Open Wide

Today, I found myself in a dentist chair for the 2nd time this week. My other dentist (I have like every kind you can think of), sent me back to my general dentist to check some decay that had surfaced under my crown. Needless to say, I found myself stretched out on a dentist's chair staring at the ceiling listening to the sweet sounds of Nickelback, Casting Crowns, and a dentist drill – ah. . . the precious sounds of life. Gotta love the iPod for the music that takes you away from the drill that seems to scare most individuals.

If you were to go back and see my life, you would see that I have spent a lot of time in a dentist's chair. Let's recap my life:

Today, as I listened to the dentist recount her years in Dental School, it finally hit me that the way her office is set up – murals on the walls, screens for showing patients troubled areas, dental assistants who remember your name, not just your patient number – is because she was a forward thinking dental student. She spoke about how a picture was on the wall of every exam room – one in particular – was of an old house and one her patients said – why would I want to look at that . . . so she suggested a photo contest for each exam room. Subsequently, she has different murals painted on the wall of each of her exam rooms as a way to calm each of the patients.

Most dental offices are the same – beige walls with 1980's furniture and the smell of a dental office; however, her office is like entering another world – you escape reality and you tend not to be so uptight during the exam. If a dentist can be that forward thinking, then why can't companies be that forward thinking? Chew on that for awhile.