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My masterpiece for little Johnny's Grill

I've had a bad feeling about art ever since I sat in church in the late 80s and early 90s. In order to keep me quiet, mom would give us a piece of paper and a pen or pencil so that we could draw whatever our hearts desired. With Joe Beam sermons in the background, I learned to draw circles, stick figures, and little birds flying in the distance. I remember an old family friend telling me that I was such a good artist, and I made me so happy because I was so very good at drawing stick figures and circles--an adult even told me so.

And I was happy about my art until I realized that I wasn't any good at drawing at all. In fact, I couldn't draw a good round circle, and the beginning of the circle and the end of the circle never connected quite right. Plus, anybody can draw stick figures, so how is it that I was so good at it? Somehow, I realized that drawing stick figures and circles doesn't make you an artist. I was no artist at all, and all the stuff that I thought I was good at was crooked stick figures. I'm sure I had no idea how bad I was at drawing until one of my brothers kindly gave me the bad news.

Ever since then, I think I've had a chip on my shoulder when it comes to art.

Before I got to dental school, I had no idea as to what it would be like. I really liked some of the things I saw and experienced. Other parts of school weren't quite so exciting.

I never really saw myself doing much in the way of art, but I think I may have accidentally stumbled into a profession where art is very much a part of practice. Although I can draw a pretty mean stick figure now, I still can't draw a round circle.

I'm supposed to wax a tooth as a part of making a gold crown. You prepare a tooth, take an impression, pour a cast of the impression, and then make a replacement tooth out of wax. This wax will be cast and should be duplicated in gold.

I spent hours today with some little wax instruments adding hot little beads of wax to create my masterpiece--an anatomically correct #30 tooth for my mannequin, little Johnny. I might not be all that good at it yet, but I still hope that little Johnny enjoys his bling.