I'll stick my hand up in defense of dentists here, because I grew up with a great one (who, incidentally, skied hard and often and also served as the coroner in Whistler for years) and have had another great one since then. Another one I know of is a serious triathlete. Someone I went to school with became one, and he was a great dude - hearing about what he had to go through/achieve to get accepted into dental school left me with a new appreciation for the demands placed on those who make it through.
Like most professions, dentists are probably at least partially misunderstood. Resenting the fact that they make good money seems pointless. It's very hard to become one, and I'm sure it costs a lot of money to run a dental practice - some of the modern machinery they use is high tech and expensive, hygienists have to be paid, insurance must be sky high, and let's not forget that dentists are freakin' mouth surgeons.
I do think that calling them 'dentist bikes' is at least a little bit unfair, but it's also probably not hurting many feelings, so I'm as guilty as anyone.
I don't think any of these things make for fair points upon which to judge the civic-mindedness of dentists as a whole, though, and now that I've looked back and thought about it, it appears as though most of the dentists I've known were uncommonly swell people.
May 9, 2022, 1:36 p.m. - Pete Roggeman
I'll stick my hand up in defense of dentists here, because I grew up with a great one (who, incidentally, skied hard and often and also served as the coroner in Whistler for years) and have had another great one since then. Another one I know of is a serious triathlete. Someone I went to school with became one, and he was a great dude - hearing about what he had to go through/achieve to get accepted into dental school left me with a new appreciation for the demands placed on those who make it through. Like most professions, dentists are probably at least partially misunderstood. Resenting the fact that they make good money seems pointless. It's very hard to become one, and I'm sure it costs a lot of money to run a dental practice - some of the modern machinery they use is high tech and expensive, hygienists have to be paid, insurance must be sky high, and let's not forget that dentists are freakin' mouth surgeons. I do think that calling them 'dentist bikes' is at least a little bit unfair, but it's also probably not hurting many feelings, so I'm as guilty as anyone. I don't think any of these things make for fair points upon which to judge the civic-mindedness of dentists as a whole, though, and now that I've looked back and thought about it, it appears as though most of the dentists I've known were uncommonly swell people.