The Embrace

First day jitters.

We enter the room

anxiety, excitement,

formaldehyde in the air.

Act cool,

nobody wants to be the one who barfs.

It all happens so fast.

We pair up, position ourselves around a table

with a white-cloaked mass on it.

We confidently remove the cover, lift back the cheesecloth.

Let's do this.

Step 1: roll your cadaver over.

Huh.

"Umm...

Okay, I watched the video. Let's turn him over like a

real patient."

For a few moments, we circle around

trying to gain strategic positioning.

We scoot him to the edge of the table,

roll him on his side.

There are four of us

but he's so heavy!

At 93, he was no frail man.

We can't flip him over; his arm is stuck.

(Oh God, what if it breaks off?)

Suddenly, my arms are around him, lifting.

My chest is against his,

his free arm is inches from my face.

Despite scrubs, lab coat, and gloves,

his cold, yellow skin touches my wrist.

And now that he's over,

lying comfortably on his stomach,

relief rushes over me.

I can do this, I thought,

I just hugged a dead guy!

And so we begin.

Brush 'em! (or not)

Move over gingivitus, there's a new player in town wreaking havoc on the gums of healthy young adults across America. Who is this sinister character causing widespread gum recession, you may ask? The answer may SHOCK you. It is... harsh brushing!

That's right my friends, overly exuberant brushing, particularly in a horizontal motion, can cause gum recession in an otherwise healthy mouth. This is a serious matter, because your gums don't really grow back! And, though this may not be at all surprising, your teeth really need gums! Currently, the main way to repair gum recession is through gingival grafting (taking gum tissue from nearby or the roof of your mouth and covering the recession). Sounds intense!

I bring the important issue of overactive brushing up, because it has recently come to my attention that many of my friends (and myself) experience this problem - and have been told so by dentists.

Umm... of course we're aggressive brushers! We're med students, over-achievers to the max! We've been brushing our little hearts out to make sure our teeth were perfectly clean since we could hold a mini toothbrush in our tiny hands. When we were younger, the dentists praised us for our efforts: "My, what a great job you're doing brushing your teeth! Go get a toy from The Drawer." Positive reinforcement? I live for that stuff! (I'm not joking. When I had my braces, I got a "Best Patient" award from the orthodontist... which I'm sure they give like 90% of their patients... and I was thrilled. I was also 11).

I bet the dentists, praying kids would brush their teeth at least once a week, didn't see this coming. Now they have to put gum grafts in the mouths of all those over-achieving med students out there.