Sometimes I wonder if I’m in the wrong profession.
When I’m 4 hours into a resin pattern for a custom post and core, working into lunch, finally provisionalizing and hoping that my subgingival margins are closed, I want to go back to the land of cakes.
Baking will always be one of my passions. It’s intuitive and natural. Some of my favorite downtimes are spent making test cakes and flexing the creative part of my mind, blasting music, and icing the afternoon away.
Everyone gets excited to see the girl with the pastries. Many thanks and hugs are given after a successful wedding cake delivery. All the “ooooh’s and ahhhh’s” give an awesome ego boost. It’s rewarding in that shallow, fleeting way. Can a cake change someone’s life?
Not the way that dentistry can. But nobody really wants to see the dentist with the drill, and few kind words are ever given after a successful root canal treatment. But I’m okay with that. I’m happy to do what needs to be done because it helps someone… so that they can eat that delicious slice of cake.
It’s easy to convince someone to eat something that tastes good. It’s difficult to convince a patient why they need a root canal, and to help them feel safe and secure while I’m hovering over them with a drill that operates at 400,000 rpm.
Challenge accepted.
I want a meaningful profession. And I want to make cakes on the side ;).
After 8 hours of baking, and 3 cakes for a promotion ceremony, I’m starting to see that dentistry is making my baking and cake decorating better, and vice versa.
There are perfectionistic tendencies in both crafts. It’s all in the details. Is the surface smooth? Are the walls parallel, or is there a subtle taper of the cake/crown prep? Does the cake/restoration look esthetically mind blowingly awesome? Is the crown to root ratio/cake to frosting ratio ideal? Is this restoration going to last for ten years or is this cake going to be structurally sound enough to make it the drive over to clinic?
While I was happily baking away yesterday, I was thinking of all the principles that my staff specialists have really emphasized in the residency program that carry over to cake making.
“Start with the end in mind. The most important step is the step you’re working on right now. INFECTION CONTROL. Know when to bail and change the game plan. Case selection is key. Simplify your bracket table and only have the instruments you need.”
I will never forget the time when Dr. Rochlen, my general practice director at the NYU dental clinic explained caries removal to me in baking terms: “You know that the caries is removed when the tooth shavings from your slow speed round bur have the consistency of flour.”
Thank you Dr. R, and the rest of my mentors for showing me that I can combine my two passions and become a better baker and dentist at the same time. And thank you to everyone who tastes my cakes, transports my cakes, and listens to me talk about cakes!
Snapshots 