My colleagues helped quite a bit with the September issue. I was absent for two weeks. The publisher likely told the other editors who inhabit this warm and cozy environment of words, “Convert to RDH, or I will blow up … uh, I mean, uh, help Hartley out.”
This warm and cozy environment reminds me of something Cathy Seckman (a frequent RDH contributor) told me after the recent RDH Under One Roof conference. A security guard blocked her way during an after-hours errand, and she did not have her badge.
The fourth of five arguments she used to gain entry past Darrell, the security guard, was when she said, “I can say necrotizing ulcerative gingivitis.”
It was good to get back into the RDH routine. For the October issue, my colleagues handed me the keys to RDH and drifted back to Dental Economics, Woman Dentist Journal, Grand Rounds in Oral-Systemic Medicine, etc.
I got right into what was important.
Fashion.
Periodontal Therapy columnist Lynne Slim writes the words acute necrotizing ulcerative gingivitis in this month’s column. She offers a profile of longtime dental researcher, Natalie Grossman. Early in the column, you will encounter the sentence, “In clinic, she used to drape her carefully starched skirt over the back edge of the dental stool to avoid any visible creases.”
Kirsten Brancheau, a proofreader who sometimes writes articles for RDH, revised that sentence for me.
I would have revised it, but my mind was in the gutter.
Slim originally wrote, “In clinic, she used to drape her carefully starched skirt over the back of the dental chair to avoid any visible creases.”
My mind was thinking along the lines of “Boy, Mrs. Grossman must have been the most popular hygienist ever among male patients.”
Brancheau replied somewhat bluntly, “Gee, too bad you don’t have photos from the old days when hygienists routinely flipped their skirts up.”
It was time to move on. Part of my routine is to help out Kristine Hodsdon, the director of RDH eVillage. Digital newsletters require a special kind of technical editing and coding, and, miraculously, I can be of assistance to Kristine there. I noticed Shirley Cross, a good friend of mine from Houston, wrote Kristine a note about a gift certificate she won playing the RDH eVillage Click-it Trivia game.
Shirley said, “The $50 Target gift certificate came in very handy since I needed a new blouse to wear to RDH Under One Roof in Las Vegas in July. I want to thank you for such a nice gift from RDH eVillage. I have enclosed a picture of the blouse.”
I took a look at the blouse, thought Shirley looked nice and gave it a thumbs-up, and coded it in that special way the Internet likes, wondering if I should mention the availability of the blouse to my wife and daughter. Probably not. I know they favor vintage thrift shops over shopping malls. What do I know? I just started reading the October issue of RDH; it’s unlikely that I will qualify as a fashion insider until I reach the back cover.
However, I probably should mention to the aforementioned publisher that we really need a runway down the middle of the exhibit floor at RDH Under One Roof. An emcee would be nice too.
“Jane, who is attending RDH Under One Roof from Minnesota, bought her heavy silk twill blouse at Saks Fifth Avenue. Note the rounded collar and the narrow button cuffs. It was purchased for $325. Next we have Ashley from North Carolina…”
Seriously, I went to SmartScrubs to do a little research on dental fashion. The Arizona company is featuring its scrubs with a college football theme.
Nothing says shopping or fashion to me like football does. You go shop for clothes; I will watch football.
Anyway, SmartScrubs offers scrubs in school colors and woven logos for 30 schools. A model wears scrubs representing the University of Texas, while another holds a Trojans helmet while in Southern Cal scrubs. These 30 schools seem like a Who’s Who list for powerhouses in college football.
If I counted the numbers correctly, only 11 of these campuses have dental schools. Even though dental hygiene has more than 270 campuses, only nine reside where these powerhouses are.
Why can’t we have scrubs for the hygienists and fighting Owls at Oregon Institute of Technology? So concludes this fashion report. RDH
by Mark Hartley
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