Mom, look at the drill. That's exactly what you were talking about. 10 years ago, we had candy. You told me to put it back because you were scared that we would find your patients. It's kind of a shock to see that how people really don't brush their teeth every day. And then you were like, Masha, you can't scream. I'm the dentist that the the main dentist here. I want to grow teeth. You can grow teeth. I had and Nutella sandwiches and then hot Cheetos and like Oreos and I was always like so jealous of them. But now like I realized they probably have diabetes and we're we're healthy. If you were not to do dentistry and had to choose a different career path, what would you do? I would be a model. Welcome to the Ask [music] the Dentist podcast with Dr. Olga Dogear, where your smile meets your overall health. So today is a very special podcast. I invited my children. They're not just my children, my youngest two uh daughters. Um they also my patients. So we're going to discuss a lot of things. Hopefully it goes right way because we want to talk about health. We want to talk about our personal relationships at at our house, how we deal with things. Also, we're going to talk about how to stay healthy, about oral hygien, and they're going to talk about me, what kind of dentist and mom I am, [laughter] because they know it all. They're going to dig in and tell us everything today. [laughter] So, welcome to Ask the Dentist podcast with Dr. Olga, board certified pediatric dentist. And I want to introduce my oldest daughter. Her name is Anna. Hi. I'm Anna. [laughter] And my youngest daughter, her name is Masha. Hi. She is still in high school. Uh she's 16 years old and Anna is 18 years old now. They both just had birthdays last months. And they also we missing their brother, but we have one more child, Christian. He's 26 year old and couldn't make it today. So let's talk about um let's talk about our household. Anna, now you are out of the house. You are at the university and you're in dorm. Uh what challenges do you face and what do you miss about your home? Well, obviously being home is nice. Having like homecooked meals, I miss that. But college is really fun. I get to meet a lot of new people. But it's very interesting having to see like how everyone grew up differently in different like lifestyles all in one environment or atmosphere. Uhhuh. So do you like look back you like, oh maybe maybe my household was not that bad? [laughter] Yeah, definitely. Yeah. I mean it's kind of a shock to see that. I don't know. This is just like something that like kind of surprised me how people really don't brush their teeth every day and cuz growing up we always brush our teeth like every night. Yeah. And like a lot of my friends don't brush their teeth every day or like floss every day and it's like wow. I don't know. It's kind of funny. That's funny. That's funny. Yeah. And what did you miss home-cooked meals? You said Yeah. I miss good food because the dining hall I mean they have healthy options but kind of eating pizza and burgers every day isn't the best. Uhhuh. Yeah. But Oh, that's so sweet. Yeah. Masha, what what about you? You're still at the house. You miss your sister the most, right? Yeah, it's kind of like really quiet and now it's like kind of sad because it's just me. But yeah, we call every night and so it's not that bad. Yeah, that's good. That's good. So, growing up, let's look back. Um because, uh you were my ch I always was a dentist. I had you when I was already a dentist. Um you probably I mean you don't know anything different. Um but let's talk about what what kind of things we have in our house which you don't see uh that often and now like you can started to appreciate those little annoying things I did to them like brush your teeth don't eat junk food. Uh, and I was I I mean I was little bit on the obsessive side, I would say, with eating and healthy diet and like we didn't have many like we're trying to get rid of plastics for example and like bad um cookware in the house even before it was popular and I remember they were a little grumpy on it, right? But now due to social media, my children's like, "Mom, look at the drill. That's exactly what you were talking about 10 years ago, right? Yeah. I remember when you banned cereal from our house cuz it had corn syrup and it was coming out. Oh, corn syrup is so bad for everything, right? Yeah. Yeah. What What do you watch? Well, I noticed that now I kind of feel like eating healthy really like reflects in life cuz every time I I eat healthier, like I feel like my brain works better and I just feel more active and and like it would it really does like affect everything you do. And yeah, that's Yeah. And also the plastic stuff like now there's a lot more studies coming out how it's like bad for you and and everything. So yeah, it's really like good that you brought it up for me. Yeah. Right. Yes. Even when you were infants, we actually had I mean I had to um nurse and I nursed both of them until 18 months. I was able to even with a busy schedule and actually