In every culture across time, the Hero’s Journey has served as a timeless narrative — one that speaks to transformation through struggle. Joseph Campbell described this arc as the departure from the familiar, the descent into trial and loss, the initiation that tests the soul, and the return with wisdom and renewal. It’s the shape…
How Do You Find Joy in Surgery When You’re in Pain? Let’s be honest—some days it’s hard to love this job. The back hurts, the schedule’s packed, the patient’s being difficult, and the suction just died mid-procedure. You want to radiate calm, collected confidence…but inside, you’re just trying not to swear into your mask. And…
When most people think of Steve Irwin—the “Crocodile Hunter”—they remember the wild stunts with crocodiles, snakes, or other dangerous animals. On the surface, it seemed the thrill came from near-death encounters with fearsome creatures. But that wasn’t what drew millions of people to him. The true reason Steve Irwin captured the hearts of so many…
I was recently invited to give a talk to a large group of general dentists on how they can work more effectively with their oral surgeon. The presentation went well, but one part stood out to me: the discussion on post-op visits. The Problem of Overreaction Too often, especially with younger dentists, a patient will…
After interviewing over 200 surgeons on the Everyday Oral Surgery podcast, there’s one sentiment I’ve heard repeated time and again: “I love what I do. Oral surgery is the best profession in the world.” And to be honest… sometimes I’ve wanted to disagree. There have been stretches in my career where I felt far removed…
I recently watched the movie F1 starring Brad Pitt. While it’s a story about Formula 1 racing on the surface, at its heart, it asks a deeper question: Why do you do what you do? What truly drives you to get up every morning and go to work? For the character Sonny Hayes, there’s no…
How Specialization Can Both Help and Hinder Your Service to Others Date: June 4, 2025 Have you ever heard the phrase, “Jack of all trades, master of none”? It’s something I’ve often heard applied to general dentists. For specialists, you might say the reverse is true—but with a twist: “Lack of all trades, master…
Don’t Wait for Perfect Circumstances As an independent contractor, I work with a group of dentists who hire me to perform their surgeries. This means I operate in several dental offices that I don’t own. While the work runs smoothly overall, there are small aspects of this arrangement I can’t control. One of the biggest?…
When I was a first-year oral surgery resident, I had two great chief residents who became tremendous mentors to me. One of them, Ryan, was in his final year of residency—but it was also his first year at our program, just like me. The year before, he had been in his third year of residency…
Every day, somewhere in the world, a medical mistake happens that causes real, sometimes devastating, consequences for a patient. On a recent podcast episode, I shared the story of a closed-claim case that perfectly illustrates this. A young, healthy teenager — a softball player, excited for her upcoming senior prom — was referred to an…
