The Chin-Chilla was written by
Dr. Chip on 2012-02-01 22:08:26
Dr. Chip Gerlach is a Dentist in Louisville, KY
Your Smile Is Our Signature!

I didn’t shave this last several days…and my kids gave me a lot of grief over it.  So finally I broke out the motorized Gillette razor and scraped off the remnants of a lazy long weekend in January.  But not completely!  I left a small shrub of fuzz beneath my lower lip just to state that I still had a little attitude left in my old bones.  Believe me when I say, they let me know about that too.  One asked me point blank what that crap was on my face.  Another suggested that I was trying way too hard to be cool.  Interesting conservative commentary to say the least.  Perhaps the most poignant of all was also the most creative.  My sixteen year old daughter asked me why I was wearing a Chin-Chilla on my face?  Excuse me, a Chin-Chilla?  I have never really known exactly what to call this short tuft of hair that is long attitude. I have called it a Soul Patch, which seems to capture the attitude but I have to admit, perhaps Chin-Chilla mixes the physical with the emotional. Insightfully she continued,”is it there to make your tiny mouth bigger?”  A litany of laughable comments followed, hilariously humiliating me in the most enjoyable way discussing dad’s other physical deficiencies or outright deformities. Of course, as a dentist I recognized that they were on to something clinical. Quite often people will compensate for inadequacies and men in particular will grow a specific design of facial hair to enhance a deficiency in a profile. A weak chin or retruded upper lip can be stylishly augmented with a goatee or a mustasche. Or maybe a full beard fills out a too thin too long face. Whatever the case, if this is a concern for you, call us at Gerlach Family Dentistry, we will be glad to discuss opportunities to improve your facial profile. Whether it be braces to straighten out your teeth or veneers to fill out your smile. Give us an opportunity to talk about your smile. Or…maybe you are cool enough to wear a Chin-Chilla!