Vintage Dental Articulating Models... And, why!

When I saw this set of vintage dental articulating models

on a marble base in the catalog for the Carolina country

store auction sale being held this weekend at Mebane

Antique Auction Gallery, I immediately added it to

my list of must-have's! I realize that it may seem like

an odd want... But to me, this find makes perfect sense!

You see, I've been fascinated by dentistry for as long as I can remember. In fact,

I am able to recall, in incredibly vivid detail, my very first nightmare... And, it

involved teeth! I was five years old. The Captain was in Vietnam, which means

my little brother and I spent most nights being afraid of the dark and Kansas

thunder storms, which also meant we slept with my mom a lot! Anyway, while

poking around in her jewelry box one night, I came across the scariest thing I

had ever seen up to that point in my young life... It was a lower partial! It was

so creepy looking - this huge hunk of shiny metal, complete with a pointy hook,

two porcelain molars and what looked like part of my mom's jaw! Of course, I

didn't want my mom to know what I found so I quickly tucked it back in the box,

wishing I could un-see what I saw. But that didn't happen because that night, I

dreamt about my mom's partial. And it wasn't pleasant! Despite all of this, I was

never afraid of going to the dentist. I actually looked forward to it!  I would ask

too many questions and when it was time to pick a toy for being a good girl, I

secretly wished for an exam mirror so I could look at my teeth at home! After

getting braces at 13, I decided I would be a dentist. All throughout high school,

my best friend from 4th grade in Germany and I made plans to be roommates

where she lived in Omaha so that I could attend Creighton dental school...

When I was eighteen, I answered an ad in the paper for a dental assisting position

and actually got an interview. The dentist let me know that it was between me and

another girl I'd just graduated with. Then he asked me to spell fluoride and I got it

wrong. It's not flour-ide, Janet, he scolded. My classmate got the job. And I never

misspelled fluoride again. A year later, I was married and living just outside of

Arlington, VA when I answered another ad for dental assistant. Dr. Michael J.

Collins, DMD hired me on the spot and I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. I

learned so much working in his office. Dr. Collins was brilliant and besides being

patient and kind, he also treated us to lunch at the Washington Golf and Country

Club and took us to his Rotary Club, where we got to see movies before they hit

theaters. Every time I wear my Rolex I think of Dr. Collins and wince a little in

embarrassment for that naive girl he hired in 1985 who offered to swing by

Kmart for him after he said his Rolex needed a new band. Oh, yes... I did!

Working with Dr. Collins cemented my love for dentistry. He taught me that no

matter how old you are, your mouth is the only part of the body that can be made

to look like you're 16 again. He also taught me that dentistry is as much an art as

it is a science. Immediately upon moving back to Monterey in 1986, I enrolled in

the dental assisting program at Monterey Peninsula College. I did my 2nd year

internship at Stone Dental Clinic with an oral surgeon at Ft. Ord. All I did all day

long was assist with wisdom teeth extractions, mostly impacted, on young soldiers

just out of basic training. Although I didn't make a career of it, dentistry is still

something that interests me. Most people notice eyes. I notice teeth. I can usually

tell, within a few years, how old someone is by the condition of their teeth... Of

course, here in the south that's a bit trickier! Anywho... As you can tell from the

last two photos, I got my dental models at the auction today. But it did not come

without a little drama. You see, the auction going on in Mebane is a three day

affair that began yesterday while I was at work. So I called and spoke to John,

the owner of the gallery to ask where the dental models would fall in the catalog

of more than 4,000 lots to be sold. Luckily, John assured me they wouldn't come

up until 11AM on Saturday. But something told me we should head over there

today to check things out. And, once again, my intuition proved correct because

after a thorough search of the gallery, I couldn't find the models. What's worse,

when I finally asked, I was told they were sold late last night! I almost left in a

huff but then I saw John so I stopped him to tell him how disappointed I was to

find the models sold a full two days before they were scheduled. Turns out, John

was as surprised as I was and incredibly, he vowed to make it right if he could.

Now, this is a man in the middle of a three day auction sale... And yet, he took

time to figure out who bought the models and then told me that if he could buy

them back, he'd GIVE them to me. Of course, I wasn't there to take advantage of

anyone so I told him that if he could get them back, I'd gladly pay whatever his

buyer asked. Turned out, the models were purchased by a friend of John's that

owns a store. So aside from reselling them, he said the models meant nothing

to him so he immediately agreed to transfer them from his bidder number to

mine. Even better, this buyer was making a weekend of the sale so he hadn't

cashed out yet, which meant the models were still in the building! He had to

flip through five pages of items he bought last night, but finally, there it was...

Dental Models/Marble Base - $105. I paid $123, which included the buyer's

premium. After that, I took my patient husband out for dinner to celebrate!