Understanding Occlusion - I

      I never understood occlusion in dental college. I suspect at that time my teachers didn't either ! Occlusion was complicated and heavily influenced by the gnathologic movement. There was this impression created that  the teeth occluded in a super super precise way. There was absolutely no leeway for teeth to occlude in any way other than the way in which the experts said they should. The amazing fact that one's teeth had not read the latest textbooks and were not familiar with gnathologic theories was lost on the thought leaders of the day.
    The teeth on their part insisted on doing things in the most ungnathologic way. They refused to occlude the way they were expected too and often were way away from their ideal positions. This was termed malocclusion, was considered a pathology on par with suffering from cancer or some other deadly disease and believed to need immediate and urgent treatment. It was suggested that any teeth failing to follow the diktats of the ruling gnathologists should be coerced into their "ideal positions" by equilibration, full mouth occlusal rehabilitation (a euphemism for doing 28 crowns on the otherwise healthy patient ).
     Thousands of patients who were otherwise perfectly healthy and comfortable with their teeth were thus equilibrated and restored into gnathologic perfection and bankruptcy. But at least they had perfectly occluding teeth !
      Some foolish dentists innocently pointed out the strange fact the incidence of patients needing full mouth rehabilitation in a practice was directly related to whether the dentist was planning on buying an expensive new car or was planning an expensive renovation to his/her house or had booked an expensive round the world trip.
      These observations by dentists who were obviously not "authorities" and didn't understand the first thing about occlusion were dismissed out of hand as "anecdotal" and not "evidence based".
       It was obvious that these patients had perfect occlusions. It is self evident that anyone with a perfect occlusion is a perfectly happy , enlightened individual..........

DR. C. P. MATHAI M.D.S.,

Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeon.

Wisdom Teeth & Surgical Extraction of Teeth

Instructions :

1. You have just had a tooth surgically removed. This is a minor surgical procedure and requires care and attention on your part to avoid problems.

2. Remove the cotton pack after an hour. If there still seems to be bleeding place a fresh cotton pack for a further half-hour.

3. Some bleeding is to be expected and blood stained saliva is normal for the first day. However if there is profuse bleeding and if your mouth fills up with blood clots contact the doctor at the number given to you.

4. Apply an ice pack externally for 2-3 hours after surgery. The pack should be applied and taken off alternately for 10 minutes at a time.

5. Avoid rinsing the mouth on the day of the surgery. If you must rinse, do so only after 2 hours, very gently and with ice cold water from the fridge.

6. You may eat or drink after 2 hours. For today your diet should consist of soft and cold food such as milk, ice-creams, milk shakes, custards, curd, fruit juices, rice kanji, dal, soups, khichdi etc. etc.. It is important to eat well. Eat small amounts of food at frequent intervals.

7. Avoid hard-to-chew and spicy foods.

8. Take medicines as instructed. Avoid taking medicines on an empty stomach unless specifically instructed to do so.

9. The next day you may apply a hot water bag from the outside over the area of surgery.

10. The next day you may rinse with warm water and salt. Take a small glass of warm water and add a teaspoonful of salt. Rinse your mouth with this water holding it in the affected area until it is cold. Spit it out and repeat 2-3 times. Do this 3 times a day until the stitches are removed.

11. Since this surgery is more complicated than normal extraction of a tooth the following complications may occur.

a. Swelling at the site of surgery. This may increase for the first two to three days and then slowly decrease.

b. Difficulty in opening your mouth.

c. Pain and discomfort.

d. Sore spots at the corner of the mouth.

e. Difficulty in swallowing and a sore throat on the side of the surgery.

f. Bluish black discoloration of the face especially below the eyes in case of surgery for upper teeth.

g. Numbness of the lower lip. This is an uncommon complication but can occur as the roots of the wisdom teeth are very close to or in contact with the nerve that supplies the lip and this nerve can get damaged while extracting this tooth. The sensation will generally return in a few weeks to a few months.

h. Numbness of the tongue. This is an uncommon complication but can occur as the nerve supplying the tongue is very close to or in contact with the wisdom tooth and can get damaged while extracting this tooth. The sensation will generally return in a few weeks to a few months.

12. Sutures (stitches) have been taken. If they are not the dissolving kind you will need to come back after a week for removal of the stitches.

In case of emergency contact Dr. C.P. Mathai on 8813260 or Mobile No. 98201 40801 .

