You Better Pay Attention

I have been on dental forums for almost 20 years. I have NEVER seen dentists admit that in order to survive, they must provide dental treatment that is not always in the best interest of their patients.

This was UNTHINKABLE years ago. Sure there have always been unsavory characters  in every profession but they have been the small minority of dentists. I know of a dentist who cut down the front teeth of a 13 year old for profit many years ago and I was sickened by it.

Today is different.

New dentists have $3,000 to $4,000 a month dental school loans to pay while working for corporate dental practices that DEMAND production at any 'cost' i.e. tooth structure (a crown)

Dental Insurance REDUCES payments to dentists every year despite the fact that everything costs more every year.

In the big picture, teeth and dentistry are not THAT important but imagine if the same thing is happening in MEDICINE.

I told you that the surgeon who performed a Reverse Shoulder Replacement for me 3 years ago was paid a total (Medicare and the Supplemental Insurance advertised on TV) of $1755 INCLUDING 3 office visits when the usual fee was $16,500. Whether you think the usual fee is too little or too much, you must believe that $1,755 is unacceptable.

But the average person is not concerned how much OR HOW LITTLE the doctor is paid...

We all better pay attention because our lives  and our familie's lives depend on it. If you are paid $100 a day but your boss says that you must work for $10 a day on Mondays, how enthusiastic would you be to work on Mondays?

(Aside: For your reference, my student loan was $127.50)

"He Says The He Is Innocent" (Not Political)

Democracy Dies in Darkness

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The man who hit this woman with his fist is the same man who took this photo.

And the man who believes the man who says that he is not a wife beater must live in an alternative universe...Shame on him.

If it was possible to copy and past the ORDER OF PROTECTION by Rob Porter's second wife I would have attached that to this blog as well.

Have the American people lowered their standards so much that we chose not to believe our own eyes?

Honor and Respect

Sometimes I find something on a dental forum that surprises me because it was done without my knowledge like the following:

Paul Goodman

Admin · Yesterday at 11:27am

Hey guys. Really great conversations here focused on students, residents and new dentists. I encourage you to add your student, resident and young dentist friends. 

I love running my own larger group Dental Nachos, but I know it can be intimidating for new dentists to post on that group. 

I have specifically chosen some great dentists like David WetheringtonDeanna Snitzer Gerald Benjamin Brad Keener and more to be helpful to the conversation. It's important to get different views on the industry and not just those of Dr. Nacho even though I am the smartest boy in the world according to my Baba.

And sometimes I am contacted by a new dental journal asking me to serve on the editorial board of the group such as:

Dear Dr. Gerald Benjamin,

Greetings..!!

We would like to take a minute to introduce our Open Access scientific journal “Dentistry & Dental Practices Journal (DDPJ)” to you.

Based upon your eminence and expertise, we humbly request you to be a part of DDPJ Editorial board.

To know more about Editor roles, kindly go through below link for guidelines
http://chembioepub.com/editor-guidelines.php

We hope you to consider our invitation for being an Editorial board member in our Journal and kindly forward your particulars: Curriculum vittae, Research interest, Short biography, recent photograph to upload your profile in our Journal website.
Hope our Journal will offer you an enriching experience and hope to achieve great successful endeavors. We look forward to receive from you at the earliest.

Many thanks in advance for considering this request.

Kind Regards
Flora Dalton

Assistant Managing Editor
Dentistry & Dental Practices Journal
Chembio Publishers

Because I did not seek out these groups, it is always an honor to be considered because I have gained the respect of a group.

"I Trusted and Lost 3 Teeth"

I saw a 30 year old female today who has been frustrated by her dental experiences. I am the third dentist that she visited to learn how to save her teeth. She has had three root canals (Not by Root Canal Experts), three crowns followed by three extractions...by age 30. The two previous dentists told her that she needed more root canals and more crowns which brought her to tears.

Some facts:

The number of root canals that fail are infinitesimal compared to the number of root canals that were never done right in the first place.

If I see tooth decay around MY work, I immediately look around a patient's mouth to see if they have new virgin areas of decay on their natural teeth. IF I see decay around only MY fillings then I have a problem. If I see decay around my work, I virtually always see a mouthful of new decay on teeth that have never been filled before.

I looked around this patient's mouth and guess what I found? ALL of the tooth decay in her mouth is around existing dental fillings which, in MY opinion were never done right. The patient is not responsible for the dental problems that I saw...She is, however, a person that wanted good dentistry, accepted the recommendations of dentists and yet continues to have problems.

So what did I tell the patient?
1. That she did indeed need to see Dr. Banchs at Root Canal Experts.
2. That she has many areas of tooth decay but no VIRGIN areas of tooth decay.
3. That if she were MY Daughter, I would not place any new crowns in this patient and place well done bonded resin fillings.

There ARE patients who don't brush their teeth, don't floss their teeth and rarely go to the dentist. This patient was doing everything right and yet not having good dental experiences.

My conclusion: The patient did not receive high quality dental treatment. But you know what?

That will end NOW.