being in residency instead of going out with my core residents. I I was like I'm sorry I had to go and pump because I had two months old Masha at that time. And I actually used glass bottles. I remember we were like specific and I don't know why it wasn't just intuitive. I was like this plastic is just not the right thing. Yeah. Look at you now. [laughter] Yeah. Yeah. Definitely grateful because growing up it's like oh man why is everyone at lunch have these Lunchables and all these cool food and I just have salmon. everyone having rice, Nutella sandwiches and then hot Cheetos and I was and like Oreos and I was always like so jealous of them but now like I realized they probably have diabetes and we're we're healthy. Tell me about your experience with lunches. Oh yeah. So, [laughter] I would kind of like I didn't really have anything good to trade cuz it usually would be like the supply and demand, but I I had berries. People liked strawberries, so I'd usually trade strawberries for like a Pop-Tart. And then me and my friends would always fight about that, about how I always wanted their Pop-Tart. I used to trade Belle cheese with like my friend. She always had honey buns. Oh yeah. Yeah. And I used to hang out with this girl and she used to put sugar on her strawberries every day and I was like that's not very healthy. Oh yeah. One of my friends said that and I was so shocked. I was like sugar on your strawberries. They're already sweet. Like Yeah. Yeah. So at lunchtime you your your lunches were little different, right? Mhm. Yeah. Yeah. I would have like soup that grandma cooked and like or like katlate. Should I say ki? It's like meatballs. Yeah. Yeah. I had kati and even my friends like them. I remember my friends came over and we don't have the typical I guess food that everyone likes to eat all the time cuz I mean if you don't grow up eating a certain food a lot, you might not be used to it. But I remember they tried grandma's [snorts] like cooked food and they really liked it and it's really healthy. So yeah, it just shows that good food is really like tasteful. I mean, if it's like cooked correctly. Yeah. Yeah. Me and my friends would come home and we would eat my grandma's meatballs and we would like there would be like four or five of us and we'd only eat three or four and so then they would all be gone and we would eat like 16 of them in total. [laughter] Yeah. There were no love for me. It was so good. I I love them. I feel like you're not even known for your social presence. I mean, like your social media as much as you are just being a dentist cuz we see you all the time like getting recognized. But that's just because, oh, hey Dr. Olga, you're my dentist instead of, "Oh, hey, I saw you on social media." Do you remember that funny one we had? Um, the Easter candy. Oh, tell me about Easter candy. I don't remember. So, we were in like uh HomeGoods and we had candy and then you you told me to put it back because you were scared that we would find your patients because you didn't want them to think you would eat candy. [laughter] Well, yeah, that's right. You have to have set up a good example for everybody around you. But remember the funny one when we went uh to Lifetime Fitness and I did the cold plunge and it was my patient during I don't remember. Oh wait. Yeah, I remember. [laughter] It was funny. Yeah, we I did cold plunges like Dr. Olga you go for it. I'm like oh my god I'm dying here. Somebody's cheating. Come for me. [laughter] Yeah, your supporters everywhere. That's funny. I know. That's funny. Right. So, did you guys remember any funny stories about like in your experience with your friends when they find out that your mom is a dentist that you like special for things you do? Honestly, the only thing that they say is, "Oh, you're probably rich." Because they always think that dentists make a lot. So, that's like the only thing they say. Really? Yeah. [laughter] Yeah. I guess for me they're they're always like, "Oh, she must eat really healthy." Or like they look at my teeth, they're like, "Oh, that's why you have such straight clean teeth." I was like, "Yum." [laughter] Yeah. Do you remember your personal experience when you f because both of you you had phase one orthodontics? Remember? Yeah. And you had to have it. You didn't have phase one, but phase one is when you have very early braces. Do you remember any experiences like when you were what what do you remember? Like the expander on the top of my mouth and you had it like twisted every night and I remember we like skipped one night cuz I think we like went to like some family friends and we got home late and like I went straight to bed but the next day you had to two times and I remember it just hurt really bad. A cuz the expander cuz my mouth is like really narrow I guess. Yeah. Yeah. She had high pallet a few. Look at her now. Beautiful girl. [laughter] Okay. What about you, Ma? When you started, you've been in braces for a while. Yeah. Tell us why. Tell us why. Um because I don't wear my bands enough. Why don't you wear your