Kendall Mower - Army Strong Stories

Wow...Way to go Navy

Kendall Mower — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 04:35:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
This week was the MHS Conference I'll talk more about that in another post. I wanted to post some video of the Navy drill team. They performed at the very end of our last session and they were pretty amazing. Those are wood guns that they are spinning and throwing, and yes they do have bayonets on the end of them....read more

It's that time in the career again...Time to move

Kendall Mower — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 18:51:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
I hadn't mentioned anything about it because in the military I have learned it's not official until you have orders. I have heard some people say even then it's not official until you are getting on the plane :) Orders came through this week and I beleive it's as official as it gets. Today is my last day at Fort Belvoir. I will be going back to the Office of the Surgeon General (OTSG) to work as a staff officer in a new office that was created. This...read more

National Museum of the Marine Corps

Kendall Mower — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 07:00:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
We received notice a few days ago that the power to our dental clinic would be cut for some work that was going on outside our building. In response to that our Commander lined up an Officer Professional Development (OPD) activity for us. We went down to the National Museum of the Marine Corps. Although this in an Army website...I've got to admit the museum was pretty cool. I look forward to the Army Museum that will be built by 2015 at Ft. Belvoir. I hope...read more

Broken Tooth

Kendall Mower — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 03:12:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
I had a patient today that had been eating something frozen and heard a crack. He had been evaluated by both our Prosthodontist and our Periodontist and was scheduled with me for an extraction and bone graft. We were taking out the center tooth that has the black color coming through. The tooth appears to have given him some problems in the past. If you look right where his lip comes down parallel to that tooth you can see a pink circle. He had an area where puss...read more

Emergency Call

Kendall Mower — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 17:01:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
It's known by many different names in the Army Dental Corps - Emergency call, DOD, on call, and a few other names I won't mention here. Ultimately it all means the same thing - being assigned as the dentist to provide care when the dental clinic is closed. Since it is typically divided up among all the dentists assigned to an area the frequency can vary. Some locations you may only pull call a few times a year, others it may be once a month. After hours care is...read more

Clinic cases

Kendall Mower — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 05:22:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
I apologized I have slacked on writing here. Things have been pretty busy, and hopefully in the coming week or so I can provide some more info on that. Realizing that I was slacking I began taking pictures today with the intention of photographing something from every case. As the day progressed however, I only got in 3. To give you an idea of what today was like the following procedures were done: - 4 exams (1 also included a 3 surface amalgam) - 1 evaluation on...read more

Ultimate Sacrafice

Kendall Mower — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 04:35:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
While my wife and I were driving near Fort Myer we happened to go by Arlington National Cemetery. I had never seen the cemetery during the holidays, and I had to stop for a moment. As I looked out upon the rows of perfectly lined grave stones with wreaths placed I had the opportunity to switch gears for a moment. At this time when there are so many things vying for attention, this scene made me pause and consider the ultimate sacrifice that so many have paid in the...read more

Thank You USO

Kendall Mower — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 04:12:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
The USO made this holiday season even better for our family. Through the generous donations from people in the area the USO provided tickets to local holiday concerts and games. We chose to take advantage of tickets to 2 events. My daughter and I attended a Christmas chorale concert sponsored by the Russian Embassy at the Kennedy Center. A few days later I was able to attend the Redskins vs Vikings game on Christmas Eve with my son (believe it or not he was happy)....read more

Christmas at the Dental Clinic

Kendall Mower — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 09:00:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
It is pretty normal in most military units to have some kind of a holiday function. In our clinic we combined business with pleasure and had a great day. First thing in the morning we began with unit training. We had a great lecture on infection control and sterilizers by MAJ Kim. Next the assistants reviewed dental instruments. Then the festivities began at the officers club. Following an all-you-can-eat buffet (many people in the...read more

2011 Dental Corps Specialty training results

Kendall Mower — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 06:38:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Each year in December the Army selects the next iteration of specialty residents. All the Army programs are accredited through the American Dental Association and are recognized outside of the military upon completion. Army training differs a little from the other services because our programs are spread across the United States at different bases, while some of the other services consolidate all of their training at one or just a few bases. The Army selects 18 months in...read more

Mock Boards

Kendall Mower — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 05:17:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
All the federal services have ADA accredited specialty training programs. Each service does their training a little differently. The Army has their specialty programs spread throughout different Army bases. The Navy has all of their training programs located at their post-graduate dental school at Bethesda. This building is the location of the Navy programs. Just inside of the lobby is a room dedicated to FDR and the history behind the creation...read more

Army Flag Raising

Kendall Mower — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 05:48:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
I'm not sure how many of you have ever seen a flag raising on an Army base, but it happens every morning. Reveille is typically broadcast on speakers around the base for the whole community to hear :) This was taken at Ft. Myer, Va. When Reveille starts everyone on post is supposed to stop, face the flag and salute. If you are driving you should stop the car and get out and salute....read more

Columbia Dental School

Kendall Mower — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 07:04:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
I had a little bit of an exciting time on a recruiting trip up to Columbia School of Dentistry this past week. I was flying out of Reagan National Airport and I had checked in at home. I made it through security and all the way to the gate when I checked the monitor and saw that my flight had been canceled due to mechanical issues (picture below is the airport). Normally if I were flying on my own I would have had to find the next available flight and sit around the...read more

Clinic update

Kendall Mower — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 06:44:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
I haven't talked about cases that have been going on in the clinic much. I guess there is a couple of reasons: 1) Not being able to connect my camera to government computers at work means that I have to try to do the pictures at home - a little more effort 2) Seeing so many things each day - I sometimes forget to grab the camera. Today I had a new experience. I was seeing a foreign officer from a Latin American country. In that country they use a type of metal in...read more

Thanksgiving at the Dental Clinic

Kendall Mower — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 08:03:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Although we didn't celebrate it on Thanksgiving, last week we had a Fort Belvoir Dental Clinic Command (Fort Belvoir and Fort Myer) get together to celebrate Thanksgiving and also get some training done. The training took up most of the morning and covered such exciting topics as cold weather injury prevention, and infection control. The afternoon was spent enjoying a Thanksgiving potluck and a game of charades. Although I won't regret my deployment...read more

Continuing Education

Kendall Mower — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 06:01:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
With the recent realignment that occurred Fort Belvoir and Fort Myer now fall under the command of the Fort Meade DENTAC. Recently our commander sponsored a continuing education day for all the dentists within his command (Maryland, N. Virginia, and Pennsylvania). We had presentations in Periodontics/implants, Prosthodontics, and Oral Pathology. Even learned how the different specialties compare to general contracting...read more

Turkey Trot

Kendall Mower — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 04:01:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
One of the things I have enjoyed while being in the Army is the activities that the Army sponsors. Although I have never lived on an Army base in my 10 yr career, activities like the 4th of July, regular athletic competitions, sports programs, camp outs, hikes, and other activities add an additional aspect of events we can participate in. My daughter and I decided to participate in the Fort Belvoir Turkey Trot. This was a 5k/10k race today (we did 5k). At 11...read more

Dentistry being used outside the mouth?

Kendall Mower — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 01:59:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Recently SPC Bell and I decided to see how well our dentistry skills stacked up in other areas of the dental clinic...like carpentry. Although we have a new clinic being built - we have some things that have to get us by until we move. One of those items were our chairs in the waiting room. We had some not so flattering comments about the "esthetics" of our waiting room and decided to do something about it. Many of our chairs had springs, wires,...read more

Importance of PPE

Kendall Mower — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 06:20:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
This picture clearly demonstrates why we wear Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) - masks, glasses, gowns, etc... Unfortunately I got the picture after his mask was off - but you can see all the splatter on his glasses and forehead....read more

APFT - so close...

Kendall Mower — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 17:26:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
It was time once again for our semi-annual right of passage - the Army physical fitness test (APFT). In reality you end up doing 4 a year because they also like to do a diagnostic test the month before. I think I will be smarter next time and just use the diagnostic test as my APFT that counts - thus cutting out 2 a year :) Like most Army units we take our test early in the morning. We began at 0630 (which is actually later than many units I have been in) other...read more

New Dental Clinic

Kendall Mower — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 20:23:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
The new dental clinic is almost done. We had a chance to go and look at it a few weeks ago. At any given moment there are Army dental clinics being built or renovated. Our new clinic is being built to help accommodate the new growth of the base. Here is an aerial view. The new clinic is being built in 2 phases. Phase I is the part that is almost done. This involves 14 new chairs that the specialists will move to...read more

A Miracle

Kendall Mower — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 19:26:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
If you didn't believe in miracles I have one for you that just happened to me. Last Thursday I looked in our conference room and saw a postal box full of mail. Being the nosey person I am I started going through it and to my surprise I saw a box at the bottom. As I started working my way towards the box I could see my name in the upper left corner. I pulled the box out and it took a minute for me to realize it was a box I had sent to myself from Iraq full of some of...read more

Clinic cases

Kendall Mower — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 02:30:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Had a few more interesting things come up that I snapped some pictures of during the past week. I had an EOD Soldier (explosive ordinance) that had a tattoo of a cherry bomb on her lip. I had another Soldier that told me when he was a baby he had fallen and almost bit his tongue off. They never put any stitches in, so now you can see very clearly where he bit it - especially when he bends his tongue. I had another patient that you would have thought had some...read more

I love this time of year!!!

Kendall Mower — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 02:08:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
My favorite time of the year has got to be from September through February. It's not because of the changes in the season - it's because of all the holidays!!! While I was growing up and going to school, we didn't seem to celebrate most of the holidays that we do in the military. Veteran's Day and Columbus Day were only days seen on a calendar to me. It wasn't until I graduated from dental school and came on active duty that I saw how good we had...read more

Clinic update

Kendall Mower — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 18:12:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
We had an AIT Soldier came through recently that was in need of some major dental work. In addition to a lot of fillings and a root canal, several of his teeth were determined to be non-restorable. One of the advantages to working in a group practice setting like we have here is the ability to treatment plan as a team. Part of the treatment plan developed by our Prosthodontist was to remove the badly decayed front teeth and replace them with dentures. This...read more

Promotions in the Dental Corps

Kendall Mower — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 05:03:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Promotions are something that everyone in the military looks forward to. Promotions mean different job opportunities, increased pay, and the ability to make positive changes to improve things within the Army. This past week I had the chance to attend 2 promotion ceremonies for two dental officers becoming Colonels. In the Dental Corps promotions can come every 6 years if both military and dental professional tracks are done in proper time/sequence. The person who is...read more

Mangement Course

Kendall Mower — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 02:10:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
As with many jobs in the Army, there is a natural progression towards leadership roles throughout your career. To help prepare for this, the Dental Corps offers a Dental Management Development Course for both Sergeants and Officers that will be in charge of dental clinics. This past week the course was offered in San Antonio at a hotel near the Alamo. This is a monument that sits just outside the walls of the Alamo The course was a great one, and I walked away...read more

Clinic Case II

Kendall Mower — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 05:43:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
The day is finally starting to wind down and I'm getting caught up. This morning we had our diagnostic PT test, with about 15 individuals. Everyone did good - we had a few PT studs scoring between 290-295. Record PT test will be in about a month. Recently had a chance to do an esthetic case and I worked closely with our Prosthodontist MAJ Ross. Although I have done many esthetic cases in the past, I learned a lot more this time by working with him - hopefully...read more

Clinic Case

Kendall Mower — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 14:36:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Recently a friend was going to have an implant placed through our clinic. He had a baby tooth that was still in his mouth even though he was in his 40's. The tooth had been crowned and served him about as long as it could. An implant was the next step. In the Army many locations have an implant board made up of several different specialties that consider patients and make selections on who implants will be done on. Here Major Wilson can be seen drilling...read more

Where were you on 9/11?

Kendall Mower — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 19:47:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Every year around September 11th you will hear people begin to talk about the tragedy and change that occurred within our country. This year in particular being the 10th anniversary it has received even more attention. I have been happy to see that as the years have gone by, people haven't forgotten what happened - even turning it into a day of service for others. For me September 11th wasn't the stimulus that made me join the military - that had happened 6 years...read more

Patient Safety Conference/Risk Management

Kendall Mower — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 08:36:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Earlier this month I had a chance to address a large audience from the AMEDD (Army Medical Department) in San Antonio. We had about 100 Dental Corps personnel present and about 200 medical/hospital personnel. It was a great opportunity to speak with some of our dental leadership and other colleagues. Patient safety is a very important subject within the AMEDD. The goal is to be proactive in identifying trends or behaviors that could cause an adverse outcome for a...read more

Officer Professional Development

Kendall Mower — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 15:45:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
The officers in our clinic recently had an officer professional development (OPD) event at Davidson Army Airfield across from Ft. Belvoir. The purpose of an OPD is to build Esprit de Corps and help to train officers to become future leaders. For this event we scheduled a tour of the airfield to learn about some other Army units here at Ft. Belvoir and what they do. We began by visiting one of the hangers that house the Blackhawks that have been converted to fly VIPs....read more

All Shook Up

Kendall Mower — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 03:12:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
What an exciting afternoon. Around 2 pm I had just seated a patient and we were talking about what we were going to do during the procedure. All of a sudden it sounded to me like a helicopter was beginning to land right outside the clinic - things were shaking a little bit and I thought it was rotor wash. I couldn't understand where a helicopter would land since we are surrounded by residential housing - maybe I was thinking there was a VIP that had broken a tooth :) As...read more

Clinic update

Kendall Mower — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 04:10:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
I haven't talked about what I've done in the clinic very much - I think the reason is things have been so busy. With the new leadership there have been changes and new adjustments. With Walter Reed closing down and the summer move season we have many new dentists that have begun working with us. We have 3 new military dentists and 2 new civilian dentists. Finding room for everyone has been an ongoing project. In the clinic it seems like a...read more

Medical insurance reality check

Kendall Mower — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 06:33:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
2 days into our recent vacation in Utah by son broke his arm. I have to admit he did it in style. It was during his uncle's wedding reception. He and his cousins were next door at the neighbors and he caught a bad bounce on the trampoline. When I saw him brought up into the house by my sister-in-law I just kept looking at his arm realizing that it should not bend that way. I was in a little bit of shock, and I think we set some land speed race...read more

Drill Sergeant flashback

Kendall Mower — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 06:58:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
While coming back from a trip to San Antonio this week I was surprised to see one of my drill sergeants at the Airport. He is a TSA agent now. Drill Sergeant Rivera had been my drill sergeant back in 1996 when I went through basic training at Fort Jackson in F Company 2-39. He told me he had retired 10 years ago from the Army. Having reconnected with 2 of my drill sergeants in the last 3 months has been pretty cool (Drill Sergeant Rivera and Drill Sergeant...read more

Me a scammer???

