When I was in my first year of dental school, one of the last classes we had that year was called “Prevention.” It was a class about helping patients prevent dental disease and gum disease. One of the things we learned is that if everyone took care of their teeth, had a healthy diet, and used Fluoride, they would never get tooth decay. The education and the science are that good that decay could be prevented if we ate perfectly and cared for our teeth perfectly.

My good friend and classmate were troubled by this statement. He dwelled on this possibility of no tooth decay at great length. He had come to dental school with a desire to be a dentist. He was a good student and did well that year, but at the end of the year, he decided to opt-out of the dental program and transfer to podiatry school. One of his major reasons was because he felt like in the near future there would be no dental decay and thus he would eventually be out of a job.

I could see his concern, but he forgot one enormous factor: desire. Although people frequently have great information, their desires don’t always drive them to take action on that information. In the case of dentistry, people will always get cavities as long as they crave sugar and forget to brush and floss and take care of their teeth. I should have reminded my classmate that actions are always driven by true desires.