Wednesday, January 2, 2008

State of the Blog Address


Hi all. My name is John Gammichia. I have been thinking about doing a blog for years and I finally got the nerve to start putting things down on virtual paper.
Since I am going to do this thing I think it important you get to know me.
I am a general dentist from Orlando, Florida. Well, it is a suburb of Orlando called Apopka. I am 38 years old. I graduated from the University of Florida College of Dentistry in 1995. I am married to my college sweetheart Hilda. We just celebrated our 12 year of marital bliss (It makes my wife laugh every time I say that). I have three awesome kids. Luke is 8, Madison 7, and Noah is 4. I am about the luckiest person in the whole world.
We live in a great house in a quaint neighborhood. We go to this great church (that has a school, our kids go there) that is about 3 miles away.
I practice with my father in a Family and Cosmetic Practice. I absolutely love (today) what I do. I have a passion for dentistry that I hope shows. I hope I have the same passion to have meaningful relationships with the people I work with and the people I work on.
So yeah, I am a general dentist from Apopka, Fl. Doesn’t sound that exciting does it?
Well, let me tell you it is quite the opposite. Almost every day there is something that is going in my blog that will make you laugh, and somedays it will make you cry. But it is my real desire to give you someone real to read about. I want you to know that I am someone that fails on a daily basis. I fail in dentistry, I fail in management, I fail in being a husband and I really fail at being a dad. But with those failures comes growth and with growth comes success. Some are small steps; some are huge, ground breaking stuff.
I am so looking forward to this. I hope to have a long, real, and truthful relationship with you.

Faithfully,

John Gammichia DMD

26 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hello, I am a R.D.H. from Grand Rapids MI. I had a patient give me information on why Fluoride was toxic so I was determined to do some research to give back to him. (Grand Rapids MI is the test sight for water Fluoridation) This is a round- a-bout way to say I came apon your Blog. I have never sent a message to a Blog before but I was just on Captiva Island last week with my husband of 23 years and I thought I should blog you to tell you Fl is a beautiful state. Good luck with your blog site. Jan R.D.H.

gatordmd said...

WOW!!! Thank you Jan for my first comment. Good luck with the Flouride thing. If you find some good stuff to give to all the neisayers, surely let me know. I can put it on my blog.
Lastly, I am glad you liked Florida. Amelia Island is also a must. But don't wait 23 more years. Oh, it is 71 degrees here today, and I am in shorts and flip flops. Just to rub it in.

Anonymous said...

I am a Program Director for a dental assisting program at a Community College in New Mexico. I think this blogging could be an interesting endeavor. I look forward to reading more...........I have been involed in dentistry for many more years than gatormd and should probably write a book about the soap opera like activities that I have seen or witnessed, like you said some are funny some are sad. We all have to keep our sense of humor or we'll just go nuts!

MM

Anonymous said...

Hi Doctor - nice job here! I'll definitely check back in often!

Anonymous said...

Jan, here is a link to everything you ever want to know about fluoride with so many references it will make your head spin: http://www.ada.org/public/topics/fluoride/facts/index.asp
(see the PDF download on "fluoride facts" document).

I tried to hire a new assistant yesterday and after I said, "you will need to not wear so much perfume and the acrylic nails need to go" she DIDN'T show up for her first day of work...thanks for the 7:30AM call the day you were to start, though!!!

Anonymous said...

Hey-this biz/calling isn't easy but having done it myself for 37 years, I have a few perspectives. The best thing our new blogger is doing is offering the opportunity for us all to stay connected and share our frustrations as well as our successes.

This blog is the exact opposite of the old adage about dentistry circling the wagons in time of trouble , and shooting inward.
M P Bonner DDs

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the nice blog, Dr. Gammichia! Your optimism and sensitivity shine through. I look forward to reading more in the future.
Sincerely,
Rick Bankhead, D.D.S.

Buckeyedental said...

Realy like your blog so far, we have several thing in common. I am just a few years ahead of you graduated Ohio State 1989, Married to my Puerto Rician wife 20 years three kids 14,11,and 7. Pritice in Sarasota 17 years. Look forward to more post.

Anonymous said...

Hi Dr. G, I'm Ron Collins from Houston, TX and have been practicing for thirty seven years and have had many interesting and amusing things happen in my practice. My son just joined my practice a year and a half ago and we are having a blast as well. Isn't dentistry absolutely the greatest profession in the world! Here is the best story in all my years of practice. After being out about five years, I had a young female nurse for whom I made a gold crown (I still make all my gold work- I know- I'm crazy). While trying it in the mouth, it fell onto the back of her tongue and before I could say freeze, yes-you guessed it, she swallowed it. After an embarassing moment, I suggested that she go home and bring it back in a few days. Without batting an eye, she responded "This princess isn't laying any golden eggs, you go back to the drawing board." I did.

gatordmd said...

