In health care, we are trained to measure what we can quantify. We check blood pressure, glucose, cholesterol, and weight. We monitor lab trends and adjust medications. We look for numbers that confirm risk. What we do not routinely measure is whether a patient is living in a constant state of stress, even though the signs are often right in front of us.

In dentistry, those signs are hard to miss.

Over …

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My great-grandfather was a small-town doctor in the early 1900s.

It was a different time. A different place. A very different pace.

He knew his patients. He knew their families. He understood their lives, not just their symptoms. Care happened in the context of relationship because that was simply how medicine worked.

Today, health care looks very different. The science is better. The technology is stronger. We can do things now that would …

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