bands? I just forget. You know, I should lowkey put them on right now. [laughter] It's okay. This goes to show even the densest daughter sometimes forgets to put on her bands. Yeah, it's okay. I'll put them on when I get Do you at least put them at night? Yeah. That's good. That's good. You're almost done though, right? Yeah, you are. I'm Dr. Can I say? Yeah. Dr. Aaron. Dr. Aaron. He said that I can take them off like this summer, either midsummer or at the end of summer. So, I'll be braces free soon. You don't even know. Do you remember you yourself? Very different. Let's just say that. I remember. [laughter] I was watching some pictures earlier and they like when she didn't have braces and they were all crooked. It was because I fell on my face when I was little and then my tooth was like overlapped over my other tooth from that. How many times did you fall? Just once. Remember? No. You remember how you one? That was different. That was when my chin they remember the the chin. The chin had nothing to do with my cheek though. Yes. But chin it was one. Then you fell with the front tooth. Remember I had to pull your front tooth. Your part of your face. Masha, do you remember when I had to pull your tooth out? Can you share that experience? Oh, I remember when we were running around in blankets. Oh, yeah. And then I tripped over my blankets. So what did you do? Why did you run around in blankets? Cuz we were kids. It was twice. Remember when you were swinging on the like so in our kitchen we have like what I was talking about. We have counters and she was like had her arms on it and then she was swinging and then she like fell down. That's what I was talking about. Yeah. That was her permanent. No mom. We were just kids and we were just having fun running around and I tripped over my blanket and I fell and did the tooth turn like black. Yes. Why'd it turn black? Because you killed a nerf inside your tools. Was it a baby tooth? Yeah. Yeah. You You did the same actually. I did. Well, you did it earlier. You just don't remember. I have a black tooth. I never You didn't have black kindergarten pictures. You could see the box. Yeah. Yeah. But do you remember Masha Masha? remember what happened after that? I don't You don't remember? I had to pull your tooth out. Oh yeah. How was that? Do you remember? No memories. You were difficult patient all day. I remember. I remember there was this one time we were in the the practice and you were doing my teeth and I was like screaming and crying and then you were like, "Masha, you can't scream. I'm the dentist that the the main dentist here is stopped." And I was like, "Okay. Yeah. And I I thought that's I I have couple of if you girls don't mind sharing it was interesting experience with both of you. So um when I was in residency and I was uh barely two and then she turns three and I remember you developed cavity in between your teeth and um and I was in resident so I actually did the procedure on her. I did two or three fings. Yeah. You probably have no Do you remember anything? No, I was three and it was Philadelphia downtown. It was kind of a I remember very cool neighborhood with a lot of experience. So my daughter was a patient. So I did more than one filling I believe. I think two or three fillings I did on her and also we did sealant like a protective coating and I remember my program director was complimented. He's like what a wonderful child. Oh god. She didn't even she handled it as the champ. We completed all the treatments. just said thank you to everybody and left. Everybody were impressed. I did. Yes. It was so [laughter] okay. Funny because uh well we had to deal with what what to do what we had to do. Mash on the other hand had a very traumatic experience because she did fell and I'm as a mom I actually got very scared that her tooth um like was mobile and a lot of blood. I'm sure maybe hopefully not but if your kids have went through this it was very eventful. So me and my husband we rushed to the hospital not to the hospital to the office. Do you remember that at all? I remember that. You remember right? Going on the the chairs of the uh dinner table and you looking at my tooth or something and this thing white. I mean yes I remember I was looking in her and it was a lot of blood. So we decided to go to the office. So, we went to the office and I remember my husband literally had to hold her because she was like moving and crying and we took a picture of it and then I I at that point I didn't have to do anything and then later on she developed a dental infection and I had to pull the tooth. Yeah. The black tooth turned then you had a napsis later on. [laughter] I remember that day because I came home from like a gymnastics competition and I had my medal and I remember I was sitting in the dog's bed, Fluffy's bed and I was like I was just petting Fluffy and then that happened and I remember just sitting there so confused. No, you were running with me with the blankets. I It was two times this happened with the blankets. No, the two the second time she the