Typical Day
Reid Tainer aka “The Fixer,” breezes into the All Smiles Dental Day Spa at 7am in his Spider-Man scrubs. He’s eager to see his patients and is thrilled to see them packed like sardines in the waiting room. It’s rush hour and everyone’s trying to cram their appointment in before school starts. The stress in the room dissipates when they see Reid Tainer walk through the door. It must be his scrubs. Nobody can get uptight when up close and personal with a grown man in flannel Spider-Man.
Reid Tainer is friendly and upbeat with the kids as he goes about tightening the wires on their braces, hoping to force the teeth to obey his plan. It’s an effective, age-old method to straightening smiles, but it will leave most kids with sore mouths for the rest of the day. What’s the old saying? “No pain, no gain?” Yeah, he doesn’t tell them that. He knows all they really need is a sympathetic ear as they moan and groan.
Most of the kids are cool, funny, and just overall awesome, so this isn’t hard for him to do. He wishes there was a way he could fix their teeth painlessly, but unfortunately, when you’re talking about moving bones around, there’s bound to be some discomfort.
Reid takes great pride in his work, knowing that he is helping kids with not only their physical appearance by fixing their teeth, but helping their self-confidence by improving their smiles. All he needs to do is compare the smiles in his “Before Treatment” and “After Treatment” corkboards to know he's doing great things.
Reid says hello to Flora Ida, the receptionist, a stout middle-aged woman in pink flannel scrubs covered in teddy bears. Reid peruses the schedule—it looks like it’s going to be a busy day. That’s okay, he likes to be busy. Since he’s only in the office Tuesday and Fridays, Reid packs in close to ten patients in an hour during the “prime time” hours of before and after school.
This doesn’t include those patients who take longer than a ten-minute wire tightening. Initial consultations and those who get their braces put on for the first time or taken off can take a while and those are typically scheduled for after lunchtime. Getting braces put on is quite an event for anyone and the kids generally enjoy the special attention and treatment, along with getting the day off from school.
Reid has a tight team of dental assistants to help him take X-rays, make moldings of teeth, and put colored bands on the ligatures. He secretly calls the team his Oompa Loompas, although if word got out about how great they are, he’d probably have to give them all a raise.
Reid’s assistants enable him to focus on the task at hand—creating a plan of action that will take each person’s smile from frightening to fabulous. Each mouth is totally unique, so there’s a lot of work involved in examining x-rays and bone structure.
It’s a busy day, just the way Reid likes it. He enjoys being able to help so many kids, while at the same time keeping up with the soap operas of their lives. Since he sees his patients every month for about two years—the typical length of treatment—Reid likes hearing how they’re doing in school and what they’re up to. This isn’t a job for anyone who doesn’t like kids...or for someone who doesn’t like standing on their feet all day. Thankfully, Reid has super comfortable sneakers to keep his feet cozy while he works. They cost a fortune but are worth every penny—besides, business is good, he can afford them.
The crowd dies down and the office gets quieter around 9am. Reid typically schedules his adult patients for these late mornings. About 20 percent of his patients are adults, and almost all of them are women wanting to finally straighten their smiles that they’ve been hiding their whole lives. Many are freshly divorced and want to look their best as they try to get back into the dating scene.
At around 11am, Reid has a lull in the day when he generally goes over his treatment notes and x-rays, answers his emails, and networks with the dentists whose offices he shares. Reid likes the dental group very much. The three dentists, Dr. Moe, Dr. Larry, and Dr. Curly, are a fun bunch. The dentists and orthodontist work hand-in-hand, sharing patients. Reid is only in charge of straightening the teeth, while the other doctors are responsible for the patient’s oral hygiene and general dental health care.
At noon, Reid takes a break, changes out of his scrubs, and heads out for lunch. He often scarfs down some take-out California rolls so he has time to go for a walk in the fresh air.
At 1pm, Reid is back to work, this time with the bigger jobs—including the kids getting their braces put on for the first time, a few getting them off, and a couple of prospective patients who have come for free consultations.
He likes the consultations the best. It’s like a puzzle for him and he loves the challenge of a good puzzle. He takes great pride in his ability to look at a patient’s bone structure and teeth to determine a course of action to fix them—even when they’re really, really bad, as is the case with many of his patients. He also likes to get a little hands on with appliances, sometimes even crafting modifications to those that come back from the lab.
The office buzzes to life during the 4pm to 5pm rush hour. Reid quickly moves from kid to kid, tightening wires, talking to patients, and making sure everyone's mouth is in working order. You need good hand-eye coordination and a lot of stamina to be able to see this many patients in just an hour. Reid Tainer has both.
At 5pm it’s time to call it a day. Reid says goodbye to the staff and packs it in, heading home to enjoy his two days off. He values the time off that comes with the job, and looks forward to spending time with his family. Oh, and being his own boss is pretty cool, too.