The Good Old Days
As someone who has been a musician for 30 years it should not come as a surprise that music plays a big role in the Miller household. We have a curated Spotify playlist for almost every activity. Playlists with names like Pancakes, PuzzleTime, SuperChill, Big Mountain, Blackies Bay, etc. And in this day and age of continual advanced technology, we have SONOS throughout our entire house including our back porch.
My wife and I can’t help but chuckle when one of our kids simply summons Alexa and asks her to play whatever song they might fancy at that exact moment. When they ask why we are laughing we simply explain that in our day and age (both being from rural areas) we only heard new music through the one country station or the one rock and roll station and in order to be able to listen to it whenever we wanted we had to load up our cassette tape and patiently wait next to our boombox until the song came on. At which point we would smash down the play button and the record button at the same time. We did not have a magical DJ in the sky named Alexa who was there to spin whatever we wanted whenever we wanted.
Lately my teenager has been on a little bit of a throwback streak and we find ourselves listening to Twenty One Pilots a lot. You might remember they had a few “bangers” nearly a decade ago. The first single that really blew them up was titles Stressed Out. The chorus of the song is as follows, “Wish we could turn back time, to the good old days, when our mama sang us to sleep but now we’re stressed out.” The song goes on to reveal that the reasons for the stress are the normal responsibilities that come with adulthood.
Not only do I dig this tune, but I can totally relate to it. Especially the line about the artist’s preference for treehouse homes over student loans. One day while listening in the backyard I asked my son, “what do you think he means by “the good old days?” My son replied, “I’m not sure Dad.” So I followed up with another question, “Do you know what it means to be ‘stressed out’?” To which he replied, “not really.”
Let’s go back to the time when we were less stressed out. To the good old days. When our laughs and smiles were pure. Think of the amazing and phenomenal things we have witnessed. Things we would never believe had we not seen them with our own eyes. Ho w many times in my life have I uttered or thought, “they’ve done it, it can’t get any better than this.” How often have you thought those same things? How many of us are thinking that right now with our iphones, our virtual reality headsets, our self-driving electric cars, our ChatGPT? It’s all pretty dank-stinkin unbelievable, am I right?
During dental school we had a guest lecturer come in one evening who was like a celebrity makeover dentist from southern California. Me and some fellow students showed up a little early and found ourselves talking with this dentist prior to his presentation. He also attended the same dental school that we were at and had graduated some 15 years earlier. He made a comment that sticks with me to this day. He said, “there are very few techniques that were taught to me in this building that I still use today in my practice of dentistry.” At the time I was surprised by what he told us, but now that I find myself 13 years post-graduation what he said has rang totally true for me.
The trajectory of my dental career pivoted significantly almost a decade ago when I was visited by a dental rep in my Columbia Falls office. This rep wanted to discuss a certain piece of dental tech called a CEREC machine. At the time this machine was a digital optical scanner that allowed the dentist to offer porcelain restorations in one appointment. Highly aesthetic porcelain crowns in one visit bypassing the need for a temporary, a second visit, and the possibility of having to be numbed a second time.
This rep had me do a live demo of the technology and I fell in love with it. I could immediately recognize it’s advantages not only to me but especially to my dental patient. I wanted it. However, fancy tech comes with fancy price tags and I couldn’t quite get the boss (my wife) on board. She’s not a dentist, she wasn’t at the demo, she wasn’t blown away by the tech, just blown away by the cost.
So I told my rep that I loved it, I would have it one day, but couldn’t quite pull the trigger just yet. A month past and I recieved a call from my rep saying a spot had opened up at their training center in Scottsdale and they were going to fly me there and put me up so I can be trained on the CEREC machine. This was their high-pressure sales pitch. What they didn’t realize was that they had already sold it. It was just a matter of timing at that point. So yes, I would love an all-expense paid trip to Scottsdale from Montana in the winter.
Fast forward 10 years and I couldn’t imagine practicing dentist without this tool. With every software and hardware update the CEREC realizes new applications in the dentistry, and their existing functions become smoother, more precise, and more efficient. Remember, I knew the technology was good but I wasn’t convinced it was worth the cost. Did it represent a value add in my day-to-day dental practice?
To answer that question, I’ll just say that I have purchased 6 of these units with a seventh coming soon and I don’t even flinch at the cost because I know how much better it makes providing high quality dentistry for our patients in a more comfortable manner. There really isn’t any aspect of dentistry that can’t be improved by high quality digital scans/impressions.
This is as good as it’s going to get right? These are going to be the good old days that we look back on, right? C’mon? It’s only going to keep on getting better and presently when I cross paths with a dental student or a recent graduate I will say, “there are very few techniques that were taught to me in Dental School that I still use today in my practice of dentistry.”
So what’s on the horizon for dentistry? I’ll tell you. 3D printing. There is an arms race right now in the 3D printing world for dominance in Dentistry and it is fostering amazing innovations. We have the best 3D printer in house and I’m just patiently waiting for the resins to be up to a standard that I’m comfortable with before I dive all in. 3D printing’s real advantage is speed and efficiency, but it’s not there yet from a strength and aesthetics standpoint.
I treat every patient like I would treat myself and I would not put a 3D printed filling or crown in my own mouth quite yet. However, I used to think the same about CEREC crowns and I have done a complete 180 on that so I would naïve to think that in the near future 3D will be ubiquitous in the dental office.
It’s that time of year where we are coming out of hibernation and our eyes are getting adjusted to the sun again. Take advantage of these summer months and the amazing place we live to live like you mean it. In a few short weeks my oldest child Nayvee will graduate from Whitefish High and it’s kind of rocking my world. It’s one of those defining moments in your life facing the prospect of your oldest child moving away. Have I used my time with her wisely? Have I prepared her to navigate the world out there? Have I been an example of what I would wish for her?
It's these moments that shock us back to life and make us realize how precious every moment is with the ones we love. So love them. Help them Smile.
Read The Good Old Days by Dr. John F. Miller, DDS, in 406 Woman magazine.