Your appointment for removal of sutures is on the

Reasons to work

Reasons to work: "

1. For the money


2. To be challenged


3. For the pleasure/calling of doing the work


4. For the impact it makes on the world


5. For the reputation you build in the community


6. To solve interesting problems


7. To be part of a group and to experience the mission


8. To be appreciated

Why do we always focus on the first? Why do we advertise jobs or promotions as being generic on items 2 through 8 and differentiated only by #1?

In fact, unless you're a drug kingpin or a Wall Street trader, my guess is that the other factors are at work every time you think about your work. (PS Happy Birthday Corey.)

"

Where do ideas come from?

Where do ideas come from?: "

1. Ideas don't come from watching television


2. Ideas sometimes come from listening to a lecture


3. Ideas often come while reading a book


4. Good ideas come from bad ideas, but only if there are enough of them


5. Ideas hate conference rooms, particularly conference rooms where there is a history of criticism, personal attacks or boredom


6. Ideas occur when dissimilar universes collide


7. Ideas often strive to meet expectations. If people expect them to appear, they do


8. Ideas fear experts, but they adore beginner's mind. A little awareness is a good thing


9. Ideas come in spurts, until you get frightened. Willie Nelson wrote three of his biggest hits in one week


10. Ideas come from trouble


11. Ideas come from our ego, and they do their best when they're generous and selfless


12. Ideas come from nature


13. Sometimes ideas come from fear (usually in movies) but often they come from confidence


14. Useful ideas come from being awake, alert enough to actually notice


15. Though sometimes ideas sneak in when we're asleep and too numb to be afraid


16. Ideas come out of the corner of the eye, or in the shower, when we're not trying


17. Mediocre ideas enjoy copying what happens to be working right this minute


18. Bigger ideas leapfrog the mediocre ones


19. Ideas don't need a passport, and often cross borders (of all kinds) with impunity


20. An idea must come from somewhere, because if it merely stays where it is and doesn't join us here, it's hidden. And hidden ideas don't ship, have no influence, no intersection with the market. They die, alone.

"

"Thank You" Goes a Long Way

From Fast company

"Thank You" Goes a Long Way: "

A basic management tool that Nancy Lublin argues is all too often underused? A simple phrase that you learned as a toddler--'thank you.'

Here is what I know about Thanksgiving: It's less about focusing us on giving thanks than it is about gorging on turkey and stuffing. Ironically, perhaps, during the same week as our Thanksgiving, the British mark National Thank You Week. It's not just about this vague notion of thanks -- it's aimed at helping us thank the people we encounter every day.

Thanking people isn't simply a matter of common courtesy. A 10-year study by leadership experts Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton of 200,000 managers and employees showed that saying 'thank you' correlates with bigger profits. This isn't surprising, because giving thanks is a great motivational tool; who doesn't like to be thanked? What is surprising is how hard it is to do the thanking. (Even the Brits, with their thank-you week, apparently still aren't good at saying those two words; in another survey, 30% of respondents said they don't even bother anymore, instead opting for a much less gratitude-filled 'cheers.')

As a not-for-profit CEO, I say lots of thank-yous -- to sponsors, donors, staff, volunteers. So in this season that purports to be all about the giving of thanks, let's muse on who to thank and how to do it effectively.

1. Interns. Brewing coffee, making copies, stuffing envelopes: On life's totem pole, the intern occupies a lowly station somewhere below the lunch lady (who is at least typically guaranteed a paycheck and benefits). Obviously, interns do grunt work in the hopes of carving out a higher niche, but most interns, despite their millions of hours of labor, get not only no money but also little thanks. This makes no sense. For one thing, it's rude. For another, your interns -- past, present, future -- are out there talking about you and your office. If they love you, they're your brand champions. If they don't, they'll trash you. All it takes to ensure the former is a small gesture -- or a series of them. Perhaps it's a handwritten note that mentions a specific thing they did to positively affect your workplace. Maybe you could invite them to your next holiday party. Or, perhaps best of all, help them line up their next job.

2. Lawyers. For real. The American Bar Association estimates that nearly three-quarters of all lawyers provide free services to disadvantaged people or the organizations that serve them -- about 20 million hours a year. Let's say these lawyers usually bill about $250 an hour. (According to the Laffey Matrix, that's 'reasonable' these days.) That's about $5 billion a year in donated value to the not-for-profit sector -- an enormous gift, and especially for small shops without huge corporate accounts to rely on, a big strain. So think twice before telling a lawyer joke. And if your group gets pro bono help, try to steer your lawyer some business that pays.

