Not One Word

Yesterday I told you that I posted a comment on the ACE dental forum stating that I thought that dentists removed too much beautiful, natural tooth structure preparing teeth for crowns even though todays, knowledge, materials and techniques make the need for crowns usually unnecessary.

I have been contributing to online dental forums for about 10 years and whenever I post a comment or one of my cases, I receive many, many comments about what I post.
My most recent post on the forum did not elicit ONE COMMENT from a dentist.
NOT ONE!!!!!

What does this mean???

Unethical treatment

I have blogged many times about removing healthy tooth structure by dentists placing crowns and onlays that I no longer believe is necessary. More than 40 years ago dentistry created rules for when to place crowns but that is before we had full adhesive dentistry which started in 1992. Adhesive dentistry,also called bonding, can strengthen teeth without crowns or onlays but the majority of dentists still believe in removing healthy tooth structure to 'strengthen' teeth with crowns or onlays.

Yesterday I posted comments on the ACE dental forum telling the group that I have a TEN YEAR HISTORY of bonding resin fillings in back teeth with virtually no failures.
This is what I told the group:

Hi All;
Most of us cringe at the idea of practicing GV Black's dentistry especially since we consider ourselves adhesively oriented. But the fact of the matter is that the majority of practicing dentists still are following concepts of 40 years or more ago. The concept of covering the buccal and lingual cusps of a tooth when the width of the carious lesion or previous restoration is half the width of the cusps is absolutely unfounded in the modern era of adhesive dentistry. With the exception of comprehensive or full mouth rehab and posterior endodontically treated teeth, we have been crown and onlay free for almost 10 years and I cannot think of a single restorative failure.
The removal of healthy tooth structure for fabricating crowns or onlays borders on the unethical and certainly unnecessary...Dave Allman, Paul Belvedere, Ray Voller , Dennie Jenkins and Dennie Owens of Greater Curve fame have all discovered the same thing that I did which is that crowns and onlays should be the exception in modern dentistry and not the rule.
The attached photo is of a tooth (#14) that had deep and wide decay encompassing 60-70% if the occlusal surface and 50% of the palatal surface.
I would almost be willing to bet $10,000 that this tooth would look exactly the same 10 years from now as it does today.
Regards,
gerald

The result: NOT ONE DENTIST either criticised or supported my comments. NOT ONE. Because they KNOW that I am right and they can no longer justify removing healthy tooth structure except that they make more money doing crowns than filling.

WHY WOULD YOU WANT YOUR BEAUTIFUL HEALTHY TOOTH CUT DOWN FOR A CROWN?
This is now YOUR choice whether keeping your own tooth is more important than weakening your tooth...YOUR CHOICE. Because I promise you that I will do my very best to help you keep every bit of your healthy tooth.

Making a Diffence for the Next Generation

I believe that each generation has an obligation to pass 'something' to the next generation that makes a difference or changes lives. Last night was another evening of learning at the Root Canal Experts Education Center and I was hoping that one of the young dentists would pull me aside to tell me how much the techniques that I taught them in our last course had made them a better dentist.

I was thrilled when SEVERAL young dentists told me that they went back to their offices the next day and tried the techniques that I had invented or refined and how much better their dentistry had become because of what they had learned. I have no children but I can imagine that this is how parents feel when their children come home with news of winning a sporting event or earning an unexpected high grade on a test at school.

I am so honored and proud to have made a difference in the lives of my students. One student even told me that while she was working on a patient she asked herself, "Now what would Gerald do in this situation?"

Making a difference is the essence of life and it feels great to know that I have changed a few lives during the last decade of my career.

I Don't Get It

There are many things that I have seen recently that make no sense. I see many young people (18-30) who have nice clothes, nice cars, tattoos and makeup. When I ask young folks about visiting the dentist every six months, I am frequently told that, "I can't go to the dentist because I don't have dental insurance."

Did these young folks have insurance to buy makeup or tattoo's or the latest fashions in clothes...Absolutely NOT!!! But that did not stop them from making those purchases.

