Several years ago I had an interesting conversation with a patient of mine. This woman had been a patient for a long time and we knew about each other’s lives pretty well. She confided to me that she was having a hard time getting pregnant for the first time and she asked me when she got so old. For some reason I didn’t think about my answer for a second, I just told her that she was trying to create her measuring stick and mine were both teenagers….that’s how I knew that I was getting old.

Can you think about all the different types of measuring sticks we have had through our lives? Some of the earlier ones were the ones that scared us the most, tests and report cards in school. Do you remember the stress you would feel before you actually got your test back? (At least we got our tests back to work on…but that is a rant for another day about not sending tests home anymore from school) And how about when you had to hand your report card to your parents and actually have them sign them and bring them back to school. No hiding anything back in those days.

Can you think about all the different types of measuring sticks we have had through our lives? Some of the earlier ones were the ones that scared us the most, tests and report cards in school. Do you remember the stress you would feel before you actually got your test back? (At least we got our tests back to work on…but that is a rant for another day about not sending tests home anymore from school) And how about when you had to hand your report card to your parents and actually have them sign them and bring them back to school. No hiding anything back in those days.

Switching over to the dental office, every time you come in for your visit with the hygienist you are actually dealing with a measuring stick. The health of your gum tissue is evaluated against previous appointments to make sure that your gums are healthy and that you are not having any issues with gum disease. Your teeth are looked at to see if there are any changes that would lead a dentist to have concerns, if there are then the dentist will recommend treatment to relieve these concerns. And just like getting A’s on a report card, I believe that the best type of hygiene appointment is when you are told everything is healthy, keep up the good work and the office will see you at your next visit (and just like school, you have your homework which is excellent home care) And I truly believe that any child born in the United States today should never have a cavity or gum disease and that it is not that hard…it just takes commitment and teamwork.

One of the important measuring sticks in my life today is how much I can contribute to my community. It’s going to be tough to do more than my wife, she gives so much time to the world of figure skating on a volunteer basis. But I do have goals, both in actual participation (as an example being on the Board of Members of the YMCA and also being part of the annual Smiles for Life Whitening campaign) to contributing to the charities that my patients are involved with (special shout out to Mark Mintz for growing a great moustache for the November event known as Movember to raise money for prostate cancer) and to contributing to charities that are important to my family.

So as we continue through what I call the 5 weeks of gratitude (see last week’s blog) it is time to take a look at what measuring sticks are important to you and if you achieved all you set out to.

So, why the discussion about measuring sticks? It just happened that my youngest measuring stick, Joey, turned 17 the other day. And I just felt a little bit older and hopefully a little bit wiser)