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When young dentists work with specialists (endodontists, oral surgeons) they sometimes confront dental challenges that they are not comfortable in dealing with. In these situations, the specialists call me and ask if I would mind helping a young colleague with their challenging cases.
What I am learning from working with young dentists is how poorly Dental Schools educate their students. In fact, many of the schools are still teaching the same material that they taught me 40 years ago. Can you imaging MIT or RPI teaching young computer science students the same information that they taught the class of 1971?
Think about this: You are the world's greatest and most knowledgeable expert in carberators, which was the part of the car (up until about 1990) that mixed the gas and air together before it went into the engine. Now I invent fuel injectors which are 10 times more efficient and have none of the issues that prevented your car from starting on a rainy day. How would you feel about my new fabulous fuel injectors?
You would hate them because YOU are not an expert in fuel injectors and you could lose your job. And wouldn't you do everything in your power to make sure that fuel injectors weren't taught to young car mechanics? And wouldn't you tell everyone who would listen how lousy and dangerous fuel injection systems are?
You now have a brief explanation why dental students and my young colleagues are so poorly trained. Dental Schools are experts in teaching 1980s dentistry.
Young dentists have student loans approaching monthly Ferrari car payments ($4,000) at 7% interest and they are not being trained to practice in the modern world.
It is time for a revolutionary change in dental education.