I can only assume that the parents of these children did not instill in their children that taking care of your body is important and buying a tattoo is not...

This does not bode well for our nation but then again................

One of the Highlights of MY Career

You may remember that I told you that I have had two mentors in my professional career, Dr. Fred McIntyre in Buffalo and Dr. Frank Spear in Seattle, WA and more recently Scottsdale, AZ.
I went to the Spear Institutes's website today and found that Frank had made a video blog in which he mentions ME. He said, "Jerry Benjamin is in Upstate New York and he is a superb dentist who is really, really committed to EXCELLENCE." Frank also said, "Jerry Benjamin is committed to do outstanding dentistry for his patients."

I am so honored that one of the people that I admire and respect for teaching and practicing excellence in dentistry has acknowledged me out thousands of his students that he has taught over the years. This is the kind of recognition that I have sought during my entire 35 year career.

Thank you Frank!

To see the entire video: http://www.speareducation.com/blog/ page down to "Excellence for Dentists at Every Level."

Setting the Standard of EXCELLENCE

You know how much I love my job and how much I care about treating you right. Everyone talks about 'the pursuit of excellence' but slogans are mere words on a piece of paper or words in a commercial. Excellence is so rare that we may no longer even recognize it and many of us no longer appreciate it. But sometimes, someone says something that will stop you in your tracks because they will tell you that you ARE the recognizable STANDARD OF EXCELLENCE.

When I post my work on the ACE dental forum or send my recent work to the small group of young dentists that I mentor, it is not to brag how good I think that I am but rather to show them that THEY need to raise the quality of the care that they are providing to their patients. My 'professorial' side is never far in the background.

Yesterday, a dentist from Maryland sent me a comment on my work saying:

"Holy cow!!!! not only was it masterful but also one more example of the excellence we all aspire too.......really. Gerald I have found your personal journey over the last several years and the place where you've finally landed very gutsy. I know it must have had it's fair share of challenges in order to pull it off. You da man. I enjoy all your posts."

It is the most incredible feeling of accomplishment to have someone tell you that they want to do what you do at the level that you do it. It should make you very happy as well knowing that others feel that you made the right choice in selecting ME TO TAKE CARE OF YOU.

I will NEVER abuse your trust and I will NEVER do any dentistry that is solely being done just to earn me more money....And that, in itself, is setting a standard of excellence.

Dental Specialists Want to Be on MY Team

Many dental specialists such as orthodontists, oral surgeons etc frequently call me to ask me to refer patients to them so that they will have the opportunity to work with me. Yes they will earn more money but that is NOT the main reason that they call me. The reason is that they will get to be on a team that produces fabulous case results for our patients. I recently completed a wonderful case for a new patient with one of the specialists completing part of the treatment for our patient. When I emailed the periodontist the final photos of the case, he sent me the following reply:

"She must be exceedingly pleased. I really think that this is one of our best . Someone else would have looked at it and said it was fine but with your eye and insight you knew it could be better . Thank you for letting me be part of this."

Can you imagine a dentist wanting to be part of my team not because they will earn more money but because they LOVE the work that we are doing.

I am honored by my specialist's comments and after working with this dentist for more than 30 years he feels that we are doing our BEST WORK.

That is INCREDIBLE!!!!

Rosalyn S Yallow, MD Nobel Medical Physicist

Dr. Yallow passed away recently. She was only the second woman to win a Nobel Prize in medicine. When she was applying to graduate school she was rejected because "She was from New York, she was Jewish and she was a woman." Can you imagine the world we used to be?

Dr. Yallow's life was her work and her family. The obituary in today's New York Times said, "She had no hobbies and traveled only to give lectures and attend conferences." That sounds all too familiar to me.

Many people who have accomplished a great deal will relate that at some time in their life they were told that they would not amount to anything or could not do the job that they were applying for and ultimately became world renown.

I think that my rejection from almost every dental school in the United States would qualify me for that group of individuals who failed to attract positive attention only to go on to be recognized by their peers and their profession.

I wouldn't mind it if my obituary were to read like Dr. Yallows...from rejection to high accomplishment.