6/22/2008
After an enjoyable 4 days in Tampa, Florida I am returning home. I miss my family and I am excited to deliver some goodies I bought for them. The shopping in some of these larger U.S. cities is truly impressive, and I always wish that Daria was with me. I want to spoil her rotten and take her on a shopping spree someday.
The purpose of my trip was a Cone Beam CT Diagnosis and 3D Treatment Planning course not only for dental implants but for complete dentistry. What is exciting is we are almost at the point where we will not even need to take impressions of people’s mouths with goo. After working daily with CB/CT I cannot imagine practicing without this technology. A sleep apnea component is on its way as well where we will be able to use the CB/CT to calculate the volume of a person’s airway to predict apnea. This past year has been one of tremendous growth and I am fortunate to have studied under many of the world’s leading clinicians. I took to the course like a fish to water as there was a tremendous hands-on computer component and it felt good to be ahead of the pack. I also had the chance to have a lot of conversations with surgical specialists and learn lessons of life, career and techniques and even pass on a few of my own. I continue to love dentistry it is my passion. My sincere gratitude goes to Bryan Murray for his mentoring and prior to him Murray Knebel.
1/14/2008
I’m excited to add yet another set of skills to my dental practice. This month I begin my training to provide IV sedation. The course will take place over the next several months and is known to be among the most comprehensive in North America.
I’m also excited as Daria occasionally seems this close to needing an IV and if needed I will be able to help her in a pinch.
Also sleep related I’ve started working closely with the local sleep lab to help treat my obstructive sleep apnea patients. I’m thrilled with my new assistant as well and enjoying working with someone who is pleasant, organized and shows up everyday to work.
I’m very grateful for the opportunities I’ve had here in Lethbridge and the training I’m getting from Dr. Bryan Murray —a true friend, colleague and relative.
11/9/2007
For the third time in as many months I find myself in Las Vegas. Each trip has found me pursuing advanced education in implant surgery and prosthetics. I’m very excited about this field and the remarkable things I have already done. I look forward to pacing my ever expanding knowledge with clinical experience. My passion grows and grows each month on this front.
But enough on that subject. This trip found me at a different venue: the Rio, a good walk from the strip. The Rio is a typical Vegas hotel with pretty good restaurants, and some 70 floors spread over 2 towers. The buffet was the best of the four I have tried in Las Vegas and also the lowest priced! A typical casino resides on the main floor and I am amazed how the motivation for the big win seems to override the boredom of tv screen gambling. Scantily clad women are sprinkled throughout. I spent most of my time in the convention center only catching a half-hour of sun beside the under renovations pool.
Nonetheless, the larger than life presence of Vegas is still a wonder to behold. In particular the incredibly imaginative entertainment. The highlight of the trip by far was The Beatles: Love by Cirque de Soleil (note the trailer does the performance no justice). I have never been more enthralled at a live show. No circus, grandstand, play, or even musical of my experience came close. The story-telling, imagery, costuming, group and individual performances, athleticism, staging, and music were completeley out of this world. At one point I wondered if this show would approach entertainment in the afterlife. Absolutely incredible choreography coupled with the best band of all time created a delirious and delightful experience weaving through each of the creative periods of music produced by the Beatles. I think even the Beatles would approve, and I was left with not a single disappointment. If you haven’t already caught my strong recommendation to see this show let me seal it with this - I absolutely expect anyone travelling to Vegas to attend and an invitation to go with you. I’ll be reliving the experience via my Beatles music collection in the mean time. Perhaps the only way to better experience the Beatles would be an actual Beatles concert.
I’m hoping to take Daria to the show at the end of this month when I return yet again. Anyone else in?
7/8/2007
This past week we spent an amazing 3 days at Echo Lake, Montana. Activities included: Swimming, Kayaking, Jet-Skiing, Wakeboarding, Tubing, Quadding on the ATV’s, putting together a playground and watching movies. Jam packed fun! Everyone got a ton of sunshine and the water was 80°F. Absolutely amazing.This is exactly what our family needed as I transition to the new job and the trip really got our summer off to an incredible start. Dylan learned how to wakeboard and it was a real treat to watch him. I even managed to get in some solid reading time on my Jack Canfield book and the New Testament and the Book of Mormon.
We also went to the Calgary Stampede: The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth. My In-Laws graciously got us tickets to the grandstand show which was a singing, dancing, fireworking, gymnastic, comedian, motorcross spectacular absolutely amazing production. We also hit the rides and had this amazing lemonade with the must-have mini-donuts. Dylan and I got on just about every ride and I was impressed with how daring he was this year.
