Philosophies of Dentistry

I have to be honest...

Some dentists truly care about taking care of their patients.

Other dentists are masters of technical and clinical dentistry and can be considers artists of our craft.

Yet other dentists are business men whose business happens to be fixing teeth.

Patients probably do not know which direction or philosophy their dentists operates in. The real question is what kind of dentist do YOU want to take care of you?

The caring dentist will do their very best to do the best that they can. Their efforts will be sincere but their talent, knowledge, education and skill may only be average. Your dentistry will be good solid care.

The masters of the profession will deliver dental masterpieces; works of art on teeth. You, the patient will have the greatest chance for exceptional clinical dentistry with one of the masters.

Lastly,  the businessman whose business is teeth, really does not care that much about the patient or the quality of the dentistry performed; their main concern is how much income is being generated on an hour to hour basis or even a minute to minute basis. Their job is making money.

You, the patient, will decide which kind of dentists survive and prosper in todays environment. If you hire one of the three kinds of dentists, with three distinct philosophies of care and concern, you are really deciding on the quality of the dental outcome.

Think about this. Excellence in dentistry is not an accident or happen by chance but rather by design. If the dentist is passionate about their work, spends thousands of hours involved in study and invests hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars  learning their craft...You will get exceptional clinical dentistry.

Your choice!

We Know How to Get It Done...We Just Don't WANT to

New York State spent tens of millions of dollars searching for two escaped murders from the Clinton Correction facility. No one asked what it would cost and no one cared. Find the two men and we will do whatever it takes to accomplish the task.

Mission Accomplished!!!! One dead and one captured.

Government KNOWS how to get the job done but it rarely devotes a sufficient or realistic amounts of   manpower or treasury to solve the problem.

Consider neighborhood gangs in the major cities. Those gangs control the drugs, the schools and the streets. They are essentially the local government. Most murders in the neighborhoods  are gang related and the citizens of these neighborhoods plead for the mayor or police department to stop the gang violence. The response:

NOTHING...We don't have the money or the manpower to get the job done.

Oh really?????

What would happen if the local and state police along with the FBI and other Federal agencies  sent 1200 officers into the bad neighborhoods to eliminate gangs...Wanna bet they would get the job done?

Whatever the problems that we have, our leaders tell us the same thing: We don't have the manpower, money or time to solve the problem.

Government (politicians) ask to be elected to solve our most pressing problems and then as soon as they get elected, they tell us why they CAN'T solve our problems...

Maybe it's time to elect politicians that truly want to solve societies problems...and use whatever resources that are needed to accomplish the task..

We DID, after all, find the two murderers which was like finding a needle in a haystack.

What they Taught Us in High School

In high school history, those of us who grew up in the Northeast were taught that the Constitution was a "Living Document." This meant that as our country advanced in age (and hopefully wisdom) that the Constitution would not constrain that growth but serve as a guide.

What I learned since high school (a million years ago) was that not everyone in the country was taught that the Constitution was 'Living.' In fact, they were taught that it was a 'Dead' document in that whatever our founding fathers believed, WE had to believe....TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS LATER.

Are you kidding me???

I really don't care how you feel about same sex marriage because that is personal but Chief Justice John G Roberts said the following:

"The Constitution had nothing to say on the subject of same-sex marriage."

REALLY???

And what did the Constitution say about slavery, racial intermarriage, Issis or the Internet?

What old men are really saying to us is:

Let's always look to the PAST to decide our future.

Sorry, I don't buy that. I really don't care what the founding fathers thought 250 years ago because it doesn't apply to any of our lives today. Yes the Constitution was a great beginning document but it cannot be allowed to hold us back from moving forward.

I want a Supreme Court that considers the past  but is willing to take us to a different and better place for the sake of all of us.

Do you ever think, " Now what would my great, great, great, great, great grandfather would have thought of Pandora radio?"

Old men need to step aside if their view is always in their rear view mirror.

700 Blogs

I have been blogging  more than 10 years and probably closer to 15.

