For Better or Worse
By Dr. John F. Miller, DDS – Smile Montana
Hey everyone. How are we all feeling out there? I am by nature quite an optimistic being. I’m a, “there’s two sides to every story,” kind of guy. I’m a, “benefit of the doubt, grain of salt, walk a mile in their shoes,” kind of guy. With that being said I can only hope that the issues that concern me today about society and humanity as a whole are on par with sentiments felt for generations.
Maybe I should do just that. Talk to my parents and ask them if this is just the normal baseline sentiment? That we are constantly heading towards our doom but it just changes every 10 years or so. My earliest memories of this type of thing is probably the AIDS Crisis, then the Ozone layer was definitely going to disappear, then the world was going to run out of water, I’m not even going to touch global warming. COVID anyone?!?
My parents would probably add to the beginning of my list the fear of nuclear warfare with Russia, concern over the Vietnam war, etc. What I’m trying to say is we have more or less come out the other side on a lot of the above issues and my optimistic side hopes that we, as humanity, can continue to do so with our love of our fellow man intact. A pretty famous good guy from the past informed us that if we only do two things in life everything will be fine, and one of those two things was to love your neighbor as yourself.
So right now, in addition to whatever geopolitical craziness is going on, I feel like the thing that is concerning us all is Artificial Intelligence. I’m definitely right on the fence with it. Do I use it? Yes, quite often.
I use Claude, and just yesterday I used it to help me plan the optimal ingredients for a Mother’s Day picnic. It was kind of wild. It didn’t just immediately make me a plan, it asked how many would be at this picnic, any dietary considerations, and how fancy I wanted to get with it. It was very helpful but in that is the extent of my AI involvement, still in the kiddie pool.
So, what is the big concern? The big concern is it will replace humans in the workforce. This is a very real concern and inevitably take comfort in knowing that my profession is quite insulated at this point and will not likely get replaced before I’ve retired. However it has creeped into my adjunctive tools as a dentist, namely in interpreting my radiographs (x-rays), and it’s pretty cool if I’m being honest.
In the mid 90’s when the internet started showing up in our homes it was touted as the information age. The secrets of the world at the tips of our fingers…which were clicking a mouse, for better or worse am I right. This has morphed over the last 30 years into the digital age. To put it another way, in the beginning the internet allowed us to find out information about miscellaneous curiosities, and now it allows various entities to collect information about us. The information age evolved into the digital age and like the dinosaurs before us we are leaving footprints. For better or worse, am I right?
You can make assumptions on someone based on their appearance, but you can confidently state the facts about someone by looking at their digital footprint. The same goes for your dentition, which is a fancy way of saying “teeth.”
Dental Enamel forms the outer shell of our teeth. The part of the teeth that we see. It is the hardest substance in the human body and nothing else is even close. I am blown away by the durability of this stuff. I have patients who are knocking on the door of their 100th birthday. Some of them still have great teeth. It is always eye opening to sit in my young assistant when I remind them that those very teeth were chewing food well before World War II. Can you identify a substance or material or component or machine that gets used multiple times daily for 93 years and still functions? I can’t.
Because of this durability our teeth have their own story. Their own “footprint” that lets me as a dentist peek into their past. The 48-year-old with “silver” fillings between several teeth tells me they had cavities as a teenager. The patient with minimal dental work but their two front teeth (the ones you ask Santa for) have root canals and crowns tells me they experienced some form of trauma in the past. Like taking an elbow during a basketball game type of thing. The patient who has worn down their teeth informs me they have a tendency to grind and clench their teeth. The patient who has no enamel on the backs of their teeth tells me they have acid reflux or a history of bulimia.
Just like ancient civilizations carved into the walls of caves, the carvings on your teeth last a long time and tell their story. The story I want to read is one about health and comfort. A story with lots of bright smiles. A story that has me wishing my story was similar. These stories start with regular check ups with your friendly neighborhood dentist combined with parents who prioritize good oral hygiene. If that hasn’t been your story, let’s work towards your happy ending…your redemption song. We can help.
I am an optimist. It won’t be perfect but it won’t be as scary as they are always wanting us to believe. At the end of the day if we can simply love our neighbors, I believe everything will work out. If you made it this far, thanks for reading. For what it’s worth I have yet to use AI in writing these articles even though I have been seriously tempted. Have a great Spring and Summer!!
Read For Better or Worse by Dr. John F. Miller, DDS, in 406 Woman magazine.