Not Looking to be a Pain

Susan and I went to the Malta Diner today for breakfast. Sitting across the aisle from us was a rather large man who had placed his order just after we sat down. The   waitress must have not heard the man when he ordered his breakfast  because he was a little surprised by the omelet that was delivered. He did order an omelet but not the one he thought he had ordered.

The  waitress apologized and told him that she would immediately bring back a different omelet. The main said, "Listen, I don't even remember which omelet that I ordered and this is fine. There is no reason to replace my eggs."

The man understood that errors happen and that the omelet that was delivered was as good as any other omelet.

Just no reason to make a fuss.

Good man.

It Has Been 30 Years

As many of you know, I have been a dentist more than 40 years. I came to the Capital District in 1978 and began practicing part time in Cropseyville, NY 5 miles East of Troy. I worked for a dentist and then in 1985, I became his  partner. I loved being a dentist and he felt the opposite. The practice was never really financially successful nor was it a joyful place to work. On January 19,1988 my partner had an 'unfortunate' accident. Why is the word unfortunate in quotes? Because the person who didn't enjoy dentistry did not have to practice dentistry and the dentist that loved his work, was able to practice dentistry in a manner that was fun and joyful. Tricia and I both worked in that office in Tamarac Plaza, a hole in the wall if there ever was one.

Tricia and I work in a calm, stress free practice along with Jeanine, Trish and Donna. We have become one of the premier restorative dental practices in the Capital District and my peers again have selected me as a top dentist in the are.

Neither Tricia nor I knew anything about running a dental practice but we knew what we didn't want. By 1992, we moved to our second office in the Tamarac Valley Medical Dental Building and I started taking an incredible amount of Continuing Education so that today, I have 7,000 hours of CE among the most in the Capital District.

Along the way, I started the World's  first Esthetic Center at SUNY Buffalo School of Dental Medicine. Another accomplishment was that I won first place (one of five dentists in the world) in the 1999 American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry Smile Contest, the most prestigious dental clinical contest in the world. I am still an Associate Clinical Professor at SUNY/Buffalo (visiting)

My greatest accomplishment is that the overwhelming majority of my long term patients have been able to keep virtually every tooth that they started with me 30 + years ago.

It has been an incredible 30 years for Tricia an I. And we did it our way. The Ethical way, the Right way...All with integrity and with our patient's best interest the most important thing. I don't think that we would be where we are today if..............................

After 50 Years It Is STILL True

• “The time is always right to do what is right.”

  Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The Ignorance of the Uninformed

As you know, I am on many dental forums. I do this not so much to learn something but to observe what others think/believe/know.

This appeared on a dental Facebook posting:

Ishwinder Saran I think I paid $35k with training. Honestly, you don’t need the training. It’s pretty easy and user friendly. Watch some YouTube videos.

As a patient, aren't you comforted that dentists don't value learning and can simply go on YouTube and learn everything that they need to know? 

There will never again be a generation of dentists devoted to learning  and mastering a subject for the benefit of their patients ....and I say this with great sadness. As I told you before, I have over  7,000 hours of high level Continuing Education with much of it with among the best in the world. Do you really think that today's young professional with their 'busy' schedule with give up 100 weekends to learn?

Not a chance in hell.

If you are considering comprehensive dental treatment, find yourself an older, talented dentist to do the work BEFORE they retire and their level of excellence disappears.

(Aside: I am not getting ready to retire as some rumors report.)

Incompetent vs Not Competent

I met one of my patients at Pilates this morning. This patient brought in a relative for an evaluation a few days ago. When I looked into the patient's mouth I could clearly see that the elderly woman had received dental care but that it was done by a dentist that was not good at diagnosing complex dental problems. I have 7,000 hours of Continuing Education and much of it with the finest restorative dentists in the world and this is what makes me competent and proficient at treating complex problems.

My patient who I saw at Pilates today said, "She was previously treated by an incompetent dentist."

To that statement I replied, "I don't think that the dentist was incompetent as much as he was NOT competent.

Incompetent means that you KNOW how to treat a problem but that your level of care is below acceptable because you probably don't care.

"Not competent" means that you never achieved an acceptable level of treatment due to a lack of knowledge or skill.

The standard of excellence is that you have attained PROFICIENCY at a skill or task, which is the highest level of care.
Competence means that you perform a task at an acceptable level but no higher.

At this stage of my career....40 years...I EXPECT of myself  to be proficient at everything that I do.

I OWE it to you, my patients, to be proficient.

America the Stupid (Not political)

On one of my dental forums a dentist posted:

 "Can anyone recommend an affordable portable soft tissue laser that has the least amount of per patient cost?"

The young dentist did not ask, "What is the BEST soft tissue laser?" 

And we all know that the   word 'affordable' is actually the same but kinder way of saying, "CHEAPEST."

The real bad news is that   the majority of young dentists want to buy the CHEAPEST of everything:
dental filling materials, cheapest labs, cheapest dental assistants, cheapest novocaine, etc, etc.

When I treat you, you have our word that the cost of our materials never influences the materials that we use. We routinely check the 'bible' of dental materials, "REALITY" to find out what the best materials in each class are and that is what we buy.

It is just plane stupid to base decisions about dental products on cost alone.

But this is what happens when patients make THEIR choice of a dentist solely on cost. That is just as dumb.