Non-essential, or Expendable?

So, I’m a dentist who practices in Temple City, a SoCal Norman Rockwell-type hamlet just outside of Pasadena and the Rose Bowl. Describing our town as quiet, outside of the Camelia Festival, Fourth of July, and Chinese New Year, would contend for the understatement-of-the-year. I’ve been here since the Carter Administration but never did see the Red Car pull up and perform a U-turn at Kauffman and Las Tunas.

I love our community and its diversity. When I moved into a brand-new office, serving maybe 50-patients and a few fictitious celebs penciled into the schedule to make it look good, I had no idea what things would be like in the year 2021. Who knew Billionaires would be building space craft designed to send William Shatner straight outta our atmosphere? Who knew I’d be using lasers and digital X-rays and scanners? The first computer I ever saw, courtesy of a local colleague buddy looked half the size of a freakin refrigerator.

Our social media was the local newspaper, a Rolodex, and the kind of phone, once known as a land line. We had retail when I started out, but it faded away somewhere in the late Eighties or early Nineties. My before and after photos were processed down the street at a camera store, now my phone has replaced retail and I have chronic bilateral thumb-on-phone disorder.

From my debut during Late Disco and up until recently, the only mass mobilizations that have struck home were gas shortages and HIV. And I haven’t relived the good ole odd/even day lines at the pump in decades; people like Magic Johnson now live normal lives with what used to be a viral death sentence. Plus, old-timers like me with functional long-term memories can remember a time before Magic, when we would actually place our ungloved hands directly on slimy teeth, plaque, and leftover Mickey D. Ugh.

The last 2-years have been a challenging exercise in adaptation for us all. As a small business owner, I’ve become closer to my H/R representative, CPA, Financial Advisor, and lawyer than ever before. I’ve also been in better communication with my colleagues across the country. Our safety precautions have always been strong, but now they’re next level and will remain so. And like, with wearing gloves as an outcome following the arrival of HIV, we’ll be better off from what we learn while being creative in our handling of Covid-19.

I’m proud that California has often taken the lead in following the science and making some tough decisions. Like astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson observes, “The good thing about science is it’s true, whether you believe in it or not.” But I’m disappointed that after almost two years, there is a total lack of coordination, state and nation-wide, in confronting a deadly pandemic we didn’t see coming or take seriously soon enough.

The latest example of buffoonery arriving with the best of intentions is the California Department of Public Health and Governor Newsom’s updated mandate affecting health care workers. The mandate impacts every conceivable health facility on the face of the Golden State and even the clerks and receptionists and passers-by within, but NOT dental offices. Seriously?

Why not us? Clinically, our world exists within a cloud of aerosol where we serve patients face-to-face like family and provide care that builds resistance to systemic disease…including pandemic viral infections. So, why not us?

My more conservative colleagues earlier wrestled with our designation of being non-essential. Now it looks like our offices and teams of employees have been tweeted “invisible, unworthy, or expendable.” Makes me wonder what Newsom's teeth look like?

Here's hoping the next time the Gov "tweets" out health care-related policy, it follows a successful, relaxing, and informative trip to the dentist.

Nothing worse than a sensitive DDS-type voter scorned.