second time the kitchen. Yes. Yes. Yes. This time I came home and Yeah. Mhm. You've got it all mixed up. You were just little to remember. No, I was just confused. Yeah. Okay. So, in the past though, little story about that that so technically two different experiences and they pretty much have very limited memory. I [laughter] don't know what happened even though you were I I think three or four when we had to do the tooth extraction, right? I think you were a little bit older at that point. Yeah. So, uh, do you remember any funny experiences, um, at the at the at my practice? Well, I remember me and Masha, we used to like before the our like appointment, we would just sit in like the little room and play on the iPad. That was fun. There was so many games. I forgot which one I I like the like crocodile one. I forgot what it's called. It's like the shower one and then you have to like I forgot what you do, but I really like that game. And I remember uh when we built Surprise just like walking around and looking at all the art that we have in the hallways. I remember I really liked like the layout of I remember going into that bean bag room. Oh, in Verado. Yeah. And then there's like a room with bean bags and the TV and like stuff and we would just go in there and just watch like Netflix and it would be fun. Yeah. Mhm. Yeah. That's fun. That's that's very good experiences. Do you think any any conclusions or any lessons you you see or you learned from what from growing up? From growing up. Yeah. Yeah. I mean just like appreciating how health really is everything like you can have all this money, all these different sort of things, but if you're not healthy, you know, it's kind of hard to appreciate. But health is the most important thing. And definitely growing up where our house was very much focused on like health and like um being healthy, maintaining good like food to power your brain. It's just everything cuz eat good, feel good, think good. I don't know. Just like good food like you know helps your brain think. I don't know. I just like in college now that I I appreciate um having all these like good meals at home, being able to like, you know, um make my brain like work cuz I I don't know. I feel like if I eat junk food a lot, my brain will start. That's right. That's right. Especially if you're in a little bit towards ketosis, right? Keto type of Yeah, that's right. What about you, Mama Masha? Any any meaningful lessons, do you think? Um, I think it's like not just dentistry that matters. It's kind of like habits. Like good habits really uh are shown in other ways. Like if you have a clean room, clean teeth, good hygiene, good everything, you're going to be like that's going to be reflected in other things like your grades and your relationships and everything. So, it's not just like the actual practice of having clean teeth. It's like a good habit that really puts the like other aspects of your life together. So, you're technically establishing routine and overcome certain type of barriers on a daily basis, fighting your own demons in terms of laziness and so on, right? That's what you would say that is a reflection. Do you remember any um any any moments that you realize that I help people and I do things for my patients too? I remember there's this one time this um you told me that you had to go in for an emergency because this kid was bouncing on a trampoline with like a basketball hoop and he dunked it and then his teeth got caught on the the hoop. Yeah. And then he fell and they got ripped out. Yeah. Yeah. And then dislocation the the entire primoxil. And then you had to go in and then you fixed him. And I'm just thinking if you didn't do that, like his life would have been changed forever. Like the way people view him, his how he eats, everything pretty much. So like that's when I realized that you really do help people and you're not just a a girl who likes teeth. [laughter] Yeah. Because a lot of people I feel like undermine dentistry as like a field because they're like, "Oh, well doctors are more important because they're the ones really saving lives." But dentistry is as important or equally, you know, because having good hygiene and teeth and in general like your teeth are very important for like your overall health and you deal with like kind of the whole face and neck. So yeah, I mean it's very important. And I remember we you took me to like go volunteer at I think it was a easy mom's house. And I was in high school and I just had a lot of fun because I got to see all these different specialties and we were helping people who weren't able to get um dental care through insurance. I'm pretty sure. Yeah. They had no insurance yet. Yeah. And so being able to help people who didn't get that care and finally were able to get that care through like you and other dentists, it was really great to see and I got to help too. So yeah, even though I don't know if I want to go into dentistry cuz I'm more premed. Um I really appreciate the specialty. A thank you. That's wonderful. You know what it