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JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020
WHAT 2020 HAS IN STORE FOR USTICK DENTAL OFFICE
Office Updates, Extended Hours, and More!
Happy New Year’s! How were your holidays? I feel fortunate that we got to enjoy some nice family time with my boys and my daughter and her husband. We had a really good time, and it makes me excited for the next opportunity we can all be together. Coming off the holiday season, there’s also a lot to feel excited about around the office. Our renovations have gone well (thank you again for your patience and bearing with us through the construction), and we’re at the point where most of the big parts of the project are done, which is awesome! We’ll continue with a few other updates here and there, such as our cabinetry, but most of the intensive work is done. Speaking of updates, we’re also adding a new scanner to our practice that will enable us to provide impressionless dentistry to our patients. That’s right — no more messy, goopy trays! The accuracy of this scanner is excellent and is a great update to the older technology we’ve been using. With this
scanner, we can provide crowns, aligners for orthodontic devices, and other treatments, all in office, with just a quick scan of a patient’s teeth. In dentistry, like in many fields, nothing is static. We’re always developing new technology and new techniques to provide the best to our patients. Last month, I went to Colorado to attend a dental meeting and get training on implants and aesthetic dentistry. This knowledge will benefit our practice and utilize treatment updates in our field. The changes we make are always with our patients in mind. We want to provide the best service we can and make Ustick Dental Office a welcoming and comfortable place to be. We also want good dental care to be compatible with your day-to-day life, and we know not everyone can come in to see us during the day or early in the morning. With that in mind, starting later this year, we’ll be extending our evening hours to offer more options to our patients. I want to ensure that we’re providing options that work for you and make it possible to get the dental care you deserve. My overall goal this year is to use the knowledge and resources we have to help as many people as we can. Come March, I’ll take this goal with me as I travel to Guatemala for my third service trip. It’s pretty wild that this will be year three! I’m excited to go back and see what we can get done this year. My brother, who’s a dentist in Colorado, will be joining me this time, and it’s going to be a special experience to work together and share our knowledge with the people of Guatemala.
“In dentistry, like in many fields, nothing is static. We’re always developing new technology and new techniques to provide the best to our patients.”
What does this year have in store for you?
-Dr. Rigby
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The Benefits of Spending Time Outside SCIENCE WANTS YOU TO STOP AND SMELL THE ROSES
In a 2008 survey conducted by the National Trust in Britain, children were more likely to correctly identify a Dalek from “Doctor Who” than a barn owl. Likewise, a 2010 Kaiser Family Foundation study of 8–18-year-olds in the U.S. found that the average youth spends more than 53 hours a week engaged with entertainment media. These statistics, coupled with growing concerns that children are spending less time outdoors, are leading to terms like “nature deficit disorder” and global initiatives to get kids outside. Why is contact with the outdoors so important? Researchers are answering this question by studying the benefits of time spent in nature. One benefit is that outdoor time helps kids understand boundaries and learn how to assess risk. As naturalist, author, and broadcaster Stephen Moss puts it, “Falling out of a tree is a very good lesson in risk- reward.” Not to mention, time in nature may help improve focus for hyperactive kids. In one national study of youths by the University of Illinois, participants’ attention deficit hyperactivity disorder symptoms were reduced after spending time in a green setting versus a more urban one. This may be due to the fact that natural environments
call upon our “soft fascination,” a less exhausting type of focus than what is required by urban environments. Emotional benefits were discovered too, including reduced aggression, increased happiness, and improved self-esteem. Beyond just getting outside, the type of contact we have with nature also matters. Visits to nature centers and watching “Planet Earth” are two ways to experience
the outdoors. But research points specifically to the importance of free play in the natural world: unstructured outdoor time when children can explore and engage with their natural surroundings with no curriculum, lesson, or activity to complete.
Ever notice how kids are fascinated by the simplest things? A child visits a rose garden, but before they even get to the flowers, they become captivated by a leaf on the ground or an ant crawling on their shoe. Children are born naturalists. These are the moments we need to recapture. Take a page out of that kid’s book, and as the saying goes, stop and smell the roses — or leaves or ants — with no checklist and no plan, just time spent playing outside.
