Angels in Dentures

We were approaching the end of our fourth and final day in Alianza, Honduras, and our team still had a lot of flippers (partial dentures) to make. We were particularly focused on a flipper for 16-year-old Maria. Her top two front teeth were extracted and the other two front teeth filled because of extensive decay. Unfortunately, soda is cheaper than bottled water in Honduras, and decay is rampant.

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Outside the Box: Doctors in Nontraditional Careers

My favorite part of medicine is the moments I spend in direct patient care and in talking with specialists about patients. All the rest of it I find pretty unsatisfying. I feel limited by my inefficiency as well as pretty painful hand arthritis, so I had mixed feelings about the prospect of increasing my hours doing medicine after my kids were launched.

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Interview with an American Ninja Warrior

In 2015, Richard Shoemaker, MD, an emergency room physician living and working in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, found himself in the national spotlight while competing on American Ninja Warrior. On this NBC show, competitors battle through a series of challenging obstacle courses in both city qualifying and city finals rounds across the country.

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Finding Your Mission in Dentistry

As I entered “Ms. V’s” room, I could see her neck and leg braces, and as I came around the dental chair to greet her, I could see pain in her face. Two days before, she was hit by a car while crossing the road and her two front teeth were broken all the way to the nerve. It was obvious her entire body hurt, but she said the pain from her teeth was simply unbearable.

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