Posture & Purpose With Dr. Michelle Carr Frank
Welcome to Posture and Purpose where both healing and community come together! An inside look into Carr Chiropractic and Dr. Michelle Carr Frank.
Posture & Purpose With Dr. Michelle Carr Frank
Dental DNA: What Your Teeth Reveal About You
Your teeth reveal far more about you than just your smile. They tell a comprehensive story about your overall health, habits, lifestyle, and even your unique identity. Dr. Chase Dronette brings 14 years of dental expertise to this fascinating exploration of how our oral health connects to everything from heart disease to mental wellbeing.
Did you know cardiologists now frequently require dental clearance before certain surgeries? The American Heart Association has confirmed what dentists have long suspected - the bacteria causing gum inflammation doesn't stay in your mouth. It enters your bloodstream and has been found in arterial linings, creating a direct link between your dental health and heart disease. This groundbreaking research is changing how medical professionals approach integrated care.
Dr. Dronette shares surprising patterns he's observed throughout his career, like how early-morning patients typically have better dental health, fewer cavities, and more structured lifestyles than those who schedule afternoon appointments. He dispels common misconceptions about genetics versus lifestyle choices in dental problems, noting that while some dental issues may have hereditary components, most reflect our habits and health priorities.
The conversation takes a fascinating forensic turn as Dr. Dronette explains how dental records serve as unique identifiers - "tooth fingerprints" that have helped solve high-profile criminal cases like Ted Bundy's. We also explore how stress manifests physically through nighttime teeth grinding, especially during times of collective anxiety like the pandemic, and how modern AI technology is revolutionizing dental diagnostics and patient education.
Whether you're curious about what your dental appointment time might reveal about your personality, interested in understanding the mouth-body connection, or want practical advice for helping children develop healthy dental habits, this episode offers surprising insights that might forever change how you think about your smile.
Subscribe to Posture and Purpose for more conversations at the intersection of health and wellbeing, where we explore how physical care connects to our broader life purpose.
Are you familiar with the Ted Bundy case? Oh, absolutely Okay, so that is so fascinating to me, because I do know about that. That's how he was caught essentially from his dental records.
Speaker 2:You're exactly right, See I do watch Forensic Files.
Speaker 1:I told you I did.
Speaker 3:Welcome to Posture and Purpose, where both healing and community come together. Make sure to subscribe on Apple, spotify and YouTube. Let's get into this episode with Dr Michelle Carr-Frank.
Speaker 1:Well, welcome. I have Dr Chase Dronette today on Posture and Purpose. Welcome, thank you for being here.
Speaker 2:Thank you for having me, Dr Carr. I appreciate it. How's my posture today?
Speaker 1:It's good, I'll keep an eye on you, don't worry about that. I will definitely keep an eye. You know I'll fuss at you if I need to. So tell me. I know I know you as a personal friend as well, but tell me, how did you get started in dentistry?
Speaker 2:Oh gosh. So I felt like my entire, even from a young age, medical was kind of the route that I always wanted to go and of course I had family pushing me in that direction. But it wasn't until early, early college. Um, I had a really bad underbite and started going through the process of oral surgery and all that.
Speaker 2:And I'll never forget I had this uh, one of the oral surgeons assistants came up to me out of surgery and she goes your mom told me that you wanted to go to be a medical doctor. You need to be like Dr Alexander, you need to go and be a dentist. Like you don't have to work, call the patients are going to see you every six months, you get to build relationships Like it really is the best of both worlds. And so after that I was like all right.
Speaker 2:I started in hospitals, at first like not with dentistry but medical, and the hospital field just always gave me a feeling of just like a little sad to say, like it was a little depressing to me, and so I started visiting dental offices outside of my routine dental care and started working for a dentist while I was in college and, uh, really grew to love it, became the president of LSU's pre-dental society. Bravo to really find out more and kind of get into the nitty-gritty of what the profession provided. And uh, here I am today, 14 years in so wow, 14 years.
Speaker 1:Have you always been practicing in Lafayette or have you done other training elsewhere?