always made me mad when I would when someone would have a medical injury or anything that they would be like this hurts. And then I would like give them advice cuz you're a doctor and and I know what to do. Uhhuh. And they you you give the advice. Well, because like in general things like like inflammation inflammation like like this girl sprained her ankle and then they were they were putting ice on it the day after it happened. The day it happened she didn't they didn't do anything. The day after it happened they were giving her ice. They were giving her everything. And I was like that's not going to do anything. The inflammation's already gone down. ice is to stop the inflammation and swelling and like so I didn't see what the point and then everyone was like I know a lot about ankle sprains and I was like okay just do whatever you want but then it would be annoying because I'd be like hey I I know what to do my mom's a doctor and then they would be like no you're not she's a dentist they don't realize that they don't and I was like she went to medical school she had residency in like a ER right yeah and it just always made me mad cuz it's like people like it's like disrespectful because you did so much and just because you don't specialize in something that's other than like the mouth, that doesn't mean you're not a doctor. You're just a doctor of the mouth. Becoming a dentist and not knowing English as your first language is pretty hard. But I mean, you now you appreciate that as a premed student in the same biology major as I was taking the same classes like go organic chemistry and it's like oh no no like I don't know how. It's like really crazy how you did that without knowing English. I mean I Yeah, my English was not the best at that time, but I knew chemistry. Well, the same formulas. Superpower chemistry. Super power. You love chemistry. Yeah, like when I know it. Okay. I have a test actually. Yeah. On on Wednesday. I'm really scared. It's three pages front and back. So Anna is here. She'll help you out. Yeah. [laughter] One day kids would watch this podcast, maybe my um patients and their moms. What do you want them to take from this podcast? What do you think they should to listen to your parents? Okay, do that. Yeah, I agree because like you think your parents are being strict or mean or whatever, but it's really just like them looking out for your future and yourself. I have the best intentions. Yeah. Like now now that we're older and we can really see like what they were doing, it was they weren't being mean by like not letting you have the snack. They were just looking out for you. That's right. That's right. That's a good message actually. Well, me being in college now, there's so many people go going to like different like career like paths like premed, predental, prevet. And personally as a premed as of now, um just looking on to like the application process and how was your process with predental and what would you do differently if you had to restart? Well, when I did my predental, I started shadowing uh actually dentists. I went to actually dental school and I was shadowing dental students and uh observing kind of understanding what my specialty is. I think that's made a big difference because going into specialty you really don't know what what that that means. you for example going into veterinary school or a medical school. It's a kind of a big broad spectrum and what you need to take from this is how your daytoday life will be when you that specialty. So being a pediatric dentist there's certain criterias for me why I choose this because I was looking school is a it's long but it's actually short period of time of your life but then your daily life that defines technically your future and that's what you are that's what you're doing every single day because I work five days a week that's my day in and day out so finding that field which make you interested, enjoy that little niche day in and day out. I think that's most important because being a pediatric dentist, I like that we work normal hours like we don't work on the weekend technically unless it's some special emergency. We deal with young children. It's no disrespect to adults, but I love children more. [laughter] They have more fun. It's easy. you can like make a joke. Um, not dealing with death because in medical field you have to learn how to deal with like life critical emergencies and death and life situations. So being in vet, same thing with pets for example, right? I think I remember one Christian wanted to be vitinarian a certain point our oldest child their brother and we went to vet one day and vet was measuring temperature on the dog and you know how they do that [laughter] and Christian was like I have to do this. So that was one of those things you have to understand what you actually anticipating. So that's probably one of the things I would want everybody to understand. And what would I change? I probably would go additionally to orthodontic residency. I would be double specialist because those two specialists