I finally got to start learning about Rich Dad, Poor Dad the money book which I started listening to on my iPod. A definite eye-opener that I’m really greatful to have come across. I also spent the greater part of the day organizing our entire basement spurred on by the purchase of three Billy shelves from Ikea. Managed to put in a couple of hours of dentistry while I was at it too.
All in all a most satisfying week.
6/28/2007
I’m excited to begin a new chapter in my dental career. This month I start practicing with Dr. Bryan Murray at his surgical center in Lethbridge, Alberta. What is thrilling to me about this new opportunity is the chance to work with a new dental team and move even closer to achieving my goals for patient treatment and dental philosophy. The areas of dentistry that I am most passionate about are those that really change the quality of peoples lives.
For me these areas are reconstructive dentistry and TMJ, dental sleep medicine, and cosmetic dentistry. My interest in these areas are due to the experiences I have had with patients and family. It has been nothing short of amazing to be able to take someone who has chronic headaches to no headaches, to treat a life threatening condition like sleep apnea and change these patients daily lives permanently. I have also found cosmetic dentistry to be rewarding as we give someone an amazing smile, with little or lots of dentistry, and they are often tearful. They smile as if for the first time. It is incredibly satisfying to make a difference that is so palpable.
I also find all of these areas require detail, focus and a multi-disciplinary approach that challenge me to grow, learn and apply.
I’m positive I will look back at this decision as a landmark. I can’t wait to dig in and make it happen.
1/14/2006
I made $50 bucks today for about 1.5 hours of work signing people in and out of a dental conference. To offset that increase we bought another mic for Daria’s podcasting along with some headphones. We traped on over to Wal-Mart too, to replace our toilet-drenched cordless phone with a new model. We ended up getting a two-phone package (backup!) with the ability to two-way radio between the two units. Doubt we will use that feature too much but having a second cordless phone will be a nice addition around here since the cordless is inevitably on the floor your not come ring time.
I’m weighing the purchase of a computer. The demos always go on sale at my local campus computer store with every Apple hardware update and this particularly computer is the last of the PowerPC powered Macs, which could come in handy for running the software I currently own. Then again our current computer is getting the job done but slower I imagine. So tempting…
10/29/2005
It is that wonderful time of year where we all get to play make believe. I think the dressing up is just as fun as the candy, if not more since I can eat candy pretty much whenever I want. This year Dylan is going as Frodo Baggins of Lord of the Rings fame, Joshua is going to be a Dragon, complete with wings, and Brigham is going as a Turtle, Noah is going to be a little Lamb. I’ve seen most of them dressed up and they all look amazing or cute in their costumes.
Daria and I are trying to figure out our costumes still, although I do have a special costume planned for Monday at school. Just in case someone from university is actually reading this before Halloween I won’t be revealing my costume just yet-but it is sure to get a response, particularly from the class of 2006. I did a mock test of the costume after gathering the numerous pieces and accessories and I’m thrilled with the result. The costume will be a shocker, and a one-time only event. I’ve been stewing over this costume for three years now, and I’m relishing, with giddiness, the Monday moment when I walk through those clinic doors.
6/11/2005
I saw an emergency patient yesterday with an initial complaint of a sore tooth. The pain was severe enough that she couldn’t sleep at night. She had many other large cavities that will also likely need root canals but those teeth aren’t bothering her yet. Just getting in to see us was a huge struggle for her and unless we can find a way to motivate and educate this young lady she will continue to have major dental problems. She told us that she wouldn’t come back in the fall for any treatment because she is a seasonal worker and avoids all expenses after the summer. Several times throughout the appointment she became quite emotional. I think the initial prick was the finances but the whole combination of pain, being made aware of the multiple areas needing treatment and confronting all of that at once made her experience quite difficult. I felt such sympathy for her and her situation. It is so hard for all of us to come to a realization that our procrastination or our fears or our lack of preventive measures have dug us into a deep hole. I’ve met quite a few patients this year facing this difficulty. No matter how nice, pleasant or sympathetic I am for some it is all too overwhelming. As a fellow dental student pointed out—quoting Joni Mitchell—you don’t know what you got till its gone. Being able to treat these patients and restore their dental health is very rewarding, but occasionally against better judgement and recommendation patients will ignore your counsel. I think I’ll be doing a fair amount of charity dentistry as I can’t bear to see such severity left untreated.
On a brighter note? Daria and I saw Episode III last night. I thought it was excellent. It seems like Star Wars is not the “in thing” to be enjoying but I thought George Lucas captured almost perfectly the turning of Anakin to the Dark Side. I’ll be posting a review tomorrow. What impressed me most (as with all of the Star Wars films) was the films consideration and portrayal of Good vs. Evil.