Speaker 2:you know, lafayette was not on my radar at first. Living in New Orleans. I, for dental school, fell in love with the city, like most people do. I know you love New Orleans.
Speaker 1:I yes, I do.
Speaker 2:And so I practiced there for about a year and a half to two years and I had a bunch of family living in Youngsville and my sister was starting to have kids and just life and the relationships that I was in at the time. Just New Orleans was becoming less for us and it was more to be closer to family. So I had a great opportunity here in Lafayette and uh, took it, so moved to Lafayette on a whim, knew no one but the family Really, and but it's honestly the best move. It kind of get the best of both worlds. Uh, the people here are just unlike anybody else. I agree. Love, love, love it.
Speaker 2:Um and then Of course the practice. I mean professionally. We just don't have enough dentists in town, which I guess is kind of professional security in a sense.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:So I always tell people, tell your family to be a dentist and come to Lafayette, because we need them big time.
Speaker 1:So well, that's so cool, and there's nothing more motivating than being with family. It's so important especially here in Louisiana. It's such a core part of our culture for sure.
Speaker 2:It definitely is.
Speaker 1:So what would you say would reveal about, maybe, your patients? What can you tell about their dental health? What could it possibly reveal about their overall health?
Speaker 2:You know, your teeth say a lot and even our patients who come in at like two o'clock, their oral health is different than our 730 in the morning patients, we know going in first. So we have two days where we start earlier because there's a lot of people that like to not miss work and they want to come in early. These are the people that have no cavities. They are very routine to come in early. These are the people that have no cavities. They are very routine. They are. Their mental health is always clear and they want to be taken back on time, if not early, and they want to be very structured.
Speaker 2:And so, from a mental health perspective, you know, just something that simple you can. Really. Their teeth are usually pretty good because they're just, they're in tune to everything about their health. They're the exercisers. They've already been up since four o'clock in the morning. So there's that. And then you have, like, patients that come in and you know, of course, living in south louisiana, you're gonna have. Health is not everybody's priority, and that does, although when people smile and they may appear to have beautiful teeth when you really get behind the curtain.
Speaker 2:You have to start asking those questions, looking at medical histories, and then you know all medications that cause dry mouth. Dry mouth that then causes total tooth decay, and so a lot of times we're trying to catch it early. But you a lot of times have people that come in 15, 20 years have never been to a dentist and you can tell some of those patients, no cavities, because they have excellent home care and they care. And then there's some patients that come in just after five years and everything has to be redone or removed, and so that all has to do with the health of the patient. Typically your unhealthy patients. They're all. Not only are their teeth bad, but they're smokers, they're diabetics, they have no restrictions from food, their diet, they don't exercise, so they kind of all go together to an extent, and so your teeth can definitely tell a story. It's not all just about genetics.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and actual the visual.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. It's not like oh look how beautiful your teeth are.
Speaker 1:It really does count what's going on inside.
Speaker 2:Oh, it absolutely does, it absolutely does.
Speaker 1:So what are the most common issues? You see, I know you mentioned diabetes, and things like that can lead to other things.
Speaker 2:You know it's funny, kind of on the health storyline. Just recently the American Heart Association has come out and they have correlated periodontal disease, which is not just inflammation in your gums but it's inflammation in your gums, your bone, the ligaments around your teeth, and so whenever you're having inflammation caused by bacteria, your mouth is the opening to the rest of your body. Everything is digested. If you have inflammation in your gums, that your body is going to respond to that, and so if you have bad oral health it does correlate and that bacteria is now sent into your bloodstream. And then that's what they're finding in all these studies is that only bacteria that is found in the mouth is now showing up in the linings of arteries and the heart. And so they're finding more and more and more that oral health.
Speaker 2:And it's funny, just this week I had three and I would. It's sporadic a lot of times, but right now I'm getting more and more referrals from cardiologists here in town because they will not do certain surgeries until they have a dentist releasing that they are clear of periodontal disease. And so it's really nice to see that communication between the health world, especially the cardiology and now the dental world, and we're all working together to really have a wholesome health plan for these patients' future.
