a single smile can create as much happiness as 2,000 chocolate bars.
This is my beautiful friend Dr Fernanda, pediatric dentist at the AADC Abu Dhabi dental clinic.
Do you know that even imitating a smile actually changes the way the neurons process emotion in your brain?
Your brain turns on emotionally and processes happiness when you smile. Your smile is a switch on to happiness.
In the UAE, we have many languages that we all bring together, and translations to our familiar English language are often very cute. My patients say, “On your phone or off your phone.”
Your smile “on’s” your brain’s happiness center. Even if you don’t feel like smiling, and you make a “fake” smile, your brain creates emotion of happiness! Pretty soon, you’ll not have to fake that smile.
“On” that brain - as often as possible.
In Great Britain, a study showed that ONE smile can create as much happiness stimulation as 2,000 chocolate bars! "On" your brain - smile!
Their study also showed a smile can create as much happy emotion as if you were given $20,000! Smile often!
Most of us think that we smile BECAUSE we are happy. Now you know if you smile you will GET HAPPIER!
NAMASTE! This precious greeting says to another, “The Spirit in me sends love to the Spirit in you.”
You see, your smile is a gift for the person with whom you share your smile, and when they smile back at you, it is your gift coming back! The Divinity in us is shared. WOW!
Hey - smiling also has been shown to reduce your stress hormones, increase your endorphins (happiness hormones), and lower your blood pressure. Smile as you exercise. Or - smile when you don’t take time to exercise. Smile lots!
Out in California at Berkeley they did a 30 year study of the lives of the students in yearbook photos. Guess what? The students who were smiling in their yearbook pictures scored higher on standardized tests of happiness, were inspiring to others and had longer lasting marriages. And the broadest widest smilers had the highest ranking in each area. In general, their lives were more successful and more happy.
“A smile is happiness you’ll find right under your nose! “ ~ Tom Wilson
Another study looked at baseball players on baseball cards in 1952. The researchers found that the players who were smiling in their baseball card photo lived longer than the non-smilers. And the biggest smiles had the longest lives.
Smiling is good for you!
Your smile makes people think more and better of you! From a Penn State U study, we find that when you smile, people think you are more capable, more likable and more courteous.
Smile - you will be healthier.
Smile - people will like you more.
Smile - you and others will feel happier.
Smile - you will reduce your stress.
and live longer!
“What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. They are but trifles, to be sure, but scattered along life's pathway the good they do is inconceivable.” ~ Joseph Addison
Your brain turns on emotionally and processes happiness when you smile. Your smile is a switch on to happiness.
In the UAE, we have many languages that we all bring together, and translations to our familiar English language are often very cute. My patients say, “On your phone or off your phone.”
Your smile “on’s” your brain’s happiness center. Even if you don’t feel like smiling, and you make a “fake” smile, your brain creates emotion of happiness! Pretty soon, you’ll not have to fake that smile.
“On” that brain - as often as possible.
In Great Britain, a study showed that ONE smile can create as much happiness stimulation as 2,000 chocolate bars! "On" your brain - smile!
Their study also showed a smile can create as much happy emotion as if you were given $20,000! Smile often!
Most of us think that we smile BECAUSE we are happy. Now you know if you smile you will GET HAPPIER!
NAMASTE! This precious greeting says to another, “The Spirit in me sends love to the Spirit in you.”
You see, your smile is a gift for the person with whom you share your smile, and when they smile back at you, it is your gift coming back! The Divinity in us is shared. WOW!
Hey - smiling also has been shown to reduce your stress hormones, increase your endorphins (happiness hormones), and lower your blood pressure. Smile as you exercise. Or - smile when you don’t take time to exercise. Smile lots!
Out in California at Berkeley they did a 30 year study of the lives of the students in yearbook photos. Guess what? The students who were smiling in their yearbook pictures scored higher on standardized tests of happiness, were inspiring to others and had longer lasting marriages. And the broadest widest smilers had the highest ranking in each area. In general, their lives were more successful and more happy.
“A smile is happiness you’ll find right under your nose! “ ~ Tom Wilson
Another study looked at baseball players on baseball cards in 1952. The researchers found that the players who were smiling in their baseball card photo lived longer than the non-smilers. And the biggest smiles had the longest lives.
Smiling is good for you!
Your smile makes people think more and better of you! From a Penn State U study, we find that when you smile, people think you are more capable, more likable and more courteous.
Smile - you will be healthier.
Smile - people will like you more.
Smile - you and others will feel happier.
Smile - you will reduce your stress.
and live longer!
“What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. They are but trifles, to be sure, but scattered along life's pathway the good they do is inconceivable.” ~ Joseph Addison
