Thoughts After a Dental Visit

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I marvel at priorities of young people. When I was a teenager I wanted to save my money from the odd jobs I worked to buy a car. That I never made that goal didn’t bother me too much because I suppose I was not as materialistic as most guys my age. By the time I could get a car my priorities had changed.

My parents were self-employed musicians and as such, we had no medical insurance. Frankly we could not afford doctors and dentists. The one medical emergency I had as a child was appendicitis, which sent me to the public hospital in Chicago, then called Cook County Hospital. By the time I was admitted (I was 9 years old) I was near delirious with fever and pain. The memories of that day I still recall as some sort of phantasmagorical nightmare. But I survived.

By the time I reached high school my teeth had fallen victim to lack of proper care more than anything else. I was in pain throughout high school from persistent toothaches, impactions, broken teeth, and gum disease. So having a car and nice clothes and all the other things kids in my generation prized was really secondary to getting my mouth fixed. The problem persisted all the way through undergraduate school.

That my first job out of college wasn’t music teaching turned out to be a Godsend. When I couldn’t land a gig (heavy competition in the Chicago area) I took a job at Illinois Bell Telephone as a long distance operator. I had benefits from the first day, so you know exactly where I went – I found a dentist. I lost some teeth, had many more filled, or root canals and had bridgework and crowns done – the harvest of 21 years of neglect.

That work has held up all these years. I bring it up because on my trip to my new dentist yesterday (my initial visit to a new doctor – I changed from my old dentist because his new hygienist rubs me the wrong way) took one look at my mouth and said “You have had some work done, haven’t you?” But aside from that observation everything else was good.

So back to young folks’ priorities; obviously things have changed drastically from the time I was a teenager-young adult, but only in the type of things kids want. There are so many things now that can hold the attention of young people. In addition to the ubiquitous car and clothes, there are video game systems, cell phones, computers, social networks. So much! Kids get jobs and the money goes towards all of these activities. It’s a whole new world!