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Doctor Spiller's Autobiography

 

"Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself.  There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide."  John Adams, 1814 John Adams
"Is it not high time for the people of this country explicitly to declare, whether they will be freemen or slaves? It is an important question which ought to be decided. It concerns us more than anything in this life. The salvation of our souls is interested in this event.  Immorality of every kind comes in like a torrent. It is in the interest of tyrants to reduce the people to ignorance and vice. For they cannot live in any country where virtue and knowledge prevail. The religion and public liberty of a people are intimately connected; their interests are interwoven, they cannot subsist separately; and therefore they rise and fall together. For this reason, it is always observable, that those who are combined to destroy the people's liberties, practice every art to poison their morals. How greatly then does it concern us, at all events, to put a stop to the progress of tyranny.  It has advanced already by far too many strides. We are at this moment upon a precipice. The next step may be fatal to us."   Samuel Adams,  October 5, 1772 Samual Adams

In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all,
By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul;
But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: “If you don’t work you die.”

This is part of a poem by Rudyard Kipling called "The Gods of the Copybook Headings".  The poem is especially pertinent for our time. It does not directly address flash mobs or sovereign bankruptcy, but it definitely addresses the cause of these phenomena.  Click here or on the image of Rudyard Kipling to read the poem, and understand its meaning!

Rudyard Kipling

 

Marty Circa 1950 Marty with Bonnie
Cowboy_1949.JPG (4642 bytes) MBonnie1949.JPG (11860 bytes)
With Jeremy 1971 With Jeremy & Heather 1980
marty1972.JPG (8061 bytes) MartyKids1980.JPG (14764 bytes)
Circa 1970 in Washington DC on the C&O Canal
In Maryland
Marty & Diana on Mt. Washington (yes, we really climbed it)
In Maryland 1977

I grew up in Swampscott, MA, graduated from high school in 1965 and attended Northeastern University where I majored in electrical engineering for two years.  I was a co-op student which meant that I would alternate going to college for three months and then work in a business related to my major for the next three months.  I had no problems with the engineering, but those were the mid 60's, and when I began to grow a beard, my supervisor became alarmed and told me that if I didn't shave it off he'd have to fire me. That was when it first dawned on me that I was not cut out for the corporate world.  In quitting that job, I also had to quit school (those were the rules at Northeastern at that time) and immediately I became eligible for the draft.

The Army was after me, but since I had not yet been called up, I decided to do a bit of traveling first and set out hitch hiking around the USA, registering for the draft in each city I came to. Computers being primitive and unconnected, I was safe from Uncle Sam as long as I traveled because the Government could never come to grips with a moving target. When my number was finally up (literally) I successfully beat the draft by enlisting in the Navy. Actually, I had an ulterior motive for joining up (beyond the pressure of the draft board). Diana somehow knew that we were destined to spend our lives together, and I thought that by joining the Navy, I could avoid marriage. It didn't work! In less than a year she had me! I've never regretted it.

The Navy was a turning point in my life. I was married and had one child (Jeremy, born in 1971) and the Navy let me keep my beard. I was a Navy corpsman (a medic) and had received additional schooling in blood bank and hospital laboratory technology. I became a bacteriologist and a part time pathologist's assistant helping with autopsies and generally learning my way around hospitals. I could have remained in laboratory technology after the Navy, but that would have meant ultimately working for someone else which would eventually lead to grief, and undoubtedly the loss of my beard. I was, however, becoming quite adept at the technical skills involved in my job which included emergency room work, minor emergency surgery, drawing blood, starting IV's and other patient oriented tasks. I became very good at making rational decisions under extreme duress.  I had to decide how I was going to apply my skills, earn a decent living and support my family after I left the military. 

My decision to go into dentistry was partly driven by the fierce competition for placement in medical school and the miserable thought of still being a student at age 35. Acceptance to dental school was almost a sure bet if I did well during my last two years of undergraduate work. And so I chose dentistry where, I have since learned, that grace under fire is a huge advantage!

To make a long story short, in 1974, my wife had blessed us with a new addition to our family, a daughter, Heather.  I finished two years of undergraduate work at Boston University graduating cum laude in 1975.  During those two years I supported myself and my family by working as a part time bacteriologist at a hospital in Lynn, MA.  I applied for and was accepted to Tufts School of Dental Medicine in Boston and graduated in 1978.  That's Jeremy taking the diploma at the Boston University graduation.  He writes software now.

