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."