About a month ago there was a blog post that got a lot of attention.  It was titled 10 Reasons Your Dentist Probably Hates You Too.  It created quite a stir and wrote a post that I called 10 Reasons Why My Patients Love Me, in response.  The author of the first post wrote it with her tongue firmly planted in her cheek, and I wrote my response to sho

Wild Wild West Dentistry

w that our profession needs more relationship building in an age where the professions have tipped toward business rather than health car

What is the truth about dentistry these days?

There are many ways to practice dentistry.  Every dentist is faced with the problem of balancing the paradox between duty and desire...the desire to live a great life and the duty to be a great dentist.  We live in a material world and as much as we claim that less is more…so many of us still want more.  Yet I truly believe we also want to to find meaning in our dentistry.

It gets confusing for the dentist as he tries to earn his daily bread in an age where the business of dentistry is like the Wild Wild West.

I try to practice in a manner that helps balance the paradox…some might call it “business ethics.”  I am truly bothered when I see the breakdown of ethics in our profession…so I give you these things that I see some of our colleagues doing on a fairly regular basis…that I think patients, and the powers that be should know about.

1. Your  dentist sees you as a profit center rather than a patient.  Everyone gets the business thing.  Football players tell us this all the time…but this is health care and an ethical dentist MUST put the patient first.  That is the real definition of professional.  Dentists who do this usually relate everything to the “time is money” philosophy.  They usually run behind and are over-scheduled.
2. Your dentist just took a weekend course in an advanced surgical technique—-and you [click to continue…]

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