I have a special place in my heart for that city by the bay, San Francisco. Even though I grew up in the hated neighbor of Los Angeles, I spent three glorious years in San Francisco when I attended the University of the Pacific School of Dentistry. And San Francisco has been in the limelight the last few weeks….the 49er’s are playing well and the Giants (sorry Dodger fans) seem on the brink of another World Championship plus the American Dental Association meeting was there last weekend..and I just gotta share some old memories and new ones as well.
In dental school we had practicals and finals. And of course as we got to the end of school mock state boards. One of the requirements of the state board was to do a denture set up in wax. Can you imagine how hot the laboratory was with 130 plus Bunsen burners going full bore. We wore shorts and tried to stay as cool as possible.
After one mock board a bunch of us went to see a Dodger-Giant game at Candlestick Park. We had some pretty cheap seats and were sitting in the top deck and a lot of people were drunk around us. They kept asking us who we were rooting for and a few of us from Los Angeles had to keep our mouth shut…we couldn’t just tell them we were Dodger fans. But then one of them noticed we were not wearing any socks (remember we had to keep cool in the lab and all we did was change from shorts into jeans…we didn’t have any socks) and I still remember his exact words…30 plus years later. “They gotta be Dodger fans because only Dodger fans would be stupid enough to come to Candlestick and not wear any socks” Busted as they would say. And, I never really responded….fearing for my safety, but he was right.
Fast forward to last weekend for the ADA meeting. First, my apartment which I rented through AIRBNB was unbelievable. 29th floor penthouse with unbelievable views of the new AT&T ballpark of the Giants and the Bay Bridge and of course the bay itself. It was about a mile walk to the Moscone Convention Center which I walked every day. I had to go through a few blocks of not so hot areas to get there…never dangerous but always interesting. It is amazing as to how much different culture you can see in a short while. There were many homeless people along with some more ambitious players…trying to sell you stuff that was too good to be true… There were the tourists/backpackers staying in some of the low rent apartments and of course after 3 blocks you are right n the middle of some of the greatest shopping in the country.
But I was there for the convention and since we have such a good local one from the California Dental Association, I haven’t been to the ADA in about 25 years. It was exciting for me because I went with a purpose. I had the opportunity to talk to some very important people about my goals of becoming a leader in preventive dentistry. I talked to people at Biolase since I purchased their newest their newest laser about how they can help (the training on the laser is next weekend and Dr. Goldman and I are very excited about this) I talked to some people at a company called Oral DNA, so I can better help my patients with gum disease. I have my usual buddies at CariFree who make incredible products to lower one’s risk for cavities. And I got to go to a special presentation at Crest/Oral B where I had a chance to share my goals with some of their marketing specialists. And I had a chance to have dinner with a friend of mine from the Bend Oregon community who works with one of the preeminent dental consultants in the world. I heard several top lectures…..next year the meeting is in New Orleans…who knows????
But I also love walking around the city and hearing all the fans going wild about the Giants game Friday night was unreal. The bars were packed, everyone was rooting for their Giants and the ground swell when the game was over was pretty cool to be in. Got to go now and get ready for game four of the World Series. And I apologize in advance to a childhood friend of mine, one Howard Cole, GO GIANTS