So we all can't be Greek scholars

I was church yesterday at a "delve into the word" session. It was given by the Senior pastor of my church. We were going over a story in the Bible verse by verse, and almost word by word. It is kind of fun because when I read a story I do it in about 45 seconds and then it takes these guys about an hour and a half to expain it to me. (Hang on, I am getting to the dental tie-in). While we were talking about a couple of words, in this case it was "Jesus sighed". So some very smart dude in the back (me) asked what the literal translation from the Aramaic was. I mean did it mean "he breathed" or "coughed"?

Let me back up...in Orlando we have a Presbytarian seminary, so some of the professors come to our church. One of the scholars at the seminary likes to come to these kinds of things. When I asked the Senior pastor this question about the translation, he thought that Dr.K might field this question. Now Dr. K went into this deeply profound message about where the story took place, the type of language they used. He took these two words to another level.

This was so the picture of dentists. At least me.

I go to school and learn a great deal of information. All of which was important. But I must be honest with you, I haven't retained it all. How could you possibly? I still feel the same way about education now. I get about 10 CE things a day and most of them look good. But is it going to help me. I mean really help me, the way I do dentistry and the way I practice.
Like my good friend Jorge says, he is a "meat and potato" kind of guy. I thought about it for awhile and I thought that was pretty profound. I mean I think I have become a meat and potato kind of guy.
I have done up to C5 of the Pankey Continuums but I have to be honest with you, I haven't retained it all. Remember "meat and potatoes".

I understand the Pankey philosophy and I buy into 100%. I know how to treat a severely compromised mouth. But these kind of people are not walking into my practice on a daily basis. You know who is... the person with a broken tooth. The person with a bunch of operative needs. EVERYDAY.

I have to deal with business questions EVERYDAY. I have to deal with management situations EVERYDAY.

I mean I told you about how busy my day is. When is there time to pick the General Dentistry (shout out to the AGD) magazine? I do the 45 second read but certainly do not do the hour and and half read (I am trying to relate to the beginning of the story, see how I am tying it all together). I can't even go to the bathroom at home without a kid sticking his or her hands under the door, Daddy, daddy, daddy.

Am I making any sense here? There is the guy who spends all his waking days studying Greek to translate the Bible and there is the guy who spends all his waking days researching the elasticity of a certain bonding agent under wet certain conditions.

Then there are people that run churches and there are dentists.

We dentists have to wear about 10 hats per week. Endodontist, prosthodontist, husband, periodontist, office manager, IT tech, banker, researcher, dad, HR representative, PR rep, plumber.

I love to take Frank Spears courses. I think his stuff is so well done, his lectures and his work. He spent a whole day teaching us about the pathology of the TMJ, (I can't remember the correct termology) I, Ia, II, IIIa and IIIb.
And he goes on to say he spent all this time so we can recognize the people not to treat. So of the 3 people a year that needs major reconstruction it is important to know that 3% of them have an TMJ problem that is a red flag.
But because of the fact that I am not doing this everyday it is something that (there I go again) forget. I do a New Patient Exam that looks at the TMJ but nothing ever jumps out at me that is a problem.
I wanted to get better at doing dentures, so I took a denture 3 day Pankey course with Mussad (something like this) and then I went back home and didn't do a denture for 3 months. My philosophy has always been if I can't do it well I don't want to do it. Guess what? I am no longer doing dentures.
So my point is....
We can't be the PhD and the clinician. I can't be. I want to know about all the bonding agents but, did you know there are over 85 bonding agents?
So I get REALITY and CRA and have to trust them.
So I have to ask the Greek scholar to translate the word "sigh" for me but...
I have to accept who I am and where I am at in my life.
Am I making sense?
Can you please comment? Because if you don't comment I don't know you are reading. I need to know I am loved.