work together so close. And for me it's just amazing and interesting. I would have some kind of merging of those two specialties. That's what I would have changed. Maybe have more children. I would have probably more children. [laughter] What about you, Masha? Any questions you have? Um I think what would you do different? Oh wait, you just answered that. [laughter] Um, I'd probably say like, do you think you're ever going to want to specialize in other stuff like that's not in teeth if you get bored of dentistry? Like, do you think you're ever going to get bored? I I think uh dentistry I I mean, looking back, I know what you're referring to. I'm very interested in all those functional medicine um approaches kind of merging of traditional medicine and non-traditional medicine kind of to be in the middle of this path. That's why I do tongue ties. Actually, I did your tongue tie. We forgot about talk to talk about that. We'll go back to that. But I think I at this point I am still learning as much as I can being in my spectrum of practice because I cannot go out of spectrum of practice. But I I won't be able to to like go back to a different specialty completely. But I think I in my spectrum I would learn as much as I can on different aspects and implement that in my practice to make lifetime differences. Didn't you want to get a degree in like what was it um food? Yeah. Yeah. At certain point I wanted to maybe will do that nutrition. I wanted to do nutrition. nutrition as a sub specialty and do like nutrition but I think you can learn by yourself a lot without formally go to college in my at my level of education I'm already reached the maximum in my field um that would be a little bit kind of additional learning would be kind of a C classes but I cannot like go back full-time to school to become a nutritionist at this point I mean I always hear you like talking about like different fields and how they connect and it seems like I mean you're just kind of involved with new and upcoming like either research or like you know FDA stuff. So I mean you still stay involved so that's good. I do. Yeah. I love to learn. So actually peptides you probably heard about peptides now are in certain products for dental needs. So they are trying to um cure a dent. It's like a new thing to reverse certain cavities. So, it's actually peptide based. So, now it's a hot trendy topic which I'm going to learn as much as I can and implement because I can. [laughter] Yeah. Yeah. That's great. All good questions. Yeah. Oh. Um, is there any new and upcoming like instrument or like dental um I don't know instrument that you would want to implement into the practice? I want to grow teeth but it's a very distant future. You can grow teeth. You can grow teeth right now but I think the research uh I with AI advancement and everything I think dentistry would be very different. Right now it's very mechanical. It's kind of a lot of um hands-on drilling teeth, extracting teeth, moving teeth. But I think in the future we will be more into like half medical field just face and mouth because right now we already do a lot like injections like some dentists can do cosmetic injections and so on. I'm I'm not in that field, but I think if we can learn how to grow new teeth, that would be something amazing in the future. For example, that we don't need to worry. I mean, we still need to worry about oral hygiene because systemic involvement, bioilm in the mouth affect your gut bacteria and so on, but that would be something amazing, right? Yeah. Can't they grow like valves in your heart or I think they're doing certain type of uh Yeah. I'm not sure that they can completely No, that's a pig valve. Yeah, they can replace pig valve replacement. What about the stuff they grow? They do. They grow like some sort of trachea. I think they in the cartilage. No, but it is in your like chest cavity. Airway. Yeah. Yeah. Part of your airway. Yeah. There's a lot of advancement at medicine. So, we definitely want to be up to date and hopefully contribute future generational contribute. [laughter] Yeah. The oldest fields, right? We never talked about what I wanted to get into when I got Oh, yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Absolutely. Your high school. Well, I want to be like my dad and go into business, but I also really love medicine, too, cuz I was raised in it. Um, and it's really cool to me. Like, um, what's it called? Anatomy and physiology. I got really good grades when I took it in school because I really loved it and it was like genuinely fun studying and so I think I want to do business with a touch of medicine somehow but I don't know you can go to NYU and create your own major really medicine. Yeah, maybe they're kind of opposite sides of the spectrum so I just don't know what they are. Yeah, that's true. If you were not to do dentistry and had to choose a different career path, what would you do? I know what you do. Wouldn't you be an OB? No, I wouldn't be probably OB. If I choose different career, probably going to be some type of functional medicine doctor. I think I would like outside of medicine. Outside of medicine completely, I would be a model. [laughter] Yes, I love fashion. I was a model in high school. I definitely going to go into And then they kicked her out. They kicked me out. I didn't have the right too big of a booty. [laughter]