Heather - 1975 click on picture to see what she's doing now The little boy is Jeremy.  Click on the picture to see what he's doing today
Heather with School Skull Graduation with Jeremy

It may surprise you to know that upon graduation from an accredited professional school, most graduates tend to feel that they are not ready to unleash themselves on an unsuspecting public.  In school, the student is exposed to the rudiments of their profession.  They leave academia with a fair amount of knowledge and some practice in applying it, but not much in the way of experience.  The term "dental practice" means just that - Practice!!

After graduating from dental school I decided to join the Army for a general practice dental residency.  (Unfortunately they DID make me cut off my beard.)  I figured, "What the heck?  The military did a great job of training me for the real world of lab technology, so I might as well see if they can do the same for me in dentistry".  They did NOT disappoint me.  As a result of the training I received from my military residency, I became proficient in dental specialties that most general dentists refer out to specialty offices.  While I still refer out some of my cases, I am fully equipped and capable of performing complex extractions, difficult endodontics, fixed and removable prosthetics, and periodontics (gum surgery) as well as minor oral surgical procedures.

During my residency I routinely assisted in orthognathic (jaw straightening) surgery, and became quite good at plastic surgery and repair of faces after severe traumatic automobile and gunshot injuries.  (At Fort Bragg, where I did my residency, the dental residents were routinely assigned all emergency facial trauma cases, probably because we had already mastered the fine motor skills necessary for cosmetic repair of faces.)  My fellow residents and I routinely wired fractured jaws, and sutured facial and oral lacerations during our emergency room rotations.  We diagnosed and treated oral cancer cases and assisted in long, involved facial reconstructions.  I am quite proud of the knowledge that I gained during my five years in the US Army.  As a result of the confidence gained during that experience, I am a much more versatile and competent dentist.  

I spent five years in the Army, three of them in Germany. During that time I took many of slides which I eventually digitized and printed.  You can see them stapled all over the walls of our office.

I have been practicing dentistry for 28 years (as of 2006) and have owned my practice in Townsend, Massachusetts since early 1984.  We have treated thousands of patients, many being seen over the course of several years for numerous visits.  In spite of the very difficult nature of my chosen profession, most patients seem to be pleased with us, and by and large, we have been quite pleased with most of our patients.  And best of all ... I got to keep my beard!

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Please note that many of the ads that appear on these pages are placed by robots which inspect my site for advertisements that are appropriate to the subject matter.  The presence of a particular ad on this site does not imply that I endorse the product.  I do, however, have veto power over those I find offensive, so if you see ads that appeal to you here, you can assume that either I approve of them, or I have left them up to prove a point.  Many of the goods and services advertised have merit in their own right, so please don't be shy about visiting them.  They help to defray my web hosting expenses.

Time passes on

I'm Not Proud!  Lots of people visit this page wanting to know what I look like now.  If you are LUCKY, you too will live long enough to get old.  Aging is a metaphysical part of living.  Some do it gracefully.  Some do it with surgical intervention.  Some do it with makeup.  I do it by believing in God--and my family. 

Me and kids cheshire fair
Me, Jeremy & Heather 1976 Diana & me August '04

 

John at Piano Heather basking in the glow
John is a great piano player Heather basking in the glow

 

Heather, Jeremy and John

Heather, Jeremy & John after the wedding

 

Marty & Di Me

Diana & me before the wedding, Mar '05

Grampa-to-be 10/7/07 (taken by Diana)

SanFrancisco

Check 0ut John's website! 
San Francisco Desktop Guy. 
Free BIG desktop images for multiple monitors.
John bicycles all over San Francisco taking pictures so he can share them with you.

Our newest additions!

Floyd

Floyd at 1 Week old.  Born to Heather & John 2/19/08 in San Francisco

 

Heather as Madonna

Madonna and Child (5.5 months)

 

Gramma & Floyd Grampa & Floyd

Very proud Gramma

Grampa trying not to break the new baby

 

Evil Grampa

Evil Grampa and Floyd 12/19/2010

1/23/10

Announcing the Marriage of Jeremy Spiller
and
 Kara Grosser

Jeremy & Kara Kara primping for wedding

Jeremy & Kara

Kara before the wedding

Announcing the birth of
Orion Harrison  Greene
3/23/2010

Orion newbourn

Orion Harrison Greene, born to Heather and John Greene
Another San Francisco baby

 

Sebastian Tycho

Sebastian Tycho Spiller born to Jeremy and Kara Spiller
May 27, 2011 In Boston

 

Jeremy< Kara & Sebastian

Jeremy, Kara and Sebastian 7/10/2011

 

 

 

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