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THE HISTORIC REBUFF
How Workplace Drama Created Dentistry
Despite having a huge impact on your overall health, dentistry is uniquely separate from the rest of medicine. Your dentist never checks your blood pressure, and your family doctor won’t know what to do if you have gingivitis. The story of how this happened is filled with poor timing and petty office drama. In the early 1800s, there was no formal training to practice dentistry. Anyone who could pull a tooth could set up shop and call themselves a dentist. Around this time, a Baltimore surgeon named Dr. Chapin Harris developed an interest in the field. The more he learned about dentistry, the more Harris realized it was connected to medicine. He went to the physicians at the University of Maryland (U of M) and suggested adding a dental program to the medical school. The physicians responded by telling Harris, “The subject of dentistry is of little consequence.” This curt response became known as the Historic Rebuff. Why were the physicians at the University of Maryland so dismissive to dentistry? It wasn’t because they didn’t care about teeth. Dr. Harris had unwittingly made his proposal during a huge struggle amongst the U of M faculty. The board of trustees had recently taken power
away from the faculty and started appointing their own people. One of these people was Dr. Henry Willis Baxley.
Baxley was a professor of anatomy at U of M with an interest in dentistry. Baxley supported Harris’ proposal, but, unfortunately for Harris, Baxley had also been appointed the chief of anatomy by the trustees. The rest of the faculty saw Baxley as a traitor, so the physicians were probably so quick to rebuff Harris’ proposal because of Baxley’s support. Far from deterred, Harris, Baxley, and many other dentists in Maryland banded together and established the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery in 1840. This was the first dental school in the United States, and it quickly became the epicenter of the American dental movement. The American Society of Dental Surgeons and the American Journal of Dental Science were established soon afterward, further cementing dentistry as a unique field.
Through one act of spite, the Historic Rebuff, dentistry emerged as we know it today as a separate entity from the rest of medicine.
TAKE A BREAK
VEGAN BANANA Inspired by My Darling Vegan
Pancakes • 1 cup soy milk • 2 tbsp maple syrup • 2 tbsp coconut oil, melted • 1 tsp vanilla extract • Cooking spray
Ingredients
• 1 1/2 cups flour • 2 1/2 tsp baking powder • 1/2 tsp salt • 2 extra ripe bananas, mashed
Directions 1. In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. 2. In a separate bowl, whisk bananas, soy milk, maple syrup, oil, and vanilla together. 3. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and stir. Don’t overmix. Lumps are okay. 4. Spray a heated pancake griddle with cooking spray, and scoop 1/4 cup of the mixture onto the griddle. Repeat until the griddle is filled. 5. After 3 minutes or when bubbles appear, flip each pancake. 6. After each pancake has risen to double its initial height, remove from griddle. Repeat as necessary until batter is gone. 7. Serve with your favorite toppings!
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inside this ISSUE What Dr. Rigby Is Looking Forward to in 2020 PAGE 1 Stop and Smell the Roses PAGE 2 Why Don’t Doctors Pull Teeth? PAGE 3 Vegan Banana Pancakes PAGE 3 Give the Gift of Life PAGE 4
With all the cards, chocolates, and expensive dinners, it’s easy to get cynical about Valentine’s Day. However, National Donor Day also falls on Feb. 14, and it can refocus our attention back on the real meaning of the day: love. Give the Gift of Life
FEB. 14 IS NATIONAL DONOR DAY
PARTICIPATE IN #STARTTHECONVERSATION.
Donor Alliance, a nonprofit that works to promote organ donation, began the #StartTheConversation campaign as a way to help spread awareness about organ and tissue donation. Starting the conversation can be as simple as sharing that you registered with your friends and family or as personal as sharing a story about how organ donation has touched your life or the lives of your loved ones. Don’t let another Valentine’s Day come and go in a tide of cellophane, candy hearts, and cheesy cards. This year, get involved in National Donor Day. After all, what better way is there to express the value of love than giving the gift of life?
In the U.S., 20 people die each day while waiting for an organ transplant. Losing loved ones is one of the most painful aspects of the human experience, and while it is unavoidable, organ donation offers a pathway to help prevent that loss and keep more love in the world. In the spirit of that love, here are a few ways you can get involved with National Donor Day this Feb. 14. REGISTER AS AN ORGAN DONOR. Signing yourself up is easy and can be done either online or in person at your local Department of Motor Vehicles. You’ll need official identification to register.
Registration is not permanent and you will always have the option to change your mind. Once registered, you will not need to carry your donor card with you, as your status exists in the registry. JOIN A DONOR DASH. Donor Dash fundraising events pop up all over the country on National Donor Day. These noncompetitive 5K running and walking events are designed to bring donors and recipients together and keep hope alive for those who are currently waiting for a donation. To learn more, or to register for an event, check out DonorAlliance.org.
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