REAL STORIES | How Sam’s smile changed his life.
LOOKING YOUR BEST: When the right circumstances converge, it's easy to be confident. And sometimes confidence is all you need.
THE STORY BEHIND “FANCY-LOOKING” SAM Dr. Jarod Johnson and Sam’s mom, Hannah, share a heart-felt story of how a little boy’s life was transformed—and how it affected so much more than just his smile.
by JAROD JOHNSON, DDS
IT
was a brisk autumn day in Muscatine, Iowa, and I had just finished updating a lecture I was preparing for Sprig Live, scheduled to take place in just a few days. Needing a break, I decided to run to the grocery store and pick up some items my family needed. At the deli counter, I ran into Hannah and Joaquin, Sam’s parents. Sam is one of the children from our office who had been featured in Sprig’s Changing Lives series. Sam has a number of unique and special qualities. He is an exceptional patient and brings joy to everyone in our office when we see his name on the schedule. He presented with decay on the mesial surfaces of his primary first molars. Sam is well mannered and was able to tolerate
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all his treatment (which included placing two posterior EZCrowns) under local anesthesia and nitrous oxide/ oxygen supplementation. While all these factors provide interesting details of Sam’s background, I hadn’t yet heard the most impactful part of his story. Back at the deli counter, I asked Hannah, “How are Sam and his sister doing?” Earlier that week, I had mailed Sam a copy of the latest Shift magazine in which he was pictured throughout. Wanting to make sure his family received it, I inquired if the magazine had arrived. At that point, Hannah responded, “Yes, we received the magazine, and Sam took it to school to share with a girl who routinely enters beauty contests. Let’s just say she was impressed!”
