1) Don't let your husband break his foot 1 week post new house move. Make sure he knows how many stairs are in your brand new staircase and that he doesn't need to fix the wireless while descending upon said stairs. Trust me on this one.
2) Speak loudly. Besides the backlash from the broken foot, Austin and I tend to speak at the level of mice. This works for us, but for the rest of the worlds' population I have found that I need to take it up a notch. So when I explain the difference between a root canal and an implant I now yell... as loud as my 10 year old sounding voice will go.
3) Enjoy nights. It took about 6 months for the pit of my stomach to realize that when I leave work, I actually do leave work. Gone are the dental school nights of studying, waxing, plastering and scheduling. I cherish these. I now have a rigorous TV schedule to maintain, and I love every minute of it!
4) Be proud. One day while I was getting ready for the day I looked in the mirror and saw my scrubs. It became clear that I WAS A DENTIST! All the years of school were complete and I had achieved my goal.
5) You can't save every tooth. I went to dental school envisioning that I could save every tooth I met. I was going to be the evangellical preacher of dentistry. Then I went to dental school and became a dentist. One day a young girl came in with a badly decayed tooth. She was younger than me, and I was distraught to have to pull her precious tooth. The other dentist in the practice gave the sound advice that I couldn't keep her teeth for her. While I still struggle every time I have to pull a tooth on a young patient, I am learning that I can't go home with patients to brush their teeth.
6) Decorate and re-decorate. In the year we've been in our house, our dining area has changed 5 times. I have a problem. In stores I really like this sea green color, but when I get it home I remember I really don't.
7) Remember if you have met the patient before. If you aren't sure... look at patient records. Turns out people don't like to be introduced more than once. Really it's a good life lesson. If only people on the street had a legally binding patient record accessible at all times.
8) When your husband gets offered a job at Microsoft... take it. We spent way too much time questioning this decision. Turns out Microsoft is wonderful. Epic win for our year.
9) Patients hate the dentist. You aren't going to change this. It's been going on since the beginning of time. Get thick skin and hope they don't have any cavities.
10) Love where you live. I'm still working on this. I miss Omaha. Wyoming is hard to love sometimes. There is no one our age here and there are no good restaurants. It snowed 12 inches last week, but it does have a few redeeming qualities.
#nofilter
