Would You Trust This Man?

Well yesterday I decided to. Okay, maybe I have been trusting him for a little longer then one day, but up to this point that trust didn't include x-ray vision glasses and sharp instruments. Ryan was able to practice his totally sweet dental skills on a lucky family member or friend yesterday, and since I happen to be his only family here in Ohio and all of his friends were busy practicing themselves I won the prize.

I am proud to report he did wonderful! The first part of the procedure I just had to keep myself from laughing, because here was my husband dressed up as a dentist asking me questions about my health history, giving me a head and neck exam (which I must say would be a little uncomfortable coming from anyone besides him), and evaluating my overall oral hygiene. But soon the safety glasses were on, the tools were in my mouth, and I was listening to him throw around words like mandibular, lingual, and DO composite restorations like it was nothing. I couldn't have been more proud. When getting into dental school was still only a far off dream for us I knew that if and when Ryan got in he would do great. Now he is in school and practicing dental procedures on real people and he is doing awesome! He only made me bleed a tiny bit, and we are blaming that on pregnancy gingivitis, which means he can chalk patient number one up as a complete success.

For now school continues to consist primarily of late night study sessions, amazingly hard exams, and early morning hours spent creating crown preps on fake teeth down in the dungeon that is the dental school lab. But next summer (after hopefully passing boards with flying colors) he will be in clinic and really practicing what he came to Ohio State to do. So all of you friends and family out there get those cavities and root canals ready, because in 2.5 more years Dr. Ryan Palmer, DDS will be waiting with drill (and Novocaine) in hand.