AME: Self Administered Poison and "Dentists That Don't"

[00:00:01] This is a production of The Very Dental Podcast Network.

[00:00:10] Alan Mead is a dentist with too much time on his hands and too much recording equipment in his basement. Armed with an obsession to bring entertaining and informative content to the dental world in a way that's never been done before, I give you the Alan Mead Experience.

[00:00:29] Well, hello and welcome to another episode of the Alan Mead Experience. I'm your host, Dr. Alan Mead. I'm a dentist, podcaster, and apparently a chaperone. I'm going to be a chaperone. Let me tell you a little bit about this.

[00:00:43] Alan Mead So, I don't know. Some of you guys may remember me talking about a small version of the Voices of Dentistry meeting that Dr. Moody, possibly Dr. Costas and I were going to put on.

[00:00:59] Alan Mead Weaver Justin has a place in that he actually can do his presentations. He can do his educational stuff in Tempe.

[00:01:07] Alan Mead And he was like, hey, let's have a smaller version of the Voices of Dentistry. It'll be a blast. We'll be in charge of all of it because we can do it at my place.

[00:01:14] Alan Mead And it sounded great. We had the whole thing was going to happen on January 25th.

[00:01:19] Alan Mead And I am the reason that it's not happening this year, and I have regrets. I feel bad. Long story short, actually, even Justin had thrown this date up to me before I even knew that this was happening.

[00:01:33] Alan Mead But in the summer, my son's band, the Dow High Symphonic Band, they applied to and got accepted to be the only Class A band in the state of Michigan that was going to play at the Michigan Music Conference, which is basically the big – all the music teachers and musicians and all the stuff, they all come together.

[00:01:56] Alan Mead And so having their band play is a really big deal, like once in a lifetime kind of thing.

[00:02:02] Alan Mead And I was going to try – I think the performance is on Friday, and so it would have been the first day of the Voices of Dentistry, and I was like, oh, maybe I can do that, and then I'll fly out.

[00:02:12] Alan Mead And I was going to be flying, and it was going to be nuts. I wasn't going to be able to make it out there for the whole thing.

[00:02:17] Alan Mead And so basically, I am the reason it's not happening.

[00:02:20] Alan Mead It's sort of – I have to say, I can't really miss this thing with Sean, so I feel bad, but I don't think it really is going to happen.

[00:02:29] It didn't happen, and we weren't able to plan for it because of this.

[00:02:32] Alan Mead Hopefully, Justin will still trust in me, and we'll try and do it again sometime.

[00:02:36] Alan Mead But unfortunately, it's not happening in January 2025.

[00:02:40] It makes me a little sad.

[00:02:42] Alan Mead But what is happening in its place, apparently, I have been volunteered to be a chaperone,

[00:02:48] because although the Michigan Music Conference is happening in Grand Rapids, Michigan,

[00:02:54] which is a couple hours away from where we live, they're taking a bus down the night before

[00:03:00] because Michigan weather is being what it is.

[00:03:04] It's unreliable with regard to the weather.

[00:03:08] So they're going to stay in a hotel overnight before they have the big concert,

[00:03:12] and when high school kids do things like that, they need chaperones.

[00:03:19] So I was volunteered by my wife to be a chaperone,

[00:03:23] so I think I'm going to be riding a bus down with the symphonic band to Grand Rapids in late January,

[00:03:31] about a month from now.

[00:03:32] Alan Mead I don't know exactly how it's going to shake out.

[00:03:37] Alan Mead It's check, check, check.

[00:03:43] Not exactly sure why that's happening, but it seems like my mic is going in and out here.

[00:03:48] I don't know exactly how that's going to shake out.

[00:03:51] I don't have the details yet, but apparently I'll be riding a bus,

[00:03:55] riding in a bus with the band and staying in a hotel with high school students

[00:04:00] prior to maybe the biggest performance in some of their relatively short lives so far.

[00:04:06] It's exciting.

