This article first appeared in the newsletter, DE's Breakthrough Clinical with Stacey Simmons, DDS. Subscribe here. I was recently in Costco perusing the book section, and a book titled, Demon Dentist caught my eye. Now there’s some promotion to the goodness of our profession! I bought it out of sheer curiosity so I could read what it had to say. I laughed, raised my eyebrows, and shook my head a few times while getting through the book, but, overall, it wasn’t half bad.
What I realized after reading it is that sometimes we have to step outside the bounds of our profession to see how everyone else perceives us. This detachment from our “dental bubble” allows for some interesting table talk and can give us a perspective that may arguably lead to better patient care. Well, at least we hope it will.
So, when we tell little Johnny to stop sucking his thumb because blah blah blah will happen . . . he will undeniably look at us like we’re from another planet, because, in his mind, we most definitely are. When we say Oops! as we’re doing that root canal, the patient never perceives it as a good sign. How about, What the *%@! accompanied by raised eyebrows and worry all over the face of the parent because their kid has a humongous white mass on his radiograph? Intrigued? You should be.
Here’s to our profession and all of us who make it one wild and fabulous ride!
Cheers!
