Dr. John M. Bevan, My Dental Mentor

Love you, Dad.

For the first time in months I have skipped two weeks of blogging. I have good reason. My Dad passed away recently. It took his body quite a bit to give in to death. This process provided opportunities for me and my mom and six siblings to do a lot of reminiscing, loving and sharing with Dad. I hope that belief that patients, while in a coma or unconscious state, are able to hear and feel even though they do not appear to be responsive is truth. I really hope so.

There was a lot of love in that room. His room. A hospital bed was set up in his den in their home. Surrounding him on the walls were pictures of his family, plaques of achievements and service as well as pictures of his many life adventures. It quickly turned into a sacred place for us.

One of the things we did, which he may or may not have approved of, was looking through his files to find his funeral plans. Probably he hadn’t wanted us to discover this prematurely as he had his plans filed under “pending trips”. I found it though and realized (along with my siblings) I would be asked to speak. I was also tasked with writing his obituary. Both assignments were accepted but neither of which was I able to really work on until he passed. I wanted to soak up every last moment of life with him. I knew there would be time for writing and expressing.

I was actually on a run when he passed. I think that may have made him happy. He was proud that he was the first to take me running. Although I hated it. I later learned to love it. Kind of like my love of all vegetables, greek yogurt and really everything that is good for me. Initially I might be resistant but I eventually come around. And speaking of resistance…never have I felt it so strongly as I did when I ran into that sacred room after dad had passed and embraced his lifeless frame. Something I knew was best and yet.

My family members are planners. I mean all of them and myself (somewhat) included. They had started on the obituary and now wanted it completed. I knew what I had to do. After a night’s rest, I set out on a run and this time I did it Dad-style: no music, podcast or conversation. Just me and the pavement and my thoughts and hopefully some of Dad’s. I came up with an idea and then a sentence and then came home and it all fell together.

Next day, similar experience but this time it was my talk that was the subject of my running pondering. And that run is where the SIX JMB DENTAL GEMS were born. I will publish the first part of my talk today and then in the next two days I will share “THE SIX JMB DENTAL GEMS”

Funeral Talk:

Claire mentioned that we were taught to work hard in our home. Most of us had the opportunity to work with Dad at his dental office in one capacity or another. Consequently, those of us who found the work stimulating chose to pursue education in the dental profession. We tease that it is in our blood. Karen, Cindy and I all studied dental hygiene. Curtis is a dentist as well as his son, Spencer and Spencer’s sister, Jessica is also a dental hygienist. 

When I worked with Dad as a trained-on- the- job dental assistant, I was able to see first hand the pride he took in giving his patients exceptional treatment but I didn’t really fully appreciate his level of skill until I had the opportunity to work in over 50 other dental office settings. 

I can honestly say that I never saw dentistry done with such care and attention to the quality that I saw done by “JMB”. Dad worked most of his career in a group dental practice so to distinguish doctors we used abbreviations of their initials. Dad’s original partners were JKR, ROB, JCC and GOQ. You know who you are. My Dad treasured his relationships with his colleagues. 

He told me many times that he felt it was a privilege to be a dentist. He felt it was his responsibility to give back to the profession through service. He served in leadership positions in the Salt Lake District Dental Society, the Utah Dental Association as well as the LDS Academy of dentists. He also served volunteering his skills and time for many years to the free dental clinic in Salt Lake. In 1984 he put together, with the help of donations from dental manufacturers, a mobile dental clinic that he, my mom and sister, Claire ran after Claire had completed her 18 month mission for the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Thailand.

I have decided to shape my message today around things I learned from Dad in the dental office. I have termed them: “THE SIX JMB DENTAL GEMS” To be continued.