Random thoughts about our profession

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iflossdaily

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How Hollywood/TV/the media portrays us:
Ever see The Dentist, The Dentist II, Little Shop of Horrors, Whole Nine Yards, Novocaine, Seinfeld, Three's Company, Friends etc. etc. Here is a collection of the characteristics of a movie/tv dentist: He's a middle-aged white male, a sadist, a fat balding sleazebag, a leech on society who makes too much money, is either divorced,cheating on his wife or is committing some sort of sexual indiscretion. In more forgiving portrayals he's avoiding the office to play golf or is an unassuming, ineffective but lovable klutz and/or a goofball who makes lame jokes.

I was watching a news magazine report and they did a piece on false advertising in breast enhancement cream/pill commercials. One of the ads used a 'doctor' to endorse the product. The reporter asked him about his degree...turns out he's a DMD. The reporter then looks at the camera and oh so sarcastically says, "Medical expert? A dentist?"

Charles Grodin did a piece on 60 minutes about new technologies at dental conventions. Every time he talked to a dentist, he seemed to be seething with condenscension. Maybe Grodin is this way all the time...but that doesn't help matters.

The Onion had an article (quite hilarious by the way) about prostitutes getting ready for the annual dental convention in Las Vegas. A prostitute was quoted as calling it the "biggest money-maker of the year"

And on and on and on....

Why and when did this happen? Can anyone recall any positive images of dentists in entertainment? My avatar- Hermey the elf who wanted to grow up to be a dentist is the only 'kind of' positive image I remember. But even so, he was considered such an oddball by the other elves.
I think most people can keep reality separate from TV but still...you know what they say..there's some truth to every stereotype :) I think part of the reason is that what we do is a little odd to the rest of society. We look in mouths all day for pete's sake!! But how we became so amoral and replusive is a mystery to me. It's both a little funny and a little sad.

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I think it all started with the potrayal
of Doc Holiday in the "Westerns." He was romantisized as the hard drinking womanizing former dentist turned gambler/gunslinger pal of Wyatt Earp.
 
From my understanding people that don't know a profession very well will always have something negative to say about it. eg lawyers, doctors, engineers etc. All these profession has something negative attributed to them. Maybe, is the fear of the unknown. Choosing a profession one loves is the key, and should not border with what people say about it. Nine out of ten times they'll rather be in shoes. <img border="0" alt="[Laughy]" title="" src="graemlins/laughy.gif" />
 
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i think the movie cast away w/tom hanks gave a brief endorsment of dentists when he had that huge abcess in his upper left gum and had to do his own tooth extraction w/a rock and a ice skate....and saying before "if only i'd gone to the dentist more often" (or something like that)
 
Iflossdaily--

Hermy the elf is an inspiration to us all. No matter what anyone else says about his dream of being a dentist, he is in no way deterred from pursuing his dream. By the way, I love that movie!
 
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