"You are so good at this......."

I finally completed a very large case involving 5 root canals (by the endodontist), periodontal treatment and 3 implants (by the periodontist) and finally restoring 28 teeth that had been badly worn by time and very old dentistry. Treatment began in 2006 and was completed yesterday. I spent 20 HOURS in preparation time to plan out the case and 35-40 hours of actual treatment time with my patient in the chair... 55-60 HOURS of work.
My patient, a 57 yr old successful business man from Massachusetts, was thrilled with the results and as we were drinking coffee together when we were all finished with treatment he said to me, " You are so good at what you do. Why don't you have thousands of patients?"
I am ALWAYS thrilled when my patient is happy with the results of my work. As I have said in my previous posts here, most patients believe that all dentists are the same and 80% of the time, they are absolutely correct. It DOES NOT matter which dentist they go to because the work will be about the same. The top 10-15% of dentists do superb dentistry and patients owe it to themselves to seek out that group of dentists that are passionate about what they do and how they treat their patients.

Medical Monday Cancelled

I always like to play by the rules and when I slip occasionally, my staff keeps me on target. Several months ago, I was offered the opportunity to be a guest on Medical Monday, the WAMC interview program. I notified the radio station one day after the station sent me an email with the available dates. The station however, blocked my email with the SPAM filter and the program was filled with another doctor.
Very few things work as they are supposed to and we have become accustomed to things not going as planned. I guess I am old fashioned and still expect things to go as promised. Excellence is slipping way from us as a country and it saddens me greatly.

Medical Monday on WAMC

Dr. Alan Chartock has invited me to be a guest on Medical Monday on WAMC. The program allows listeners to call in to the radio station on any medical subject but on Monday, May 18, the topic will be dentistry. I am honored to be asked to be a guest on Dr. Chartock's program to discuss my favorite subject: TEETH
Life is getting interesting as I become a mature dentist. I recently gave a full day lecture in Maryland, I have written an article which will appear in a peer reviewed dental journal, I am re-uniting with Buffalo's School of Dental Medicine as a faculty member and I opened a new beautiful dental practice in Saratoga Springs.
I guess this is what they mean when they call it the GOLDEN YEARS.
Please listen to Medical Monday on May 18 on 90.3 on FM dial at 2 PM.

The University calls me

I have been significantly involved with the Dental School at SUNY/Buffalo for about15 years. Actually, my relationship with UB goes back 41 years when I transferred to the University as a college junior.
Most people believe that colleges and universities are cutting edge institutions but in reality they are places that hate change because when things change, the faculty becomes obsolete and must retrain to remain current.
I left the Dental School at Buffalo several years ago when the University decided that the Esthetic Center that I helped found with Dr. Fred McIntyre and Dean Louis Goldberg no longer should exist. You see, the full time faculty did not like the fact that my Esthetic Center was teaching 'modern dentistry' while they wanted to continue teaching the same material that they taught to me 35 yrs ago
Last February, the Dean called me and asked me to go to dinner with him so that he could update me on the changes that the School was making. The school has decided to introduce all the material that that I had introduced to UB Dental School more than 10 years ago at the Esthetic Center.
Next week I will return to the University to discuss the changes to be made to the curriculum for undergraduate dental students and learn what role I will play.
I am thrilled that the University has accepted my suggestions and my young colleagues will learn some of the treatment modalities that I have been using in your treatment during the last almost 20 years.

Integrity and Doing the Right Thing

I consider myself to be a person of high integrity and ethics and I would guess that most people would think of themselves to be ethical. Integrity is tested when they have to make the choice between ethics and money. I had to make that choice today between earning a significant amount of money and doing the right thing for one of my patients. I could have done the treatment which was scheduled for all day and there might have been lets say, "negative consequences" for the patient in the future OR I could sit my patient down and explain what I had learned by studying and planning her treatment.

I felt really good when I was able to convince my patient that seeing an orthodontist was in her best interest before I performed the magic that I capable of doing.

I passed the test of ethics vs money. Trust me, I would have loved to earn the money to help support my new office and my staff but I would never hurt one of my patients in the process. NEVER!!!!!!!!!!!

Patients that come to our office expect really good dentistry but they have come to recognize that they can trust me and my staff. As many of you know, I am very proud of the dentistry that I do but I have to tell you that I am more proud of the ethical standards of our office. For 30+ years our office motto has been, "Always do the right thing."