Speaker 1:Bridging that gap.
Speaker 2:Bridging the gap We've been so separate for so long.
Speaker 1:What took us so long?
Speaker 2:I don't know. I guess the more research and you know, I guess that's what's great about life and research is you're finding all these correlations.
Speaker 1:And having an open mind. Yes, very similar to chiropractic care. You know, yes, as you may know, you know, up until the 70s in Louisiana they were putting chiropractors in jail.
Speaker 2:That's unbelievable.
Speaker 1:The 70s yes, sir, oh gosh, I don't think I realized that the 70s and you know the people that got them out of jail and bailed them out of jail were their patients.
Speaker 2:Gotcha the people that they helped the most Testimonials are just how much better they're feeling yeah.
Speaker 1:Right. So more research was done, and Louisiana was the last state to become licensed in chiropractic care.
Speaker 2:Really Shocker, edwin.
Speaker 1:Edwards good, Edwin Edwards.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, that's from your neck of the woods, go there.
Speaker 1:So, yes, I totally understand that. But once we do bridge that gap, it's just better overall for the patient, the person and their overall health. So that's very interesting. Also, when I was doing my research, I saw that it is stated that teeth are as unique as fingerprints. Tell us about that.
Speaker 2:That is absolutely true. It is so funny, so sadly I hate to admit this, but you know your patients that have really good teeth. You only see them every six to eight months for their routine cleaning. So generally, if they're not your patients who are like they're spending a lot of time in your chair hours at a time doing the root canals and the oral surgery, it takes a while to build that relationship with them because it's such a quick little, high and by your teeth look great.
Speaker 1:Keep doing what you're doing. See you next time.
Speaker 2:But a lot of times Ms Smith will call in and I'm like, who is Ms Smith? And then they'll pull up the x-rays. I'm like, oh that's Ms Smith.
Speaker 2:Yeah, looking just at their teeth is like more of an identity for me than the actual patient themselves, and maybe just because I'm a dentist so I love teeth, but I can. I remember x-rays from 10, 15 years ago it's for 10, 14 years ago. Just based off of that, and then also, of course, I'm sure you're aware, I mean I love to watch all the forensic files.
Speaker 3:Of course.
Speaker 2:Dental forensics is a profession all in itself, because every single patient's mouth is completely different than the next person, just as much as eyes, just as much as fingerprints, like you had stated, and it's really amazing that nowadays they pretty much rely when they find in that field. Not only is it DNA that you have to test, but the teeth have to make sure to align as well, because pulling dental records will tell exactly who that person is.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, everything about teeth. Are you familiar with the Ted Bundy case?
Speaker 2:Oh, absolutely Okay. So that is so fascinating to me because I do know about that. That's how he was caught essentially from his dental records. You're exactly right See.
Speaker 1:I do watch Forensic Files. I told you I did so. What is the most common misconception about dentistry? Everyone knows you go to the dentist, you get your teeth cleaned, you brush your teeth, you're supposed to floss. But what are some of the misconceptions that some of our listeners may learn something from?
Speaker 2:You know, there's two things I would say, one from a patient standpoint and then one from a business standpoint. From the patient standpoint, I can't tell you how many people in a week, especially new patients the first thing they say is oh, my teeth are so bad. My parents had bad teeth, and of course now I do. And the more you dig into it, yes, there is oftentimes a genetic component and to an extent.
Speaker 2:But when you really start pulling back the layers of um, their overall health lifestyle most of the time, it's really the lifestyle that is the problem, and it's not because your mom and your grandma have dentures, it's just. It's it's generational, in like how people prioritize their health in general but also their dental health, and so we try to teach people, like you know, especially if they're not too far gone yet, we're catching them early. We're like you don't have to be like your mom or your grandparents, like if you start doing X, y, z now, you will never have to go down that path. And they're totally shocked, like oh, I just thought I was coming here, to get dentures.
Speaker 2:I thought that was my path. I was like no, that's not it at all. Glad you came now. And then on the business side, you know, I'm sure you see this in your profession because if you're taking x-rays it's almost like having insurance. You don't want it unless you need it, but you have to do it.
