Will You Marry Me?

Every day when I'm driving into work,  I listen to the news, weather and traffic during the first 15 minutes. I alternate between 3 radio news stations to check on traffic so I can plot my journey to the world of teeth.

After I'm confident that I have the quickest route, I will switch to K-Love music. The DJs scatter in interesting stories around the world.  Today's story hit home. It had all the makings of a love story.  A boy, a girl, a wedding proposal, a ring.... and a wisdom tooth?!

Sometimes after I do an extraction, I will remark that the extracted tooth would make a perfect pendant for a necklace for the wife or girlfriend because Christmas is coming up soon. The patient would laugh along so the mood in the room would not be so stressful anymore. Of course, no one has ever taken that advice to heart. That is, until I heard the story on the radio this morning.

Apparently, a man had his wisdom tooth extracted and had it set into a ring and proposed to his girlfriend who promptly said, "Yes". Now, as a dentist, I don't mind being around teeth, in the mouth or all bloody and sitting on my tray after an extraction. I don't care how beautiful this wisdom tooth is or if it somehow had a weird indentation on it resembling a heart or if it had a heart engraved into it, I personally don't think any removed body part is appropriate as a token of undying love or used to ask someone for their hand in marriage.

Here is my latest article for Weekly Biz, Japanese newspaper. For your reading enjoyment and entertainment!

Will You Marry Me?

This morning when I was on my way to work, I heard something interesting on the radio. A man recently had his wisdom tooth extracted. He had it made part of a ring and used it to ask his girlfriend to marry him. As I listened to this story, I thought back 20 years ago when my husband asked me to marry him. How would I react if he was on his knees with a ring that had his tooth in it? I think I would have left him on his knees! 

As romantic as this man may think, the reason diamonds are in engagement rings and wedding rings is because diamonds are forever. They are beautiful and nothing can destroy them. A tooth, on the other hand, while being beautiful, it cannot last very long on a ring. Over time, it will dry out and break into pieces. On that day, the girl that received the really personal piece of jewelry will be left with a ring with sharp broken pieces of body parts. Not very attractive or romantic now, is it? The announcer on the radio said that she accepted his proposal for marriage with the tooth ring. But I certainly hope she gets a diamond from her man in the near future as well as a “I’m just kidding about the tooth ring, honey! Here’s the real ring!”

So how much is your tooth worth? It’s worth more in your mouth than out of your mouth! A clean, healthy tooth is free of charge and will last forever but once there’s decay, there’s the price of a filling, or the price of a root canal, or the price of a crown attached to that tooth. If that tooth is so bad that it needs to be taken out, there’s the price of an extraction, the price of replacing it with an implant!  

 Please be careful keeping your mouth and teeth clean and healthy. Get regular x-rays with exams, regular cleanings, and make sure to fix things when they are small!  Gentlemen, if you are single and reading this, start saving up for that diamond ring that you will be giving the future love of your life.  I can tell you, not a lot of girls are OK with a tooth on a ring as an example of your forever love for them!

Cricket Legs

Our home is a transient stopover for animals. Some stay for a short while (not that we're bad pet owners but some just have a shorter natural lifespan), and some stay for years and become infused as a part of the family.

Our newest member is Arnold, an anole.Even though this is considered a cheap pet, I've realized that like any pet, it's not the amount of money you pay upfront, it's the upkeep of said pet that is pricey. Arnold eats crickets and at 10 crickets/ $1, he's averaging about $3/ month. If you tack on gas to get the crickets and time spent driving to purchase these insects, it's starting to get to me. On top of that, to cut down on insect purching trips, I've been buying them 30 at a time. There is a separate container to keep these crickets while they are awaiting to be inserted into the food chain. Alas, the "food" also must be fed to be kept alive.  Fortunately, a few Cheerios, a lettuce leaf and a soggy paper towel ball is all they need as they wait unknowingly happily chirping away  at night.

My latest dental article is about crickets as food. Not so much for Arnold, but for people. Many countries outside the USA are already accepting insects as a food choice. Americans, in general are a lot more squeamish about things like this. Read and enjoy!

Did You Have Crickets For Lunch?

As a dentist, there are courses and lectures that can help improve dental skills and knowledge.  One of the skills I’ve developed after years of being a dentist does not have to do with dentistry at all. I’ve learned to identify leftover foods in patient’s mouths. I know, it’s an interesting but yucky skill. Broccoli is the easiest!