3. The little people. Yes, the name itself is a problem, which is exactly why I used it. You know I'm not talking about my 4-foot-10 grandma. The 'little people' are the FedEx guy, the UPS guy, the cleaners, the girl who sorts mail for our building, the repairman who is in our office way too often to fix our hapless copy machine. Here's a test: What are their names? Our office manager, Lauren Singer Katz, recently issued a quiz to our entire team, seeing how many of us could name 10 of the people who regularly interact with us, from the guy who books our flights at the eleventh hour (Albert) to the woman who rush-prints our posters at Staples (Karen). Most of us scored around 50%. Pathetic. Now we make it a point to greet everyone by name. Who are your office invisibles, the support team that makes sure you can do your job? Learn their names. Talk to them. Thank them. You might be surprised to learn that they think of your office as their workplace too, whether they are formally on your payroll or not. Do they know what you do? Lauren took the time to get to know Marlon, our janitor, and to tell him about Do Something's work. This past summer, Marlon's daughter was one of our best interns.

I haven't suggested anything that costs money. I didn't propose that you buy anyone a scarf or a fruitcake. Be polite; it's what Miss Manners would want you to do, but also it's good business. The British one-upped us by having a week of thanks instead of our one day. So let's take their idea and go one better. Let's take time every day to say thanks. Cheers.

Do Something CEO Nancy Lublin is thankful for New York nail salons.

A version of this article appears in the November issue of Fast Company.

[Photo by the Woodley Wonder Works]

"

Sure, but what's the hard part?

Sure, but what's the hard part?: "

Every project (product, play, event, company, venture, non profit) has a million tasks that need to be done, thousands of decisions, predictions, bits of effort, conversations and plans.

Got that.

But what's the hard part?

The CEO spends ten minutes discussing the layout of the office with the office manager. Why? Was that a difficult task that could only be done by her? Unlikely.

The founder of a restaurant spends hours at the cash register, taking orders and hurrying the line along... important, vital, emotional, but hard? Not if we think of hard as the chasm, the dividing line between success and failure. No, the hard part is raising two million dollars to build more stores. Hard is hiring someone better than you to do this part of the job.

Hard is not about sweat or time, hard is about finishing the rare, valuable, risky task that few complete.

Don't tell me you want to launch a line of spices but don't want to make sales calls to supermarket buyers. That's the hard part.

Don't tell me you are a great chef but can't deal with cranky customers. That's the hard part.

Don't tell me you have a good heart but don't want to raise money. That's the hard part.

Identifying which part of your project is hard is, paradoxically, not so easy, because we work to hide the hard parts. They frighten us.

"

Embracing the upcycle instead of the downcycle

Embracing the upcycle instead of the downcycle: "

Does a stressful event start a cascade that ends up making even you more stressed?

If an authority figure corrects your behavior, does the intervention lead you to push back and make the behavior worse?

Does a failure set you on a path to more failure?

These questions seem philosophical or even paradoxical, but in fact I think they get to the heart of why some people succeed and others don't. We can choose to create cycles that move us up or endure cycles that drag us down.

A cop hassles a teenager who is acting out. The kid escalates. The cop escalates. Someone gets shot.

A sales call is going poorly because the prospect doesn't perceive the salesperson is confident. She responds by becoming even less confident. No sale.

A mistake is made. The stakes go up. Rattled, another mistake is made, and then again, until failure occurs...

James Bond is a hero because the tougher the world got, the cooler he got. Symphony conductors don't endure the pressure of a performance, they thrive on it.

If being a little behind creates self-pressure that leads to stress and then errors, it's no wonder you frequently end up a lot behind. If the way you manage your brand inevitably leads to a ceaseless race to the bottom, it's no wonder that you're struggling. A small bump gets magnified and repeated until it overwhelms.

Customer service falls apart when mutual escalation or non-understanding sets in. Management falls apart when power struggles or miscommunication escalate. Education falls apart when students respond to negative tracking by giving up.

Someone who gets better whenever he fails will always outperform someone who responds to failure by getting worse. This isn't something in your DNA, it's something you can learn or unlearn.

The appropriate response is not to try harder, to bear down and grind it out. The response that works is to understand the nature of the cycle and to change it from the start. You must not fight the cycle, you must transform it into a different cycle altogether. It's a lot of work, but less work than failing.

When the lizard pushes you to recoil in fear, that's your cue to embrace the trembling fear and do precisely the opposite of what it demands. This won't work the first time or even the tenth, but it's the path to an upcycle, one where each negative input leads to more productivity, not less.

"