Kendall Mower — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 03:32:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
I thought this was too funny to pass on. I had someone mention to me that they had received a scam email claiming to be from me - but today was the first time I had seen it published. If you see anything like this it was not from me and you don't have to send me any money :) My wife was shocked to learn they had gotten her name and phone number wrong also - she's asking me who Debra is :) email scam It makes total sense though - if you do have millions of...read more

Changes in the National Capital Region

Kendall Mower — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 02:55:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
For military medicine there are a lot of changes that have been and will continue to change around the Washington DC area. On 27 July Walter Reed Army Hospital held official ceremonies closing the hospital although it will still continue to shift its care over the next month. As part of the BRAC process it was decided many years ago that Walter Reed in it's current location would close down and that the care provided by it would be shifted to Bethesda Naval Hospital (the New...read more

Post deployment leave

Kendall Mower — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 22:10:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Almost 2 months after coming back from Iraq I am finally taking leave with my family. My brother got married and we timed my leave with the wedding. With almost 3 months of vacation time saved up I have to use up a lot before October 1st when we lose any additional leave over 75 days. After the wedding my dad, brother, and brother-in-law, and I went on a back packing trip in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. We followed cairns along the way...read more

Staff Ride to Gettysburg

Kendall Mower — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 22:10:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Staff rides are a way for Soldiers to learn lessons from battles from history. The goal is to look at what happened, and come up with lessons learned that you can apply in your current job. Recently our dental unit from Walter Reed, and the dental unit out of Ft. Meade went on a joint staff ride to Gettysburg. Our guide was Mr. George Wunderlich executive director at at the National Museum of Civil War Medicine. Although not from our...read more

Putting new technology to use

Kendall Mower — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 22:10:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Our clinic recently acquired a new piece of dental equipment called a cerec machine. It is a piece of equipment that will allow us to make crowns during the same appointment for a patient instead of them having to wait several weeks for the lab to make the crowns. It is CAD/CAM technology (Computer aided design/ computer aided manufacturing). The CAD portion uses blue LED technology to digitally capture images of the teeth and that information is sent to the CAM...read more

Army beret is gone

Kendall Mower — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 22:10:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
I would just like to thank Sergeant Major of the Army Raymond Chandler for getting rid of the beret. See the following article for more information. Some people couldn't get the link to open. http://www.armytimes.com/news/2011/06/army-combat-uniform-patrol-cap-replaces-beret-061311w/ I don't mind the beret when worn with the more formal uniforms - I think it looks much better than the old "teepee hats", but when worn with the ACUs I feel the patrol...read more

Back in the saddle again

Kendall Mower — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 22:10:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Full time patient care has begun again for me. A lot of people still ask me about the deployment, and my answer is usually, "I did the same thing there that I do here - just in a different location." The only caveat to that is that I don't do any dental cleanings now that I'm back at Ft. Belvoir :) Here are some cases from the past week. Notice the dark area around the root Another case showing some complications that can occur following a...read more

Small World

Kendall Mower — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 22:10:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
It's funny that sometimes you have to travel half way around the world to run into people you know. While at COB Speicher I was able to see one of my childhood neighbors Kelly that I hadn't seen in about 15 yrs. Since I had seen him last he had joined the National Guard unit I used to be a part of. I also had the chance to see my cousin during my last week in Iraq. He was commanding a unit in Balad - we hadn't seen each other in a few years....read more

New Army Surgeon General announced

Kendall Mower — Sat, 28 May 2011 01:16:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
We had the following letter forwarded to us earlier this month from the Surgeon General. This is incredible for 2 reasons: 1) MG Horoho is a nurse - previous Surgeon General's have all been doctors 2) She will be the first female Surgeon General. Army Medicine Family, "Today is an historic day in Army Medicine. On behalf of the entire Army Medicine Team, it is my pride and pleasure to congratulate MG Patricia Horoho for her selection as our 43rd Army Surgeon...read more

257th Dental Company (Area Support) TOA

Kendall Mower — Thu, 19 May 2011 22:34:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
On May 3 the 257th Dental Company (Area Support) had our TOA (Transfer of Authority) with the 673rd Dental Company in Balad. A TOA is similar to a change of command that you may see at a military base outside of a theater of conflict. The main difference is that one unit is replacing another, whereas with a change of command, the new incoming Commander is replacing the outgoing Commander of the same unit. 257th Dental Company The outgoing Commander and 1st Sergeant...read more

USO and Toby Keith

Kendall Mower — Thu, 19 May 2011 21:56:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
My last night at COB Speicher we had a USO concert with Toby Keith. It was a great way to remember the base by. Toby Keith's official website also posted pictures of his entire USO tour here. The concert was the largest attended at our base since I had been there, and the weather was great. It was held at the outdoor stadium. American Hero Courtesy of the red, white, and blue The concert was about 1 1/2 - 2 hrs. Several of...read more

Post deployment - day 4

Kendall Mower — Tue, 10 May 2011 19:10:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
There is not much I can complain about with travel out of Iraq. Although I hadn't showered in 48 hours, we lucked out the whole way and had one of the quickest exists from Theater you could expect. We were able to go standby the whole way. It started with a standby flight out of Balad Tuesday night. Fortunately we were able to get out on the 3rd and last flight out even though it was delayed a few hours. It left very early in the morning and we arrived...read more

After thoughts

Kendall Mower — Wed, 04 May 2011 13:43:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
The deployment is done. It's just a matter of days before we will be back with our families and in the states, and it's time for reflection. I've asked myself what did I accomplish, what have I learned, how have I grown? I'm not going to have all the answers now. Many will come to light through the days and months to follow. What am I most proud of? That answer is easy. I am proud to have had the opportunity to stand shoulder to shoulder...read more

Sand Storm II

Kendall Mower — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 01:52:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
This past week we had the worst sand storm that I had seen since being here. It started out just like a storm cloud moving in. Pretty soon everything was bright orange. I went to the gym to work out, and while I was there I started to see Soldiers walk in covered in dust that's when I knew it was pretty bad. Even inside the hospital visibility was low. When I finally got back to my room and showered I felt like I washed off 1/2...read more

Working animals in Iraq

Kendall Mower — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 01:50:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
During my deployment I've run into several different categories of animals that we interact with. I hadn't realized it, but there are 2 types of working dogs in the military. There are the K-9 units. These dogs work with the military police and are trained in specific tasks such as sniffing out narcotics, explosives, or trained to assist in enforcement. I think most people associate this kind of job when they think of a military working dog....read more

Cases from Iraq

Kendall Mower — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 01:22:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Since my deployment is coming to an end, this will probably be the last of my clinical pictures from Iraq. Once we get things going again back at Ft. Belvoir I'll start them up again. This patient came in complaining of pain coming from his impacted premolar. I uncovered the tooth I was able to elevate it out After the tooth was out. Although we didn't take these out - I thought they were picture worthy. I haven't seen...read more

Dental Assistant video

Kendall Mower — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 01:03:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Recently one of the Army media production sergeants came and put together a nice video about our dental assitant SPC Munson. Take a look :)...read more

Care Packages

Kendall Mower — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 13:19:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Have you ever wondered what makes a good care package? Having been on the receiving end of them for almost 6 months - I think I can shed some light on the topic. The first thing is to think about who you are sending it to. If you don't know them (you are just being nice and supporting our troops) there are some great generic things you can send. If you do know them - think about what they would enjoy. Also realize that Soldiers will share their care packages...read more

Cases from Iraq

Kendall Mower — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 00:40:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
CPT T had a patient come in that had had some tattoos placed in his mouth. On the tongue it said "YUM" He also had his sign "Capricorn" tattooed on his upper lip. And the symbol for it on his bottom lip. This is what happens to a tooth when root length on a root canal is not paid attention to (see the really large hole coming out the tooth). Had a patient come in that had both wisdom teeth and the 2nd molars impacted...read more

Cases from Iraq

Kendall Mower — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 20:39:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Here are some recent cases that I've had This Soldier had his teeth knocked out following a baseball accident when he was a teenager I hadn't gotten models before he came so that I could use it to make a stent for the temporary crowns. So I took some acrylic temporary crowns and held them in place with rope wax. I got impressions of those to use when I made the temporary crowns for him. The final product This is the right...read more

Changing Seasons and recent events

Kendall Mower — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 19:38:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Although not like the seasons in the States, I have been surprised with the contrast in seasons here in Iraq. When we first arrived in October the cold season was beginning to set in. Next we had the rainy season, now the spring has come. The weather has now turned very nice again - not too hot in the afternoon, not too cold at nights. Soldiers are beginning to take advantage of the weather. The grass is having to get cut. Catching some rays....read more

Cases from Iraq

Kendall Mower — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 18:25:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Here are some cases we've had recently. This is one of those cases that I will remember my whole career. You wouldn't expect to find it done here in Iraq. This Soldier had his 6 front teeth trimmed down for crowns 4 years ago at Ft. Stewart. Due to his schedule, several moves, and multiple deployments - 4 years later he still had temporary crowns on all 6 teeth when I met him here. Since temporary crowns aren't meant to be worn that long, there was a...read more

Living conditions

Kendall Mower — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 23:48:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Have you ever wondered what the living conditions are like while deployed? The truth is it can vary greatly by location, whether you are coming or going, and your rank. Here are some examples. You have your transient housing for people coming and going. You have your CHUs (Containerized Housing Units) that sleep up to 3 Soldiers (depending on rank). Existing housing previously built by the Iraqi's Also some smaller single rooms...read more

Cases from Iraq

Kendall Mower — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 00:57:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
I've been slacking - I apologize - here are some more cases. Can you pick out what is wrong with this picture? The patient has an extra lateral incisor and it ended up between the 2 central incisors. This is one of the most severe cases of GERD I have ever seen. The acid had worn away the lingual cusps of the premolars all together. He had the most severe erosion on back of the teeth, but even the front were affected. There may also have been...read more

Cases from Iraq

Kendall Mower — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 23:04:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Here are some recent cases Had a great abscess case. I didn't get a picture of the x-rays, but you can see the very large and well developed abscess in front of the 2nd molar. If you look at the wisdom tooth behind it you can see a little abscess also forming in the same location. Both teeth ended up being pulled, and a lot of scar tissue had to be scraped out all around them. Had a great case of Hairy Tongue (actual name for it). This occurred in...read more

What are you doing?

Kendall Mower — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 23:01:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
What do you do for fun in Iraq? It's a question I get asked from time to time. I guess it depends on the location you are at, the time of year, how creative you are, and how built up the location you are at is. Here's some examples from our base. There are intramural games - football, basketball, softball that are organized Golfers can even find some driving ranges I've seen Soldiers flying kites Go for a run or work out in the...read more

Iraqi Air Force College - part II

Kendall Mower — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 14:22:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
As we continued our tour of the Airforce College, we were also able to tour the Medical clinic and speak with one of their medical officers. It was very interesting to have the chance to ask questions about their military and how things like moves to different bases occur. The medical facility was pretty basic. If further care is needed they transport to a nearby hospital in the city. Exam and minor procedure room Their recovery and inpatient...read more

Iraqi Air Force College - part I

Kendall Mower — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 00:43:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Saturday we had the chance to see the Iraqi Air Force College - our equivalent of the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. One of the Air Force staff that works there is an Air Force dental hygienist, so he invited us for a tour. Our base had been the original location for the college before the war. They are just getting things up and going again with the help of US Air Force advisors. The cadets attend classes like this one I even came to realize...read more

Sand Storm

Kendall Mower — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 00:20:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
I was able to experience my first sand storm since I've been here. It wasn't the thick swirling sand like you saw in the movie "The Mummy" - it was the fine particulate dust that just goes everywhere. It almost looked like fog the way it reduced visibility I've heard the storms can get much worse then this. This one was blowing sand in the evening - even the next day until afternoon there seemed to still be particulates in the air....read more

Army Dental Corps Centennial

Kendall Mower — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 20:59:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
It's less then 30 days to the Army Dental Corps Centennial. There will be a big celebration with lots of continuing education credit and fun down in San Antonio to celebrate the Dental Corps 100th Anniversary on March 3. That was the one negative aspect of this deployment is that I would miss it. Want to make sure to get the word out in case anyone else is interested in attending or purchasing some of the centennial momentos....read more

Blast from the Past

Kendall Mower — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 20:40:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Since being over here I've been able to see a lot of things that open a small window into what this place may have been like when the Iraqi's were here. This was the base swimming pool. Obviously not much swimming occurs here. The old sports stadium Iraqi Bomb shelters Old toilets Scattered around the base are old pieces of Iraqi military equipment set up as monuments/displays. There are still old neighborhoods left on the base. My guess...read more

