By Carrie Mauterer, D.D.S., CDA Editor
From the Winter 2024 Journal of the Colorado Dental Association
Dr. Carrie Mauterer
Pop is such a cute, innocent little word with only three letters. It’s a super fun word when exploring the realms of onomatopoeia and palindromes. It’s one of the first words babies can say. It reminds us of bubblegum and popsicles and lollipops. It’s a common nickname for our most beloved fathers and grandfathers. I would wager it is just about the most adorable word in the English language. But frankly, I could have done without it during my last Spartan Trifecta race this past November.
My husband and I are embracing our midlives with an increased focus on exercise and nutrition, and we committed ourselves to an annual ritual of doing the Spartan Trifecta race every year in Phoenix on the weekend before Thanksgiving. It’s an obstacle course race (I use the phrase “race” verrry loosely in our case) and while it challenges muscles you forgot you had, it also makes you feel like a kid again, climbing ropes and swinging on monkey bars. Jason and I have found it to be a great way to enter the holiday season so we keep our health in mind during the sloth inducing binge fests. Also, the experience serves as a great litmus test to see what New Year’s intentions we want to set. The plan was the same as before – sign up for all three races, which total 36K in a weekend. But darn it if it didn’t go according to plan this year. I heard the pop as I landed wrong midway through my second race. I’ve never popped like that before. Oh sure, I’ve had some warning signs that I’m not 16 anymore. I’ve had the occasional snap crackle and pop that the beautiful years have gifted to me — like those mornings when something hurts and you have no idea why. Prior to committing to a regular gym schedule, I’ve experienced neck fatigue that was so bad my head would shake during dental procedures and public speaking. I threw my back out sneezing one year and I’m sure I’ve broken a couple of toes … but I’ve never experienced something that slowed me down this much before. Most of us have experienced this moment. The moment when our body fails and betrays us. Whether it is a pop like mine or a diagnosis we were trying to avoid receiving from our doctor, or an addiction that lives within us; our bodies don’t always follow the directions we give them.
Most of my fellow Spartan racers understand this as well. They are all out there fighting their own battles, some visible battles and some completely invisible ones. One of the reasons why my husband and I enjoy these races is because of the people who sign up for them. Every year it is a community of several thousand people supporting and lifting (sometimes literally) their fellow racers up through their journeys. It’s not a competition against each other. It’s a nod of acknowledgment toward each other’s strength and resiliency. After my injury I had an outpouring of support from my fellow Spartans. Right after my pop, a man saw me limping slowly and circled back and offered me the knee brace he was wearing. There was a woman who came up to me at the finish area to check on me and my bandaged leg. She congratulated me and asked if I had finished my race. I couldn’t answer her through my tears but could only shake my head “no.” She touched my knee gently and said, “You showed up. That’s all that matters.” Later, a man at the airport saw my bandage and my cane and his first question surprised me when he asked which part of the Spartan I injured myself on (he said he saw my husband’s Spartan shirt and made some assumptions). We chatted for quite a while about our race experiences and how they have helped us to grow as people. So when people ask me why in the world do I participate in races like this every year — the answer is pretty clear. I enjoy challenging myself while surrounded by a supportive amazing Spartan community.
If I can indulge you in a quick lane change, the same applies to the reason why I participate in the ADA tripartite. I enjoy challenging myself while surrounded by a supportive amazing dental community. Every so often I read the question on social media, “Why join the CDA?” It is so hard to answer that in a quick Facebook response. And honestly, sometimes I just want to respond, “If you don’t know then you don’t know.” The ADA/CDA/MDDS dental community has been a supportive community I have been able to lean on for the last 18 years. Dentist members I met back in my baby dentist days 18 years ago (back when my skin used to glow and my knees didn’t pop) are still colleagues I lean on all the time. For example, when my very first board complaint arrived on my desk last year, I reached out to my old friend Dr. Candace DeLapp who I served on the MDDS board with a decade and a half ago. Back in those days, she and I spent many late nights together in the MDDS boardroom. When I hit a wall with volunteerism burnout, my friend and colleague Dr. Karen Foster recognized it immediately and began checking in on my mental wellness regularly. When I feel a little underwhelmed with the effectiveness of the message of my editorials, Dr. Kevin Sessa (now down in Florida) reaches out to encourage me to keep on fighting the fights worth fighting for. When I post any dental community activity on social media, Dr. Brett Kessler always comments with his famous personal tagline #respect. And when it becomes too much balancing a blended family of five boys, a dental practice, a management position in my DSO and my typically-too-many volunteer positions, my good old friend Molly Pereira reaches out and tells me it’s time for a lunch date. The community we have built in Colorado is unlike any other. It didn’t take any particular talent of mine in order to become a part of the support, warmth and collegiality. I just showed up over and over and over again. And just like my new Spartan friend said, that’s all that matters.
So, to answer those dentists on social media wondering why I participate in the CDA… Are we crushing it over here with our strategic planning? Maybe. Are we making a difference in the profession? I hope so. Are we laying a pathway for our future colleagues to have a sustainable enjoyable career? That is certainly our goal. But are we creating a supportive group of dentists who will carry each other through their darkest moments? Hell yeah we are.
Come join us. All you have to do is show up. That’s all that matters.