Speaker 1:It's a safety measure.
Speaker 2:Of course it is, is, and you know, our licenses and uh require us to make sure that, diagnostically, that you're taken care of. And so many people think, oh, they just take x-rays or they just come in to do an exam because they want more money. And it's like, yes, there is a financial component to all of that.
Speaker 2:Yes, we charge you, of course but business I wish you could see on the other side how many people we have found severe infections. We have caught things so early, with patients ahead of time. And is that going to be everyone? Of course not, but wouldn't you be glad to be that person if we're able to prevent you from doing something? We have family members right now that are texting me from St Louis. We just found out this morning that their health, their heart health the first thing they asked was you might have some issues with your teeth, and they sent me an x-ray. I looked and I'm like calling the oral surgeon. He is completely infected and that is whoever put that on the forefront was a good physician because of the correlation between the two. And so, but x-rays, I was able to do that from 10 hours away, looking at an x-ray, and that's why they're so important in our profession. So people would just understand understand a little bit more.
Speaker 2:like we can only do our job with diagnostics and so same same in my profession.
Speaker 1:There are chiropractors out there that still do not take x-rays. But again, through the years I've worked with other clinics and we have discovered so many things that were preventable or we got ahead of it so they wouldn't end up like grandma well, and you're right about that and I think it's probably our.
Speaker 2:there's so many parallels in our professions because the amount of new patients that come in and they say, well, my dentist never did that, or why do I have so many cavities now as a new patient? Because my dentist hasn't has like, and the first thing I said does your dentist take x-rays? And they're like no, I haven't done that in like five years.
Speaker 1:I don't need to and I'm like well, we're different.
Speaker 2:You always try to uplift your profession. You never try to uplift your profession. You never want to, you know, at somebody another dentist's expense. But education is the key. Absolutely and hopefully that is what gets people to understand. It's for trusting you.
Speaker 1:Well, exactly so you could be the best physician that you could be. So again, this is also lifestyle related, but what role would you say stress or mental health? How does that play on a person's uh, dental health? I know there's a lot of you know issues with teeth grinding and things like that, so can you share some of that with?
Speaker 2:us. Yeah, I think that's where you can probably come in a lot too in our profession. Uh is because I tell people all the time. I mean the amount of people who grind. I believe 80% of people out there truly need to be in a night guard because all of the stresses that you go through on a daily basis, your body can either break out with acne or you can have ulcers in your mouth. You internalize. A lot of times it comes out when you're sleeping, some of the hardest during the day. People are like I don't grind my teeth, like I know. Like I know my body. I'm like you're probably right. I I know. Like I know my body. I'm like you're probably right. I said but does your wife or your husband ever tell you that you make noises?
Speaker 3:at night and are you?
Speaker 2:snoring, yes, yes. Well, your body is taking all that stress internalized and you're just grinding your teeth down, which, of course, is TMJ, that your lower jaw is completely held in by muscles, ligaments and tendons and so it's just free floating out there and the grinding puts a strain on that TMJ, which is why we are so fortunate to have people like chiropractors out there, because, honestly, dentists have knowledge of TMJ, but it's a whole other specialty.
Speaker 1:Yes, you'd have to practice another 10 hours every day if you addressed every TMJ issue.
Speaker 2:Correct, and so we do rely on our TMJ dentists, as well as our chiropractors, to really help solve some of those problems with the muscular Exactly.
Speaker 1:Did you see any increase in teeth grinding or any of those dental issues during the COVID epidemic?
Speaker 2:A lot and I won't. I don't know if I could say it's because of the actual virus, but I will say people were stressing on a different level.
Speaker 1:Yes, I saw that too.
Speaker 2:Totally different level and, um, we were seeing a lot more patients too. It kind of lucked out for us. People were so bored at the house, everybody was going to the dentist. We had like a 25% increase in patients during COVID, so we were able to see a lot more of what was going on in society. Okay, truly, just because they want to get out the house, right, they're bored, they were totally so bored.