This is my 701st blog and for those of you who regularly read my blogs, you know that dentistry is only a small part of what I chat about. The state of the country, the state of science and the state of dentistry have been subjects for discussion.  And a good part of my blogs talk about doing the right thing and the ethics of being a professional so that I can better take care of you.

I didn't go into the Health Professions or dentistry specifically to make money. As one of my patients recently said, "taking care of your patients has been 'your calling," and  I could not agree more.

I never mean to offend anyone when I discuss a topic but, as you have seen, I don't necessarily shy away from controversy especially when I feel something is important and it is buried on page 20 in the New York Times.

As always, I thank you for being my patient and for taking the time to read my blogs. I hope that you have found them to be timely and important; most of all, I hope that they have made you think.

We Never Hear It Anymore

I subscribe to many financial newsletters because I need to be prepared when I finally retire from my beloved profession in about 10 years. I don't get a pension so I must be knowledgeable about investing for my retirement. I was fortunate enough to be able  help my parents when their nest egg was depleted when my mother developed Alzheimer's Disease. I also helped my sister when she too developed early onset dementia.

In the current issue of Motley Fool Hidden Gems, Seth Jayson said, "Helping the world invest better is an honor, a privilege  and a responsibility." Did you notice that Seth said nothing about making money for himself and that is because he was taught by the old-timers that you place your client's best interest above his own.

I feel exactly the same way as Seth Jayson: It is an honor, a privilege and a responsibility to take care of you. The idea of benefiting myself instead of taking care of you has never entered my mind in the almost 4 decades that I have cared for my patients.

I have to tell you though...this is a different world and all I hear professionals talk about is money...making money, not making money, or insurance companies  not paying them money.

Is this the world that you want to get old in? I am concerned and I think that you should be too.

End of an Era

My good friend and colleague Dr. Peter Collins, a periodontist, is getting close to retiring. He helped me on almost every beautiful case that you see on my website by modifying the gum tissue and bone so that I could do what I do.

But don't worry.

I have already met the new periodontist, Dr. Mahogany Miles and will work with her very closely so that she knows what I need to continue to produce great cases for my patients. She knows how to treat the gum and bone but my role will be to introduce her to the rules of cosmetic dentistry so that she understands why I want something performed and what I expect from her treatment.

I look forward to working very closely with Dr. Miles.

I am very sad that Dr. Collins is retiring because he is in my dental generation and I will be one of the last of a generation that was taught to always place our patient's best interest above my own.

And life goes on...but I will be THE LAST dentist from my generation that will still be practicing. I will do this job as long as my skills permit me to be at the top of my game.

Thirty Five Years Later

I am always humbled when I receive a note from a patient. This short note was a small piece of yellow paper and surrounded his payment when we opened the envelope.

Dr. Carlton was an elderly dentist who spent 1/2 the year in Florida and he referred his patients to our office in the late 1970s and early 1980s for which we were very grateful.

I guess that my patient had a moment of reflection after signing his check and thought that it was amazing that he had virtually every tooth after being my patient for 35 years.

I am truly honored by this short but heartfelt note.

June1, 2015
Dear Dr. Benjamin,
Dr. Carlton did one thing right for me...He referred me to you.

"Yes Our Exams and X-Rays are Free if You Don't Have Insurance"

This is what one of the big  corporate dental office advertises on TV.

Really? Free? 

Does that mean that no employees get paid when the patient doesn't pay? Or that the rent doesn't get paid when a 'free' patient is in the chair?  Really???

Firstly, the advertisement is questionably legal. Dental insurance companies demand that patients with and without insurance be treated the same. Hmmmm

Secondly, don't you think that corporate dentistry is going to get the money back for that 'free exam and x-rays" as soon as you start treatment...And perhaps a little more than they should? (Just asking)

Thirdly, doesn't anyone remember what Ronald Reagan said, "There is no such thing as a free lunch."

Free?

How hard would YOU work if you weren't getting paid?

It is too bad that there is only ONE Brooklyn Bridge to sell because corporate dentistry is really in the business of selling Brooklyn Bridges..