[00:04:07] Sean, my son, who's a tuba player, is very excited about it,

[00:04:10] and I have a little trepidation being the chaperone, but here we are.

[00:04:16] This is sort of what happens.

[00:04:17] This is part of being a dad, part of being a parent of a musician,

[00:04:21] and so it'll be exciting.

[00:04:22] And so I apologize for dropping the ball on the Voices of Dentistry redux that we were trying to do.

[00:04:31] It's not to say that it won't ever happen.

[00:04:33] It just can't happen that weekend for that reason.

[00:04:36] If you do want to catch up with me, I'm going to be at the Chicago Midwinter

[00:04:40] from Thursday through Sunday, the Midwinter.

[00:04:42] I'm going to be recording like crazy there.

[00:04:44] I can't wait.

[00:04:45] It was such a good time last year.

[00:04:48] It's a really good time.

[00:04:48] I ran into a bunch of good people to record with.

[00:04:51] It was a good time.

[00:04:52] So anyhow, this is the weekend after Christmas.

[00:04:56] I'm recording in that moment between holidays where you don't really know what day it is,

[00:05:02] and you're sort of walking around in a blind, sort of like in a slog.

[00:05:09] You're not exactly sure what's going on.

[00:05:10] And in Michigan, it's been, in Midland, Michigan in particular, it's been warm for December.

[00:05:15] So it's been in the 40s.

[00:05:16] It was in the 50s yesterday.

[00:05:19] And it's been raining.

[00:05:20] And all the snow that we had is gone.

[00:05:23] And it's just been foggy and rainy and gray and muddy.

[00:05:26] It's been miserable.

[00:05:29] The weather, it's, it's been fine.

[00:05:31] We've had a good time and everything like that.

[00:05:33] But the weather, having nicer weather would have been nice.

[00:05:34] I think all of the, our pond is down like six feet from the summer or something like that.

[00:05:41] Like our, we have a floating dock that's like basically dry docked on the beach.

[00:05:46] I think we're getting all of that water back right now.

[00:05:49] It's been raining like crazy for two days.

[00:05:52] It's just been miserable.

[00:05:52] So we're, I'm actually, I've been off for the whole last week.

[00:05:57] And frankly, it's too long to be off for me.

[00:06:00] I mean, maybe if we were in a tropical island paradise, it wouldn't seem like too long, but

[00:06:06] I've just been off for way too long.

[00:06:08] I kind of got to, I kind of got to get back into it.

[00:06:10] So anyhow, I'm actually looking forward to work here in a couple of days.

[00:06:12] I'm working New Year's Eve from seven to five and I'm working the day after New Year's also.

[00:06:18] So we, I took the whole week of Christmas off, which was great, but I am ready to go back.

[00:06:22] Actually, it's kind of a funny thing.

[00:06:24] I was going to record about resolutions, New Year's resolutions.

[00:06:29] And I can, I can wrap up what I was going to say in like one sentence.

[00:06:33] A lot of people are, are harshing on resolutions.

[00:06:36] So I don't think New Year's resolutions are bad because you know what?

[00:06:39] It's just a time where we're resetting where, you know, you got to count.

[00:06:43] The year's got to start somewhere.

[00:06:45] It's got to end somewhere.

[00:06:45] Right?

[00:06:46] So why not?

[00:06:46] Why not use the start of the year to, to, to start a new habit or do some.

[00:06:50] So I think, I think they're fine.

[00:06:51] I think they're fine.

[00:06:52] I don't have anything particularly in mind for a new year's resolution.

[00:06:55] For me, there are times when I think, man, I'm going to turn over a new leaf.

[00:06:59] But the reality is it's just another day.

[00:07:00] So nothing wrong with setting a resolution because it's the start of the year.

[00:07:04] I mean, when you think about it, how can you compare one year to another year?

[00:07:09] Unless you have starting and stopping, you know, that's how I compare if I've had a good year

[00:07:14] or bad year at the office, because I compare from January 1st to December 31st.

