Infomercial: Part Two

With every intention of falling asleep, my mind gave me half a dozen reasons to stay up. My technological child cried, random handwritten bits of blogness fluttered across my desk and my mental to-do list forced me out of bed not once, but twice. Sweetness, hmm? * smiles *

Thus, I find myself once again typing away at these keys, summing up my day at the Williamsburg Dental Conference ...

• When I first walked into the Lodge this morning, trailing behind my boss in a sleep-deprived state and faking alertness entirely, I was pretty much gung ho about this Invisalign deal. I'd tossed the idea around for awhile, so basically I was about to be edu-mah-cated on the ins and outs of the whole process. After 8 hours , the girl wasn't so sure she wanted to hear the "I" word for a good long while! Yet, the whole process still kind of fascinated her. Because after all, it was: 1) upbeat  2) upscale  3) exciting and fun.

* or, that's what I heard them say half a dozen times or so. I was picturing the thrill of sitting in that chair getting plastic trays fitted to my teeth ... my enthusiasm was building. * noted sarcasm, cause girl can't help making light of repetition after so long. *

• Jay got awesome boss of the day award for taking us to the Cheese Shoppe for lunch. We were starving, and the food was ridiculously amazing. Being an alumni of William & Mary college, he knew his way around the old campus and showed us the hidden gardens and a few of the buildings. I am in love with the old brick walkways | the enormous trees and the way the air smells.

• When we returned after our third session of the day, I stopped dead in my tracks. "Johnna, I think he just paused the video while we went to that last lecture. Or ..." She rolled her eyes, "I swear, if he's going to repeat this whole thing I'm going to need a cigarette." I couldn't help but laugh. We were all drained mentally, believe it or not. Even our boss was literally holding his eyes open. Yes, we DID laugh over that particular moment.

          "Well, at least we'll ace this program deal. Hmm?" I whispered in the middle of another spill about the function of Invisalign computer software. Apparently, it was Dr. B's soapbox { he claimed it was true, himself } so we heard a good deal about ClinChecks and so forth.
          
           Johnna's arms were folded, she leaned back in her chair. After all, we were going on our eighth hour and still going strong. "No Bull. Honey, you're not kidding."

           I laughed. Life is so much fun, especially when all the DA girls get tired and Jay just looks down the long table at us with a quizzical expression and leaves us to ourselves. Smart Man, our boss.

• Ten minutes later, we've switched topics. Relief floods my soul, and Dr. B goes on to discuss Ankylosed teeth. Johnna was flipping through her lecture notes, and none of us looked like we really knew up from down at this point. "Johnna," I leaned over and spoke in a hushed whisper. "What's an ankylosed tooth??"

           After all, I am Dental Assistant in training. Questions from the girl are typically welcomed at this point. I like picking Jay & Johnna's brain outside of appointments, so I have a grasp on the info when I have a patient with similar questions. Her expression changed from zoned to entirely lost, "Huh? Where'd you hear that word?"

           I was right, we were there in body only. We'd managed to fade in and out of conscious retention for the last two hours if the conference. Pulling my notepad out, I scribbled the word down only to look up and find Johnna chuckling. She didn't know, but thought of something it might be so we dove into our thick lecture notes that resembled novels in search of answers. Neither of us really have a clue at this point, but that's okay. It's how we roll.

So amid day full of mass chaos | gobs of people | endless amounts of laughter - both from the next room and our little group | switching rooms and speakers | the gorgeous day and a yummy lunch ... the day was a really awesome one. I admit, it was exhausting but well worth going. * smiles *

And there you have it, the behind the scenes of Dentistry you never knew. Honestly, you probably hadn't the slightest desire to know we don't always go to schools for what we know. Now you know we sit in hours of lectures and classes and sometimes get bored out of our minds. Now you know that those girls in scrubs are legit humans. * winks *