As much as my patients think they have clean teeth after lunch, it’s still a great idea to rinse with water and try to get all the food pieces out. Sugarless gum is also a good way to clean your teeth after a meal. It also freshens your breath and neutralizes the acidic saliva. 

Last month I was at a museum store with my kids and they were selling roasted crickets. “Look at that!” I said to them. “Let’s try a box!” We bought a box and ate it in the car. It just tasted a little dry, crunchy but not bad at all. Not what I expected! Scientists have said that in the future, insects will become more and more acceptable and available as food. The only bad part was after we ate the crickets, bits of cricket legs were all stuck in our teeth. I did not have any sugarless gum but thank goodness I always have floss in my bag. We checked each other with big wide smiles saying, “Do you see any more legs in there?”

2nd Chances

In life, and sometimes in love, people want 2nd chances.
My son is known for asking for 2nd chances. Every time there is is a punishment or a "consequence" to be carried out, there is pleading for 2nd chances.
As much as I want to be merciful, the lessons will not be learned or reinforced if I'm too much of a pushover. This month's article for Weekly Biz is just about that.
Happy reading!

2nd Chances

Recently I got a new cell phone and after it was activated, I noticed that all my old voicemail messages had transferred over. I had saved some of my kids’ messages when they were a lot younger. They still had their baby voices and it’s so cute. One message in particular made me laugh. It was my son when he was around 8 years old. My Dad was watching them after school while I was working. They are supposed to be doing homework and practicing their music. Those are the rules. No TV or video games after school, too.  My Dad told me that both my kids had broken the rules by watching TV so when I got home, as a punishment, I had them write 1000x “I will obey Mommy’s rules and not watch TV during school nights”. 

My 9 year old daughter went to her room and after a short time; handed in her 1000 sentences.  My son took longer so I had him complete it the next day. While I was at work the next day, he came home and left me a voice message. “Mommy, I want you to know that I did not watch TV after school today. Can I have a second chance?  If you let me stop writing, I will obey your rules, clean my room, wash the dishes after dinner and I promise not to watch TV after school on school nights.  I love you, Mommy.”  He sounded so sad.

Sometime in the future, people will have a 2^nd chance with their teeth. Adults have a complete set of teeth by the time they are 12 years old. Instead of living with one set of damaged or repaired adult teeth for the rest of their lives, having to deal with old root canals, bridges, dentures, implants, all of a sudden, a new set would come out and we would have a chance to do better. All the people who did not take care of their 1^st set of adult teeth could now have a 2^nd chance. Brand new white teeth as a 50 year old!

Unfortunately, that is not true. Like my son that left the sad voicemail, there were no 2^nd chances with his punishment that day and there are no 2^nd chances with a new set of adult teeth. My senior patients tell me that if they had known how important teeth are as they got older, they would have taken better care of their teeth while they were younger. Some people wish they have 2^nd chances with their teeth. In the future, they may be able to. Just not right now.

o_O!

We did "speedy" things this weekend. Hubby checked out the race track at Raceway Park, Englishtown, NJ.  He was disappointed. Track too short, too many curves, not enough of a straight-away for his peddle to the metal moments.   Kids went go-karting. They came back all bright-eyed and with renewed teenage confidence.  

"Mommy! In a few years, we don't have to take driver's ed anymore! We know how to drive now. It's so easy!" 

"Sure kids.... sure. That, plus your PS3 experiences in Grand Tourismo 6, right?"

"YES!! Mommy, you're sooooo cool !!!"

"Sure kids... sure. Just like when you thought all of a sudden I could cook really well just because I was good at Cooking Mama on Nintendo DS??" 

o_O !

I was on the sidelines in the "pit" area doing last minute editing for my latest article for Daily Sun while there was racing around via lawn mower engines.

Dear Diary…. o_O!

Dear Diary….  I’ve always told people that dentistry is never boring. There is always something that will shock me even after being a dentist for over 20 years.

