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Artisan or entrepreneur – what are modern-day dentists, Alun Rees questions. I enjoyed two thought-provoking conversations with dental technicians recently. In the first one, ‘A’ updated me on his progress since he and his business partner had gone their separate ways after 29 years working together. In the other, ‘B’ told me about the huge steps … Continued
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Alun Rees says graduates having greater expectations than generations before doesn’t make them a ‘dental snowflake’. I want to address the phenomenon of the dental snowflake, and perhaps societal snowflake. Its derogatory use has pervaded conversations in recent years. It originates in the book, Fight Club, where Chuck Palahniuk wrote: ‘You’re not special. ‘You’re not … Continued
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Alun Rees explains why effective time management is so important when running a dental practice. The practice of clinical dentistry demands attention to detail and concentration. The needs of working in an environment where materials are sensitive, where visibility can be difficult and, of course, where your patient is usually awake are plentiful. For success in … Continued
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Alun Rees discusses how empathy is impacting and often contrasting with modern day dentistry. ‘It is as important to know what kind of a man has the disease, as it is to know what kind of disease has the man’ – Sir William Osler. Osler was a Canadian physician, one of the founders of Johns Hopkins … Continued
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Dentists and dental professionals should be writing things that aren’t on the page and instructing dental patients what they need, Alun Rees says. A recent article in the British Medical Journal discussed the instruction from Health Education England that patients and public should be consulted on ‘What they need from 21st century medical graduates’. I’m … Continued
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Take steps to change if you’re feeling genuinely unhappy in your job, Alun Rees says. Famous as the title of a jazz standard song, or rather spoken, by Peggy Lee 50 years ago: ‘Is that all there is?’. It has become the mantra of the disappointed. The song describes a house fire, a trip to the … Continued
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Alun Rees explains why we shouldn’t trust speakers who don’t show any of their failures. In his wonderful memoir, Do No Harm, neurosurgeon Henry Marsh discusses some of his failures and the circumstances that led to them. The chapter is appropriately called ‘Hubris’ and one story struck a chord with me. He writes about the conference … Continued
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Alun Rees describes the morning he realised he was doing too much and how Confidental can help. I remember it well. Monday 8am, first patient due at 8:30. I was driving to our practice in a suburb of Gloucester. My journey took me through the picture-postcard village of Upton-St-Leonards. I glanced in my rear-view mirror … Continued
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Alun Rees gives his thoughts on the American ‘teledentistry’ company, Smiledirectclub, which is coming to the UK. Smiledirectclub, a ‘teledentistry pioneer’, is opening ‘Smile Shops’ in nine locations around the UK. Their press release made life easy for sub-editors to cut and paste. The tone and content was designed to remove the focus from those boring places … Continued
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