Why I "Pool" Teeth Like a Dentist and Drill Like a Swimmer

Next up: 10 Reasons why I Pool Teeth Like a Dentist...and Drill Like a Swimmer

 

No, I didn't misspell this subject line.  This is a tongue and cheek look at life as a competitive swimmer and a career as a dentist.  If you are a high school swimmer in the state of Pennsylvania, this weekend was a BIG weekend.  It's District Championships.  The last step before State Championships.  My nephew, Ryan Owens, is an extremely accomplished freestyler - much better than I ever was! He won the 100 freestyle and placed a close second for the 200.   He's a great competitor and I wish him the best at states.

 

So let me convince you that this is an interesting topic...

 

1. "Eyewear is critical...and personal."

If you were a swimmer in the 90's and early 2000's like I was, two types of swimmers existed: those who wore Swedish goggles and those who did not.  I would watch the Olympics and idolize those, chic, aerodynamic lenses suctioned around the eyeballs of those athletes.  Maybe it was because anything "Swedish" must be sexy and stylish yet effortless and victorious. These so-called "Swedish goggle wearers" probably sipped organic hipster energy shakes between sets, driving their eclectically decked out SAAB's home from practice, listening to 90's alternative rock.  So progressive, I know.  Maybe they drove a convertible, and the wind recklessly yet artistically disheveled their hair. (Oh, those were the days!) 

 

That wasn't me. 

 

I wore the utilitarian, yet comfortably reliable large-rimmed goggles.  I wear contacts.  Come on, right?  I'd like to hold onto my eyeballs, thank you.  Honestly though, I probably never learned how to correctly wear the Swedes.  But in 14 years of competitive swimming and open water triathlons, I have yet to have these work horses fail.  And on the way home from practice, I rolled through town in a '92 Cavalier.  A four door, mind you.  Anyway, every swimmer has a back up set of goggles, and will profess his or he faith on their philosophy of style and speed.

 

In dentistry, I personally would be hesitant to see a dentist who didn't wear magnification loupes or at least protective eyewear. You can't see what you can 't see.  

Loupes are glasses with high index magnification lenses custom fit and sized according to your hand to eye distance and eye structure.  Because my eyes are close set, I could not wear the incredibly stealth, "Swedish" sporty lenses.  Again, I found myself clinging to the utilitarian yet work horse model of eyewear.  I'm waiting for the Aviator lenses, by the way.  According to In Style magazine, my oval face shape would be best complimented by those lenses.  Priorities.

 

I started using loupes in dental school, but never really appreciated them until private practice. Working on a mannequin in pre-clinic didn't really force me to face the fact that I will need to work around the tongue, saliva, chin tilt, limited range of opening, etc.  Once the mannequins left my life and real, live humans were seated in my chair, I realized that loupes were incredibly vital to keeping my posture (most of the time) and seeing SO much more.  Of equal importance is my light mounted on the loupes.  Imagine going spelunking with no light.  The mouth is a cave and I need some sunshine.

 

2.  "My hair is a mess at the end of the day."

 

Swim caps, pony tails, chlorine, plus highlighted hair = disaster.  This is pretty self explanatory.  After a long workout, I needed about a half bottle of conditioner just to separate my hair so it wasn't a stiff, log on my head.  Then brushing out long hair after my shoulders had been on fire for two hours? It was like my second workout.  Oh, and cap lines on the forehead? Yes, but if you were lucky, they would dissipate after a few hours.  Otherwise, non-swimmers may have just assumed that you like to wear rubber bands on your head like a hipster headband of sorts.

 

Although you see I took time to have professional "glamour" head shots done, I resort to the utilitarian ponytail for my day to day spelunking.  Wearing a light and loupes on my head tend to give the oh-so-desirable fuzzy-wuzzy look by the end of the day.  Besides being OSHA compliant, I just don't think people want your long hair grazing their incisors - no matter how much your locks resemble Heidi Klum or Beyoncé. 

 

3.  "Even though we are on the same team, you're all individually accountable."