Cases from Iraq

Kendall Mower — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 00:01:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Here are some cases from this past week. A patient had come in complaining of pain coming from her impacted canine (see upper center - tooth that is diagonal at the root level). It had been bothering her for the past month, but when she had gone home for R & R - they just gave her some medication and told her they would take care of it later. See the bulge on the roof of the mouth First thing after pulling the gum back was to drill away the bone to reveal...read more

Deployments - a mixed blessing

Kendall Mower — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 23:25:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
As I have been deployed here in Iraq I've come to realize that deployments are actually a blessing for some people (notice I said some). I know it definitely isn't for everyone, and there can be some problems back home with deployments - but something I've noticed is that for some people it's a great thing. I have the chance to talk with a lot of patients, and as I ask them what they do - I have had quite a few of the Reserve Component tell me that they were...read more

Iraqi Wildlife

Kendall Mower — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 00:49:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
In almost 3 months in Iraq I've seen a little bit of wildlife. I haven't seen any camels but here are some shots of what I have seen on the base. Rueppell's fox is the biggest animal we have here. We see them pretty frequently - usually at night, sometimes morning, and occasionally during the day. You can see them running through the fields and even through our housing areas. I've only seen one sun spider (at night) The lizards like to...read more

When it rains it pours

Kendall Mower — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 13:00:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
When I arrived in Iraq I was told it was the rainy season. We didn't get much for the first month I was here. It looks like recently it may be a little more wet. The first rain storm we had wan't too bad. It rained lightly, drizzled through the night. Made a lot of mud, but things dried up over the next several days. 2 weeks ago we had a big rain storm - 2 weeks after that things were still not dry and then we got another moderate rain storm....read more

Cases from Iraq

Kendall Mower — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 01:50:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Here are some recent cases that have come through our clinic. This was one of those cases where I remembered too late to pull out the camera. I was doing a crown lengthening on one of his teeth, and we right by his mandibular tori. We talked about it, they bothered him when he would get dental x-rays and when he ate some food - so we took them out. This is after we had removed them and smoothed things down. This is what it looked like once we had it...read more

A tour of our clinic in Iraq

Kendall Mower — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 01:33:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Since I've been working here for 2 months I figure it's probably time to show you what it's like. It has all the same features as a clinic back in the states....just more compact. We were out of metal containers that can be shipped on the back of a semi truck. These expand into a room 3 times the size of the container. Our facility is unusual in Iraq - many of the dental offices are in buildings - I guess we are special. This is our administrative office....read more

Cases from Iraq

Kendall Mower — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 23:22:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Here are a few things that came in during the past week. The patient came in and said his bridge was lose. As I looked at the bridge I initially thought it had cracked which I thought was very unusual. I saw the sideways line on the back crown. As I wiggled the loose bridge off, I realized what I was seeing on the back tooth was an internal crown designed so that the bridge would fit over it. I had never seen this before. Because this bridge was so...read more

Christmas in Iraq

Kendall Mower — Sat, 25 Dec 2010 22:40:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Christmas here was pretty nice. I will post all the pictures here. Although it was not the same as being at home, we tried to make it as close to that as we could. For me the day started out with me sleeping in - something I don't usually get a chance to do :) Later in the morning our clinic got together to exchange gifts. We had each chosen a name to give a gift to. As you can see someone in our staff has a lot of talent wrapping gifts....read more

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Kendall Mower — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 22:03:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
With Christmas less than a week away it's sometimes hard to believe it's that time of the year. There are a lot of things that people have done to make it feel more like Christmas here at our location. Care packages sent from back home is one of the main things. I have been able to find 3 real Christmas trees here on our base. They were sent from the US (I believe Ohio) and I was pretty suprised when I saw them. This is one located at the education center....read more

Cases from Iraq

Kendall Mower — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 00:43:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Here are some cases from this week A 3 rooted lower molar (usually only 2 roots) - see the small root coming off the side. This Soldier had worn away so much of their tooth that you can actually see the nerve through the thin layer of tooth that is left. This is a bridge called a Maryland Bridge. You don't see many of them, because they are not attached fully on both sides like a normal bridge. They are attached regularly by a crown on one tooth, and...read more

Birthdays

Kendall Mower — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 01:43:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
In all things there is always the bitter-sweet. Today I was able to celebrate 2 birthdays. My youngest daughter turned 6 today, and through skype I was able to take part in a little of her birthday party. I think the part I saw was enough to make me glad I hadn't been there with all the 6 year old girls running around :) While deployed I will miss all the birthdays of my wife and kids as well as our anniversary. Happy Birthday Jennifer! While that...read more

Gin Blossoms

Kendall Mower — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 12:16:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
We were recently lucky enough to have the Gin Blossoms come and perform for us courtesy of the USO. The base that I am at is not a large one, so we don't get the same stars that come through here as other locations. The concert was great, because of its small size, the lead singer Robin Wilson interacted a lot with the crowd. He was very energetic, and made it an awesome concert. Lead singer Robin Wilson with Jesse Valenzuela in the background Robin took a picture...read more

Cases this week from Iraq

Kendall Mower — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 11:52:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
We had some cool things come in this week. This is a picture of a root canal gone bad. This was not done by a military dentist. This patient had had a root canal done before he came into the Army. The tooth had been bugging him quite a bit recently. After doing our testing we decided that the tooth did not have a good long term outlook, so we took it out. The orange things coming out of the tooth is the filling material we use for root...read more

Iraqi Thanksgiving

Kendall Mower — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 10:31:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
So what was Thanksgiving like in Iraq? A little different and a lot the same would be my answer. We had a patient scheduled this morning. So although we had the day off, I didn't get to sleep in. The kicker was that he didn't even show up. The rest of the day was similar to a day I would have spent at home. Surfed the Internet, watched some TV, called home and talked to family, and ate a lot of good food. I had a chance to help serve Thanksgiving...read more

Artwork in unusual places part 2

Kendall Mower — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 22:33:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
I was able to link to the other artwork barriers that I had taken pictures of while in Kuwait. You can find them here. It was interesting to see that the unit represented were from other countries (Australia, French Foreign Legion, UK) as well as barriers painted from just about every branch of the US Army (finance, artillery, aviation, medical, transportation, engineers, etc...) Enjoy!...read more

Welcome to Iraq

Kendall Mower — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 01:04:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
We arrived in Iraq in style on a C 130. We will be working at Camp Speicher near Tikrit, Iraq for the next little while....read more

Cases this week

Kendall Mower — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 00:14:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Greetings from Iraq. We have hit the ground running and I have a couple of cases we did to post about. The previous dentists that we replaced had done a great job. In particular was this challenging case that they had identified and I began working on. The patient had external root resorption. It was only visible on the x-ray until you pull the gums back. Notice the dark oval looking area on the 2nd tooth from the left. It was a pretty large hole...read more

Artwork in unusual places

Kendall Mower — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 22:38:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
There are some places you don't expect to find artwork - on a military base in Kuwait was one for me. Since Kuwait is used as a place when troops come in and go out, many of them want to leave their mark. The following are some of my favorites - of course the 2 dental units I found are among them. In all I took pictures of over 50 - if armystrongstories can let me know where I can place those pictures, I will link to them so you can see some of the hundreds I saw. I...read more

CRC part 2 and departure

Kendall Mower — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 17:34:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
The 2nd half of the week seemed to go by just as quickly. We had a chance to fire our weapons and qualify at the range. We learned about our protective body armor. We had additional classes that were mandatory prior to departure, and then the big day came. For most of us the day began around 5 am when we started to turn in our linens, got breakfast, packed, and organized everything else we had to finish up. When the time was ready we...read more

Waiting in Kuwait

Kendall Mower — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 09:49:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
We spent some time in Kuwait completing some additional training and catching up on some much needed rest. I was amazed by the things that were available to us at the base. These tents were pretty cool. They had plenty of room, were air conditioned, and were used for multiple purposes around the base. Since there weren't drinking fountains, water points were everywhere with plenty of bottled water. Outside view of the commonly used tents....read more

Deployment flight

Kendall Mower — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 09:48:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
I can't say that the flight over was the most enjoyable thing I have ever experienced. It was long!!!! Since I had gotten up at 5 am, by the time I was in bed in Kuwait, I had been up for close to 38 hours, and traveling for 27. I was ready for bed when we arrived at our camp. Once we left Ft. Benning, we flew to our first stop to refuel. The layover was about 5 hours, and most people took the opportunity to catch up on some sleep. We then...read more

CRC

Kendall Mower — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 18:45:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
We are about half way done at CRC (Conus Replacement Center). There were 3 of us that left from Ft. Belvoir together. Most of the Soldiers in our unit were at the airport waiting for us when we arrived. They visited with us for a while, and in the end they lined up and made a tunnel for the families to go through. We had a chance to visit with our families at the gate before we left, and then we were off to Ft. Benning. We arrived and got checked into...read more

Smallpox

Kendall Mower — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 00:31:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
So in the spirit of sharing aspects of the deployment and the preparation for it, I chronicled the smallpox vaccination for you....enjoy :) It starts out with 15 small pokes with the vaccine. Nothing more then a little redness at first. Then it starts to look like a small pimple. Then it just keeps getting bigger and you begin to wonder when it will stop. When I would air it out it would scab up a little. And finally done -...read more

Cool case

Kendall Mower — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 06:49:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
I've got some cool cases all this week prior to deploying. Many of them are ones I have been trying to get done, but scheduling hasn't allowed them until now. I am working most of them with CPT Kim one of our dentists that recently moved here. He will be continuing the dental care for many of these patients This patient came to me back in May/June. He had recently moved up from Ft. Bragg, but because he was still in transition we weren't able to get things...read more

cool case #3

Kendall Mower — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 05:32:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Today I saw my last patient prior to heading over to Iraq. This was another case I did with Dr. Kim. The patient had a palatal tori (big growth of bone on the roof of her mouth) that she wanted removed. I began by making the incision at the front of the bone, and then down the middle to gain easy access. Next I removed half of the tori, and then CPT Kim did the other half. When everything was done we removed some extra tissue and stitched everything...read more

Cool Case #2

Kendall Mower — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 19:28:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
So we had our 2nd interesting case of the week. I did this case with Dr. Kim also. The patient had had her wisdom tooth removed about 5 weeks ago. During the healing phases, the gum tissue grew up and out of the socket and created a gum "hump". We numbed her up and cut the excess tissue off, cleaned out the hole again, and stitched things up. The tissue was sent over for a biopsy....read more

Raging inferno

Kendall Mower — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 01:56:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Having just had the fire department respond a few months ago, I thought we'd be good for the year. Just after lunch we began to smell a burning smell throughout the dental clinic. After quickly checking the building, the leadership evacuated the building and the fire department came. Their response time was amazingly fast as always, and they were ever the professionals. Patients were only inconvenienced for about 10 minutes. The raging inferno show above...read more

Delivering an implant crown

Kendall Mower — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 00:42:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Even with the deployment coming up, I am still trying to finish any remaining cases that I can. I had a patient come in to have his implant crown placed on. I thought I would show the steps. After the implant screw is placed into the bone, a healing cap is placed on top of the implant while it heals. This healing cap holds the space in the gums open so that you can place the final crown. You can see when it is removed that you have access to the implant...read more

Bone Graft

Kendall Mower — Sat, 16 Oct 2010 13:32:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
As I was passing one of our operatories, I saw MAJ Wilson our periodontist performing a cool bone graft surgery, so I stopped and got some pictures (another advantage of our group practice environment). The patient had had a lot of bone loss on the mesial (right side) of tooth #30 (lower right 1st molar). Dr. Wilson checked the tooth out and saw that the tooth wasn't loose, it had good bone height in all the other areas, and the patient brushed his teeth pretty well. She...read more

American Dental Association Conference - Orlando

Kendall Mower — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 17:52:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
I just returned from my annually funded CE in Orlando. I have mentioned in previous blogs about the great opportunity you have as an Army dentist to attend one funded CE each year. This year I attended the American Dental Association annual meeting in Orlando. It was a great opportunity to hear world-class speakers. At the same time as the ADA conference, another dental organization was having their meeting. Myself and several other...read more

Deployment preparations

Kendall Mower — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 20:06:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Deployment preparations are well underway. It seems like you get long lists of things to do and people to see from all sorts of differenent sources. We have gotten lists from the hospital, the unit we will be deploying with, the CRC at Ft. Benning (location where we go prior to deployment), and our headquarters unit. I've got wills made, powers of attorney done, immunizations (anthrax, small pox, influenza, and typhus), medical screening, ID cards, booked tickets to go to...read more

Success - German Armed Forces Sports Proficiency Badge

Kendall Mower — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 19:15:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Today was the final day of the competition for the German Sports Badge. The final event today was the ruck march. The celebration and awards ceremony were held at the German Army US/Canada Command Building. The Germans were great hosts and a lot of fun was had by all. There were close to 250 US and German Soldiers completing the competition today. We used a paved trail that went around Lake Audubon in Reston, Va and also wound through some residential...read more

Fund Raising

Kendall Mower — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 19:16:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Most units in the Army will do some type of fund raiser during the year. The purpose is to help off set the costs of various social events throughout the year. 2 of the most common events are the winter Holiday Ball/Birthday Ball, and Organization day in the summer. Our unit held a car wash at Ft. Myer on Saturday. Although we typically don't usually have to do many things after duty hours, this was one of them. As with anything else, it is what you make it -...read more

Hospital construction update

Kendall Mower — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 20:26:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
I had posted pictures of the hospital construction at Ft. Belvoir 2 years ago when I first started blogging. Under the BRAC law, Walter Reed would shut down and be split between Bethesda Naval Hospital and a new hospital at Ft. Belvoir. Construction seems to be coming along well. I am not sure if they are on schedule for their opening date of September 2011. You can see that things have come a long way over the past 2 years. Here is more information on...read more

