Orthodontics for the General dentist

Hey all, I am not going to talk about the Gators anymore.
Man has it been tough to watch their games. The offense is really struggling. They have a championship defense. Do you know in 7 games they have only given up 4, yeah I said four, touchdowns. They gave up 19 points last week on two field goals and two defensive touchdowns. I won't tell you that my beloved Tim Tebow threw two interceptions.
Okay, no more talk, starting now.
Well I went to the zoo on Friday with my daughter. I haven't been to the zoo in a long time and yeah it still sucks. Even my daughter said, "Mom, it was boring." I am not saying that all zoos are bad. Just the Central Florida zoo is.
I started a book called Born to Run. I am not usually into books like this (this book is about these Mexican's who live in the woods and are super marathoners), but I was assured this book is so awesome. So I am giving it a try. I don't have any books on the list after this, so if you have any good ones I could read, let me know. I really want to read a war book or I am thinking about Jeannette Wall's second book after The Glass Castle (if you haven't read this book YOU HAVE TO. It is amazing.)
I am watching The Curious Case of Benjamin Button right now. Did you know this movie is 2 hours and 40 minutes? Wow. It is taking me more than two sittings to watch it. It is average.
Enough about me, let's talk dentistry.
I went to a dental course a couple of months ago and there were a couple of classmates of mine. We had lunch. I really like them both, and I think they are very stand-up guys. So I am not learning stuff from quacks and then bringing it to you.
I trust these guys. Hence the story.
So talking at lunch one of them talks about how much he is loving doing ortho. Let me preface this by telling you I am a meat and potatoes kind of guy. I spend the most of my time trying to get better at fillings, crowns, and esthetics and stuff like this. And as you know, we all live on our islands, and I thought everyone else was doing the same thing.
So we are talking and he tells me he loves doing ortho. So I say, "So you have really gotten into the invisalign stuff?" He says, "No, the real orthodontics. Brackets, bands and archwires and everything."
I said, "WHAT?!!"
 "Yeah" he says, "I have taken about 200 CE hours on it, and I have about 40 cases going right now."
WHAT?!!
My other friends pipes up, "Yeah, I am loving it too."
"WHAT?!! You too?"
"Yeah" he says, "but not as much as him."
So the two of them start talking about how they do it. They talk about what kind of brackets they are using and how they are handling the harder cases. My head is spinning at this point. I mean I get about 5 ortho CE things a week in the mail, but I always just throw them away. Am I alone here? Are you guys/gals doing ortho?
Are you doing Invisalign and like doing your 10 cases a year or are you starting to do bracket ortho?
I have to tell you it intrigues me. I am talking about stuff other than bread and butter general dentistry.
I have a friend that dabbles in just about everything. He does implants, he does Invisalign, he does Botox, he does Lubriderm.
My thing with something like implants is this.... I can take all the courses in the world. I can buy all the equipment. So I can take 2 years worth of every weekend course and buy $50,000 worth of equipment and I still WON'T BE AS GOOD AS MY IMPLANT GUY.
This is the bottom line.
If I do it will it be better for my patient if I do it or my implant guy. I can't do it as good as my periodontist who does 3-10 a day.
How am I going to do it as good as him if I do all the CE and have the equipment and I do 1 a week?
Same with Lubriderm, same with Botox.
If I can't do it well, I don't want to do it. So could I get good at it? What ever it is. Ortho, Botox, implants. Yes, I could get good at it.
But how long or how many implants do I need to do to get as good as my periodontist.
Could it be fun?
Yes
Could it be profitable?
Yes
Could we get good at it?
Yes
Could we do the single slam dunk lower mandibular implant?
Yes
Am I saying I haven't thought about it?
No
Am I saying have I thought about getting into ortho since talking to my friends?
No
Tell me and the other readers what you are doing.
Are you doing ortho?
Are you doing Botox?
Are you doing implants?
Is it working out for you?
Or are you like many others that took the course, bought the stuff and it sits there?

Have a great Wednesday. I will let you know about the comments on Friday.
john

P.S. I got many comments on the American Girl Doll blog. I have to say that the woman are very pro doll and the men think it is crazy but do it because it makes their daughter happy.
I did have an apparent avid reader call me to task on all the Final Four trips and National Championship trips I take and all the tickets I have to buy for this. I had a friend tell me once about the four irrefutable law of life. 1) Bones will heal 2) Chicks dig scars 3) Pain is temporary 4) Glory lasts forever.
Now I pay all that money for the games because of the 4th rule. This was money well spent because it will last FOREVER.
In the laws there is nothing in the four laws it doesn't say anything about dolls.
 I kid.
I did get your point about my trips. I thought about that when I was writing. I was hoping no one would call me out. No such luck. Birthday party on Friday. I will let you know about how the doll presentation goes. It better come in an awesome box.