Close to twenty-five years ago my dad, new in town at the time, had a dental emergency. After consulting the phonebook he was lucky enough to stumble into the office of a truly excellent dentist, Dr. Martin P. Bleckner. Over the years Dr. Bleckner and his wife Laura have become our close family friends, and it’s thanks to him that we have most of our teeth today.

I was about ten years old the first time I sat in his chair (revealing my age here)… I would say Dr. Bleckner knows me pretty well at this point in time. I was in high school the first time he encouraged me to consider pursuing a career in his field, only to get a disgusted, teenaged reaction from me.

Not long after I moved back to New York from Providence I found myself back in his chair again, hoping he could repair the damage caused by some horrible dentistry I had received in the interim. He saved my teeth and somehow managed to make sense of my garbled half of our discussions – not small tasks. Dr. B. is a man who loves what he does; he is inspired. His enthusiasm extends beyond teeth to all things dental – particularly material science and technology. He happily answered my in-depth questions about what he was doing to my mouth and engaged my fascination with the instruments and processes involved.

At that time in my life I was stuck in an agonizing limbo. I had left the field I loved – bookbinding – and was floundering to find my way into another, more promising trade. Over the course of the next six years, Dr. B. patiently dropped hint after hint in my lap; finally he came right out and said, “I think you’re cut out to make teeth. Do us both a favor and look into restorative dentistry already.” (I can’t remember his exact words, but they were pretty close.)

When I visited Dr. B. over winter break to have a chipped molar restored I showed him pictures of my first-semester work and we talked shop. I found out that he learned to wax teeth from the legendary Dr. Victor Lucia, and I was enamored when he showed me his bakelite alcohol torch. “This is a real torch, Jessica. You can melt gold with this. In fact, I have a couple at home that I use for spare parts. I’ll put one together for you.”

Yeah, I was pretty excited.

• • •

A few days ago a package arrived for me in the mail.

Quite possibly the coolest, most inspiring gift ever.

I’m so lucky!

(Of course, it’s a Hanau.)

Thank you, Dr. Bleckner. For helping me find what I love to do, and for the best present ever.