Bunny Run

Last year, we had our first bunny nest. We found it when our dog had one of the baby bunnies in his mouth.

My wife, Sarah, immediately noticed that Luca had something in his mouth and quickly removed the bunny out of his grips. Sarah found the nest and placed the bunny back with its 2 other siblings.

The bunny was still alive, but we were concerned if the mama was going to accept the baby bunny. Thankfully, she seemed to have accepted the bunny, and they eventually left our yard.

This year, Sarah noticed our dog was very fixated on a certain part of our yard. This is not normal behavior for Luca. He’s usually running all over the yard. She thought it was weird and went out to see.

Sarah noticed a pile of dried-up grass and noticed some bunny fur. Off to the side of our yard, the mama was looking at the nest. She was protecting her babies. We immediately knew we had another nest.

We had a different strategy this year than we did last year.

We did not mow the backyard. We wanted the grass to get long, so the bunnies had a place to hide. We did not allow the dog in the backyard without being on a leash. We tried covering the nest with a chair to give the nest protection from the elements.

The bunnies have been in our yard for over 3 weeks now, undisturbed, and growing big and strong.

As we gain more experience, our strategy for how we do things evolves and improves. Dentistry is no different.

Failure and growth are part of the process. No one can escape it. We all must go through it to improve. There are no short cuts, and we must all experience our failures to become the best version of ourselves.

One thing that I’m seeing with a lot of newer dentists, is that they are jumping around from office to office. The bad thing about that is they do not see their failures.

As a dentist, sometimes you’ll see a patient for their 6-month cleaning and in their checkup x-rays, you’ll notice a piece of glue that you did not fully clean off when you did that filling a few months ago.

Or a filling that you previously placed, is now giving the patient discomfort when they floss.

These are all things that have happened to me, and I’ve been able to perfect my technique. That’s because I’ve stayed in the same place, treating the same people for over 25 years.

When these things happen, I am able to fix it quickly and with accuracy.

That’s why experience is important, and it matters.

But it could never be achieved if you're jumping around from office to office, or if you saw a different dentist each time you came into an office.

I’ve been practicing dentistry for over 25 years and I am the only dentist that you will see. I’ve also only worked in 2 offices. For the first 5 years, I worked as an associate at an office in Lakeview.

Now, for the last 20 years, I’ve owned and operated Dente, in the Wicker Park neighborhood, treating our patients with the highest level of quality and compassion.

If you are looking for a dental office with this level of commitment to their patients, please visit us at mydente.com or call 773-292-1911 to schedule your appointment.

Floss Like a Madman!

Emilio “Looking For Carrots” Couret

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