German Sports Badge Qualification begins

Kendall Mower — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 19:43:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Qualification began Thursday for the German Sports Badge. It began with the 9mm qualification at Ft. AP Hill. It continued Friday with the swimming and track and field events. With those events done, next event will be the final ruck march on the 28th. I'll have a few weeks still to get my ruck sack at the right weight and do a few more practice marches....read more

Cracking Up

Kendall Mower — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 19:18:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
While on sick call this week I had a band member come in. He is one of those fortunate band members at Ft. Myer that doesn't have to move around. Anyway, he came in and said one of his teeth had been bugging him, he had had a sesame seed stuck in it, and when the seed came out - things hurt more. We took a look and saw this: We opened up the tooth to see how far down the crack extended. Unfortunately the crack extended all the way down the side of the tooth...read more

Week in review

Kendall Mower — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 06:17:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
We were able to once again take advantage of the Here's to the Hero's tickets that Busch Gardens makes available each year. We have gone many of the past 5 years and it is a great service they provide! It is really getting to be a lot of fun with my kids now. I can either bribe them or trick them into going on a lot of rides that we want to go on. In fact my daughter is going on ones I still don't want to tackle. My oldest daughter went on the...read more

Upcoming deployment

Kendall Mower — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 15:46:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
I don't recall if I had mentioned it before, but for the past year I have been volunteering to deploy. In the Dental Corps it is not as easy as you would think for a specialist. I had had several opportunities that came up beginning in March 2010, but they kept falling through as the troop draw down was beginning. After the last one was canceled back in April I was able to get a spot with the 2nd rotation of dentists with one of our dental companies (257th out of...read more

Update

Kendall Mower — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 01:04:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
I haven't blogged in a while, and there's a reason - I haven't been around. It's the end of the fiscal year, so once again I am using up vacation days so I don't lose any (I know poor me). So I have been out of the clinic quite a bit. I have several more to use up in September also. It has actually been a good thing, because we lost several dental assistants because of moves and we are streched thin. I recently got back from the University of...read more

The windy city

Kendall Mower — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 18:06:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Monday I had a chance to go up and help SGT Armbrust in Chicago at the UIC Dental School. This time of year can get busy with a lot of students just starting dental school. Many students start dental school and suddenly realize the financial debt they are going to be in. At UIC an out of state resident would pay around $100k/yr just in tuition and expenses - cost of living extra. Fortunately one of the out of state residents (there are only 6) was on the Army...read more

It's getting hot in here!!

Kendall Mower — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 19:57:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
I had a little surprise when I came in to work Friday morning. There were 3 fire engines outside the dental clinic when I showed up. One of our employees had smelled fire and called the fire department when she arrived. Fortunately the fire was only in the mulch outside the clinic. They are not sure how it started that early in the morning - spontaneous mulch fire, cigarette butt, etc... Each military base is like its own self-sufficient city able to...read more

Department of Defense assists at Centennial Boy Scout Jamboree

Kendall Mower — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 01:35:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
The 100th Centennial Boy Scout Jamboree at Ft. A.P. Hill, Va was held July 26-4 Aug. The Department of Defense (DOD) was tasked with helping to support the Jamboree. Not only was it held on a military installation, but the federal services also assisted in many other ways including running close to 1/3 of the merit badges offered. Army, Navy, Air Force, Public Health, FEMA, and other agencies were there to assist. It is estimated that close to 40,000 boys, and...read more

Scout Camp

Kendall Mower — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 05:33:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
In a previous post, myself and other bloggers have mentioned about scouting activities, the Army is very supportive of the Boy Scout program. I was able to take a week away from work to go scouting without having to use up vacation days to go with my boy scout troop on our High Adventure summer camp. We went on the New River Adventure near Roanoke, Va. We had 16 boys and 3 adults and was a week filled with rafting, canoeing, caving, and a high obstacle course. The boys...read more

Clinic update part 2

Kendall Mower — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 21:50:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
You may have noticed I haven't put up as much about things we did in the clinic - it's because now that I'm there everyday I don't think as much about getting pictures of things that come along. Also it is because it seems like by the time I get patients seen and records written up - it's time to go. So here are some cases I saw last week - part 2. This patient had had a root canal done several years ago, but they began to experience pain and swelling...read more

Clinic update

Kendall Mower — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 21:38:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
You may have noticed I haven't put up as much about things we did in the clinic - it's because now that I'm there everyday I don't think as much about getting pictures of things that come along. Also it is because it seems like by the time I get patients seen and records written up - it's time to go. So here are some cases I saw last week. We frequently see Soldiers who are coming through mobilizing or demobilizing from assignments. This was a...read more

Change has come

Kendall Mower — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 22:56:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
We recently had the change of command for the North Atlantic Regional Dental Command. COL Priscilla Hamilton our outgoing regional commander (and new incoming DENCOM commander) was replaced by COL Rob Tempel. I had actually recorded the ceremony, but unfortunately in the uploading stage of things the file became corrupted. However, I still got some photographs of the ceremony. COL(P) Ted Wong the next Dental Corps general was present for the ceremony also. For...read more

Indiana University School of Dentistry

Kendall Mower — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 22:10:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
I had a chance to head to Indiana Thursday and Friday to speak to the new incoming freshman class. They had the freshman split into 2 groups over those 2 days during orientation, so we spoke to half on one day, and the other half on the other day. Other than delays at the airport both coming and going, things went really well. I had a chance to meet the new dean Dr. John Williams that seemed like a great guy. He just came from the University of North Carolina....read more

Holidays in the Army

Kendall Mower — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 22:32:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
I don't recall if I've mentioned it before, but it is not uncommon to get the day before or after a federal holiday off as well. The 2nd of July was no exception. We had the day off, and my family and I put it to good use. We took a trip into DC to go and visit Madame Tussauds wax museum. With the 30 days annual leave, 10 federal holidays, and additional training holidays - you can have 40+ days off a year :) Wife and kids with George Washington. My...read more

Army recruiters

Kendall Mower — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 20:56:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
There are a lot of tough jobs in the Army, but recruiting is one of those that seems especially demanding (if you are doing it right). Army recruiters are in a whole different world then most Soldiers. They are expected to do a job, meet their goals, do it well, and do it without a lot of oversight. Over the past 6 years I have met and worked with (and on - as patients) a lot of Army recruiters - both health care recruiters and regular recruiters. I hear stories...read more

First week back in the clinic and teamwork

Kendall Mower — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 02:23:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
It has now been a full week since I have been in the clinic. There has definitely been some adjustment, but it "feels natural". I made a conscious decision to do PT with the unit. It's not required of the dental officers, but it's something I think is important - not just to keep me motivated, but I think it improves unit cohesion. CPT Heather Johnson is my hero. She was doing morning PT with the unit while working for the Army as a civilian...read more

Junior Officer Week

Kendall Mower — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 02:59:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
We recently had junior officer week in Washington DC. 9 officers were selected by their commands to attend. We had 1 dental officer from each dental region, 1 reserve dental officer, 1 national guard dental officer, and 1 FORSCOM dental officer. The week began with a day of lectures. I know that's not your normal idea of a great time, but it was the topics, and presenters that made it special. The day began with the deputy surgeon general Major...read more

Moving in the Army

Kendall Mower — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 23:10:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Even though I am only changing job locations locally, I thought it might be interesting to write about what occurs when you move to a new location. Moving in the Army is called a PCS (Permenant Change of Station). When things work correctly you should have a feel for when a move will be coming. In the Dental Corps this will occur at the end of a special assignment (specialty training, internship, special job, etc...) or every 3-4 years. About 3-4 months out you will...read more

Only thing constant is change

Kendall Mower — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 19:38:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
I haven't been blogging for a little bit because I was waiting for some pictures of some recent events we did. Haven't gotten them yet, and I'm not sure when I will so I will post some other items. I am in my last days at the Surgeon General's Office. My replacement LTC Vesna Ele has arrived, and we have been going over her responsibilities. She is an oral surgeon coming from Landstuhl, Germany. I will be moving down to Ft. Belvoir doing...read more

Cool Surgery Case

Kendall Mower — Sat, 22 May 2010 08:29:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
I had a pretty cool case come in at the end of the day yesterday just before we were going to close up. This patient had a swelling on the roof of his mouth that came and went over the past several years. He had a root canal done on the tooth, but was still having issues. We spoke about his options with the tooth, he decided to take it out. The swelling was about 3 cm long x 1 cm wide - one of the biggest abscesses I've seen on the roof of the mouth....read more

Federal Services National Capital Region Dental Conference

Kendall Mower — Mon, 17 May 2010 17:00:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Friday was the 40th annual federal services national capital region dental conference at Ft. Belvoir. The Army hosted this year, and had a great turnout. Each year one of the services hosts it in the DC area, and all the dental officers in the area are invited to attend. We had dentists from all the nearby Army, Airforce, and Navy bases attend as well as dentists from the VA - 160 dentists in all. Part of the event had 29 table clinics that were displayed...read more

Clinic update

Kendall Mower — Mon, 17 May 2010 16:58:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Thursday was busy. I think Shirley was trying to get back at me for being gone the 2 weeks prior. We were busy the whole day and still finished on time. By the end of the day we had delivered 6 crowns for 2 patients, extracted 1 tooth, 4 exams, 7 fillings on 3 patients, and 2 core build ups.. This patient had developed a large cavity under his crown due to not flossing regularly. We had to cut the crown off, and remove all the decay, and build the core of the...read more

Second half of C4

Kendall Mower — Tue, 11 May 2010 00:14:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Following the first 3 days of ATLS, we commenced with the C4 portion of the training. I had shown pictures of our quarters. As far as food goes we had 2 different options. Some days we ate at the dining facility which was pretty good. Most of the other time we had meals ready to eat (MRE) (my favorite was beef enchilada). Many of the attendees chose to go over to a BBQ stand that was set up close by and not eat the MREs at dinner time. As you can see it...read more

Just returned from C4

Kendall Mower — Sat, 08 May 2010 06:07:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
I just returned from 8 days at Camp Bullis outside of San Antonio. Camp Bullis is the training location for Ft. Sam Houston to do their field training (camping, shooting, outside of classroom training, etc...) at. The combat casualty care course or C4 is a joint training environment. It is designed to train healthcare providers about care in a combat environment. It goes over medical issues like triage, how to set up the different medical facilities, but also goes into...read more

Pearl's in Dentistry

Kendall Mower — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 19:18:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
It's getting to be the time of year in the military when a lot of change will occur. Summer is always the PCS (moving) season. We will have about 2/3 of our enlisted Soldiers moving, 3-4 civilian employees, and 4 of our military dentists going. A lot changes will occur. This is pretty common at most military bases, and goes with the job. I will be finishing up my job at the Surgeon Generals Office in June and going to Belvoir until my deployment in November (my July deployment was canceled,...read more

Interesting cases

Kendall Mower — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 00:00:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
I haven't posted a lot in the past few weeks since I had a lot of other things going on. I have 2 more months in my current job before I am back in the clinic full-time. Here are some cases from my last time in the clinic. Patient wanted to get rid of some of his "bling" that he had had placed by a jeweler. Removed the shells and cleaned the teeth up a little. Fortunately no permenant damage had been done to the teeth or gums. Patient had had this bridge placed by a civilian dentist...read more

Dental Educator's Tour - Day 2

Kendall Mower — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 07:43:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
The 2nd day of the Dental Educator's tour started out with a trip out to Camp Bullis. I had spent 2 weeks at Camp Bullis in 1999, and 1 day in 2004 - so I was interested to see how much had changed. From Camp Bullis you can see the Dominion, an area of housing for sports stars, and celebrities around San Antonio (Houses set on the hill in the background). We drove out to the site of a tent hospital. A tent hospital is used initially when a hospital unit arrives, before more permanent...read more

New General for the Dental Corps

Kendall Mower — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 23:51:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Today our new General was announced. Our current DENCOM Commander COL M. Ted Wong was selected as our next Dental Corps Chief. He will be promoted to Major General and assume command at the end of this month....read more

Dental Educator's Tour - Day 1

Kendall Mower — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 04:27:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Army recruiting arranged a tour for dental educator's from across the country. We had 22 AEGD, GPR, OMFS, and administrators come for the tour. The tour was in San Antonio with the purpose being to highlight life as a Soldier, life as a dental officer, and what we do to take care of our Soldiers. The tour kicked off Monday with an ice-breaker at the hotel. Today we arranged for some of our senior leadership to meet us at the AMEDD Center and School to speak with them about the Dental Corps...read more

New research to help wounded warriors

Kendall Mower — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 16:35:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
I received a link to a story about new research being funded through the Department of Defense (DOD) at the University of Pittsburgh. I think an often overlooked aspect of military medicine is the research that occurs behind the scenes. Military medical research has provided innovations that are recognized in every day lives. Hopefully this research will also be able to help not only wounded warriors, but others in the future. In the article it mentions COL Robert Hale...read more

Letters from Hollywood

Kendall Mower — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 17:21:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
A friend that works within the Army Support Community snet me this. Thought it was nice. Letters from Hollywood...read more

Cool picture

Kendall Mower — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 22:23:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Did you ever wonder what it looks like when someone forgets to take off their earing before a dental x-ray? Yesterday we did: 3 crown preps, Removed two "caps" placed by a jeweler on some front teeth, 2 exams, core build up, and an extraction....read more

The changing face of dental schools

Kendall Mower — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 00:54:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
This post has nothing to do with the Army - just something that is bugging me. It seems like everything is for sale in our country. Dental schools are no different. Whether that is good, bad, or the future - I don't know. This hit home several years ago when the dental school I went to (Temple) was "bought". Someone donated 10 million dollars, and now the dental school I went to is no longer Temple School of Dentistry - it is called the Kornberg School of Denistry at Temple. Yesterday in...read more

