More than 50 years after he graduated from the University of Missouri School of Dentistry, Dr. Paul Perme is still greeting patients two days a week at an office that he shares with Dr. Terry Myers. Perme believed teaming up with Myers would allow him to begin transitioning into full-fledged retirement, but the partnership rejuvenated Perme.
In particular, Perme was invigorated by the dental technology Myers brought to their practice, including digital X-rays, intraoral cameras, a CBCT scanner and the DEXIS system on which the digital X-rays are read. Perme recalled the days when X-rays had to be dunked in a tank, which was only the first step in an overnight process that didn’t always provide a clear picture of the teeth to the dentist—or patient. But the nearly instantaneous results provided by digital X-rays—Perme can now conduct in a matter of minutes consultations that used to take days. The technological advances have Perme enjoying dentistry as much as ever and looking forward to work at an age when most of his peers have long retired.