Yes. But definitely definitely a fashion model. Yeah. Like even now, maybe I retire. Maybe I'll be filled for older women. [laughter] I still have long legs. Yeah. Yeah. Whatever floats your boat. Whatever floats your boat. Yeah. So, like what's the difference between the girls and the boys behaviors like when they're getting their teeth done? It depends on a boy and a girl. A lot of times, um, boys are very active. So, you kind of have to play around. So, if you have 12-year-old in chair, they are going to be like hoo watching movie and doing this and this. So boys naturally have this hyperactive tendency which is absolutely normal for boys. So and that's what we see and girls a lot of times they like very calm good listeners following directions. Of course there is exceptions from the rules but overall I think that's the biggest difference short attention span versus longer attention span than girls and girls probably mature a little bit younger. So the behavior is improving earlier than boys. So we might have like four or five year old who would still throw a tantrum and four five year old girl is the usually well behaved girl. So definitely that because boys as you know they mature a little bit later. Um and uh that's the probably the biggest difference but they're both fun to work with. Which one's your favorite? I I don't think I like different personalities. Um, I like kids who talk and I love my younger younger kids. When I see two-year-old with full vocabulary who tells me that they come here, they had a new doll and if I can brush a little doll's teeth or something like that. That's always fascinates me. And also I like my teenagers who asking professional advisor. Sometimes they ask me, Dr. Olga, how do I how do I become you? how I want to be a dentist. Sometimes they ask me this surprisingly. So it's really cool. It's it's actually we had couple of patients who went into dentistry after one of my actually assistants um she was my patient patient before and I think one or two girls they shadow after high school during high school then they applied to dental school and went into medical field. So, and told me that I was a motivation was not my intention. I treat everybody the same, but we do something right. [laughter] Yeah. Yeah. Why do you think there's a stereotype that going to the dentist is bad? There is. Yeah. Everyone's like, I hate going to the dentist. I think it comes from trauma. I think adults uh unfortunately dentistry was very traumatic like 50 years ago probably because they didn't have availability of um different type of seditives. So it was common practice to like force the child to do some something and now it's completely different. I think we created such a good environment for the future generation since I've been practicing at least um that these kids have completely different perception than parents do especially now is remember my love my new injection right [laughter] I shared with my girls because I bought this new thing to do injections and they manufacture of the product says it's painless and it has minimal discomfort it's really I tried it on you right how did you feel it no completely completely didn't feel like a little bit. Yeah, it it changes the way I practice and likeology fouryear-old like cool sitting there don't even realize I'm like I'm measuring temperature of your tooth and sometimes parents believe that I'm measuring temperature of the tooth. They're like you don't numb anymore. We're like yes we do but this is a special tool. Don't spoil my secret. [laughter] When when you were a little kid growing up could you ever see yourself going into dentistry? No. Well, you know what? Yes and no. I think some subconsciously when I was very little, I had a bunch of dolls and I had bad teeth and I was like drilling actually had the my grandma used to like saw and she was doing a lot of like hands work uh crocheting and I had tools from her. So, I was pretending to play with dolls with all the tools. Um, and that was probably some kind of direction. I think because I had I did go to dentist a lot as a as a child, but I I don't think at that point of my life I ever picture myself as a dentist. Yeah. But your life changes. You adapt to it. That's part of you growing up. You think you're going to be this. I actually when I was at eighth grade, I think I wanted to be economist. Then I changed my mind. I wanted to be a physician. And then I moved to United States and I changed my mind from physician to dentistry. So your life is you have to respond to the the environment demands and so on and what you can and cannot do and be very realistic to yourself because sometimes we think I mean the sky is the limit. you always want to go for this sky, for the stars, but