Known by the Quality of Your Work

I am fairly well known in dental circles in the United States and places as far away as India.
I don't know a lot of dentists personally but many dentists have seen and admired my work.I have not sought out notoriety nor do I want to be a 'famous' dentist but I have developed a good reputation among dentists who know fine restorative dentistry.

This week, a dentist from Texas asked dentists that are members of the Crown Council and the ACE forums to help find a dentist for a patient relocating to Saratoga Springs, NY where I practice. A dentist in Charlotte, NC placed the following post on both of the dental forums:

Gerald Benjamin is your guy...perhaps the best composite artist I've ever seen,
and I mean artist! Not your typical dentist...and definitely not typical results.
http://www.benjaminsmile.com/index.html

It is a sincere honor to be known by the QUALITY OF MY WORK.

It makes me very happy to know that other dentists think my work is excellent. It should make YOU happy as well to know that the work that you have in your mouth is deemed to be excellent.

Community

One of the great qualities of humans is that when tragedy strikes, we are capable of coming together to support the victims of unfortunate events. Dentists, I have found out in my long career, can be a very strange lot.However, when one of our colleagues, Dr. Kirk Gleason,lost his son near the finish line of the Philadelphia marathon due to a massive heart attack, the dental community rose up to support Dr. Gleason.

Many attended the wake last week and the wait was over 2 hours. Dentists from more than 150 miles away attended the wake to pay our respect to our friend and colleague who was the Executive Director of the 4th District Dental Society of the State of NY.

We mourn the loss of Dr. and Mrs. Gleason's son Chris. May their wonderful memories of their son be a source of comfort in this time of great sadness.

I commend the dental community for their show of support for the Gleason Family.

Another Dental Forum

I have been a member of the ACE Dental Forum for many years and have enjoyed many compliments about my work from other dentists on that forum.

I recently decided to join another dental forum, the Internet Dental Forum which limits members to actively practicing dentists.

Last Sunday, I posted my first case on the IDF and a dentist wrote me the following kind words:

Beautiful job, your earlier posting said your resins are highly regarded,
you are too humble. You should be teaching your technique, problem most of
us (especially me) still couldn't get that result. You justifiably should
be very proud.

I want to be as fine a clinical dentist as I can be so that I can do my best taking care of YOU. This is not about making money but rather fulfilling my obligation to those that put their trust in me that I will take care of them. It is an awesome responsibility to care for another human being...I know that very well; I have been doing it for almost 35 YEARS.

My Feelings Exactly

I love watching SUNDAY MORNING, the CBS morning show. Last weekend Gloria Allred,the attorney who represents only women and has won a stunning quarter of a billion dollars for her clients was asked if she planned to retire soon. Ms. Allred, who is 70 years old but looks much younger replied:

This is my passion.
This is what I love to do.
This is what I was meant to do.
This is my Life.

This is exactly how I feel about being your dentist. I love what I do and I will continue as your dentist until the first day that my skills decline.

I could not imagine not loving to go to work.

Truth Be Told

I don't know whether you read three recent health related stories in the NEW YORK TIMES.
1. Last Saturday, Dr. James Andrews, a reknown sports medicine surgeon specializing in knees and shoulders made a very significant statement. MRIs are almost completely useless in diagnosing shoulder and knee problems prior to surgery. Then why do doctors order MRIs? Because you and I demand that they take them AND they generate approximately $1200 each. USELESS!

2. Early detection of many cancers has no impact on the survivability of the patient.Virtually ZERO. What the article said was that those people who had an agressive form of cancer were indeed going to die of that cancer. For many patients though, their survivablity does not depend on whether the mammogram catches the tumor today or next year.

3. Searching and testing for prostate cancer is far more damaging than finding and treating prostate cancer.

So what does all this mean for you and I?

It means that there is too much money involved to do the right thing.

John Paulson: EARNS $4.19 BILLION in ONE YEAR

And he paid NO FEDERAL INCOME TAX, NO SOCIAL SECURITY TAX AND NO MEDICARE TAX
ZERO

This is NOT a Democrat issue, a Republican issue or Mr. Obama's issue so I will not make this a political post.

