The Dentist

In this episode - The Dentist . . .

Ok, let's just fess up and be honest - you hate going to the dentist! Why? Here's what happens. You wake up the day of your appointment with thoughts of "Oh NO, today is the day!" Your stomach starts to churn; your nerves are on edge; what are they putting me through today? With trepidation, you bravely move forward.

To calm yourself, you tend to your daily routine: breakfast, shave, shower, brush your teeth, floss, and rinse. Then you hop into the car, make the drive, and check-in at the reception desk. Unknowingly your blood pressure starts to rise. You're called into the examination room and slide into the dental chair. Then your mind starts racing.

Here's the reality - we all have horrible memories that cause you to start squirming in the chair. Try to eliminate those bad experiences; those memories become the forefront of your thoughts. The one that stands out for me was circa 1962, in Dr. Sandercock's office in Abington, Illinois. Our family dentist needed to drill out a cavity; he assured me, "No needles, he could do this without Novocain. Close your eyes, open wide," the drill starts to whine - then POW! He hits the nerve. My entire body lurched in the chair.

"Did you plug me into an electric outlet!?"

After that, I don't remember anything the dentist said or what he did. I just wanted out of there! Can you relate?

Subsequently, every time I enter a dentist's office, smell the unique smells and hear the whine of a dentist's drill, my entire body tenses up, just waiting to be plugged in. Like you and your experience, that memory (pain) is burned into my psyche.

Rest assured, this podcast is not about the pain inflicted by a terrible dentist but what happens when you find a competent one. It takes time to find your dentist. After trying out a few, I was lucky to find the dentist I now visit faithfully. Not to relive the drill experience but for preventative maintenance, cleanings, and check-ups.

I'll admit, recently, we had a 25-year-old crown replaced, and I didn't feel a thing! And I'm here to sell you - because it starts with a skilled, friendly dental hygienist. Don't underestimate the value of such a qualified, reassuring individual. Mine is a Gem! And as you can see from the photo, practices safe habits.

Do I still get nervous sitting in the dental chair? I sure do! I'm afraid that horrible experience will always be with me. But practicing the daily habits my hygienist prescribes has kept me from experiencing the sting of that drill for many years now.

And if you're good, you receive a treat - not candy, but a new toothbrush with a travel-sized tube of toothpaste, floss dispenser, Chapstick, and a big smile from her.

I'm Patrick Ball; thanks for listening. See you in the next episode.

Comments

The Gopher Problem and the High Powered Solution

Vacationing in Maine this week, just a short drive down the coast from Freeport, it is hard not to think about the outsized impact one frustrated outdoorsman had on the gear we all use today. Bad equipment can ruin a perfectly good day on the water or the trail, but it takes a special kind of vision to turn cold feet into a century-old empire. This is the story of the company we now know as L.L.Bean, but more importantly, it is a masterclass in integrity, learning from failure, and standing behind your work. In 1912, Leon Leonwood Bean faced a persistent problem: returning from expeditions in the Maine woods with cold, wet feet. Instead of complaining, he got creative. He had a local shoemaker stitch waterproof rubber soles onto the flexible leather uppers of a hunting boot. He called it the Maine Hunting Shoe and mailed a flyer promising perfect satisfaction. Then reality arrived. Ninety of his first 100 pairs failed when the rubber separated from the leather. Not an effective product...

Beyond Facts-The Deep Dive

✨ In this episode, Beyond Facts: Reimagining School–in the Age of AI . . . This week's podcast is a bit different; it's another example of how Artificial Intelligence (AI) can offer tools to creatively enhance your analytical presentation of information. We took this week's blog and copied it into Gemini with the question, “If a story is to work, it must, on some level, create an illusion of escape and also achieve a goal simultaneously. Does this apply to my blog post that follows?” What's created is not just an analysis of the writing, but an AI-generated discussion produced “On the Fly” - Enjoy! Did you know that the word "school" comes from the ancient Greek word scholē , which originally meant "leisure"? Not a rigid schedule or droning lectures filled with "facts," but free time for thinking and conversation. To the Greeks, learning happened best when life slowed down—when you had room to reflect, to ask questions, and to wrestle ...

On Becoming Real

Some things get better with wear: old shoes, old friendships, and old books. Especially old books. A new volume arrives with crisp corners and a spine that hasn’t yet learned to bend. An old one has been somewhere. It has traveled through time in the hands of people who may no longer be around to tell us what they found inside. The copy of The Velveteen Rabbit (first published in 1922) on my desk is one of those books. My friend Don Hanley gave it to me. This late-1950s Doubleday edition features William Nicholson’s original illustrations and cream paper boards softened by age. Worn corners, a split spine, and colored tabs mark passages worth revisiting. Don didn’t hand me a keepsake. He gave me homework. When we talked about the book recently, he pointed me straight to the nursery conversation between a young rabbit and an old Skin Horse. The rabbit had noticed the mechanical toys around him—the ones with internal gears, bright paint, and stick-out handles that seem terribly impressiv...

Stamps and Snow

In this episode, Stamps and Snow . . . You don’t usually walk into the local Post Office expecting a time warp . . . but here we are. All we wanted were stamps for this year's Christmas cards— yes, the old-fashioned paper ones that require licking, sticking, and hoping the Postal Service is feeling ambitious this week. But holiday errands have a talent for slowing you down, almost like the universe whispering, “Relax. You’re not getting out of this line any faster anyway.” So we waited. And while we waited, we talked (Are you surprised?). Because the Post Office is one of the few places where people still look up from their phones long enough to talk . . . Maybe it's because they're holding packages. It’s the modern town square: part civic duty, part free entertainment, part sociology experiment. The discussion began with holiday specials streaming on Netflix, Paramount+, and other services during this time of year. One gentleman who has lived in Vista since 1958 told us,...

On The Fly

Search This Blog