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I read Trevor Burke`s last Editorial and Martin Kelleher`s last series in Dental Update with joy! It totally vindicated my professional decisions, behaviour and CPD choices made over the last 25 years. I am concerned that many UK dentists feel somewhat professionally diminished when they read the freebie dental magazines because their style of practice does not fit with the apparent norm of the ‘self-promoting’ dentist that keeps dropping through their letterboxes. There is an implication that unless a dentist is doing wall-to-wall veneers or implants then they really are running a backwater practice.
In my opinion, dentists should concentrate their efforts on being kind to and genuinely interested in their patients. Add to this consistently painless and effective local anaesthesia and restorations that usually work first time. Finally, become truly skilled in managing the ever-expanding over 60s cohort which is the most challenging dentistry of them all. With this sort of approach, financial success simply follows naturally because patients are happy to pay for it and return for more. No need for glossy advertising or continuous ‘Tweeting’.
I feel it is extremely important, not only for the standing of the profession, but also for the state of mind of the majority working within it (not to mention that of some of the self-promoters), to get a large and loud voice saying there is another way to be a good dentist. I also feel very strongly that, unless this is done, our young, newly-qualified dentists will get a very skewed view of what being a good dentist means and that would be disastrous for all of us seeking dental care!