[00:07:19] That's just how it works.

[00:07:19] So anyhow, I changed my mind though, because this time of year for any of you that have

[00:07:26] known me for any period of time is a weird time of year for me.

[00:07:31] I, about 23 years ago, I probably, 23 years from right now, 23 years ago right now, I probably

[00:07:39] was, was actively hitting rock bottom.

[00:07:42] I'm a recovering addict.

[00:07:43] I've talked about that a lot of times.

[00:07:45] And 23 years ago was when I was probably spiraling.

[00:07:48] I was, I probably hit as low as I, because I remember soon after Christmas, it was Christmas

[00:07:53] to New Year's.

[00:07:54] And then just a few days after that, I, I was, I was intervened on and went into treatment.

[00:07:59] And that's when I started my, started my, my journey in recovery.

[00:08:03] So it's kind of a weird time of year, every year.

[00:08:08] I don't, and I don't say that in a bad way.

[00:08:10] Uh, it's just, it's just a, there's always kind of a weird, weird part of the year.

[00:08:14] What happened when I was soon after I got out of dental school and actually when I bought

[00:08:19] my practice, I had already fallen into what you would call active addiction.

[00:08:23] I, I mean, in dental school, I probably drank like an alcoholic, but I didn't really have

[00:08:27] any consequences of it.

[00:08:29] But when I got back from dental school, I stumbled across opiates, uh, and I started using opiates

[00:08:35] in the worst way that you can.

[00:08:37] And I got in big trouble with opiates.

[00:08:39] So I was in active addiction for probably close to four years between, you know, early

[00:08:42] 1998 and 2002.

[00:08:45] And it was ugly.

[00:08:47] I am not proud of that.

[00:08:48] And, and, but I mean, it, it shaped a lot of who I became.

[00:08:55] Uh, so I was intervened on and I was brought into treatment in Grand Rapids for actually,

[00:09:01] um, for four and a half months, I was in treatment, which is wild when you think about it.

[00:09:06] Uh, I, I literally, after four years of owning a practice, my dad basically took over my practice

[00:09:11] while I was gone to be in treatment.

[00:09:12] And I spent the whole time there just basically focusing on me and focusing on, on getting

[00:09:19] better and, and, and learning how to learn, live a different way.

[00:09:23] And I have to tell you that the, the time that I was using, it's so funny because the

[00:09:30] only way to describe what I was doing was self-administering poison.

[00:09:36] Yeah.

[00:09:37] Opiates have a reason.

[00:09:38] We use them for a reason and they do have a function, but the way I was using them, it

[00:09:42] was just poison and no one was making me take him.

[00:09:44] It was, I got into a spot where I, I, I spent all of my time trying to get them and use them

[00:09:51] and take them.

[00:09:52] I was self-administering poison.

[00:09:54] And I was given the gift of a chance to turn it around.

[00:09:57] And I did, I was in treatment for four and a half months and I was on what they call a

[00:10:02] contract with the Michigan health professionals recovery program for three years where I had

[00:10:06] to, I had to go to meetings and I had to, I had to have a, a, a form signed and I had

[00:10:12] to do therapy and I had to do group therapy and I had to have random drug screens.

[00:10:16] And I had, I had to do all the things.

[00:10:17] I had to check all the boxes to prove that I was, that I was doing the right things.

[00:10:23] And I was, I wasn't a risk to my patients.

[00:10:25] And, and my license was saved because Michigan has a really good program this way.

[00:10:30] There were times, I suspect if you'd asked me while I was on, while I was on the contract,

[00:10:36] I might not have been so chipper about it, but it's amazing how, how the years can kind

[00:10:40] of sand off the sharp edges on that sort of thing.

[00:10:43] So I'm grateful that I, that they had a program like that.

[00:10:45] And I'm grateful that I was able to do it.

[00:10:46] And I'm grateful that I stayed clean throughout the whole thing.