Speaker 1:The dentist is open. I'm going.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and they weren't spending money on vacation, so their body was wanting to have all their dental work done because they were off of work. So I mean we got to see a lot and, yes, we saw a lot of huge increase in people's stress. Just the unknown people. People like to know what's going on in their life, and during COVID nobody knew.
Speaker 1:Nobody knew. The unknown was the scary part, right? Uh, what else did I want to ask you? Oh, yes, cause I know we talked about this when I asked you to be here today. Please share some memorable story, or stories, if you care to, about your profession. Is there something, a certain case, that's either memorable or entertaining?
Speaker 2:we definitely have a lot of entertainment. So we we do a lot of sedations in our office.
Speaker 2:Um, it's just, you know tell tell us, we do a lot of oral surgery like, like wisdom teeth, straightforward wisdom teeth. Oral surgeons have a place in heaven for sure because of what we refer to them. But just your base. People are scared and so we offer sedation. But people, when they're awake and when they are waking up from sedation two different humans I've had people. I've had this. One guy I'll never forget woke up, had no idea he had a knife on his side, woke up out of sedation, jumped out about the chair and he was the nicest person before like before he was sedated.
Speaker 2:The nicest person ever Woke up a demon and just started running around the surgery laboratory with a knife. And so we're like, oh my gosh, so we now? We now look on people's hips to make sure there's no guns, or knives, no weapons of any kind, I mean we have armor strengths in the case we need them, but he broke through them, so it's it's. That was the whole thing. I've had people in dental school. They would come in and just the amount of things that females can put in their brawls, especially dental related is amazing.
Speaker 2:That was like their purse and so without being on, sedation without being on sedation yes, it's just like normal.
Speaker 2:That's where their purse is, so that was. And then, of course, like always, there's the memorable, especially with our sedation patients. And it's just fun, because people go to sleep and their mouth is a disaster and then when they wake up they are able to smile and they haven't seen their smile in decades. So we see that a lot in our office, which there's not one isolated incident, because it could be one tooth or it could be a full mouth, and it's just. You just see people's personalities change overnight.
Speaker 2:And then a lot of times their oral health gets better because they're just happier in general, and so that's a regular occurrence. We love it.
Speaker 1:And that goes back to the mental, you know. So, and with helping people and some of the things you just mentioned, are there any new technologies or have you seen any big changes in technology since you've been practicing?
Speaker 2:Oh gosh, since I've been practicing we have there's a huge one, that just started but since I've been practicing just uh, digital scanning, so having um offices, now pretty much it's a standard of care to have um to be able to scan digitally, so you're able to scan people's arches and once a year we do ours. And that way, whenever you come, if you're asking questions like how are my teeth doing you, you can pull up scans. The technology now will bring them all together to show where you were five years ago to now. It helps to show like grinding People don't think they grind. This is a great technology that we're now able to source. The biggest thing now is AI. Ai industry is huge.
Speaker 1:Oh, please tell us. I don't know how.
Speaker 2:So we now have it's called Vid video, but it's a platform that takes all of our our digital x-rays which is another huge thing that's been going on for the past seven years in dentistry is digital, and so now we're able to take everything digital that we have um that system and take this AI system and merge them and they're able to go and find things that just looking at an x-ray you can't really tell. It's like the early intervention is amazing and so we're catching things a lot quicker. It doesn't mean we have to go in and do more dental work. That's not necessarily what we're finding.
Speaker 2:We're finding that it's helping to educate people so much more because you can what we see on an x-ray and what people like just the general public see on an x-ray are two different things. So the AI kind of brings it in. You can press like patient view so it'll color coordinate everything showing bone loss, showing cavities, how close it is to the nerve so it really is able to take what the dentist is seeing and allows the patient to be more educated and they're always like, oh my gosh, I had no idea it was like that. And so the patient educational experience is just so much better now. It's making our jobs so much easier because people are trusting us more with catching things earlier, telling them this is coming down the pipe if you don't change certain habits, but if not, then this is where we're going to be. So it kind of puts it back on the patient.