Thank you all for the nice comments. I will keep writing and you keep commenting.
Feedback is great.
Thanks again.

Anonymous said...

Hey Dr. G! I like the blog too. I will definately do a highlight of this blog at my dental student blog. Check it out, leave tips if you have any!

www.DMDstudent.com
Ben Johnson
Temple 2010

Unknown said...

Dr. John!
You know it was only a matter of time before we crossed paths, my friend. Looks like all is well with you.

7 yrs (today!) of marital bliss myself. Just had my third child in Feb. Let's catch up sometime!

Cheers!
A Zale

gatordmd said...

Andy Zale!?!!!!

The Andy Zale, my best friend from the 7th grade.
The first person I watched Mtv with 25 years ago.
That Andy Zale?

Send me an email. Jgammichia@aol.com

Happy Anniversary
3 kids in 7 years...a fast worker.
Where are you?
How is your family?

Hurry write
john

Unknown said...

You evidently don't check your email as much as you do your blog, gatorboy.

Get on it!

AZ

Anonymous said...

Dr John
Just saw you on the news for Dentistry from the Heart I am an RDH (practice in Lake Co) so it nautrally caught my attention! i would love to get involved in a program that gives back to the community. Went on the internet to research this and found your blog i found myself laughing, really enjoyed it. I never have commented on a blog but i really think you probably are a great person! thanks for giving to the community if more of us who can, did what a better place our world would be! Keep up the great work

toothdoc said...

Hi Dr. John,
I am a pediatric dentist just ending my first year in private practice. It was nice to read through your blog. Where can I find out more about your 'everything you need to know in your first five years lecture'?

This is the first time that I am consistently seeing recall patients; and, I have seen many things that I have done that have worked and also have not worked. I find it pretty disappointing to see any restorative treatment that I have done not succeed. I try to learn from my failures, but my real question is, Does it get better? Do you find yourself having less and less failures with more experience as a dentist? Is there any advice you have for me or other new dentists? Thank you so much for your insights. Happy New Year!

gatordmd said...

Hey Toothdoc,
First things first, you writing me tells your comment speaks volumes about you.
You care about your work.
You care about your patients.
You are sensitive to them.
This is huge.
Second things second (is that a saying?) Failure is part of this thing called practice.
And so is disappointment.
Will your work get better as you mature? Sure it will.
Will you still fail? Sure you will.
Will you create a higher standard for your own work? Sure.
So that all being said, take a deep breath.
But realize all of this is part of the growing up process.
I use to read all the magazines that tell you how awesome everyone is doing. I stopped reading magazines for a long time.
I use to go on Dentaltown and felt even smaller.
If you want to talk so more, I am at Jgammichia@aol.com
I hope this helps.
john

Toronto Dentist in Etobicoke said...

Hi John. Great looking family and well done on the blog.

I've started my own bog - Toronto Dentist in Etobicoke

Joe :D

gatordmd said...

Thanks Joe,
Good luck to you on your blog.
I see you have just made it to ours. You have two years of reading to catch up on. Sit down, crab some coffee and enjoy.
You will laugh, you will crindge, you will cry.
But the one thing I want out of it is for you to feel less alone in practicing dentistry.
Write me anytime.
Jgammichia@aol.com.

john

dentist montclair ca said...

blogging is exciting..i'm sure it will be as addicting for you as it is for me.

dentist toronto said...

Hi thanks for sharing your blog. Good luck and you do have an awesome family!

Cosmetic Dental Veneers said...

Being a a general dentist from Orlando, Florida you should have heard about the horrific story about a drill bit being left inside the mouth of a patient. Since this happened in your neck of the woods may I ask what you think we should do to clean up our industry?

gatordmd said...

Great question Shannon.
I think one of the things that I think will help is to be more transparent.
I want people to know about me. I want to share how I do things and have real honest discussions about things.
I call people out that I think are hurting our profession and I praise the ones that are building it up.

I want to become that profession that community members say they trust the most...again.

But as Kevin James would say on the King of Queens. I am just a stupid man trying to do the best I can.

Thanks for commenting.
I hope you stay awhile.
John

About the drill bit in someones sinus. That is just a bad deal all around. Everyone has bad days and this oral surgeon really had a bad day. I feel sorry for him because he is going to get sued something bad.

Unknown said...

congratulations on your new blog. I'm excited to read more of your blogs.great post!Irvine Cosmetic Dentistry

gatordmd said...

Irvine,
Welcome to the blog. It is NOT new though.
I started it three years ago. You have got A LOT of catching up to do.
Thanks for commenting and when you get to the most current blog, let me know what you thought.
If you think it is book worthy let me know. I have been bouncing that around (yeah, a book about a dental blog....5 issues sold)
john

General Dentistry said...

As most dentists told us, it's important to have a balance fluoride for our teeth in order to have stronger teeth!

This is a great study!

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