[00:10:51] But I can't help, but look at what I was doing when I was using as self administering poison

[00:11:00] because, and whether I knew it or not, it was really bad for me what I was doing.

[00:11:06] And I was choosing to do it, you know, and, and they say with addiction, you don't really

[00:11:09] have a choice, but the reality, just, just the analogy works really well.

[00:11:12] I was, I was giving myself poison over and over again.

[00:11:14] And it was, it was slowly killing me, but you know, while I was using it, I thought it

[00:11:17] was great, but it was slowly killing me.

[00:11:20] But then I got clean.

[00:11:21] Then I, then I had some choices and allegedly I was making better choices.

[00:11:27] And I, like I said, I, uh, I don't want to give myself, I don't want to give it away.

[00:11:32] I don't, I don't want to, um, you can't claim the time till you get there, but, uh, God willing

[00:11:38] on the 10th, I should, I should be celebrating 23 years of clean and sober, which is great.

[00:11:43] I'm very excited for that.

[00:11:44] But, but something that I've realized is that my tendency is to self-administer poison.

[00:11:51] It just changes the kind of poison I self-administer seems to change because I have to tell you over

[00:11:58] the last probably three, four, maybe even six months, I I've probably complained more about

[00:12:04] social media and, and, and Instagram and Facebook and, and just the negativity that I'm seeing

[00:12:11] there, maybe more than I ever have. I really, it's really, it's funny and it's a little embarrassing

[00:12:15] because I can go, God, you know, I, I've complained about influencers constantly. I'm just,

[00:12:20] everything, the social media stuff gets under my skin. But when my brain goes into neutral

[00:12:26] and I happen to have a smartphone in my hand, what do I do? I go right to it. I go right to it.

[00:12:32] And I doom scroll. I look at it's, I'm, it's a, it's a trained response again, again,

[00:12:37] my tendency is to self-administer poison. And that's exactly what it is. It's just like,

[00:12:43] I can't even tell you how damaging it is to me and my wellbeing that I am constantly on there.

[00:12:50] And, and the biggest problem for me is comparison, whether it's, whether it's, you know, comparing

[00:12:57] myself to other dentists who appear to be more successful or just better at what they do or

[00:13:01] whatever, or, or even, I don't know. I mean, people who have nicer houses and nicer cars and

[00:13:06] more money and more, you know, like comparison has always been a problem. It was a problem before

[00:13:12] I ever got clean. It was a, but, but like, like social media has been freaking engineered

[00:13:18] for you to compare yourself to others in, in the comparison is essentially almost never positive.

[00:13:25] You don't look at people's social media stuff and go, wow, I'm doing much better than that

[00:13:29] person. That's not how it works. It feels terrible. So, and, and I honestly think there's been a lot

[00:13:36] of mental health issues that come from social media and that, in that comparison engine, it's just,

[00:13:42] it's, it's a really, it's a really sick thing. And I've thought to myself over and over again,

[00:13:48] I need to get off social media. I need to stop. And I wish social media were as simple as knowing,

[00:13:56] yeah, I can't continue to take opiates. I can't do this. I'm killing myself. And every time

[00:14:00] I do this, it's poison that I'm giving myself, but social media is not all bad. Maybe it's mostly

[00:14:08] bad. I don't, I'm not sure if I'm there yet or not, but maybe it's mostly bad, but it's pretty bad.

[00:14:14] And, and it's not good for me in a lot of ways. And so for the longest time I was trying to figure

[00:14:20] out how, how can I just go off social media? The only way that I'd be able to do it is literally

[00:14:24] like, I would probably have to go someplace that has no internet at all. I, cause I don't,

[00:14:30] I don't think I can do just a little bit of that. I don't, I don't think I can say, well,

[00:14:34] I'm just going to do my email and maybe I'll keep in touch with my friends from the internet

[00:14:39] with texts. I could probably do that. That's probably, but the reality is I get a lot of benefit

[00:14:45] from social media as well. A lot of my friends, a lot of people that I talk to on a regular basis

[00:14:51] are on the internet. I've talked about this a lot. Like, in fact, God, COVID didn't help things,

[00:14:56] but for, for a while, it's been like my main source of friends. I, I talk with a couple people from

[00:15:02] dental school every now and again, but my interaction with real human beings is limited.

