I m p ressio n s
“So when are you going
to retire?”
by Dr. Stephen T. Radack III, Editor
I was doing an exam on a patient the
other day when out of the blue he asked,
“so when are you going to retire doc?”
A day later, my wife Mary and I were out
with some friends who asked the same
question, maybe because they are both already retired and are
living the “good” life. And then I was talking to my mom at the
end of that week and yep, you guessed it, she asked me that
same question. Three times in the span of a week, three random
people asked me when I was going to retire. It got me thinking,
do I have more gray hair than I had last week? Do I look tired out
like it is time for me to retire? Is it because I am on the downhill
slide to 60? Or maybe after 31+ years of doing dentistry these
people think it may be time for me to at least consider it or ask
the question.
Being asked the same question three times in a week got me
thinking about retiring and what that means to a dentist. If we
retire from actively practicing does that mean we are still
dentists? Isn’t the active practice of dentistry what defines a
dentist? I believe deep down inside that could be why some of
us hesitate to walk completely away from practice. Is there a
magic age when one retired from the practice of dentistry? 60?
70? 80 or 90? I have known colleagues who continue to practice
in every age group. Is there an internal alarm clock that just
goes off one day and lets you know that is it time? Or maybe
you figure out your skills are starting to slip a little due to your
eyes not being as young as they once were or hands quite as
steady you hope they would be and realize its time.
I think it would be great if we could just go part-time a day or
two a week. Or maybe take six months in Florida or some other
warm place for the winter, but I am not sure you would be able
to maintain a solo private practice with that schedule. What
would even be left as the practice would slowly dwindle away,
if you are not there when your patients need you? I know we all
would worry what would happen to our patients, our employees
and our office if we just went away.
The bigger question for some may be, what will I do? There
are many hobbies I would like to spend more time doing; top
on the list would be more golfing and trying to improve on
my 19 handicap, more sailing and traveling to see our family.
The problem with those first two is living in Erie. It is hard to
golf with a foot of snow on the ground and even harder to sail
a boat on six inches of ice. So I guess we are hitting the road.
Kids here we come!
I have often thought I might spend more time teaching at
LECOM, which I do enjoy. It is completely different than what I
do in the office, but it still keeps me connected to the
profession I love and that has given me so much. It also gives
me the opportunity to help shape the next generation of
dentists that will replace me. Maybe I could start doing a few
more CDCA exams a year. Maybe there are some volunteer
opportunities, whether it is here in Erie, or MOM-n-PA, or
maybe something not related to dentistry at all. I am sure it has
happened to all of us; we ask a patient who has recently retired
how retired life is treating them. Most, if not all, tell me they
don’t know how they had time to work.
One other thing that I am sure everyone thinks about when the
“R” word is brought up is money, and will I have enough if I
stopped working? Have I done a good job preparing for that
day or has just living life and the cost of kids, college, weddings,
houses, cars and the rest somehow kept me short of the goal,
and now when I want to retire, I may have to keep working. Or
maybe we just worry that if the income from practicing every
day is no longer there, the security of that is also not there.
The final thing that crosses my mind when someone asks me
that question is, if I retire, will my wife also be ready? She still
loves what she does as an OR nurse and could conceivably work
part-time for many more years. How would she feel, or more
importantly, how would I feel watching her get up and head
out the door every day and go off to work while I sit at the
kitchen table having a cup of coffee and reading the paper?
“Have a great day at work honey!”
As you can see, there just seems to be so many questions that
came to mind from that simple question and none of the
answers seem to be crystal clear. The best answer to the question,
“So when are you going to retire?” Someday!
— STR3
SEP TEM BER/OC TOBER 2017 | P EN N SYLVAN IA DEN TAL JOURNAL
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