When I was a kid, in the 50s and 60s my parents sent me to a dentist (who was always drunk) because he was the cheap guy in town. He never did anything but pull my teeth. Once I got married I swore I would never go to a dentist again the rest of my life (My wife threatened to divorce me when I kept her up 2 consecutive nights crying with a toothacke)

I found a dentist who was kind and gentle and medicated me with sediatives prior to appointments. I slowly but surely overcame my fear, and 7 years later by a series of strange occasions (I was back in college finishing up my music degree and had a wife and 2 children) I found myself working for a dentist for some extra money. One day I had been doing some minor plumbing and was out raking leaves at his office and he had an assistant get sick. He called me in out of the yard, had me clean up, put ojn a lab coat and for the next three hours he had me retracting a cheek while he did a bridge on a sedated patient. That day I decided I wanted to go to dental school.

I was 35 when I got out of school and have been practicing 22 years now. It is a great profession to allow me the opportunity to help people who are like I used to be, petrified of the dentist. Every day I have a patient or 2 say how much fun they had at their appointment or how much they appreciate the help in getting past the phobia. It also affords me the opportunity to play music at my leasure and I have never had so much fun!

I always cringe at the patient stories of how they have been traumatised by uncaring dentists. Many of my colleagues are people who have never had any dental needs and it is a little hard for them to realize what it is like to be on the other end of the needle or drill. I get a sense of accomplishment not from doing a beautiful cosmetic case as much as I do from helping get someone out of pain or helping them not be afraid of the dentist.