TRAFFIC TEETH DENTISTRY BECOMING A LOST ART

Dr. Yves Howdie fills a large rusty cavity in a traffic tooth at the entrance to Hemlock Acres County Park

Dentist Yves Howdie gently maneuvers his drill around the back of the large steel traffic tooth.

“See all this gravel and road tar buildup?  We’ll remove it and then sharpen the tooth,” he explained before inadvertently lacerating his own thigh with the spinning drill.  “And like I always say, bad traffic teeth lead to bad traffic problems.”

For more than 30 years, Dr. Howdie has been the only dentist taking care of the county’s traffic teeth, which can be found at the entrances to many parking lots and garages, as well as the county park.

“I used to work on people,” said Dr. Howdie, “but my patients’ saliva made me sneeze and I got tired of buying People magazine for the waiting room.  Do you know how much that costs?  It’s criminal.  Now I work outside and I love it.”

Dr. Howdie describes scenes such the one above as “my office.”

But Dr. Howdie worries about who will take care of the local traffic teeth once he retires.

“My rhomboid is warped and I have permanent dimples in my kneecaps from kneeling in gravel all day long, so I don’t know how much longer I can go on.”

While Howdie would like to see dental schools add more traffic teeth programs to their curriculums, he says, “I don’t see that happening, unfortunately.”

“Without a dentist to work on the traffic teeth, it’ll be left to the guys in Public Works. They’re nice guys, but they can’t even take care of their own teeth,” said Howdie.