What the Komen Story Tells Us About Us

The Susan G. Komen Foundation has been at the forefront of Breast Cancer fundraising for cancer treatment and research for the past 3 decades. It was established to honor the memory of Susan by her sister Nancy Goodman Brinker.

Last week, the Komen Foundation publicly announced that it would no longer provide $700,000 to Planned Parenthood specifically for breast examinations. The reason was that certain folks did not want Komen to be associated with the abortion issue even though abortions are a VERY small part of what Planned Parenthood does.

In less than a work week, citizens from around the country contacted the Komen Foundation and withdrew their support and convinced the organization to reverse their decision to pay for breast exams for poor women.

What does this say about Komen and about us?
It says that the subjects of abortion and religion are beyond our ability to have reasonable and civil discourse even among intelligent and well meaning individuals.
We no longer can agree to disagree among honorable people.

As I have said for many years, "People make lousy human beings."
We need to work on this.

It is Paying Off

I had another young dentist bring her patient to my office so that we could co-treat her patient. I had the opportunity to meet the patient for a consult many months ago but the patient decided to have the treatment performed by her family dentist (which is perfectly acceptable to me.)

The patient arrived at my office a few minutes before her dentist and we had an opportunity to chat. She told me, "I was really very happy to know that you were going to help my dentist plan my work and do some of the treatment."

This is a great honor to be respected by young dentists AND THEIR PATIENTS. This is what I have worked for my entire professional career.

I was serious when I told you that I expect to leave you in good hands when the time comes for someone else to take care of you.

"Teach Your Children"

This is a song from Crosby,Stills,Nash and Young.

Last night Susan and I went to a marvelous jazz concert by Branford Marsalis. The audience, to quote Lee Iacoca when asked about Cadillac owners said, 'they are between 70 and death.' There were no children,no teenagers, no Generation X ers or even people in their 40s. Everyone was old like Susan and I...or older.

Two years ago, we went to the Williamstown Theater to see some live Summer Theater. The audience was half empty and would have been a funeral directors delight.

Something is wrong in our nation when we fail, in the words of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, "To Teach Our Children,"

The concept of finding Excellence in the people to take care of us is almost non existent with almost everyone (including people with means and highly intelligent folks) asking who 'takes my insurance?' rather than 'Who is the best?'

Our children are not being taught the ideas, concepts and principles that made America great and are still needed (in my opinion) to keep America strong. We need to teach our children that music and the arts are vital to our humanity and need to survive. That being smart in school is something to be proud of along with honesty and integrity.

It is disheartening to see empty seats when wonderful things are readily available to us...Teach your children.

Represents a Commitment to (Insert here)excellence

Susan and I went to the Branford Marsalis Jazz Concert at Proctor's in Schenectady last night.The concert was wonderful so this morning I did some reading about Branford to see what makes him 'tick.' I went to his website where I saw the statement, "Branford Marsalis represents a commitment to musical excellence."

You know that when I see the words, "A commitment to excellence," my attention level rises dramatically.

I have met many people in my life but only a relative handful of them are committed to excellence. In my dental life I would only say that Frank Speak, Fred McIntrye and Francisco Banchs would qualify to say that they are committed to excellence. The overwhelming majority of people who SAY that they are committed to excellence are more often committed to making money. Earning a good living is most certainly important but we cannot confuse "Committed to Excellence" with "Committed to Making Money."

My life long goal is to be on someone's list when they are asked who in dentistry is 'Committed to Excellence."

A Little Help From My Friend

The overwhelming majority of dentists have an over sized ego and will rarely admit that they don't know something about dentistry or that perhaps that they need to ask a colleague or a specialist for help or guidance. Because I truly believe that my job is to take care of you, I will never let my ego get in the way of taking care of you.

I have tried several times to anesthisize a lower right molar for one of my patients that I have been treating more than 20 years. My patient has gotten soooooooo numb that she cannot feel her face nor when I press firmly on her gum tissue with a pointed instrument but when I went to start to fix her problem tooth, she stated that she could feel the cold water and I stopped immediately. I called my good friend Dr. Francisco Banchs who is renown for his skills as a root canal expert and asked him if he would be able to try to get my patient numb for me on her next appointment.

Early this morning, Dr. Banchs successfully gave my patient novocaine so that I could place a bonded direct resin. I never felt that my ego was challenged because for the second time in my 35 year career, I had to ask Dr. Banchs to help me.

I did this because I needed my patient to have the best possible experience during her dental treatment and be absolutely comfortable for her filling.

I received the following email from my patient early this evening:

"Hey Dr. B., thanks for taking care of my tooth today! Thanks for having Dr.
Banchs come and take care of my nerve! Glad you care enough about your
patients and have enough confidence in yourself to get the outside expertise
when needed. Many people would have hacked away or faked it!"

A true professional ALWAYS places their patients best interest above their own. Taking care of my patients is an honor and a privilege and I will do my very best to take care of you. You have my promise.

Is It Fair?

