Six-Pack Abs, Tight Butts & Perspective
Five years ago my wife and I, along with our two kids at the time, loaded up our U-Haul and headed north over the Golden Gate Bridge to our destination in the Flathead Valley. While we were sad to leave our very unique San Francisco experience, we were heading to what we knew was to be our final destination in life. We felt a deep feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment as we were simultaneously realizing two of our major goals as a family: 1) Successfully completing eight years of higher education and obtaining my Doctorate of Dental Surgery (DDS) degree. 2) Making the Flathead Valley the place our children will know as Home.
As we settled and met new neighbors, patients, and friends, a common question was asked of me: "So how do you like this small-town living out in the country?" My reply has always been, "If you could visit the place where I was raised, you would realize that this does not feel like a 'small town' to me." If you are a long-time reader you would know that I grew up Northeast Arizona in the high desert region of the Colorado Plateau in a town of approximately 1,000 people. My hometown is credited as inspiring the popular Disney movie "Cars."
In any case I would describe my childhood as "Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn meet the Desert." I was entrusted with a lot of freedom. I recall many times that my mom would pack my lunch and send me off with a cousin of a similar age to go explore the desert. We had a lot of free time to explore because we were not yet of school age. That's right, we were 5 years old hunting for snakes and lizards in the desert, fueled by PB&J.
With only my little legs for travel my adventure radius was quite small. But as all little boys do. I became bigger and stronger. I not more daring. I had more efficient means became braver of travel. Legs turned into Pedals, Pedals turned into 4-wheel- ers, which in turn became a seemingly indestructible blue and white 1977 Chevrolet Scottsdale Pick-up truck. The same levels of freedom carried over from my youth and I explored my little piece of Arizona desert thoroughly.
During the hot summer months my friend's favorite activity and mine was cliff diving at one of the many water-filled canyons that littered the landscape. A powerful combination of observant females and a lack of common sense had us doing some crazy stuff to try and claim rights to being the king of the cliffs. Our high school science teacher performed some physics calculations and determined that each jump was the equivalent of landing on solid ground from 12 feet.
Routinely returning home dusty, scraped, and bruised from the day's adventures led my Father to offer regular warnings that my body will pay for this lifestyle "down the road." His tone a mixture of fatherly concern and sentimental envy as he was also raised in that dusty corner of Arizona jumping those same cliffs. His advice was coming from an elevated viewpoint perched up on years of wisdom and PERSPECTIVE.
Everyone around has some level of perspective pertaining to different topics. These same people also have some level of ignorance as well. In other words, we all have some combination of "We Know, We Know We Don't Know, and We Don't Know We Don't Know." For example, as a young adult I wanted to avoid making costly financial mistakes. I knew I didn't know. So I found someone with perspective to point me in the right direction as far as what books to read, etc. Because of this I avoided some decisions that could have been costly later on and shoveled a little ignorance over to the perspective side of things.
I would like to offer a little perspective to my readers today. We are all getting older everyday. These days are going to add up and eventually you will look back and wonder where all the time has gone. Some of my readers right now are scoffing at me because I am only 35 years old. I mentioned having goals in the first paragraph and encourage you all to have a vision for yourselves as you age.
Does your vision for yourself involve a healthy smile? I invite you to ask yourself, "Will my current level of oral care and maintenance get me there?" Teeth are like six-pack abs and tight butts, they are harder to keep the older we get and there- fore require more work. I see patients of all ages every day and guess who has the most perspective out of all of them? The patients that no longer have their teeth. The patients who can no longer eat some of the foods they love. The patients who cannot laugh and sing without the worry of having a denture fall out.
So what should you do? If this sounds like your situation already come see me and we'll discuss the amazing benefits of implants. Otherwise, talk to your dentist and your hygienist REGULARLY. Ask them how your gums look. Ask them how your bone levels are looking around your teeth. If you are developing cavities and tooth decay something in your daily routine needs to change. Make a sincere effort to teach your children effective oral hygiene. Don't let your child be the one sitting in my chair in their mid-twenties blaming their parents for their current dental predicament.
We are all getting older together and I would love nothing more when I'm 70 to be surrounded by a bunch of loud, fun-loving, steak-chewing, karaoke-singing, big-smiling, ROCKSTAR GRANDMAS! But it needs to start today. See you all in December.
Read Six-Pack Abs, Tight Butts & Perspective and other Smile Montana articles by Dr. John F. Miller, DDS, in 406 Woman magazines.