Draining The Swamp? (Not political)

FEMA, the Federal Emergency Response Department, wants Whitefish Energy's contract to restore power to Puerto Rico CANCELLED.

Why?

The Energy company has been in existence for TWO YEARS and has TWO EMPLOYEES. The contract is for $300 MILLION.

Wait a second!  So how does this tiny Energy company land such a large contract without any experience?

The facts and just the facts:

The Secretary of the Interior, Ryan Zinke, is from Whiteface, Montana.....Hmmm
Whiteface Energy is financed by Joe Colonnetta who founded HBC Investments
Joe Colonnetta is a contributor  of the President.

I smell a swamp here.

I really don't care who is running the government but the one thing is for sure: The American people will continue to lose.

Shame on us.

I Don't Get It

The Kennedy assassination papers were supposed to be completely  released this year during October. Over 3800 files have been kept from the American public since Nov 22, 1963 when I was a freshman in high school. In 1992 an independent board ruled that ALL FILES must be release unless the President holding office on October 27, 2017 believed that there was SOMETHING in the files that could harm our country.


FIFTY THREE YEARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What could possibly still harm the United States after 53 years? Everybody involved is DEAD.

The President's claim to fame is that he is a great negotiator, by his own admission and 9 months ago the government knew that Oct. 27 would arrive and the Kennedy papers would be released. Why couldn't the President have negotiated with the CIA and other agencies prior to October 27?

I am sorry, either  there was a conspiracy to kill the President or you gotta show me the papers.

Fifty three years and OUR GOVERNMENT  doesn't want our citizens to know the truth.

I am the only one who doesn't quite get it?

Dr. Benjamin is Expensive

I have discussed this subject many times but it is a topic that is always perplexing for me.

When something that you use every single day of your life lasts 20 or more years, can it really be expensive. Yes, on the day that you use your credit card. Does anyone even remember what something costs after 20 years.

Time for some math: if I charge you $365 for a filling and you use it everyday of the year that means that you paid me about $1 a day for your filling. Now if you use it for 20 years you will pay about 5 cents a day for my direct bonded filling.

So now that we have that out of the way, why do people think that I am expensive?

The answer is that there are two types of people: teeth people and non teeth people. What is the difference?

Teeth people place a high value on their teeth and are willing to pay money to keep their teeth in good repair and 'real' teeth  people will pay thousands of dollars for a stunning smile.

Non teeth people are willing to pay the least amount of money to keep their teeth because it is just not important to them.

This is NOT about good people or bad people or smart people and ignorant people. It is really how each of us sees the world.

As you can see, 5 cents a day is not expensive so it really is NOT about the money. In my 40 years of practice people have told me that I was expensive.

I don't get it.

$369, $299 or $199

Smart, dumb and dumber

The handpiece  also commonly called the drill has only one part, the air turbine,  that needs to be repaired/replaced about once a year of so. This week we received a call from the handpiece  repair center saying that they could fix our drills for $199 with no warranty, $299 with a 6 month warranty or $369 for the manufacturer supplied turbine with a 3 year warranty.

A dentist would have to be cheap or ignorant not to select THE BEST turbine that they can buy with the longest warranty but obviously there are cheap and ignorant dentists who go that route.

What is the rational for selecting a turbine for $199?  A dentist can buy a brand new Chinese dental hand piece for $60-$80 so why would they pay more than $199?

Stupidity is the answer.

My handpiece  is about $1500 and last 3-4 years and probably sterilized twice a day.

Don't you wonder where else the dentist is cutting corners? The resins that they use for filling your teeth or perhaps they buy Chinese bonding agents? Or the lead containing crown that they can buy from China for $50.

Aren't you glad that you don't go to one of these kinds of dentists?

The only word that comes to mind is "PATHETIC."

I promise you that we use the best materials for your dental treatment. Perhaps that is a contributing factor for my direct posterior resins lasting 20+ years.

"The Facts, Just the Facts, Ma'am" (NOT POLITICAL)

The facts, just the facts ma'am comes from a 1960s police show on TV called Dragnet.

In the year 2017 virtually everyone should know the facts when they present them on a social forum for discussion.

One of my high school classmates and a college graduate made the following statement on a Facebook post:

Maybe the Democrats should have gone after them, after all, David Duke is a staunch Democrat and friend of Hillary.

Now I don't care how or who you voted for but if you paid any attention to the 2016 election or the confrontation in "Charlottesville" in which white supremacists and Nazis marched ,you know that David Duke, the former KKK (Klu Klux Klan) Grand Dragon was well known to be a supporter of the President.

To keep things apolitical, and not quote either CNN or Fox News, here is a headline from a British Newspaper, the Independence.

Former KKK leader David Duke: 'We won it for Donald Trump.'

So how can someone post 'information' on an international forum that is a total lie and sooooo easy to factcheck? How is this possible? 

The big question is, "Do the facts....the REAL  facts matter?" Or does everyone have a right to think and believe anything even if it is a verifiable lie. Can we survive as a nation and a people?

Each of us has to answer this for themselves. This is NOT political. When we get right down to it, we have to ask ourselves whether America can survive or after 250 years, we break apart.

What Should “Top Dentists” Have In Common?

Being selected as a Top Dentist in the Capital District by one’s peers which appeared in the current issue of CAPITAL MAGAZINE is certainly an honor. What should be the criteria for being considered a “Top Dentist?”

The best clinical dentists in the United States have many things in common:
1. Thousands of hours of Continuing Education
2. They are credentialed by a University or highly regarded, reputable dental organization
3. They publish cases in in print or online
4. They take many photographs of their work and present their work to other dentists and patients
5. They lecture locally, at Universities or at Institutes
6. They are held in high regard by their peers
7. Patients travel  great distances to have a highly regarded dentist treat them
8. Are recognized as a mentor for other dentists

So how do the dentists on the Top Dentist list that appeared in Capital District Magazine measure up to the criteria that I mention?

Not so much.

For me, this is problematic because the public may be fooled into thinking that standards exist to be selected to be on “the list.”

Even if Capital District Magazine does not use MY standards or criteria to be included on their list, patients can use my list to help select a new dentist to take care of them.

I Complained and They Listened

For the last two years, Capital Living Magazine had their "Top Dentist" issue and surveys were sent out to all of the dentists in the area requesting that they decide who are their top colleagues. (You can't vote for yourself.) My complaint to the Magazine was that each dentist was selected by other dentists in their small town rather than as the Top Dentist for the entire Capital District.  When Capital Living publishes the top physicians, a doctor is not listed by their small town but they are the BEST in the region.

The Magazine must have listened because the new survey results came out today and the listing was for  the Top Dentists in the Capital Distract rather than the Top Dentist in Saratoga or Cropseyville, NY, my previous location.

Did I make the list?

Of course but instead of being one of the Top Dentists in Saratoga Springs, I am one of the Top Dentists in all of the Capital District.

Is this important?

NOPE!!!

I went to many of the other general dentist's websites and virtually none of them posted photos of their work?

In the big leagues, if a dentist doesn't photograph their work, they are not considered in the big leagues. If a dentist hasn't done a lot of cases, they don't have any to show you. If the dentist says that  "they don't have time to take pictures of their work, then they are not doing quality work...no exception.

Would I go to many of the dentists on the Top Dentist General Dentistry group?

Can I take the 5th?