[00:15:07] It's embarrassing. It's really, it's embarrassing that I'm like more of an online person than I am

[00:15:12] in real life person. Even though I have interactions with people at work every day and the people that I

[00:15:16] work with and my family, I just, I've limited myself in some ways and I've struggled because

[00:15:22] I'm not sure. I don't know how to make friends anymore as a grownup. I mean, I do fine. It's not

[00:15:26] like I'm, it's not like I'm a social outcast when I'm around other people, but, but it isn't,

[00:15:30] it isn't normal like it used to be before all the social media stuff came along. And so I've been

[00:15:36] really struggling with how can I moderate? How can I, how can I turn it around so I can get more

[00:15:43] human interaction, like real human interaction, human beings, like in the same room sort of thing.

[00:15:50] And then something sort of struck me. I'm like, there was a time in my life where I had a very

[00:15:56] functional way of dealing with other human beings, whether I wanted to or not. It's funny to think

[00:16:03] that, you know, 23 years ago I was going into, to learn about recovery for the very first time.

[00:16:10] I, I had never even, I'd never heard of AA. I'd never heard of NA. I'd never heard of

[00:16:15] drug treatment and any, in anything, but the most abstract, you know, I, I'd never attempted to stop

[00:16:20] using what I was using. I never, I didn't know anything. And then the whole concept of treatment,

[00:16:28] 12 steps and all this were, was sort of forced upon me. I didn't, I didn't have a lot of choices. I,

[00:16:34] I decided that, uh, I was intervened on and I decided that I would go along. I would take the

[00:16:39] instruction. People told me what to do and I did it. And what's amazing about that is how well it

[00:16:44] worked when, when I was willing to do what other people suggested for me. It worked really well.

[00:16:51] And I thought to myself, of course, I got to tell you, no one's keeping me from going to meetings.

[00:16:56] I, I will tell you that over this 20 some year period, life changed some, for instance, you know,

[00:17:03] I, I have a successful business and I, I moved to a different office and I have, I had two children

[00:17:09] that I didn't have before I went into treatment. And, and so I had different family structures. I had,

[00:17:14] social media did not exist when I went into treatment. The internet existed on some level,

[00:17:19] but social media didn't. It wasn't like, it wasn't like my relationships were all these internet

[00:17:24] relationships where the people were very real, but they were sort of an, an abstraction out in the,

[00:17:30] out in the, out in the interwebs, you know? So none of that existed when I started treatment,

[00:17:39] when I started recovery and I learned how to do recovery by showing up and doing recovery.

[00:17:44] And what's amazing about that is I never in a million years would have believed it if you told

[00:17:49] me right when I started, I mean, I'm not going to lie to you. I wasn't glad to be there.

[00:17:53] I was, I mean, I was intervened on and I was brought someplace and told to stay here and do

[00:17:59] the thing. Okay. I didn't make the choice to do it. And for the people that have found recovery and,

[00:18:04] and chose recovery from this, I'm very impressed because it kind of took my ass being on fire

[00:18:09] for me to stop. There's no two ways about that. But it worked, it worked. And, and a good part of

[00:18:17] why it worked was the personal interaction was the people that I, that I showed up and, and sat in

[00:18:25] meetings with, or went to, went to therapy with, or talked with about what was going on. It was a lot of

[00:18:30] talking and there was a lot of in-person face-to-face interaction. And I thought to myself,

[00:18:36] I keep wanting to change the way that I do social media. I want to try and see if I can do social

[00:18:44] media in a healthier way. I'm not convinced that, that, that, that is a reality yet, but I'm working

