As an educator, I enjoy the camaraderie associated with sharing wisdom and experience. In dentistry, visualizing a finished case before ever starting can be a challenge. Today’s technology with CBCT analysis, digital radiographs, digital design, scanning, milling, and printing has evolved to allow each of us to be equal in diagnostic ability. AI will elevate skills to even higher levels. In my programs, I will often tell participants that I am sharing a recipe for success. In my experience, developing a process of efficiency and proficiency came with time, mistakes, and successes. The newest materials and techniques provide positive prognoses. There are many ways to provide any dental service. There is never one complete means to an end. However, once adeptness is achieved, the step-by-step methods become routine. Any clinical technique can be learned when shared properly by dedicated advisors.
Implant dentistry has certainly become a mainstream option for many patients. They often present to our practices with knowledge they obtained online. This information may not be completely accurate. Replacing missing teeth with titanium or zirconia fixtures can be life changing for many. However, the patient must become a part of the team process.
Patients must clearly understand through comprehensive communication that they have some serious responsibilities for long-term success. Although it may have taken me 10 years to master visualization of the finished case before ever starting, today we are able to diagnose, plan, virtually place, and even restore prior to any surgical intervention. This is a benefit to the practitioner and the patient. But replacement teeth may not last the lifetime that the patient may expect. Many factors come into play, and practitioners must educate themselves to an elevated level. Most all of our restorative designs are wonderful upon seating. What happens in the near and far future can change, and negative issues must be addressed professionally.
The hardest part of dentistry is not learning and becoming proficient in new techniques. Getting the patient to accept treatment and be appreciative of our education and then pay for services rendered is most difficult. How often do we sit with patients and perform a comprehensive exam and provide a treatment plan to restore the patient back to proper function and esthetics, only to have them not return due to financial restraints or confusion? The ability to communicate clearly with our patients is the new art in dentistry. Making those in our dental chairs recognize benefits and risks is imperative and must be mastered. The more the patient understands what can and cannot be done will make any result better, regardless of the outcome.
Dentistry can be arduous at times. Skill, judgement, and business savvy are all involved in creating successful financial and personal success. Investment in oneself through continuous education promotes effective efficiency. Nifty techniques and an enthusiastic outlook ensure a positive attitude and perpetual growth. Settling for just adequate is not enough, and having an advisor to lean on helps elevate the inner self. Each dentist, regardless of the stage in their career, needs to explore the best way to verbalize each presentation. This requires enthusiasm for the job, establishing camaraderie and friendships, developing skills and self-control, and a strong intention to meet goals.
Success needs to be worked on each day. These successes are measured not only by meeting financial goals but by achieving self-satisfaction as well. We are providing life-changing treatment to our patients and improving their quality of life. Overtreatment should not be the option of choice. Communication with the team and patients, and exuding empathy and respect, goes a long way toward success in a long and fruitful dental practice. Dentistry is a hard job, but it is also absolutely the greatest profession. All advances make us great clinicians, but we must never forget to talk with, not only to, our patients.
About the Author
Timothy Kosinski, DDS, is a Master of the Academy of General Dentistry and a Diplomate of the International Congress of Oral Implantologists. He serves as an Affiliated Adjunct Clinical Professor at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Dentistry. He maintains a private dental practice in Bingham Farms, Michigan.
