As dentists, most of the time we are caught up in our everyday endeavors. For me, first and foremost, it is my practice and the daily rigors that come with running my business. A close second seems to be how CEREC has engulfed my life with cerecdoctors.com and teaching docs about the technology and how to use it. This is certainly in a good way, but for the last few years I seem to have blinders on to those things only.

A few weeks back, a colleague I recently trained in CEREC asked me to help her in her office for a day of charity dentistry, through an organization called Dentistry from the Heart. I was happy to offer my services. I arrived at the office and worked on lots of people. We offered hygiene, fillings and extractions. Many were just down on their luck and have been struck by the hard times of the past few years. Others have been dealing with hard times for much longer. Each person had a different story - some just wanted a cleaning because it had been more years then they could remember; others had pain and swelling and needed emergency extractions or fillings.

There were no CERECs done. Most days I'm very sad when I don't see them on my schedule. Today I was just happy to be there to listen to their stories, and to give these wonderful and thankful people treatment that they certainly needed but could in no way afford.

I know that many of us have complained that business is down over the past few years. I know that my practice is down a bit. For some reason, that didn't even come to mind today. We have the ability to do wonderful things for wonderful people. Sometimes, it is a great feeling to do just that and ask nothing in return.

If you would like more info about this amazing organization, their website is dentistryfromtheheart.org. I have to say that I have not felt this good in a long time. Sometimes you have to give back!