Changing of the guard, new dental assistant at Seasons of Smiles

I have been part of the team at Seasons of Smiles Dental for over a year and can honestly say that it’s the best job ever and it is always such a pleasure to come to work. Dr. Medina and his team are simply marvelous all the way around. I am deeply saddened to say that I am leaving the dental assistant position due to health concerns and more happening with my family.
Being healthy is one of the reasons I was attracted to Seasons of Smiles Dental. Dr. Medina and his team make every effort to model healthy lifestyles. Nellie likes to walk regularly for hours on the beach and Samantha is chasing after her active toddler. Kim and Michelle like fitness classes from a phenomenal instructor, Hunter Grindle, at Hybrid Fitness in Thomaston. The Medina family likes to ride their bikes. The whole team supports each other to eat healthy because everyone knows that eating well, exercising and oral health are closely linked in promoting optimum overall health.

What are my health concerns?

Besides my slew of challenging auto-immune issues recently my son has been diagnosed with Celiac Disease and Lactose Intolerance. I was relieved at first because we had the answer to why he didn’t feel well.

I thought, “This will be an easy fix if we just follow the rules of eating gluten-free and avoid lactose.” It turns out it’s a lot more complicated than that.

There is a chance that when his belly heals he will be able to have lactose again but no guarantees. However, he can never have gluten again – ever! Depending on how sensitive he is he can’t even breath flour, play with play dough, lick an envelope/stamp or touch the adhesive on stickers. He can only use Crayola and Elmer’s brands of crayons and glue because the other brands have gluten in them. It’s in everything, especially things you’d least suspect. We have turned into a label reading, googling family for everything we touch. We even needed to replace our cast iron pans, cutting boards, and wooden spoons because they may have gluten-packed into crevices and in the grain of the wood.
My son missed quite a bit of school this year and is still going to bed real early sleeping 12 hours a night. His little body is just wiped out and needs time and resources to restore him to health so he can live a happy, active life. For those who do not know, Celiac Disease affects the villa on the walls of the intestine. Instead of working properly and absorbing nutrients the villa flatten to the sides of the intestines. Over time the body isn’t getting what it needs to stay healthy causing low energy levels as well as belly aches.

Time and Devotion

The biggest challenge we are facing is convincing my son to trust food again. If everything you ate made you feel horrible, you’d probably have a huge aversion to food as well. Making the psychological switch to believe that there is some food that is okay to eat is a big leap for a 9-year-old. All of this we can conquer. I just need time to devote to getting my family well.

I am saying farewell to those I love at Seasons of Smiles Dental but I’m not really leaving. Dr. Medina has been my family’s dentist for almost 14 years and will continue to be because I love coming to Seasons of Smiles for the friendly and knowledgeable visits with the team. – Cathy Caveney

The Glorious News!

I am absolutely thrilled to say that everything will be in great hands. Brenda Seeber will be the new dental assistant, and we are all very excited about this. She is lovely and will fit in perfectly. We are looking forward to all she will bring to keep Seasons of Smiles a shining star in our community. Please welcome her the next time you are in the office. I’m sure you’ll see a blog from her soon so keep checking in.