also you have to have assessment where you are and what you can achieve. You know, I agree with that cuz um there's a lot of people that graduated from my high school like yesterday they were graduating and then they had um like a week for the seniors and like their what they wanted to do when they like are graduate from college and like I think half of them and that's like a lot of people I think it was hundred like 50 of them or something like that wanted to be a nurse and I was just like why be a nurse when you could like be a doctor just with a little bit more schooling, you know? Like they both need schooling. And I'm just saying like um people should be more like reach for the stars more. And I'm I'm not saying there's anything wrong with being a nurse. Like like that's a really respected and good profession. But I'm just saying like people should be more what's it called? Like I think you should not limit yourself. Yeah. Because that's why Anna is choosing medicine because we in our oldest child already is an engineer. So as as a mom and my husband as a family, we want our children to actually choose their own path. We're trying to direct them to the path I choose, [laughter] but that's not working out. It's not working out. We still give them the opportunity to actually uh do what they like. Christian, our oldest son, he wanted to be a physicist and he became a physicist and now he works with um those processors and micro electronics and he loves it. He's just a field he likes to be and Anna uh actually got into six year program as a future dentist and drop out not drop out but you deny it you didn't didn't accept the offer because she wasn't sure she was like mom maybe I do want to be a doctor maybe I want to be a physician cardiologist and something else and I could have say, "Nope, you going to go, girl." And she had that flexibility. Same with this one, youngest one. [laughter] I'm saying like if you want to go into something, you should try to be the best at it. You should try to try to succeed as much as you can. Exactly. In that field, cuz it's like it's like more fun to like know more and to be the the best in the room, you know? It's like it's nice. It's nice. Exactly. And that's why like in dentistry for example, I know we're going back to this, but that's why I specialize because if you don't specialize, you have to be jack of all trades. You have to know every single field to the the best knowledge of a specialist. And that's why specializing kind of puts you in this little bubble where you are the best of your of your trade. Same thing with like you said nursing and medical or any other professions. You don't limit yourself. of you just go into the field and succeed. Um, what do you think's your dream in like life? In life in general if you haven't already accomplished that dream. Yeah. Like what what's your biggest goal? I mean professionally I think we reach the point when we achieve a lot of dreams and I think I want to share my knowledge with the future generation. I probably a certain point want to go and teach in a residency or do lectures for other professionals to share my knowledge. I inquire through through the years. On professional level, I want to have a lot of grandchildren. I want to be a grandma. I want to cook. [laughter] Um yeah, I I want to have big family, happy family. And I want my kids to be very happy, successful, have children as well, healthy. Yeah, that's what my biggest dream is. Me being a grandmother with a lot of grandkids. What about your dreams? What do you have a dream in your life? To become a cardiologist. Yeah, that's of as of now to go to medical school and yeah, be a good doctor on the personal level. Um, I didn't think about that. [laughter] I don't know. I feel like um probably to just travel. Okay. I mean, it would be hard if I'm a doctor cuz medical school residency that takes a lot of time. But eventually to a certain point like if I finish medical school and I graduated high school early. So like if I go to medical school early, I could finish earlier and you know take some time and have a family and travel. Nice. Nice. What about you? My dream is probably to to be like my dad and try to have a a series of businesses that are successful and also get into medicine. And I also really like the heart. So maybe cardiovascular system or something. I don't know. Copycat. [laughter] I I just want to be able to say I created something like on my own with like hard work and um just you know be like him and like successful and happy have a have a nice family travel and like really be surrounded with people I love. That's wonderful. Yeah. Wonderful. grandkids [laughter] for me. Yeah, that's Chris. Chris. Chris. Yeah. [laughter] Thank you guys for watching. I hope you enjoyed it. Thank you girls for coming. Of course, we wake up bright and early. Thank you for doing that. Uh and I hope for more videos. Maybe we'll um meet in couple of years for part two and see what dreams we accomplished. [laughter] Welcome to the Ask [music] the Dentist podcast with Dr.