Speaker 1:What is the difference between a scan and an x-ray?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so a digital scan. So it's like there's like a wand, and so what it does? You can scan full arch, so your entire mouth. You can scan every single tooth, and it's able to put it up on essentially a computer monitor and you're able to like an iPad. Just move it, move your mouth around, open it, close it. You can show where you're hitting heavy at. Um, you can, people can actually see their teeth in a completely digitized form, like right in front of you, whereas an x-ray it's. You're still going to get that black and white right it's bone and you're mostly looking at bone.
Speaker 2:You're looking at anything that is radio opaque teeth, bone. You can't see gums, you can't see any of that, whereas a digital it is in full color and it shows everything about what's going on in your mouth and a lot of patients they either love it or they're like, oh my god, get that away from me.
Speaker 1:I don't see what my mouth looks like. It's's the mirror that they need to see.
Speaker 2:Well, when you get your treatment plan later this is why.
Speaker 1:This is the why behind it.
Speaker 2:So let's just get you moving in the right direction.
Speaker 1:So has it made your job easier, so much easier.
Speaker 2:Well, it doesn't just make it for me easier, it makes it easier for every part of my team because now, whenever people are doing the treatment plans, they can pull up these scans. Whenever I am explaining treatment, I can pull up patient view from AI Whenever, like just, there's so many things now. Back before we had digital x-rays, it would take 15, 20 minutes to develop all this stuff, and if you had the wrong angle you had to do it again. So now it takes about a second, second and a half to get an x-ray, and so it's just. It's made everything so much more efficient and truly more diagnostic, which helps everybody when you can diagnose things in a much better fashion.
Speaker 1:And where are you located? I know where you're located because you're my dentist, and the best.
Speaker 2:We are. We have been known as the Topgolf dentist.
Speaker 1:So we are.
Speaker 2:Magnolia Family Dentistry and we are across the street from Topgolf and Catacorner to Costco. So we're in that development. We've been there about three and a half years and it's one of the best decisions we've ever made. Highly trafficked, that is for sure.
Speaker 1:Yes, so you're the Topgolf dentist and I'm the Chick-fil-A chiropractor, because I've been here for 15 years. But everyone knows where I am because of the new Chick-fil-A.
Speaker 2:It's amazing. One little story comes in and now that's who you are. I know that's hilarious. Exactly, it makes life easy to explain, it, does it?
Speaker 1:does. Hey, if it helps, we'll tell you where the food is too. And one question I did want to ask before we wrap up what can parents do early? I mean, we all know about dental health in general, but if you have a young one, a little one or even a teenager is there any, any tips that we should know?
Speaker 2:There's so many tips and I'm going to come from it from two aspects. One is um. Patients always ask when is when should I come in with my child? I always say, when you first start seeing teeth and it's always going to be those lower incisors, the lower front baby teeth when you see those, just bring them in. We call those happy visits.
Speaker 2:All it's doing it's starting to get these children used to going to the dentist early, because we start seeing people at five. They are scared to death. It's a whole mental thing for them. It's less about what's going on inside, they're just scared to death. And so starting them early, they think that's what you're supposed to do is go to the dentist, and nine times out of 10, we're going to catch things so early. Whether your dentist actually sees the child or not, they may refer out because a lot of general dentists, including us, we're just not fully equipped for children per se dentists including us, we're just not fully equipped for children per se and um. There's a lot better options at a pediatric dentist with sedation options oh, light sedation options, because we won't sedate less than 12 years old but for in a general dentist um pediatric dentists.
Speaker 2:They have a lot of options okay to make the patient comfortable to where they don't have this dental trauma growing up trauma and mom and dad trauma, the worst dental trauma we see in our offices is the elderly population, because just general dentistry back then was they put a foot on my chest and they pulled a tooth. So nowadays it's not like that anymore, thank goodness but um they need to come see you, yeah.
Speaker 2:And the second thing is when we start seeing issues. There's a lot of baby bottle syndrome. People don't realize that feeding your child milk at night before they go to bed is one of the worst things that you could do.