I fully understand that life is not fair. The fact that some of us were blessed to be born in the United States to parents that took their parenting responsibilities seriously is not fair to others who had the misfortune of not being born here and being abandoned at birth. That said, we all know what fairness is. When a person earning tens of millions of dollars a year pays only 14% of their income to the Federal Government in taxes but no Social Security taxes and no Medicare taxes...I think that it is unfair to the rest of us. Wealthy folks don't pay what the rest of us pay because wealthy folks MAKE the laws which allows them to pay low or no taxes.
It is NOT FAIR.

It also is not fair when a dentist with little experience in a particular area of dentistry, treats their patient knowing that they don't know what they are doing and charges the patient as if they were an expert. As you know, I am a general dentist who limits my practice to fixing teeth and restoring implants. This means that you will always be seeing a dental specialist for any area in dentistry that I feel that I am mediocre.My patients will see the best people that I can find to take care of you because I don't think it is FAIR to you to have you pay for mediocrity.

My job is to take care of you in the best possible way that I can.I play fair with you.

Inspiring the Next Generation

I am always honored when one of my young colleagues calls or emails me asking for help with a case.

For 30 years, I was a dentist in Cropseyville, NY which is 6 miles east of Troy. I had no professional camaraderie for most of those years because no one really cared to befriend me...When I arrived in Troy in 1979, the older dentists shunned me and gave me the impression that I was stealing food from their families table. Since 1992, I have studied with the best dentists in the world and that is where I met dentists to study and commiserate with.

When I opened my office in Saratoga Springs three years ago, I quickly became recognized by my young colleagues as a talented clinician and a local resource to help them with their challenging cases. A few weeks ago, a young dentist called me and asked for help with diagnosing and treatment planning a case on a young girl. After a discussion, it was decided that the young dentist would bring her patient to my office so that we could co-treat the patient.

Last week we did actually treat the 13 year old girl and today I received a note of thanks from my colleague which said:

"What a fun and inspiring 2 days! Thank you very much for taking the time and expertise and for challenging us all to be better dentists!"

It is exciting to see the enthusiasm of my young colleagues and I am thrilled to make a difference in their careers.

The New Year

Yes, I know that I am a few days late in wishing all of my patients a very healthy, happy and prosperous New Year. My best wishes for you are sincere none the less.

Moving my office and 'starting over' was an incredibly daunting and frightening decision but it turned out to be the best professional and personal move that I could ever make.

I thank each and every one of my patients for making 2011 one of the most exciting years our office has had.

I believe that 2012 is going to be a great year for America and our office.

I promise that I will continue to be a caring, honest, ethical and a clinically proficient professional so that I can be the best possible dentist for you. As always, I will never hurt you in any way just to make more money...That is NEVER a consideration in our office. YOUR BEST INTEREST IS ALWAYS OUR MAIN GOAL.

Thank you for being our patient.

My Legacy

There is no doubt that I have begun the final third of my career and periodically my friends, patients and advisers have mentioned the need for "creating a legacy." For the last 5 years or so, I have quietly started working towards the goal of having a legacy.

Roughly translated, 'Legacy' means transferring something (of value) from one generation to the next.

I post my work on dental Internet forums so that other dentists can see your treatment and decide if it meets the definition of 'EXCELLENCE' and as you know from reading previous blogs, dentists refer to their work or other dentists work as "approaching Gerald's work." This is one way of creating a legacy so that those that follow will see excellence and strive to meet or exceed the standards that I have laid down.

Another way of establishing a legacy and far more important, in my opinion, is to work directly with young dentists on THEIR patients. On Friday, one of my young colleagues brought her 13 year old female patient and her Mother to my office so that I could demonstrate for her how to treat this young patient. I restored half of the teeth and my young colleague did a wonderful job restoring the other half of the teeth. My colleague told me at the end of the 2 hour appointment, "You have taught me so much that my head is spinning." And before leaving my office, my colleague said to me, " I have only known you for three years but you have already changed the way that I practice."

Isn't that FABULOUS?????????

My legacy will be what I teach the next generation so that those patients who sincerely are looking for excellent dental care will have dentists who are capable of providing great care.

I really don't to have to worry about my Legacy...I am doing everything that I can so that my current patients will always have dentists to take care of them when I no longer can. The idea of no longer being able to treat my patients is very upsetting to me but that is MY problem...You, on the other hand, can rest comfortably knowing that you will always have someone who is superbly capable of taking care of you.

Instant Recognition from My New Dental Forum

I mentioned that I recently left the ACE forum because many dentists on ACE praised mediocrity from their fellow colleagues. In addition, there was, in my opinion, more concern about making money than caring for their patients which is something that is very foreign to me.
I joined the Internet Dental Forum which is a much more laid back group of dentists and posted a few of my bonded front teeth on the forum. Today, a dentist stated that he believed that all direct bonded front teeth are poorly done, look fake and don't last. Another dentist on the forum responded to this (poorly informed and under educated dentist...in my humble opinion) in the following way:

Except when it doesn't. Have you paid any attention in the slightest to
Gerald Benjamin's posts and photos?

Or do you just sit back in the bushes waiting to jump out with attitude?

I am honored to be known as an example of dental excellence even when others don't know me as a person.

My patients and I are so lucky because we have each other.