[00:18:49] on it. So this last week has been really interesting to me. I started going back to meetings. Uh, I, I,

[00:18:57] I, I haven't been to many meetings in the last several years. Part of it is when you've got

[00:19:03] long-term recovery, you know, meetings are great, but you don't necessarily need the meetings and you

[00:19:10] don't necessarily use the meetings like you used to is, uh, I feel like going to a meeting when I was

[00:19:18] new was like, it was almost like my medication. It was almost like my therapy, you know, there was

[00:19:25] therapy involved. Don't worry. There's plenty of that too. But like, like part of it was just part

[00:19:29] of the, part of the treatment. I was going to get better because of this, but you know, after a while

[00:19:32] you, you, you do okay and you find yourself not needing the meeting so much. But what's interesting

[00:19:37] is I actually do, I actually do need the meetings. I need, I need the interaction with real human

[00:19:41] beings that, that understand me. So I've started going back to meetings and it's been really

[00:19:46] interesting. Not, not every meeting has been fantastic, but I have, I've taken a lot away from

[00:19:50] every meetings and, and every meeting that I've been to, but more than that, the human

[00:19:54] interaction, the actual human face-to-face interaction, although awkward sometimes has

[00:19:59] been really good. Like, I think it's good for my soul to, to, uh, interact with people that

[00:20:06] kind of know where I'm coming from perhaps. And also helps me get out of myself because I'm hearing

[00:20:14] what other people are going through and dealing with. And it's been, it's been very good.

[00:20:20] So I can't just go to meetings all the time though. I mean, I got to go to work and I got to,

[00:20:24] and the reality is I'm not, I'm not going to go to meetings like I, like I did when I was first

[00:20:29] out of treatment where I was, I was kind of, it was, it was like a lifeboat for me. Uh, I think

[00:20:33] they're really good. And I think they're, I, I can be helpful and I can learn things and get things

[00:20:38] out of it, but, but it's not going to be the only thing. I think it sort of snapped me out of my,

[00:20:45] um, I don't even know how to say it. The, the, the funk I was in about just like not interacting

[00:20:50] with people. Well, so the other thing that's been going on in my head is thinking about something on

[00:20:56] social media that could be better for me, something that would be helpful to me, maybe

[00:21:01] helpful to others. I've been thinking about it for a long time. Um, I, I thought about

[00:21:08] a Facebook group that was devoted to people in recovery, dentists in recovery, dentists or dental

[00:21:15] people, uh, or team members, you know, basically people in and around dentistry. Cause these are,

[00:21:21] I probably know these people and I kind of know what they're going through better than most because

[00:21:25] we're dental people and we sort of experienced the same things, but also having been in recovery for

[00:21:32] a long time, I, I might have some things to offer to people who are struggling with it. But the other

[00:21:37] thing is, is that it's weird because there are plenty of people in recovery in dentistry. And I love

[00:21:45] that. And, and those people, I, it's really interesting. They're the kind of people that I

[00:21:50] can fall into a conversation with if I've never met them in my life. And it's like, we're, we've

[00:21:56] known each other forever because there's a lot, there's a lot of camaraderie that goes along with

[00:22:00] it. Everyone, everyone who's been in recovery for a while kind of understands the, understands each

[00:22:05] other really well. But then there's people who weren't like me with their ass on fire. There's people

[00:22:12] who have chosen, they've decided to stop drinking because they're, or using for that matter, but I'll

[00:22:17] just throw it out as drinking because it hasn't been serving them well, but they weren't full blown

[00:22:21] alcoholics where their life was falling apart. But they're like, you know, this is maybe a healthier

[00:22:25] lifestyle. And then there's people that aren't sure that they have a drinking problem. They're not

[00:22:30] sure if they're, they're not sure if, if a sober lifestyle or, or, or, you know, calling themselves an

[00:22:36] addict or an alcoholic is the right thing for them. I've never seen a Facebook group that was devoted

