Love your work with passion

Churchill Aguilar

IN my last article, I talked about the incompetence of some of our local government employees and its negative implications to reaching the goals set by the local chief executives. However, these issues are not only exclusive to government employees. They are as real as well with private institutions.

Let me share a personal experience I have with dental services. Five years ago, I had my two front teeth veneered. A veneer is a layer of porcelain placed over a tooth to improve the aesthetics of a smile as well as protect the tooth from damage. One of my veneer fell off sometime last year and so I had it fixed in a clinic in Dipolog City. To date, it is very much in good condition in so far as functionality and aesthetic is concern. A month ago, the other one fell off as well. Since I was in Cagayan de Oro, I visited my usual clinic. Apparently, my old dentist has already migrated so I allowed the new one to fix my problem. Not only was I charged extremely high, the veneer fell off the following day as well. So I decided to find a new dentist downtown, hoping that a more seasoned dentist can fix it. Indeed the second one re-attached my veneer better and it lasted for well just about a week. Damn.

My dental problem is especially a high priority for me since it involves my front tooth and I earn a living by giving lectures. So when I had time again, I sought for the newest and most advanced clinic in town. When I got hold of a name and a number of a known dentist I did not waste time to book myself for a check up.

So I visited the clinic and the dentist. Instead of attending right away to my main complaint, she first made a thorough assessment of all of my teeth and then created a dental plan before discussing it with me. Her expertise was very evident not only on the latest technologies that she used while assessing my dental structure but also on how she assessed each of my tooth as well as on the varied options she presented to me as possible interventions depending on my preference.

Quality dental services come with a price, that I know in my years of experience with a lot of dental service providers so I just opted for more affordable options. When this dentist performed the procedures I asked, she was very thorough with every step. I did not even know up until she was finished that she was also measuring her efficiency in conducting multiple procedures. She even performed an additional major procedure (with my permission) which was beyond my budget already just to perfect the outcome of my dental repair without additional charge. She documented the condition of my teeth before and after the procedure which gave me an idea that this dentist really loves her job and is very much outcome driven.

True enough, she is by far the best dentist I have encountered if I based my judgment on how she successfully restored all my teeth at best possible condition and at the most reasonable price, and it was not even a case of doing someone special favor because I was just one of her clients and it was our first time to meet each other then. Now I got back my confidence to smile and speak my mind.

The least I could do to thank my newfound dentist is to highly recommend her services. I am talking about Dr. Audrey Cagaanan-Bangcong, an expert in aesthetic dentistry, orthodontist and TMJ specialist. Her clinic is located at second floor of the newly opened Cagayan Town Center adjacent to Centrio Ayala.

This brings me back to my point that we are only as good as how competent we are in our respective fields. Competence is a major element for real change to happen. So let us continue to perfect our crafts and love what we do with passion. At the end of the day, it becomes our meaning, our purpose.