Dental Patients and clinic update

Kendall Mower — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 01:12:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
As an Army dentist you will see a lot of Soldiers who haven't had great access to dental care in the past. This may have been due to finances, education about oral hygiene, laziness - or a combination of any or all of the above. Regardless of where you are assigned, you will have the opportunity to treat these Soldiers. At basic training and AIT basis you will see them in much greater numbers, but even at the non training bases you will see Soldiers like this when they are mobilized from the...read more

clinic update

Kendall Mower — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 20:17:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Thursday was a little more of a slower-paced day, and I found myself not knowing what to do at times. My last patient of the day was one that surprised me a bit. I knew the possibilty existed, but didn't think the wisdom teeth would be too difficult to get out. But due to the age, race, and time of day (last patient - Murphy's Law) - it ended up not being quite as straight-forward as I would have liked. Every tooth had to be sectioned (cut into pieces) and removed to get it out - even though...read more

Army Birthday Ball

Kendall Mower — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 02:41:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Saturday was the birthday ball for the North Atlantic Regional Command at Ft. Belvoir. The guest of honor for the ball was Major General Czerw. You can see from COL Pannes' posting that he is a busy guy trying to support the Corps. At the ball were several other current and retired general officer's as well as current American Dental Association president Dr. Ron Tankersley. With it's location in the national capital region, there were many attendees from other services that came out to...read more

Another reason to stay in the Army

Kendall Mower — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 01:17:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Another great reason for looking at the Army as a "long-term" career plan has been implemented within the last couple of years. In 2007 Congress implemented a loan forgiveness program that individuals can use if they are employed in public service for 10 years. The military qualifies for this loan forgiveness. This program combined with the Post 9-11 GI Bill that allows you to transfer educational benefits to family are great enticements for a career in the Army....read more

Tall patient

Kendall Mower — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 00:21:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Thursday was great. We have several dentists that are/will be gone for training. Because of that things will shift a little at the clinic. Thursday I was able to treat one of the tallest patients I have seen. He is completing training in AIT and will be graduating this summer and going on to play college ball. He was 6"7". Not sure why he wasn't smiling - he was happy both before and after the picture :) In the morning I was on exams, and we did 16 exams. In the afternoon we did: pulp...read more

Recruiting at Baylor

Kendall Mower — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 17:00:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
I had a chance last week to go down to Baylor College of Dentistry in Dallas, Tx to speak to students there. SFC Edward Gall invited me down to speak. We had a great turn out , and 1 lucky student even won a snowboard. I even had a chance to visit with one of my oral surgery mentors who retired from the Army and is teaching at Baylor....read more

Blast from the Past

Kendall Mower — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 18:16:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
In the clinic on Thursday I had something come across that I hadn't seen before. A patient that I was doing a comprehensive periodontal exam and some cool radiographs. He had had orthognathic surgery thorugh the Army in the past (jaw surgery). That is what all the white things are that look like they are from an erector set. In addition he had had transcortical implants placed. An implant that goes from one part of the jaw almost through the other side. You can see how long they are - not...read more

Annual Continuing Education

Kendall Mower — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 18:11:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
With my upcoming deployment, I was not going to be able to attend either the Academy of General Dentistry or American Dental Association Conventions this summer/fall. Because of that, I elected to attend a state dental convention in Utah. In a previous post I mentioned the benefit of the annual continuing education that is provided through the Army. Here I am with the Utah Health Care recruiter SSG Kelly Duke, CPT Nathan parrish (Ft. Knox, KY), and CPT Eric Swenson (Ft. Irwin, Ca) at the...read more

Dental Corps Senior Leadership change

Kendall Mower — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 19:11:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
A lot of change is happening in the Army Dental Corps this year. The Army Medical Department (AMEDD) has decided to realign the regional commands, and the Dental Corps will be mirroring those changes. This will result in consolidating our regional commands from 6 down to 5. Just this past week the Dental Corps released the names of the new Dental Corps Commander as well as 4 new Regional Commanders. In addition to this we will have a new Dental Corps Chief (Dental...read more

Weekly update - back to work

Kendall Mower — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 17:59:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
That was a great post by SSG Veronie - not much more to add about the snow storm. Her pictures and activities mirror my own. I got several home improvement projects done as well. In the end we ended up having 4 snow days, 1 half-day, and 1 two hour delayed entry day. School was canceled for 6 days straight for the kids. Think if you were a dentist in private practice and the impact of not seeing patients for that long, having patients cancel when you are open,...read more

Snow Day

Kendall Mower — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 21:42:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Washington DC recieved one of the biggest winter storms this past weekend. The storm started Friday and continued through Saturday. By the time it was done my house had received 24 inches of snow (the record is 28 inches). They released us early on Friday and Monday ended up being cancelled also. Depending on the location, the military/government will react to inclement weather differently. There is no set standard to how snow will impact day to day operations. At my last to assignments we...read more

Clinic update

Kendall Mower — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 21:35:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Thursday I had several interesting cases - buccal space infection that came in on sick call - lots of puss - forgot my camera though :( For the day I delivered 2 crowns on 2 individuals ( 1 was on an implant), had another all-ceramic crown to deliver - but the color was off so I sent it back to be remade, 2 extractions and an incision and drainage, 3 exams, 1 two surface posterior composite, smoothed down a chipped tooth, and 1 post operative complication - guy had had surgery done somehwere...read more

What influences procedures you can do as a dentist?

Kendall Mower — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 20:32:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
I get asked the question frequently about cosmetic dentistry in the Army. This question is usually coming from applicants wanting to joint the Army. So let's discuss it. Cosmetic dentistry is done in the Army. Procedures such as veneers, minor orthodontic movement, composite bonding, crowns, and even facial surgery do happen for cosmetic reasons. Personally I have done all of these (except the facial surgery) as part of my practice. So what factors determine...read more

What's wrong with this picture?

Kendall Mower — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 21:48:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
I had a bunch of cool cases yesterday, but got pictures from a couple of them. See if you can spot what is wrong with the pictures. Straight teeth - can you figure out what's wrong? Same patient Yet another view. Figure it out yet? He's missing a pair of front teeth - his lateral incisors (the ones next to the middle two teeth). This patient came in on sick call. He had had surgery a few days prior, and his uvula was pretty swollen. He was sent to Walter Reed and the oral...read more

Parting is such sweet sorrow

Kendall Mower — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 22:19:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
One of the interesting parts of being an Army dentist is the opportunity to work with a lot of different types of dentists. In the dental clinics we have 3 types of dentists: 1) Active duty dental officers 2) GS dentists (work directly for the government) 3) Contract dentists (work for somone else that is contracted by the government). It is pretty common to find all 3 types of dentists working in a dental clinic together. So as you move from location to location, or as others move in - you...read more

Pinewood Derby

Kendall Mower — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 06:49:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Saturday was my son's Pinewood Derby. There are 2 categories the boys can win awards for - looks and speed. We went for looks. To get an idea of what the race can be like, I encourage you to watch the movie "Down and Derby" Everyone had a lot of fun, there were about 70 boys competing within their own dens, and then the fastest ones competed against each other. Why am I mentioning this? Just to show that you can have a fairly normal family life even when you are in the military. My...read more

DENTAC Activities

Kendall Mower — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 00:17:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
This past Saturday our DENTAC Commander had a bowling social for the Soldiers and family members within the Walter Reed DENTAC. It was held at Ft. Meyer, and had a great turnout. Spread of food. Pizza was continually replenished. My son bowling My daughter who beat us all Looks like I'm dancing doesn't it. Our youngest was even able to participate Events like this occur periodically throughout the year. Having a balance of social events is important for comraderie. Since I...read more

Another Benefit of the military

Kendall Mower — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 18:29:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
During the last couple of months I had a friend who was getting out of the military after serving for 10 years. She had a government job lined up and was in the process of completing all her out-processing items. During her final medical physical, it was discovered that she had a serious health problem. She was able to cancel her seperation from the military, begin receiving the medical care necessary for the condition, and remain on active duty. What's will happen in the...read more

Christmas Break

Kendall Mower — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 18:37:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Haven't had a lot to post over the last couple of weeks. Haven't been in the office much. In the Army it is pretty common to have a modified work schedule during the last 2 weeks in December. This is true for the Dental Corps as well. During my 8 years in the Army and the 3 locations I have been stationed, we have always worked a day on day off schedule during the last 2 weeks of December. This is a nice way to have additional time to spend with the family during the...read more

USO and Passes

Kendall Mower — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 21:54:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Here's some more benefits from service in the Army. In the Army you can earn (or be awarded) passes. They may be awarded as 3 or 4 day passes that are taken in conjunction with a weekend. They do not count against the normal vacation days you earn each year. Commanders can award them for different reasons. In the Dental Corps I have seen them awarded for: high physical fitness test scores, major accomplishments, or some locations have used them to reward for making dental production goals....read more

Dental Implants

Kendall Mower — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 19:15:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Friday I was in the clinic again because of the office renovations (should move back in today or tomorrow). We had a good day. Had a patient that habitually fails appointments do it again - so I have taken steps to ensure that doesn't happen again. I have written up a memorandum about the problem and contacted his boss about what is happening. I told the boss that no appointments will be made by the patient anymore since he is unreliable. They will only be made through his supervisor. ...read more

Homeless

Kendall Mower — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 04:46:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
I became homeless this week. They decided to remodel our office after talking about doing it for quite some time. They repainted and recarpeted this weekend. This week they began the next phase putting everything back together. I walked in this morning and our office looked like this. By the end of the day it looked like this. We should be back into the office by Monday. With the office torn apart the 5 of us had to find temporary offices to work out of. The 3 Colonels were put in...read more

Help Wanted

Kendall Mower — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 20:07:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
The announcement for my job went out the other day. They are beginning to look for my replacement. It is a great job that gives the person that takes it a lot more insight into how things operate outside of the dental clinic. it is definately different then being in the dental clinic, but it has been very rewarding. You may ask what I am going to be doing next? This past summer I volunteered for a deployment and was accepted. You may think that everyone who...read more

AMSUS - St. Louis

Kendall Mower — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 03:39:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
For the last 6 days I have been at the 115th annual AMSUS meeting in St. Louis. AMSUS stands for the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States. Even though the name mentions surgeons, the organization is composed of everyone in the health professions. The Army Dental Corps uses this as an opportunity to bring the leadership together so that everyone gets the same information and guidance from the source. All the Army dental attendees. In addition to COL Wong our Commander and...read more

What the Army has done for me this week

Kendall Mower — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 08:18:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Here is an example of things that I would not have had done/been doing if I weren't in the Army. 6 months ago I went in for an eye exam. At 35 I probably wouldn't be getting regular eye exams - especially since I had lasik (through the Army in 2003). Normally eye exams are something people do more often as they get older - or when they need glasses or contacts. However, I had to get an annual eye exam. At the appointment the optometrist saw something that concerened her,...read more

Army Leave

Kendall Mower — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 08:19:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
One of the many benefits of military service is the time off. Each year you earn 30 days plus federal holidays. There are also some nice perks such as this program sponsored by Disney. It was a fun vacation for the whole family....read more

Question from a reader

Kendall Mower — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:48:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
I received the following comment/question from a reader: I really love the adventure in dentistry i'm in dental school right now but would love to see more dark/black teeth. Have you seen a side ways 3molar? How long have you been a dentist? I think you are referring to the intrinsically stained teeth I showed in one of my previous blogs - unfortunately I only see something like that once every couple years at most. I do think it's pretty cool that with the once a week I'm currently in the...read more

Clinic update and Oral Pathology

Kendall Mower — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 23:48:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Yesterday I was in the clinic. As I have mentioned before it is amazing the types of things that I see - even when I am in on a limited basis. In the clinic I had some cases from sick call and an exam that we also worked into our schedule. Here are pictures for what was sent to us. This lesion was associated with a tooth that needed a root canal. It had 2 floppy lobes that hung down, and puss was coming out of the center when you pushed. Results came back as pyogenic granuloma. We...read more

Physical fitness in the Army

Kendall Mower — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 22:15:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
One of the things I enjoy about the Army is the necessity to stay fit. I think if I did not have someone checking up on me and making sure I was maintaining a certain fitness standard - it would be easy to let things slip. This year in particular I was pretty happy with things. I have lost 30 lbs to date. I have never had a problem with the PT test - always passed without any problems - but I have always had to get taped - the only time I hadn't was when I was enlisted and in basic training....read more

He's got some nerve!!!