[00:22:42] to all those things, particularly with dentistry. And so I started one today. I've been thinking

[00:22:48] about it for months and months, how to do it. And I didn't, I still don't know how to do it,

[00:22:52] to be honest, but I did it. I started a group. I, and I put it up in the very dental Facebook group

[00:22:57] that I had done it. And I put it up in some other Facebook groups, just saying, look, the group is

[00:23:01] called dentists that don't. And my whole point being that it's a group for people who don't use

[00:23:10] drugs or alcohol for whatever reason, or they're thinking maybe they want to stop and they're

[00:23:15] interested in that kind of a lifestyle. So it's kind of, it's a, it's not just for recovering people,

[00:23:21] but it's for people that are considering, considering their, their relationship with,

[00:23:26] with substances, drugs, alcohol, that sort of thing. And understand that I'm,

[00:23:31] I'm not a judgmental person this way. I'm here to be helpful. We're all here to be helpful. And

[00:23:36] what's really cool is I started the group and then I just sort of, honestly, I reached out to

[00:23:41] my friend, Dr. Brett Kessler, who probably everyone here knows because he's the current president of

[00:23:45] the ADA, but not affiliated with the ADA at all. He just also happens to be a long-term friend of

[00:23:51] mine that, that he's in recovery also. I've known him from recovery circles for years. And I said,

[00:23:58] you know, I'm thinking of doing this. And he said, I, and it's really good that I called him

[00:24:02] because he's like the most positive guy you've ever met. He's been on the show a bunch, you know,

[00:24:05] you guys know him, but I was wondering if there was a part of me that was going to just not do it

[00:24:10] at all. If I put it out there and someone said, that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. You know,

[00:24:13] I'm like, I probably would have not done it. But of course his immediate response was I'm in,

[00:24:18] tell me when it's up and loaded. So I'm like, okay, well I've told Brett, I'm going to do it.

[00:24:21] So I got to do it. And I did it. I just sort of started the group and we have some people in there

[00:24:27] already. And we have some people who are, they want to consider or maybe change their relationship

[00:24:32] with alcohol. There are people who have long-term clean time that I know there are people who

[00:24:37] have long-term clean time that, that it's not public that they have long-term clean time.

[00:24:41] So here's what I'm going to tell you. If you're interested in this group, if you, if you are

[00:24:45] considering changing the way you look at substances, if you are a long-term recovering person who would

[00:24:50] like camaraderie with people like this, or maybe want to help other people come join the group.

[00:24:55] I'm not making it really, I'm not making it hard and fast that someone has to, you know,

[00:25:00] identify as an alcoholic to show up. That's not how this is going to work. This is if you,

[00:25:04] if you do, and you've been public about it, great. There's people that will use your input.

[00:25:09] If you're not sure where you stand on this, it's okay too. There's no judgment. Now, mind you,

[00:25:13] it's a Facebook group. So it is not completely anonymous. It can't be.

[00:25:17] Uh, my tendency is to only put things out, uh, of my own that I would be okay with showing up on the

[00:25:24] TV news. Like just got to figure Facebook humans are going to human. People are going to screen

[00:25:28] capture, blah, blah, blah. So it's a matter of, I want to make it a safe place, but I also,

[00:25:33] everyone has to realize that if you put your name on it, it's, it's not completely anonymous. Now,

[00:25:36] here's the thing I'm going to allow for anonymous posting as much as anyone wants to,

[00:25:42] because I think that can make things helpful, helpful, particularly people want to get

[00:25:46] vulnerable about where they're coming from. They need to be able to be anonymous. And Facebook

[00:25:50] allows you to post anonymously in groups. If the group, whoever's managing the group allows it.

