AGD blog

I'm 26.
I hate fads.
I don't tweet; I don't AIM; and I barely blog.

However, I do appreciate good writing.

I recently chanced upon the AGD blog.
It's pretty good. In many ways, it's what I'd like my blog to become.

AGD is the Academy of General Dentistry.
It focuses on function, and not flash.

I'll be looking into getting AGD and AACD certified in the next couple years.

Anyways, I'll update about my recent experience with Bill Strupp after I get more coffee.

Late night musings

I've been thinking about what it means to be a dentist.

It's almost been a year since I've graduated dental school.
I've gotten a lot faster. I've gotten better. I've gotten older.

In some ways, I've become disillusioned with dentistry.
Dentistry is a business, and I'm not a good businessman.
Between the profit and the patient, I'll choose the patient's welfare.

In other ways, I know that I have a long ways to go.
It's humbling to see an ideal molar root canal in thirty minutes, when it takes me five hours.
It's humbling to see preparations that look machined.
It's humbling to think of the stupid mistakes that I've made.

Likewise, it's frightening to think of all the really bad dentistry that I've seen this past year.
I've seen a lot of teeth butchered that were perfectly fine.
I've seen patients triple-booked because the head dentist doesn't expect his patients to come...all the time...every time a wait of forty-five minutes..

From here on out is my real education.
I'll continue to seek out the best dentists in the SF Bay Area.
I'll try to apprentice under them.
I'll listen. I'll watch. I'll try to steal some portion of their mastery.

In this past year, much has changed.
However, my desire is still to be a dentist worthy of my patients.

Drill, fill, mill, and a shoe

The highlight of today was drawing a shoe.

Today, I did a working interview at a dental mill.
For professional reasons, I won't say where or who.
The staff was super nice, and the patients weren't too bad.

However, I wasn't too happy to see patients triple booked.

Don't get me wrong.
I love working fast.
I actually finished all the patients early, despite being triple booked.

However, I don't think that it's respectful to force your patients to wait so long.

I probably won't work at this place unless they offer me a really large amount of money.
I don't feel that this place allows me to be properly equipped to provide the quality of work my patients deserve.

Anyways, I'll post the shoe picture later.
I think that it turned out rather nice.

I need to go running, and get rid of all the bad karma now.

-Matt

ps. I think that I have the exact same vocal range as Alex Wong from the Paper Raincoats. His song "In the Creases" will be the very first song that I'll cover...ever.

pps. I think that I might get a Staufferesque guitar from the Viennese school as my main axe. I've recently become quite dissatisfied with the really great sounding instruments that I've made so far...

Drawing pastries

Friday, I enjoyed a rare moment of serendipity.

In my attempts to avoid thinking about dentistry, I went to the beach and tried reading "The Innovator's Dilemma." I had some good orange juice from Trader Joe's, really good Irish cheese, and a really stale bread roll.

I mention tried because the wind had other ideas.
The sun was nice, the wind whipped the sand through my pages.
Kids were playing volleyball on the side.
Kites were in the horizon, pulling surfers over kind waves.

It was too damned beautiful.
And I said, "Dear God, I really am blessed. Thank you."
And started drawing.



Sunday, today, I had another moment of serendipity.

For some reason, I bought a Milk French from Anderson Bakery.
As I contemplated eating it, I found myself fascinated with the subtle grooves and beauty in it.
I started drawing...and got a bit carried away.


After eating it and reverse engineering the recipe, I headed back for a binge of pastry.

The staff had a rather bemused look.
I think that they rather liked it, because they let me continue drawing.
As thanks, I gave Amy (a lass with a nice smile) a drawing of their saffron swirl danish.

After the asiatic sea salt sourdough, I decided to stop...

Yes, I'm a total dork...

-Matt

Maybe I should do something different

Last Sunday,
I went to Yoshi's with a dear friend who'll be going to New York.
We had the pleasure of watching Vienna Teng and Alex Wong.

I knew that it was nice, but I never thought that it'd make me rethink my life.
I'm still focused on dentistry, and getting better, but I'm glad to know that I'm not stuck being some William Hung.

My off hours have been spent way too much on the Internet looking at 19th century infill planes.
Or looking at manga. Or looking at building really great guitars. Or looking at old surgical instruments, hand tools, and ergonomic design...and just tinkering away.


Lately, I've been trying anything I can to not think about dentistry.

I think that songwriting fits the bill well.
-Matt

Craftsmanship

Dentists seem to fall into two categories: craftsmen and non craftsman.

I hope to fall in the former.

As a craftsman, I believe that it is vitally important to keep inspired.
People are never static objects, and each patient has different needs, demands, and an outlook on life.

Anyways, all this may be my way of rationalizing my impractical hobby/obsession with crafting fine things. I'm a tinkerer, a self-taught luthier, and a former martial artist...and now, I'm thinking of reproducing some of the fine old tools from the past.

Hell...I might buy a new camera to take some better pictures of stuff.

Here's a link to a guitar builder who has always inspired me.

Sorry I haven't been posting much...

I've been building a guitar.

I've been rethinking this blog, and what it is.
Originally, I was going to create a separate persona to educate patients and make dentistry less scary. However, there's a lot more to life than just pure dentistry.

Anyways, don't be surprised if my posts become very, very different.