Kendall Mower — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 20:44:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Catchy title huh? Yesterday in the clinic I didn't have as many cases - I had more complex ones. I got a great picture of the inferior alveolar nerve (nerve that runs through your lower jaw) while taking out a wisdom tooth. In total yesterday I had done 8 extractions (2 patients), 1 second molar root canal, and a check up on the patient that had had his front tooth totally knocked out (we reimplanted it). It looks better every time I see it. Last time he had had some deep pocketing...read more

Continuing Education in the Dental Corps

Kendall Mower — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 23:29:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
In the Dental Corps you are funded to attend 1 week of continuing education (CE) a year. If you are a general dentist and have not specialized the Army offers 5-7 week-long short courses in a variety of subjects that you can choose from and attend. If you have specialized, then your options also include the American Dental Association (ADA) annual meeting, or the annual convention for your specialty. Additionally you can be given up to 5 days (not funded by the Army, but they will not charge...read more

It's Been a Tough Day

Kendall Mower — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 03:30:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Today would have been my son's 1st birthday. It has been tough recently with the time coming closer and the memories and feelings coming closer to the surface (see previous blog for what happened). Over the past year I found that keeping busy with family, work, scouting, and other hobbies has lessened the hurt - but I don't think it ever truly goes away. As many people have done I think questioning why these things happens is common. For me, my faith has helped provide understanding and...read more

Group Practice - one of the advantages of the Army Dental Corps

Kendall Mower — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 19:29:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Because of some meetings I had on Thursday I saw patients on Wednesday this week. Had 1 surgery that was a little more difficult then the others - shown below. After we were done with work, I stayed late to work on some lab cases. 1 of the other dentists had an emergency patient come in at the end of the day. That dentist had one of the other more experienced dentists working with them. They found a crack in the tooth that extended down into the canal, and the tooth was not able to be...read more

NCO's lead the way in the Dental Corps

Kendall Mower — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 12:18:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
As anyone in the Army knows - NCO's (non-commissioned officers) are the backbone of the Army. It's just as true in the Dental Corps as anywhere else. All dental clinics have an NCO that runs things. This has got to be one of the toughest jobs there is in a clinic. The senior dental NCO is the one that deals with the majority of employee issues. This could be anything from trying to settle problems between employees, dealing with complaints, assigning who works where, and any other major...read more

Clinic update

Kendall Mower — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 12:16:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Great day as always on Thursday. It was interesting - I had 3 patients that needed extractions, and none of them had ever had a shot from a dentist before. I occasionally get 1 patient every once in a while like that - but 3 was unusual. With patients like that you can imagine they were pretty nervous. I think it's important to slow things down and explain the procedure, what they are going to feel, and take the time to answer any questions they have to help reduce their anxiety. It...read more

weekly update

Kendall Mower — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 20:43:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Thursday was a busy day - we squeezed in a couple of extra emergency patients along with our other scheduled patients. I had a couple of cool surgery patients. It was funny, the patient sat down, and had wanted to get pictures of the surgery - but had forgotten his camera. I smiled and told him not to worry I had him covered. upper impacted wisdom tooth uncovered and almost ready to come out. Lower impacted wisdom tooth uncovered. First 2 teeth out. I had several more surgeries...read more

End of the year and clinic update

Kendall Mower — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 16:47:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
It's now the last month of our fiscal year. In the military September is a very important month. You are either trying to use up all remaining funds before 1 October, or you are skimping by waiting for next year's funds to become available to get new supplies with on 1 October. The last several years we have been pretty good - we'll see what the future holds. September is also significant because if you have any leave (vacation time) in excess of 75 days you have to use it by the end of...read more

Medical College of Virginia School of Dentistry

Kendall Mower — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 03:57:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
I had the chance Wednesday to go down to Richmond and give a presentation to the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th year students about Army dentistry. I had lived in the Richmond area for almost 4 years when I was stationed at Ft. Lee. It was great to be back in the area. MCV (or VCU depending on who you ask) has a special place in my heart - it is where I took and passed my dental boards. It is also the place I was at when my second child was born in Philadelphia (I still hear about it from my wife from...read more

Organization Day

Kendall Mower — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 20:28:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Organization Day is an annual tradition in the Army. Army units will set aside one day to enjoy food, fun, and family. For our organization it was Friday. We had our cookout and fun at Lake Accotink. The food was plentiful, the surroundings were gorgeous, and the weather was HOT and Humid! One of the "grill masters" in action - MAJ Jones. Part of our "dental family". Out in a row boat on the lake at the party with two of my kids Face painting Also the day before in the clinic -...read more

Vacation

Kendall Mower — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 22:48:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
I took a week off to go join my family (they were on vacation for a month) in Utah. It's amazing how many things you try to cram in during that time. Here's some pictures of the highlights. I hadn't pulled any teeth, so I had to look for a patient - luckily I was able to find one and I extracted a molar (old cow skull). The view of the "Y" from I-15 in Utah. My family before our hike up the "Y" (see link for more info) View of Brigham Young University (my alma mater) from the "Y"...read more

Weekly clinic update

Kendall Mower — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 02:16:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
For those that are non-dentists, you may wonder why I put this clinic update up every week. It's not to brag, but to document a clinical day in the Army as a dentist. I get asked by many prospective dental officers what a day in the clinic is like. I can point them to this site, and they have a running talley of things that I do. This is the reason we wear our personal protective equipment (PPE). I had a plastic bottle that was kind of old explode on me as I gave it a squeeze. Captain...read more

Welcom back COL Holzer

Kendall Mower — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 02:06:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
We had a welcome home breakfast for our officer-in-charge (OIC) of our clinic at Ft. Belvoir. COL Holzer recently returned from Iraq. In the Army Dental Corps many of the deployed dentists volunteer for their deployments. The majority of dental deployments are 6 months. Although most dental officers return saying it was tough to be away from family - I don't think I have met one yet that hasn't said the experience was something they will always value. Our Commander COL Hamilton giving...read more

Swim Meet

Kendall Mower — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 03:13:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
It was time again for the annual swim competition at Ft. Belvoir. It is a swim meet between different commands that work on or around Ft. Belvoir. Since our clinic is fairly small we jump in with the hospital (MEDDAC). Last year we placed 3rd, so our goal was to do better. We had a new dental officer come to our clinic a few weeks ago. Her name is Captain Morgan Strawn. She just graduated from Univ of Pennsylvania. She is going to snow-bird for a year (wait until her program starts) here...read more

Day in the clinic

Kendall Mower — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 16:55:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Great day as always in the clinic. In the morning Dr. Ross and I had made arrangements to work on a case together. He had a patient that he was going to deliver immediate dentures to after I pulled the remaining back teeth. Prior to me seeing the patient he took the canines down to the gum and sealed them. I removed the teeth, and he inserted the dentures. Lower teeth. The back theeth had pretty significant bone loss around them and had a poor long-term outlook. Upper jaw. Note...read more

Back from scout camp

Kendall Mower — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 17:12:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
I am a Varsity Scout leader, and this past week I took my boys down to Pamlico Sea Base in North Carolina for a week of sea kyaking. The boys had fun and the worst thing that happened were sunburns, bug bites, and blisters. Everyone came back alive :) The group after the trip - 1 guide, 3 adults, and 13 boys Cape Lookout lighthouse - we spent 2 nights at the beach here. When I became involved with scouts, I was pleasantly suprised that the Army has a regulation that allows permissive...read more

clinic update

Kendall Mower — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 16:41:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Had a great day in the clinic yesterday. Another example of why the group practice aspect is great. One of the other dentists had a paitent that had had bone loss all the way down one of the roots of his molar. This left a huge defect - one that if left untreated has the possibility have healing in such a way that an implant in the future may be difficult. So he grabbed me and I placed a membrane and a bone graft. Things should work out, and this will provide an area that will be amenable...read more

Busch Gardens

Kendall Mower — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 21:33:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Yesterday I took the day off and we went down to Busch Gardens Williamsburg. Anheiser Busch owns many amusement parks as well as Sea World, and each year allows military to attend for free with their families. They call the program Hero Salute. The program has been on-going for at least the last 4-5 years. It is great that companies such as Anheiser Busch make this effort. Didn't get back until late, but we had a great time....read more

Cool cases from yesterday

Kendall Mower — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 19:33:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Yesterday in the clinic was great as always. 1 pulpectemy, 1 molar endo, 3 amalgams and 2 composites on 3 patients, 9 extractions on 3 patients. Have you ever wondered what an abcess looks like? I took the wisdom tooth out on the lower left (the viewers right) corner (black all around the tooth). The following shots will show you what it looked like. The pink/red tissue is the sack that forms around the tooth. The pus can accumulate in/around. I pulled the tissue away from the tooth...read more

Group practice

Kendall Mower — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 19:27:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Thursday brought back to me one of the many things that I enjoy about Army dentistry. That is the group practice setting that is found at most Army dental clinics. Almost all Army dental clinics have at least 2 dentists. This produces a "safety net" for new dentists, and a "sounding board" for more experienced dentists. This is something that is not as readily seen in private practice. It would be very difficult for a partner or associate out of school to get help from a more experienced...read more

4th of July in DC

Kendall Mower — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 20:12:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
We thought this year we would brave the crowds and go into DC for the fireworks. It was amazing all the different events/concerts going on throughout the area. The firework show was one of the best I had ever seen, and the back drop was pretty cool. 3 hours before the fireworks. Fireworks were fired from the reflecting pool inbetween the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial One of the many concerts. This was one of the major ones just below the Washington Monument. This one was...read more

Wilson

Kendall Mower — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 18:01:16 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Many of you may be familiar with the show Home Improvements. One of my favorite characters from that show was Wilson. That show is frequently reenacted in our office with COL Daniels. The cubicle divider is just high enough that we only hear a voice through the wall or sometimes we get him to stand on a chair and peak his head over. However we always get that "sage advice" just like Wilson provided on Home Improvement. COL Daniels See the similarities?...read more

Clinic Update

Kendall Mower — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 05:47:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Today I ended up doing more periodontal surgery. I had 1 crown lengthening w/ tori removal, 1 osseous recontouring of the lower left quadrant with a distal wedge, 1 crown insert, 1 bridge prep, 1 extraction, 1 pulpectemy, and 7 fillings (both resin and amalgam). Large extra bony growths of bone in the mouth called tori - before surgery during surgery with tissue peeled back After surgery - you can see what they used to look like if you look on the opposite side of his mouth....read more

Hail and Farewell and another day in the clinic

Kendall Mower — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 22:58:42 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
In the Army a hail and farewell is a chance to say goodbye to those that are leaving, and to introduce those that are coming in. Yesterday in the clinic we said goodbye to CPT Maddox who is moving to Ft. Knox, and SPC Williams who is moving to Ft. Hood. They had a pizza party for them at lunch, and they had done things a little more formal for them at Commander's Call prior to this. Best of luck guys! Because I had the training last week, we had to shift some of my paitents around. Many of...read more

HQDA 234th Army Birthday Run

Kendall Mower — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 22:33:30 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
This morning was the Headquarters Department of the Army run celebrating the 234th birthday of the Army. All the organizations involved arrived at Ft. Meyer early for the 7 am start time. LTG David Huntoon was in charge of the event. Other officials including Honorable Pete Geren (Sec of Army), Congressman, and Congressional staffers were present. I would say there was around 800-1000 people. The course was 3 miles and took us through Ft. Meyer and into Arlington Cemetary. It was...read more

Infection part 2

Kendall Mower — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 01:11:41 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
The patient came in today. The infection looked well under control. Swelling was about normal, pain was minimal, and he was feeling much better. Took the drain out....read more

Infections and How the Army runs

Kendall Mower — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 07:20:33 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
This week I have been attending a course on How the Army runs. It is a great overview of what guides the polices the Amry develops, what the process is to get things funded, how the Army is transforming, and new developing technologies. We have about 54 people in the class from as far away as Hawaii. At times it feels a bit like drinking from a fire hose, but it's a good overview. On the first day of class as I was driving in I got a call from Shirley. We had a patient that came in on...read more

EFMB success

Kendall Mower — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 17:20:21 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
The final day of the EFMB we woke up, got ready, and were out in formation at 4:30 am. They bussed us over to the starting location where they checked our gear to make sure we had all the items we were supposed to. At 6am they lined us up and we were off. At the beginning of the week we started out with 104 candidates, by the last day we were at 29-31. The course was mostly up hill one way, and seemed to be uphill going back also. There was a small hill in the first mile, then some...read more

They say a picture is worth a thousand words

Kendall Mower — Sat, 30 May 2009 22:36:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. More to follow. Yes - the black thing above "US Army"...read more

EFMB - 12th Day

Kendall Mower — Fri, 29 May 2009 03:07:25 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
I nailed the medical lane and it felt great! A lot of studying and a lot of help. As I was reading my last post I realized I left out SGT Thomas from Ft. Belvoir. He has been a great help ever since we began our preliminary training in March. I owe him a debt of gratitude also. We lost 4 more of our platoon today in this lane. When I walked up, one of the guys just held up his hands. You could see the simulated blood all over his hands – he had forgotten to put on his gloves. That is the...read more

Day 11 of EFMB

Kendall Mower — Wed, 27 May 2009 09:00:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Today was the NBC lane. We had 5 of our people in our platoon get eliminated today. It is hard to see the people you have been training with get whittled down little by little. I got dinged on a couple of items, and was able to appeal them and get some of them changed which was good. Tomorrow is the hardest lane, and the one I need to hit the hardest tonight. It is our medical lane. I have a small cushion of tasks that I can miss and still have a “go”, so it is a little comforting...read more

Day 10

Kendall Mower — Wed, 27 May 2009 09:00:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
10th day of EFMB. The weather has changed drastically. It had been in the mid to upper 80’s for the last week and a half. Today it didn’t get much past the mid 60’s and it was drizzling much of the day. Today’s lane was the communications/evacuation lane that had about 10 things being graded. Out of our 17 left in our platoon, all of us passed the lane – although one had to appeal a grade and was successful. Many of the platoon got all tasks correct. A few got...read more

9th Day of EFMB

Kendall Mower — Wed, 27 May 2009 02:53:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
I don’t even remember what day it is – does that tell you something? We got in from land navigation at 2 am, and I will be functioning off of 3 hours of sleep today. Fortunately it is one of the lanes I have down pretty good. Yesterday on land navigation was tough for our platoon. We started out with 30 individuals, after the daytime portion 11 had been eliminated. 3 appealed and were successful and were able to stay in. We started night land navigation with 22. 5 were...read more

Getting Smoked

Kendall Mower — Sun, 24 May 2009 09:00:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
“Getting smoked” is a term that anyone that has been enlisted in the Army is familiar with. Although it has been quite awhile since I was enlisted, this brought back memories of many times I was “smoked”. Getting smoked is a physical way to help “send a message” and make sure someone remembers the message or instructions given next time. These were some guys from our platoon. They said it was OK to post this....read more

EFMB Day 8

Kendall Mower — Sun, 24 May 2009 09:00:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
1 down 5 more to go. Sunday morning we took our written test. It was 60 questions and you had to get 45 correct to pass. Overall pass rate was around 75% for all the Soldiers. Our platoon had 22/30 pass. Fortunately they will have a second chance Thursday night to retake the test if they aren’t eliminated prior to that. Tonight we will have a 2 hour study hall to get ready for our tasks that we will do on Tuesday. We are studying for those tonight, because when we are out at land...read more