Speaker 2:Excuse me If you are not rinsing or brushing those teeth and the sugar in the milk erodes and will rot the teeth and a lot of these cases what, like a lot, of a lot of schools now require you to have a checkup with your dentist before, because that's how they start finding neglect in households is through their teeth and so whole nother level, whole nother level and also just educating people.
Speaker 2:Soft drinks are terrible. We are seeing more and more cavities now because of the diet, the sugar, the car like bacteria in your mouth is what rots your teeth. And so, if you can, if you sip on a Coke all day long, you think you're only drinking one Coke. That's so much worse than if you drink three or four of them and just yeah, cause the slow, the slow drinking just causes your mouth to stay acidic all day long, eroding your teeth. And so just catching those kids early and understanding the habits, like mom, like let's do water in between energy drinks and stuff like that, or juice, or things like that with the sugar, exactly.
Speaker 2:So education is the key to everything, especially in our profession and so um. Catching them early just helps to educate earlier okay, so my last question for the day, and it's it's always an interesting one.
Speaker 1:I love to hear the different answers from everyone. I like to know how you maintain your posture while pursuing your purpose in life that is a great question.
Speaker 2:so you know, and anybody can really say this, but as far from my perspective in my profession, dentistry it takes a toll on you. So a lot of people are like oh my gosh, you'll take off Fridays. No one knew dentists works on Fridays. Well, at first I didn't understand it, now I do.
Speaker 1:And I'm only 39.
Speaker 2:And you know I'm actually starting to take off now even earlier, like four o'clock, and we're giving our team patients in dentistry especially. They come to the office with all their stress and their dental pain and problems are real, they're valid, and if you're a compassionate person you're going to take on a lot of that emotional stress that your patients are having. On top of that, we know it is expensive to go to the dentist. Our overhead in our profession is like 65, 70%. It's unbelievable. So as a business you have to run a business. So it is expensive to go to the dentist. We get it. We understand getting a shot is not a walk in the park, it's not fun and we have to give shots all day long, three or four times an hour, and so we're causing pain to people, necessary pain, but for the better good. You take on that stress and so then you have to go home and you have to run a household. Yeah, it's mental.
Speaker 2:It's all mental, and so what I've done just to balance and maintain both parts of my life is really focusing on the happiness of the people around me, so doing what I can do at home to make sure I'm not bringing work home, which might mean some traveling, which might mean we now take walks in the afternoon just to like release, because alcohol is not the answer, because you can go down that rabbit hole quick.
Speaker 2:So during the week we do not drink, but we do love our walks now to relieve that stress and then at the office just making sure you have a happy team. We have 35 employees. I know, I know, and you look, your team's problems are your problems.
Speaker 2:If you're not a good leader, it's gonna it's a reflection on how you lead, and so it is a constant growth in you as a person, and making sure that their work-life balance is okay. Because in our profession it's mostly women who are caretakers for their children, and you know the women, they have two jobs at all times, especially in the South, with the way our culture is. The woman is the head of household. Right, maybe not financially per se, but they are the head of household, and so we have to make sure that our employees are happy, at least at our, our office, and they have something that they can look forward to every single day because they truly have a whole different job and perspective when they leave our office. And daycare we now release early at 4 o'clock because we don't want our employees paying extra daycare. It's little things like that that have made the value of working at our office so much more. It's less about the money or the profession of dentistry, it's just whole.
Speaker 2:If you're not doing both good, you can't do everything great at all times A healthy balance, but as long as you have that healthy balance on both ends, not just for yourself but also for your team members, and then they show your respect and love, then it makes it all worthwhile, and then your patients are the ones that actually are the beneficiaries of it, because they get to come in to great mental health from their, their dentist, as well as our wonderful team members who are assisting them before and after they see me.
Speaker 1:So, and it's a well-oiled machine, because I've been there myself.
Speaker 2:So well, thank you.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you for being here, of course, and until next time, sit up straight, stay happy, stay healthy and stay adjusted.
Speaker 3:Thanks for listening to the Posture and Purpose Podcast with Dr Michelle Carfrank. Make sure to subscribe on YouTube, spotify and Apple Podcasts Until next time.