I love this one.  A real pearl for your life.  Simply stated yet oh so complex.  Swimming is surely a team sport.  How you perform and rank against others is surely black and white, objective, and unforgiving at times.  The smallest increment in time can be all the difference.  Yet, you are part of a team at the end of the day.  Every swim meet has many individual winners but only one team wins.  You may have gotten first place in every event, but lose as a team because of lack of depth. By having your own race, you have the opportunity to win for yourself, but also for the team.   Creating and fostering discipline in this grueling mental and physical sport, can pay dividends in your academic and professional life.  Swimming attracts certain personality types, that's true, but it also formulates the building blocks for those personalities.  I attribute a lot of my drive in life to this sport.

 

Our staff is our "team" at the office.  With our software and charting, we know who saw the patient, who spoke to them on the phone and when they were spoken to.  We know who did what procedure and are made aware of any special extenuating circumstances.  When we review online comments and rankings, we all think of how we do things great as individuals but also how we can certainly improve as individuals within the context of a team.  Each team member has specific tasks, and the checks and balances ensure those tasks are carried out.  Whether we "win" or "lose," we all learn from each other's actions.

 

4.  "You live by the clock."

Obviously for swimming, this is a clear and present nugget of wisdom.  The clock is our un-biased judge at the end of the day.  It holds no prejudicial thoughts or considerations.  You may have practiced really hard all week, but if your Swedish goggles fill up with water when you dive in, the clock makes no exceptions.  When you are moving through your main set, and you are on the verge of vomiting, but the clock says you only have 3 seconds to rest and take off again, it's not copping an attitude.  The clock is just ticking away.  It's neither representing you nor ridiculing you.  It's Switzerland in a world war.  But it's always consistent and it never stops.  It's your friend some days, an enemy the next.  

 

A vital component to private practice is time management.  Our schedule is done in ten minute blocks.  We try to best estimate the time for a procedure based on complexity, special needs and volume of work.  Usually we are on time.  Sometimes we are not.  After waiting 30-60 minutes at other physician's offices, I can tell you that dental professionals are one of the few branches of healthcare that adhere to a schedule despite being under the gun to do invasive procedures, rather than just paperwork and talking.  We don't want to make patients run late, and I know they try not to run late themselves!  I aim for a calm, inviting environment where I can take my time, yet work efficiently to yield a good service.  If this means that we run a few minutes late, yet catch up in time for the next appointments, then all is well.  We have patients who have demanding careers and obligations, so we do our best to get them out in a timely manner, without making them feel like they are going through a "factory." 

 

5.  "You inhale your fair share of chemicals."

Everyone can smell a swimmer when he or she walks into the room. A wafting aroma of chlorine, bleach or another chemical cocktail of the day.  It's used in sanitation of waste water and drinking water, household detergents, etc.  We learned to live as co-habitants with this hostile warrior in the water.  It absorbed into our skin and our hair.  Yes- what a mess it created for long hair!  

In locker rooms, bleach was the detergent of choice.  Not sure if that was so smart since ventilation leaves much to be desired in most locker rooms.  When our college team went to the Dominican Republic, we noticed barrels of boric acid on the sides of the pool.  Maybe they were just hosting Bill Nye, the Science guy for the weekend.  In any event, if you are a pioneer of shedding toxins in our industrial nation, this may not be an ideal sport for you.

 

Perhaps the same can be said of dentistry.  Although we wear masks that are specified by OSHA, we still inhale our fair share of the chemical perfume counter.  We utilize sodium hypochlorite (yes, it's commonly known as "bleach" -  albeit a very diluted mix) to disinfect root canals and nerve exposures.  The tooth is copiously irrigated with water after disinfection.  

The classic smell of a dental office, classically comes from eugenol. It has a spicy, clove-like aroma.  It's combined with zince oxide to yield a useful temporary or sedative filling in compromised teeth.  If you enjoy a sweetness of sorts, we have Nitrous Oxide ("laughing gas") which some use to diminish their level of anxiety.  All in all, we are like the perfume counter at Macy's but not as glamorous.  

 

 

6.  "Latex is a savior."