Why do you and I and the rest of the middle class let John Paulson pay NO TAXES like you and I must do? Oh yes...he does pay 15% Capital Gains tax on his $4.19 BILLION.

Another issue is what did he produce to make his money? NOTHING! Absolutely nothing.
He made 2 bets. He bet that the housing market would crash and secondly that the banks would survive. That is what he did to earn $4.19 BILLION.

Shame on us if the middle class does not stand up for OUR rights. We pay taxes and Mr. Paulson should pay taxes too.

I am sorry for the post but I really thought that everyone who reads my blogs should know that Mr. Paulson doesn't love his country enough to pay his fair share.

4.19 BILLION DOLLARS!!!!!!!

The Bagel Saga

Getting a decent bagel is almost impossible...Not because we don't know HOW to make a great bagel but that we no longer CARE to make a great bagel. If you were to call the CEO of Brueggers Bagels, he would tell you that Brueggers SPECIALIZES in making bagels.

OH REALLY???????????????????????

What Brueggers specializes in is SELLING bagels.

Physicians will tell you that they specialize in a particular area and that some group has 'CERTIFIED' them in that kind of surgery. And then when the surgery fails, 5 other surgeons will easily discover what the surgeon did wrong.

Now some among us are quick to blame THE GOVERNMENT for things that go wrong or the economic mess that we are in.

I think that the baker who makes my bagels needs to look in the mirror and ask him or herself why he or she makes a mediocre bagel...And the surgeon needs to do the same thing.

This is NOT ABOUT THE MONEY. It is about doing what we say that we will do.

Is there any hope?

They Don't Get It

You know that I am always thrilled to receive comments about my work from my colleagues. Dr. M wrote me the following this morning:

"First, I must say that I always enjoy your posts and am amazed at the quality of work that you produce. Your posterior composites are simply amazing. Perhaps that is due in part to your ‘Art’ background. I don’t think you can teach that level of artistry to somebody—kind of like Michelangelo trying to teach one of his students to draw like him—much of it is inherent talent, so kudos!"

As much as I am overwhelmed to recieve such wonderful comments, I am amazed that others totally miss who I am and what I have accomplished. Most dentists assume that I have artistic talents and that is why my work is beautiful...Sadly to say, I cannot draw, I cannot sculpt nor can I paint. My artistic 'talents,' if I have any are limited to photography.

What my colleagues fail to see is that I have spent the last 20 years acquiring vast amounts of education with much of it with the best in the world and spending $3 million in the process.

My colleagues don't see the passion and the drive to achieve excellence so that I can take care of you in a way that I believe that you deserve.

I can teach any dentist to do what I do and I have taught them...It simply does not interest them. How sad that is for their patients.

Being Looked Up To

I often post my work for professional criticism on the ACE Forum. I beleive that I am a 'good' dentist and my patients believe the same thing. Other dentists can be our harshest critics but I welcome the opportunity to show what I can do for my patients as well as seek constructive criticism from my colleagues.

At this stage of my career, I have been fortunate to be looked upon by my colleagues as 'the standard of excellence' in conservative restorative dentistry. Recently one of my colleagues in Georgia posted the following:

"You guys don't know it but I've seen Bill's stuff. He's world
class...right there with Gerald and Liviu. I cannot for the life of
me understand why it is so damned tough for someone of Bill's class to
become a fellow of the AACD. I would not join for this reason alone."

I never asked to be compared with anyone else; I just show my work for other dentists to offer their comments. It is an honor to be mentioned as one of the standards of excellence.

I do it for you.

My Friend and I

Francisco Banchs and I are very different in so many ways. We are not in the same age group, we were not born in the same country (although we ARE both United States citizens)and my parents were lower middle class and his were not.

None of that matters because we have two very powerful things in common. We both love to fix and save our patient's teeth and we both believe that it is our professional, moral and ethical obligation to pursue EXCELLENCE.

Those of us who pursue excellence were born with something in our character so that practicing excellence is not an option but rather what we do when we take care of our patients.

Most dentists do not like being dentists and do not have the personality makeup to pursue excellence..Making money is certainly more important than striving for excellence.

Understanding why Francisco and I are friends makes a lot of sense.