A new patient, Mrs H, came in to see me last month. She was close to my Dad’s age and she gave me a polite smile.   As a new patient, everyone fills out a paper with their information on it and a list of questions to be answered. It helps us to get to know our patients better.  One of the questions listed is, “The reason I’m here today is…”  My new patient answered, “I’m not happy with my dentures.” Immediately, I thought about all the problems patients could have with their dentures. Loose dentures, not able to eat properly like their own teeth, not liking the color of the teeth, not looking like themselves in the mirror, etc…

After I sat her in my chair, I asked her how I could help her with her dentures. She said, “When I got my dentures the very first day, I was very happy with them. I was glad I could eat properly again. They fit perfectly fine! Now they look like a mess. I don’t know what I did wrong. I can’t go through life with blue teeth!”  I asked her to tell me what happened step by step.

Mrs. H:  When I got my dentures first put in my mouth, I was overjoyed! I looked so young again smiling in the mirror.  I wanted to take extra good care of my new dentures so I brushed them very well with my toothbrush and toothpaste at night. I must have spent 10 minutes scrubbing and making sure everything was cleaned out.  After a few days, I noticed they had a bad smell so I thought the toothpaste I was using was not strong enough. I mixed in some salt in with my toothpaste.  I had hoped that the salt crystals would scrub everything even better and get rid of the smell but it didn’t.  I bought a harder toothbrush and scrubbed even longer at night.  I was surprised when I started seeing the denture collecting stains! Was I not doing enough? How does a regular person keep their dentures so clean and fresh? I decided to let them sit in a cup of bleach. That way, the bleach would kill the smell as well as get rid of the staining.  The next morning, no matter how much I rinsed the dentures, I could not get rid of the bleach smell. I can’t imagine it being too healthy to put that in my mouth so I ran it through the dishwasher as I was doing dishes.  They came out without the bleach smell but I wanted them fresh and minty.  Finally, I decided to soak them in a strong mouthwash. This is where I gave up. Dr Lee, I can try to hide the smell, I can try not to smile too wide and hide the stains but I don’t know what I can do because now my dentures look blue!”

As you can imagine, as I was listening to her story, I must have looked like this:    o_O!

See if you can figure out what Mrs H did wrong and in my next article, we can compare notes!

Sad Goodbyes

I've been avoiding writing this article because it hits a heavy spot in my dental career but I feel that if my articles and my blog posts can help, it's for the best. Most of my blog posts have been entertaining and fun while dentally educational. Hope you enjoy this one even though it's not on a lighter note.

SAD GOODBYES

When people ask me why I love being a dentist, one of the reasons is because I don’t have to deal well with the issue of death or dying. Eventually, I realized that if I practice dentistry long enough, I WILL have to the dreaded topic.  

I’ve come into this dental office after working on the west side of Manhattan for over 10 years.  A lot of patients left that office and followed me here to the east side. Mr O is one of them.  I had been his dentist ever since I started working right out of dental school.  Back then,20 years ago, he knew I was a nervous new dentist so he was always encouraging and patient with me.  He was a smoker and a drinker so I made it one of my dental goals to get him to stop smoking and drink less.  Every time he came in for his regular appointments, I would move my chair closer to him, look him in the eye and begin by saying, “Now, Mr O, you know I need to say this to you as your dentist but also because I care about you….”

He would smile and tell me “Dr Lee, I enjoy smoking and drinking too much to quit. You can quote me articles and statistics until you’re blue in the face.  I will not quit either bad habit. I know you are obligated to tell me these things as a good dentist, and I will listen as a good patient but I will not quit.” After his dental appointment, he told me, “I will now go get a drink! You can come join me if you want!”  I smiled, thanked him and told him my day is not over yet.

Sad to say, 10 years ago, Mr O had a sore throat that wouldn’t heal. His medical doctor did a biopsy and it turned out to be cancer. Mr O stopped smoking and drinking overnight.  He had surgery to remove his voicebox, chemotherapy as well as radiation therapy.  Things were looking well for Mr O for years after that. He retired from his job later on and spent his freetime travelling across the country and visiting relatives and friends.  I would always get a postcard in the mail every few weeks so I was able to track his travels. Whenever I received a postcard, I would get a warm happy feeling knowing he’s doing what he loves.

I received a phone call from his sister last month saying that Mr O had passed. She had come across a last postcard addressed to me that he had not mailed out.  It was from Seattle and on it, he had written, “Well, I’m done travelling coast to coast.. I’m finally coming home.”  

My dear patient, every time I speak with you about quitting smoking and cutting down on drinking, every time I do an oral cancer check during your exams, I always your best interest in mind. I will also always have Mr O on my mind. I do not want to lose another patient that way.