And it ought to be.  We need those latex caps to allow our aerodynamic shape cut through the water. Any defect in technique when it comes to water yields far bigger problems versus running or cycling in a poor technique.  Water is much thicker than air, and much more difficult to navigate.  We mimic fish via our NASA-tested $350 body suits, and our $3.00 latex caps.  The alternative is silicone.  The cap is much thicker and longer lasting.  Again, if you are an organic, non-GMO kind of a person, avoid the silicone I presume. 

 

We have phased out latex gloves in many offices due to allergies.  However, the close fit of latex gloves and thinness of them is hard to rival.  Our vinyl and nitrile gloves come close.  But I'd rather avoid an anaphylactic reaction for a patient and deal with gloves that are a bit thicker.  No contest there.

 

7.  "Water. My frenemy."

If it weren't for water, there would be no swimming.  And probably no life form at all, so water wins out here.  Whether you are learning why streamlining is so important or how to do a turn off a wall, or why a "faster pool" is a deeper pool, water is a quiet and mysterious yet powerful friend that you learn to understand.  Part of that is because of the density of water.  Water isn't just "big boned," it is "thick boned."  The most disastrous natural disasters are due to water.  Wind and fire can eventually be dealt with, but water is so powerful.

 

 Water is kind of high maintenance, too.  It can absorb a lot of heat.  But it is also becomes more dense, the cooler it is.  So, it would make sense to compete in hot pools, right? Wrong. As a swimmer, an ideal temperature for competing and working out is about 80-82 degrees Fahrenheit.  That's warm enough.  Recreationally, most of us would want it warmer.  In high school, there usually was a silent war between the swim team and the aqua-cise groups.  They'd make it a hot tub if they could!  But increasing your body heat and basal metabolic rate, results in an excess of body heat from inertia.  We need a sponge that is cool enough to buffer this heat out-put, you know?

 

Water. Such a finicky friend.

 

In dentistry, I have a love hate relationship with it.  I need it to disperse and remove debris or contaminants.  But it can cloud my vision if it's on my mirror and can be a contaminant itself if not kept away from cement and resin bonding.  But saliva is a sort of water, too.  We need saliva to buffer the constant acid attacks that our teeth face each day.  But we don't need saliva to mess with precise crown impressions or resin fillings.  All in all, we both need each other to survive.

 

8.  "Different strokes for different folks."

 

Since I am rather short, I was better suited for a short axis stroke like butterfly.  Obviously, swimmers "find their stroke" after some time. The same sort of idea can be applied in dentistry.  Dentistry is a high anxiety-ridden field of fear for some.  Therefore, it is important to identify those patients before starting out.  Some of them have an innate physically ill reaction to treatment due to fear or past experiences.  Some just get a little uneasy about treatment, but do better with reassurance and encouragement.  Determining what anti-anxiety strategies to employ is determined by the personality type of each patient. 

 

Different strokes for different folks.

 

9.  "Practice doesn't make perfect."

 

Perfect practice may make perfect.  But I don't believe anyone is ever really perfect.  Even if your stroke is technically perfect (very difficult to do), there are so many other variables to improve upon.  Strength. Endurance. Breathing patterns.  Starts and turns.  Mental toughness and performance psychology.  On and on.  Even Olympic Gold Medalists can look back at their races on video and find imperfections.  Complacency can be one's biggest road block to growth.

 

A venerable one once told me: "They call it dental 'practice' not dental 'perfect' for a reason."  I understand why.  Even the most respected and technically sound dentists are constantly working to improve the patient experience and their product.  Our office does at least one continuing education each month.  So many dentists "fly under the radar" and don't stay abreast of changes in the profession.  If you aren't careful, years go by and suddenly find yourself miles behind other practices. For today's savvy consumer, one is made aware of this eventually and may jump ship.  Dentistry changes day to day, and a lack of adaptation to this reflects a feeling of complacency and apathy.  That never leads to perfection.

 

 

10. "Your loved ones are your biggest fans."

 

Period!  If you need this one explained, just email me.

Jacquline R. Owens, DMD, MBE