[00:25:55] And I certainly do. I don't know that they allow you to respond to posts anonymously. So here's

[00:26:02] what I'm going to do. If you feel, if you are in there and you feel strongly about a post that you'd

[00:26:06] like to respond to, but you don't want to put your name to it, you can message me privately and I will

[00:26:11] be the only person that knows it's coming from you. And I will respond anonymously for you because

[00:26:16] I think it's that important to be able to respond anonymously. Uh, I'm hoping that people are kind

[00:26:22] and courteous, but if, uh, you know, emotions are emotions and sometimes this stuff gets serious. I,

[00:26:27] I'm going to moderate kind of brutally because I want it to be a safe place. But I also know that

[00:26:33] when I was in treatment and I was in therapy, we didn't pull a lot of punches either. We're,

[00:26:38] we're pretty tough on each other because sometimes people need a little tough love on that stuff. I,

[00:26:42] this is all new to me. I don't know this, this group is literally less than a day old as I'm

[00:26:45] recording this, but I would love you to share if it's something that would be helpful to you,

[00:26:49] or if you know someone that you think it might be helpful to, I would love you to go check it out.

[00:26:54] All you have to do is search under dentists that don't. It's all, and you can go to the

[00:26:58] very dental Facebook group and there's a link up there. I also have, I've put it out in several

[00:27:02] other Facebook groups. I'm hoping if someone is in a dental Facebook group that I'm not in,

[00:27:07] and let's be honest, I'm not in very many of them. I, I sort of, as much as I, I like to support

[00:27:12] people and dentists online, it's just too much to be in too many of them. So I'm not in a lot of them.

[00:27:16] If you, if you think this is a good idea, I'd love it if you'd post the link and invite people to join.

[00:27:21] Cause here's the thing. It's in a group for everyone. In fact, this is a group for very few

[00:27:26] people, but the people that might be get benefit from this group, I think would really benefit from it.

[00:27:32] So I want to spread the word. And once it, once it gets a core of people, I want it to be,

[00:27:37] I don't want to be promoting all the time. I want it to just be an attraction thing where at some

[00:27:41] point I'd love this to be a place where people who aren't sure about their relationship with alcohol

[00:27:46] or drugs know that they can go and talk safely with people who know what they're talking about.

[00:27:50] And then, you know, people who are in recovery, who'd like a little fellowship with other

[00:27:53] recovering people, that's what it's there for. I have come to realize over the last week or so that

[00:27:58] sometimes that interaction with other human beings that, that are, I mean, the people like me,

[00:28:04] the people that know where I'm coming from is very important. And, and I want to try and create,

[00:28:08] create a space for that. So, uh, I really appreciate you guys listening to the show.

[00:28:13] If you, if you have any questions or comments, feel free to go to the very dental Facebook group.

[00:28:17] If you're not a member yet, I require you to give me one of five passwords to get into the very

[00:28:20] dental Facebook group. I don't require that in the new, in the new group, the dentists that

[00:28:24] don't group. Uh, but if, if you go on there and spam or you're, you're off topic, I'm afraid I'm

[00:28:30] going to yank you. I'm going to get the cane out and yank you just like a vaudeville act. But

[00:28:34] for the very dental Facebook group, all you have to do is give me one password. It's Timmerman,

[00:28:39] McQuethy, uh, Lipscomb, Hornbrook, or Papa Randy. Any of those five will, will get you into the

[00:28:46] very dental Facebook group. And, and there you can find a link if you, if you haven't found the link to

[00:28:50] the dentists that don't podcast or not podcast, not yet. I don't know. Maybe there'll be a podcast,

[00:28:56] but it's a Facebook group right now. So thank you a ton for listening. You guys, I really appreciate

[00:28:59] you. I hope that your year end is, is lovely. I hope you have a beautiful new year and I hope

[00:29:05] your, I hope your holidays were fantastic. And, uh, thank you for listening. Thank you for supporting

[00:29:10] the show. And if you get a chance, leave a rating for us, rating or review. No one, no one's really

[00:29:15] doing that anymore. I don't ask for it very often, but I do know that it helps people find the show

[00:29:19] and thanks a ton for listening and we'll catch you next episode.