Be a sponge
Posted on May 12
Hello again, I hope that you are safe and well. Here’s looking to a brighter future than the last 12 months. Hope is here with the vaccination roll out. We’ll get there!!
Time goes fast
I really cannot believe that I have been working in dental practice now for over 28 years. I started out in Hull in 1993, working in Marmaduke Street Health Centre off Hessle Road in Hull. Wow, where has the time gone? Well, I’m definitely greyer, balder and more wrinkled than I was back then. It’s probably accelerated this last 12 months as well. In that time, I’ve never stopped looking for better and carried on learning new things, different things and going on courses. I’ve tried to be a sponge. In fact, many years ago we formed dentist group (Hull Independent Practitioner Group) that was all about learning. I remember the inaugural meeting. I was the youngest in the room and a bit nervous to be honest. We were asked to stand up one by one and introduce ourselves and explain why we were there and what we wanted to get out of it. I explained that I was there to be a sponge and learn as much as I could from the speakers but also the other experienced dentists in the room. It important to have tricks up your sleeve and “tools in your box” as you cannot as every case can be different for all sorts of reasons.
The way of the intercepting fist
Jeet Kune Do means way of the intercepting fist and is a martial art style, or more really a philosophy devised by Bruce Lee. He still is the most famous martial artist ever but was also a philosopher. He studied many different martial arts and kept the parts of different styles that worked for him. He realised that if you just do the same thing all the time, sometimes it will not work against certain opponents, limiting your success. Again, tools in your box, and using the right tool for the particular job in hand.
This so true of dentistry. Every patient is different and present different challenges for a variety of reasons. It makes things interesting for sure and gets the old grey matter stirred up.
Tooth straightening is a good example. There are all sorts of short courses for dentists to learn some “systems”. I know because I’ve done loads. Again, having just one system is limiting. So, learning basic and more advanced principles with specialists over time and then incorporating different systems within the fuller framework is so very useful to create bespoke treatments for individual needs. It makes problem solving easier. One thing that I say to team members and dentists that I have mentored is “If you don’t know WHY you are doing something, stop because you probably shouldn’t be doing it. Start with why and scientific principles and not just do things because somebody said to, or you have just always done it that way.
Adult teeth straightening
I have said before that sometimes it takes a little more planning with adults, but you can some really nice results with tools in your box.
It can make such a difference to confidence and improve quality of life really. Keep learning, be a sponge and increase those tools in your box.
Unti