Day 7

Kendall Mower — Sun, 24 May 2009 02:52:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
T – 1 day to go. Today we had time to run errands, take care of laundry, and study. In the afternoon they had a “jeopardy-type” competition between us and another platoon to help us review for the test tomorrow. Dinner was a BBQ in honor of the first week being done. Choices for dinner were steak or BBQ chicken, and bratwurst, hamburgers, or hot dogs along with all the other fixings. I definitely ate more than I should have. At night we studied for our test...read more

Day 6 EFMB

Kendall Mower — Fri, 22 May 2009 09:00:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Not much to report today. We are in the stages now where we have 2 days of quick rotations through all the points. At this point we are at the point where we need to just focus on the small stuff we are missing. Today we rotated through all the lanes, plus we had a class on land navigation. Tonight we will have study hall again – not too much longer now. The way this competition works is you have all the tasks. The written test is first, if you fail you have a 2nd chance to pass (this is...read more

EFMB Day 5

Kendall Mower — Fri, 22 May 2009 02:51:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Today was great. We had one of the “more fun” lanes, and some great instructors. All of my wounds from the night before are beginning to heal up – scars add character right? Today’s lane involved putting together and setting up a radio, disarming a booby trap, low crawling under barbed wire, high crawling, taking cover, scaling a high wall, giving aid to someone with a suspected spinal injury, taking a litter over rough terrain, requesting a medevac, setting up a...read more

4th Day of EFMB

Kendall Mower — Fri, 22 May 2009 02:50:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
I’m feeling a little discouraged right now. We got back from day and night land navigation at 2:30 am, and were pretty beat. Out of the 30 in our platoon, only 8 people got at least 3/4 of their locations in the day, and 12 at night. Although that sounds bad, the other platoons that have gone on other days have gotten even less. I did not get the minimum of 3 locations on either day or night, and unfortunately there is no other practice opportunities left. The terrain was pretty...read more

Junior Officer Week

Kendall Mower — Thu, 21 May 2009 02:49:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
This week we had Junior Officer Week. This was a chance for a few junior officers to be recognized by the command for the great Soldiers they are. Each command was given the opportunity to receive nominations and select one dental officer to attend. The participants were: MAJ Michael Thompson – Ft. Leonardwood, Missouri CPT(P) James Anderson – Okinawa, Japan CPT Georgios Vessiropoulos – Heidelberg, Germany CPT Kristy Hayes – Ft. Monmouth, New Jersey...read more

3rd Day of EFMB

Kendall Mower — Wed, 20 May 2009 02:48:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Today was the “tough lane” It was the medical lane that involves about 14 different tasks that involve a lot of acronyms and a lot to remember. Going through it today on the practice run was great, but it definitely let me know that I need to really study that material. We had to take apart and reassemble an m-16, react to direct fire, apply a tourniquet, 1-man carry an injured individual, triage and treat 3 patients that included doing an IV, fracture, arteriol bleed, shock,...read more

EFMB Day 2

Kendall Mower — Tue, 19 May 2009 02:48:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Day two at EFMB. Today our platoon went out on the NBC lane (chemical attack). This lane has about 9 different tasks that you have to go through. This first week is just practice runs of everything we will have to be tested on next week. Our platoon getting ready to run through the practice lanes. Our demonstrator in full chemical/biohazard gear. Loading “wounded” onto a Humvee Catching a quick nap at lunch. SGT Thomas covered with the...read more

1st Day of the EFMB

Kendall Mower — Mon, 18 May 2009 02:47:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
We left this morning at 6 am from Ft. Belvoir. We took 2 vans up with participants and equipment and arrived at Ft. Indiantown Gap (national guard base near Harrisburg, Pa) around 10 am. The morning consisted of registration and checking all of our gear to make sure we had what we needed. I forgot to grab a compass at Ft. Belvoir and had to borrow one. We are staying in some pretty old barracks, but it is still better than staying out in tents which frequently happens on these events....read more

Clinic Update

Kendall Mower — Sun, 17 May 2009 09:00:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Thursday in the clinic was great. It was one of the first full days I’ve done in a while since I’ve been getting ready for the EFMB. Procedures for the day included: extraction of 2 teeth on a dental phobic patient, 1 extraction of a premolar fractured in half (Mesial to distal), prep 4 teeth on 4 different patients for crowns , delivered 1 crown, 1 crown lengthening (fractured lingual cusps down to bone), 1 amalgam, 1 consult, high restoration/sensitivity, and an exam....read more

Minor Hiccup

Kendall Mower — Sat, 16 May 2009 09:00:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Saturday morning Captain Rose and I made arrangements to meet at Mount Vernon and do a dry run of the 12 mile ruck march. With him being almost a foot taller than me we were quite a pair to see that early. Captain Rose has been training at Ft. Meyer with the 3rd US Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard), while I have been training with the medical unit at Ft. Belvoir. We both head off on Sunday the 17th for the competition at Ft. Indian Town Gap in Pennsylvania. The ruck march started out OK, but...read more

Clinic Meeting

Kendall Mower — Sat, 16 May 2009 02:42:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
I thought I would throw in some pictures of our clinic meeting at Ft. Belvoir. People started looking at me strangely when I was taking these. Our Non-Commissioned Officer In Charge (NCOIC) SFC Branham speaking in a clinic meeting. These happen in most clinics on a weekly basis as a way to keep everyone up to date on things that need to be addressed. Notice how excited everyone looks. I don’t think PFC Charles was sleeping, but it looks that way....read more

PT Test

Kendall Mower — Fri, 15 May 2009 09:00:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Today my office did their PT test and I was the grader. Colonel Scott and Daniels took the test today with our surrogate office member Colonel Smith (JAG). Colonel Scott and Daniels both did alternate events. Colonel Scott did the swim and Colonel Daniels did the 2.5 mile walk. Things went well, everyone passed, and I even saw some black squirrels while we were out. Following the PT test we celebrated at lunch by having homemade tamales with chips and queso. Great way to end the week. COL...read more

Quick Update

Kendall Mower — Thu, 07 May 2009 02:41:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Just a quick update on last week in the clinic. From 7:30-1pm I did – 8 extractions on 3 patients, 1 crown prep, 1 three-surface resin, and 1 amalgam crown build up with pins. This was my favorite procedure of the day: As far as the EFMB – continue to prepare for it. I will do one more 12 mile “practice run” this Saturday with another dentist that is competing. Other than that I am learning a lot about topics outside of my specialty. Did you know...read more

NYU Dental School

Kendall Mower — Tue, 05 May 2009 02:41:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Friday I had a chance to work with 2 recruiters in New York. Staff Sergeants DiBartola and Stuckey at New York University School of Dentistry. We had 2 events that day. The first was a presentation to current and future HPSP students; the second was a residency fair at the school for all the juniors. Both events went well, we spoke with many students – hopefully the recruiters will have some leads from that....read more

Cub Scouts and Military Recreation

Kendall Mower — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 02:40:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
On Saturday my son and I were able to go to Quantico Marine base where his Cub Scout pack was going to camp. They had activities during the afternoon, and a big campfire at night. He and I had other things going on Sunday, so we headed back, but I got some good pictures. You may be wondering why I am mentioning this. It’s not a very publicized thing about the recreational opportunities on bases. This base had its own lake and camp sites that you could use. Many bases have variations...read more

Very Busy Day

Kendall Mower — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 02:39:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
It was one of the busier days I’ve had in the clinic. My training in the afternoon for the EFMB was canceled, so I was able to open up my books in the afternoon. We ended up double and triple booking the whole day, and it made the day fly by (at least until the end of the day when I had to write up all the charts). Today we did: delivered a 3-unit bridge, extracted 9 teeth on 3 patients, 8 resins on 2 patients, 5 amalgams on 3 patients, 4 exams, and 1 eval/consult....read more

Group Practice in the Army

Kendall Mower — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 02:37:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Had a very busy day in the clinic on Friday. I started the day out with our weekly ruck march, but at the 4 mile point I had some blisters pop and had to stop early. So it allowed me to get to the clinic a little earlier then I had planned. We had some dentists that were out, so we stepped up and helped out with exams and sick call in addition to our other patients scheduled. Today we saw: 4 exams, 2 sick call both with fractured cusps – amalgam build ups on both, delivered 2 gold...read more

Good for Another 6 Months

Kendall Mower — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 09:00:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
I’m good for another 6 months! Yesterday I took the semi-annual physical fitness test (PT test) and things went quite well scoring one of my highest ever - 278. It seems to be the run that gets me. My runs are better in the fall when I’ve had all the warm months to run and improve. It’s the spring PT test that is a little slower – I just don’t feel like running as much when it is cold and wet. In case you were wondering how you would stack up follow this link to...read more

Weapons Range

Kendall Mower — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 02:37:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
It has been 11 years since I last fired an M-16, and 9 yrs since the Army last had me fire any weapon. As part of getting ready for the EFMB competition, I had to have current weapons scores. SFC Richey the NCO in charge of coordinating our EFMB training was able to arrange for us to go along with a reserve unit on Saturday. Proud to say that just like riding a bike, there are some things you don’t forget. Shooting at the range was a great time, and the day was about as good as it gets....read more

2 Week Update

Kendall Mower — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 02:36:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
I haven’t written about what I have done in the clinic the last couple weeks – so let me give an update. Because I have been “training up” for the EFMB, I have had to cut my clinic time down to a half day. This isn’t because anyone has told me to, but the training takes place 2 afternoons and 1 morning a week, so I don’t want to slack off in my other job. Yesterday I was able to complete one of the cases I had posted the “before” pictures...read more

The Real Lesson Learned

Kendall Mower — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 02:33:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
This week I was involved in a conference nearby called the DAAWG (Dental All Army Working Group). This brought together about 15 stakeholders from around the country to represent various dental interests – reserves, guard, active, FORSCOM, Dental Corps, OTSG, program developers, and program administrators. It’s a great chance for everyone to coordinate and provide input to new initiatives and programs that affect each organization. It lasted 2 days, and a lot was accomplished....read more

EFMB

Kendall Mower — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 09:00:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
What have I gotten myself into? I was asking myself that as I got up at 5:30 AM and headed to Mount Vernon. I met up with a group of Soldiers from Ft. Belvoir near the entrance to George Washington’s home. This morning we were going to go on a 4 mile march with 30 pound packs. We were practicing for the Expert Field Medical Badge (EFMB). This is the only Army badge specifically designed for medical personnel. For 7 years I have wanted to try to get this – but there have always...read more

Clinic

Kendall Mower — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 02:32:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
I didn’t write about patients last week so I’ll do a quick synopsis. The reason I throw this in every week is so that those people wondering what types of procedures an Army dentist does will have a track record to look at going back since I started blogging. Last week I saw 9 patients. I did: prep for upper/lower RPD’s, core build up, 2 annual exams, bridge prep, 1 extraction, made a pattern for a cast post and core, 1 composite filling, saw a patient for a follow-up...read more

98th Birthday Ball

Kendall Mower — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 02:31:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Saturday night was our 98th Dental Corps Birthday Ball. I had the opportunity to help out a little in the planning/coordination for this event. It is definitely not my forte, but we had a great chairwoman LTC Kim Perkins an Oral Surgeon that was experienced in these things (seen below standing by our regional Commander COL Priscilla Hamilton – getting an autograph from Major General (retired) Leffler. Being a part of this amazed me with how much planning and coordinating go into...read more

MWR

Kendall Mower — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 09:00:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Saturday was a great day. In addition to our 98th Dental Corps Birthday Ball which I will blog about later, I was able to take the family to a movie for free at Ft. Belvoir sponsored by MWR. I have never lived on post, but have always been impressed with the amount of activities and offers that they make available to Soldiers and their families. When we lived in Hawaii we would drive up to the movie theater and watch movies there for very little, and frequently they would even have...read more

Taxes and Foreclosure

Kendall Mower — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 09:00:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
It’s that time of the year again for taxes and I thought I would mention one of the great benefits that I only recently discovered. Tax centers open up at military bases between January-April to assist beneficiaries with their taxes. The complexity of tax returns they may be able to submit might vary, but it’s a great service that we get for free. As I was speaking with the Soldier that was helping me finalize my taxes, I learned something else new. He was speaking with me about...read more

Done for Another Year

Kendall Mower — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 10:00:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
After four hours of staring at a computer I am done. It was time for my annual language test. The Defense Language Proficiency Test (DLPT) is an annual test that Soldiers can take to earn bonus pay. The Foreign Language Proficiency Pay (FLPP) is based upon your score on the test, and the language you speak. Some languages any Soldier can be paid for, while others you will only get paid for if it is directly related to your job. More information at:...read more

Snow Day

Kendall Mower — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 03:30:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
It’s funny how different areas of the country react to weather. Yesterday the DC area got about 6 inches of snow, and everything shut down. Because so many people out here are involved with the federal government (either working for them directly or contractors working with them), what the government does affects everyone. In this area snow and ice can result in a snow day or a snow delay – regardless of how much actually falls. Yesterday all government facilities opened with a 2...read more

Weekly Patients

Kendall Mower — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 03:29:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
This past week in clinic was pretty good. I had one meeting I had to duck out for a couple of hours, but we were able to squeeze in a few more patients before and after to make up for it. I finally got the pictures back for the patient that we are doing the cosmetic case on. Today we were able to deliver an upper/lower partial denture for a deploying Soldier, Root Canal on #11, surgical extraction of 4 teeth (3 different patients), 1 filling, and 2 prosth/perio evals. Also had a chance...read more

Trip to Salt Lake

Kendall Mower — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 03:28:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
This past week I was able to go out to Utah and help SFC Theochrides in her recruiting efforts. It was a busy week with a lot to get in. I might also mention I am from Utah, so it was a great chance to see family at the same time. The main purpose of going there was to help during the Utah Dental Association Convention held at the Salt Palace over 2 days. When we went however, there was snow piled up everywhere – but this gives you an idea of what it looks like – it is...read more

Changes in the Works

Kendall Mower — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 10:00:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Yesterday in between seeing patients, I was sitting in on a working group to streamline the process for closing out records for Soldiers leaving the service. It’s things like this that don’t sound very exciting, but I’m glad people look at these topics since it ultimately benefits us all. This group is looking at a pilot program at one base where they can see if their new process will be more beneficial –if it is they can implement it worldwide. This program is part...read more

HPSP

Kendall Mower — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 10:00:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Wednesday while I was with my wife at a medial appointment at Walter Reed, I got a call from my friend in recruiting. They had had their speaker for an event in Boston have a family emergency and have to cancel. At the last minute I was able to make arrangements and go up for the event. It was a quick trip lasting less than 24 hours, but here is what we did. The recruiters had arranged for current and prospective Health Profession Scholarship Program (HPSP) medical and dental students to...read more

Weekly Update

Kendall Mower — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 03:27:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
In clinic last Thursday I was able to see CPT Maddux. He and CPT Schloffman both returned from Iraq within the last week. They had both volunteered for 6 month deployments, but were able to come back at 3 months since the units they were assigned to were coming home. It is good to have them back safe. Also on Thursday I did: 1 extraction, 12 fillings on 3 patients, 1 fiber post and core build up, and 4 anterior crowns. I don’t know if you can fully appreciate it from the pano...read more

Busy Week

Kendall Mower — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 10:00:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Recently I have gotten side-tracked by a couple of big projects that have been taking up more time. It’s crazy to think that some of these conferences that we attend go into planning so far in advance. The AMSUS conference that is held every November is now being planned. This year the Army is hosting it in St. Louise, and I am in the chair for the federal dental section. I will be coordinating the continuing education and any other “federal dental” issues that arise. We...read more

Ft. Knox

Kendall Mower — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 03:27:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
This week I had the opportunity to go to Fort Knox, KY for a week. Fort Knox is located about 45 miles west of Louisville, KY. I had a chance to stop by Jordan dental clinic and meet some of the dentists and employees there. Part of the clinic is being renovated and it has over 30 chairs (forgot the exact amount). I also had a chance to see a couple of my friends CPT Nathan Parrish and MAJ(P) Julie Dallman who both work at the Recruiting Headquarters while I was there. I...read more

Overtime in the Clinic

Kendall Mower — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 03:26:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
This week I was in the clinic on Tuesday and Thursday since I will have other things going on the rest of the month. Tuesday I had one of those cases that I love. I had a Soldier come in that was deploying to Afghanistan in 1 week and he had about 15-18 teeth that were in bad shape so he couldn’t deploy. This is a very intelligent senior officer that was just scared of the dentist. He hadn’t been to the dentist in 4 years, and was never told to go because he had been in...read more

Army dentistry and family members

Kendall Mower — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 03:25:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
2 weeks ago I was on a conference call with USAREC (U.S. Army Recruiting). They mentioned that they wanted a picture of an Army dentist treating a child. I told them I could take my daughter down and get some “action” shots. So I took my youngest daughter down with me (just turned 4) to the clinic and we got some pictures. Thanks to Ms. Ross for taking the pictures for us. As far as treating family members – here’s how things are in the Army. Family...read more

Army specialties

Kendall Mower — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 03:24:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Let’s talk about Army Dental specialty training opportunities. The Army recently released the results of the specialty selection board. In the Army the board meets every December to consider applicants for post-grad training programs. Normally they are selecting for program openings 18 months out although they can also fill any slots that were unfilled from the previous year. 1) The Army has more residency training spots than any other service (take home message - better chance of...read more

Last day seeing a patient this year

Kendall Mower — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 03:22:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
This month the last day that I saw patients was December 18th. With the holiday schedule I won’t have a chance to see patients the last 2 weeks of December. On the 18th I did: 5 extractions on 4 patients, several composite restorations on 1 patient, 1 premolar root canal, and cosmetic resin bonding on 6 teeth to close gaps. I blocked off a lot of time for this case. This was one of those cases where I realized at the end of the procedure I hadn’t taken a...read more

Christmas activities

Kendall Mower — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 03:15:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
The holiday season in the Army Dental Corps is very nice. There are several things that happen wherever you are: 1) Holiday schedule – you end up working a reduced work schedule. Usually this will be a “day on day off” possibly a couple of “half days” thrown in. You end up getting a lot of down time that you are not charged leave for. 2) Holiday parties – every place will have a holiday party. These will range from informal pot lucks or luncheons to more...read more

Tour of Ft. Belvoir

Kendall Mower — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 03:14:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Let’s show you a few things around the base. I had taken these pictures the day before my son was born – then things got crazy and I never posted them. Almost all bases will have the following locations – they just might not be the same size. This is Dewitt Army Hospital at Ft. Belvoir. I was told by one of the officers that work there that it is the oldest Army Hospital still in use (Don’t worry it has been renovated on the inside). This was an...read more

An Army Dental Clinic

Kendall Mower — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 03:12:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Last time I had stick figures in for Major Marino and Dr. Gant, so I got some action shots of them to include. From these pictures you can also see what a normal Army dental operatory and clinic looks like. Notice the large flat screen TV and the cool mural they have on the wall of the clinic. What I didn’t take pictures of include: The dental lab – Most dental labs are full service and can do most things in-house. Most of what is done...read more

Surgery Surgery Surgery

Kendall Mower — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 03:10:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Thursday was great. Once I began, I never slowed down. My assistant had me jumping between 2 chairs the whole day. At certain points during the day I had 4 dental assistants. We have a new dental assistant – PFC Charles that helped out as well as one of our Red Cross volunteers, plus Ms. Ross and Ms. Culp. I ended up doing 2 Oral Surgery Consultations, 1 hard night guard reline and delivery, 1 perio flap to reduce an overhang, 1 distal wedge with crown lengthening to reduce excess...read more

People I work with in the clinic

Kendall Mower — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 03:07:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Let me show you around the dental clinic at Ft. Belvoir. The dental clinic is named after our second Dental Corps Chief – COL William Logan (1917-19). Currently there are 4 active duty dentists, 1 contract dentist, and 1 government service dentist. In addition to that we have 4 hygienists, 2 prophy techs, and many other great staff members. Colonel Holzer is our Officer in Charge (OIC). He went to dental school in West Virginia. He is the one that runs the clinic. He is a comprehensive...read more

On the receiving end

Kendall Mower — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 03:05:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Thanksgiving started off with an annual tradition – the Turkey Bowl. This is an annual game of touch football Thanksgiving morning. The first 1 ½ hours went well. We ended up having a little of 30 young men and old men playing. I was rushing along with one of the boy scouts I work with, and I caught his elbow. I was able to experience a dental emergency visit from the opposite side of things. Since I don’t pull call in the new job I am in, I had to call the OIC at Ft....read more

Back in the office

Kendall Mower — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 10:00:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
What’s been going on since AMSUS? I had a foreign exchange officer (the one with the retentive pins going out the side of his tooth), that I had to squeeze in on Monday. He was leaving to go back to his country on Thursday. We got his 3 crowns cemented on. Thursday when I was normally in the clinic we did sick call in the morning and had regular patients in the afternoon. I saw/did: 3 unit bridge prep, 1 post op, 1 Incision and drainage (I & D) of an abscess, cemented 1 crown, 1...read more

In San Antonio with the Association of Military Surgeons

Kendall Mower — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 03:03:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
This week I have been in San Antonio at AMSUS. AMSUS is the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States. Although the name doesn’t accurately describe the make up of this organization – it is designed for the entire medical community. It is an organization for all members of the Federal Service – Army, Air Force, Navy, Veterans Administration, and Public Health. The Dental Corps uses this meeting as an opportunity to bring together the Command teams from all the...read more

What it is I do

Kendall Mower — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 10:00:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
So what is it I do? I am the Executive Fellow at the Army Surgeon Generals Office. This is a 2 year assignment that I have been in for 5 months. I specifically work in our dental section which is a 4 person office. I frequently get asked what it is I do – and that’s difficult to answer. To start off with our office is more of a “reactionary” office. There are some proactive projects we work on, but we also work a lot on things that suddenly come in and need to be...read more

Another day in the clinic

Kendall Mower — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 01:58:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Great day in the clinic today. I was on sick call in the morning. It was busy at first, and busy just before lunch with a lull in the middle. The afternoon was a whole different ball game. My assistant Shirley made sure we were very busy and we were double booked all afternoon. By the end of the day I had done: 3 emergency patients, 2 fillings, 1 drain removal, 1 annual exam, 1 prosth consultation, and 13 extractions. Most of the extractions were surgical extractions – here’s one...read more

Not a regular part of the job

Kendall Mower — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 01:56:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
As I looked back at the blogs I have posted, I realized I haven’t talked about my job here at the Surgeon General’s Office (OTSG). Well, I’m not going to do it today – but I will soon. A few months ago the PAD office (Personnell Administrative Division) here at OTSG contacted me and told me that there were a lot of dental records from a warehouse in Germany. It turns out these were records from a dental clinic that had shut down in the mid 90’s, and the...read more

Back in the clinic

Kendall Mower — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 01:55:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
There is a lot to catch up on when you have been gone for 2 weeks. The PT test Thursday morning was OK. I have never had a PT test start at 7am before – usually we are underway at 5:30-6:00 am. I wouldn’t have minded sleeping in – except I woke up at 3:30 and couldn’t get back to bed. My run was slower than I have ever been before (that might have something to do with the 5 lbs I gained while I was gone). I scored 263 which is OK, but not great. The rest of the day...read more

Last post on leave

Kendall Mower — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 01:54:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
This is my last post while on leave. I will be back on Thursday taking my semi-annual APFT as well as seeing patients all day. It was my choice to take it then – no one would have made me – especially after being gone for 2 weeks. I’ve ran a few times while I’ve been gone so we’ll see if the high altitude runs helped :) . I know that seeing what we have done while on vacation may not be quite what some people are looking for –...read more

Antelope Island

Kendall Mower — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 01:53:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
I’m still on leave and decided to take the kids today to see Antelope island (You may not be able to tell, but the limestone has pink running through it – and yes that is a goatee – I’m on leave) My cousin (Clay Shelley) is the curator at a ranch that doubles as a museum on the island. The island is pretty neat not only because of its location, but also the wildlife found there. It is the largest island in the Great Salt Lake. I have been out there...read more

Army services and support

Kendall Mower — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 09:00:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
I thought I would write a little about what the Army has done for me during this time. It is actually pretty great the resources that are out there. The first thing I did once my son died was called Army One Source. This is a 1-800 number that is available for Soldiers to help provide them information or help in a variety of different things. The person I spoke with helped to provide me with information and contact numbers for military casualty affairs, information on the airlines I would...read more

Scott Blog

Kendall Mower — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 01:51:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
I may not write for a few weeks. My wife went into labor on Saturday, and by Sunday I had to begin preparations for my son’s funeral. This week has been a pretty big whirlwind. Their were no indications all the way up to the time the baby was coming out that there were any problems. I don’t know if we will ever understand what went wrong. He was transferred from the military hospital to the nearest Children’s hospital by a special neonatal transport...read more

Seeing a patient

Kendall Mower — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 01:50:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
I see patients once a week at Logan Dental Clinic at Ft Belvoir. On Thursday I pulled 6 teeth on 3 different patients, 2 core buildups, 1 crown delivery, 3 crown preps, 3 fillings, and 2 consults. Most Army dentists will see between 4-8 regular patients a day (not counting exams and sick call) depending on the procedure. One of my consults began as a request for endo, but we talked about and decided on a different treatment plan. Ended up taking this out. Notice the retentive...read more

Being an Army Dentist

Kendall Mower — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 09:00:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
So what is it like being an Army dentist? Normally an Army dentist will work 7:30 - 4:30 – it does fluctuate slightly based on how long lunch is (30 min – 60 min). It’s a typical job. That’s not to say there aren’t occasions that are different from that, but those are usually the exception rather than the rule. Army dental clinics may only have 1 dentist or may have over 20. Typically it will be a mix of military dentists, civilian contract dentists, and a few...read more

Bismarck Blogging

Kendall Mower — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 01:45:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
I just got back last weekend from helping out the recruiters at a state dental association meeting in Bismarck, North Dakota. I guess I didn’t realize how small the population is – only 635,000. I have included some pictures of Bismark: The airport had one of the coolest ceilings I’ve ever seen – it was painted like the sky. The State Capitol – one of the tallest buildings in the state The Airport was fairly new, pretty small, and...read more

The Family

Kendall Mower — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 01:39:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
Here is a picture of the family. It is about to change in a few weeks when the baby is born. We still haven’t decided on a first name. I like a couple of “B” names – Bryce, Brandon – but my wife won’t go for them because then our kid will have “BM” as his initials. I didn’t understand the big deal – especially since most kids aren’t going to know what “BM” stands for – oh well. If it looks like the...read more

About Kendall

Kendall Mower — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 01:36:00 GMT

By: Kendall Mower
I haven’t blogged before – so here it goes. My background information: My name is Kendall Mower and I am a Major in the Dental Corps. I am married with 3 kids and 1 due in the next couple of weeks. I live in Springfield, VA and work in Falls Church, VA in an office building. I went to school and grew up in Orem, Utah. I was the oldest of 5 kids. My dad was a high school biology teacher and my mom was a homemaker. I swam and played water polo in high school. So how...read more