Dentistry: The 2 Aspects of Life As A Dentist

Dentistry, just like other medical fields, is always looking at advancements and ways to help people keep their mouth healthier but there is also the business side of dentistry that every dentist has to deal with. Seeing how these two sides are the biggest parts of a dentist’s life, I chose to share with my readers in today’s post the two comments I left on two other blog’s. One of the blog’s had a post which discussed the health and advancements in dental care while the other blog consisted of a post looking at more of a business aspect of a dentists life. The first post, which inspired me to leave a comment, was from The Dental Implant Blog and more specifically the post titled, “iTero Digital Impression System”. The second post, which I made a comment on dealt with the business aspect of dentistry coming from Dental Insider Blog and the post titled, “3M/ESPE addresses Gray Market Issue”.

"iTero Digital Impression System"
Comment:
Your post was very informative about this wonderful advance in dentistry. I believe that every dentist should try and get their hands on the new iTero digital impression system (pictured above) because as a person who has had a tradition impression taken, I know how uncomfortable it was so take a traditional impression and if I had a choice I would definitely prefer anything as an alternative. This machine seems to offer a much more comfortable way to not only take an impression but also to provide increased patient satisfaction and improved dental clinical outcomes. As a pre-dental student, I agree that not only would this make the patients impression experience more comfortable but also it would definitely enhance ones reputation as a high quality practice. If I were already a dentist I would make sure to get one of these machines because its down the road it would eventually pay for itself by eliminating consumable expenses and also surely bring in new patients.

"3M/ESPE Addresses Grey Market Issue"
Comment:
I believe that that 3M/ESPE is doing a good thing in helping dentists deal with “gray market” goods including ways to detect if a dentist has grey market goods. As a pre-dental student and someone who will soon be dealing with these different aspects of the business world of dentistry, I would not want to have any or use any “grey market” goods while operating my business and office. I believe that it might be unsafe and that using goods that are acquired from channels other than ones that are authorized is wrong. There needs to be a “crack down” on all those who deal the products illegally because if there are no ramifications then it will never stop.

Dental Care: More Important Than We Think.

One of the top priorities for every American parent is the well being of their children. That well being includes their oral health as well. Dental Care is unattainable to many Americans who in turn, are not able to provide it for their children. So when those same American citizens read about Spain's plan to provide free dental care to all children between the ages of seven to fifteen, they began to wonder why the United States doesn't provide the same for their own children. Last week, Bernat Soria (pictured on the right) announced his new dental care plan, which would include dental treatments such as cleanings, fillings, tooth extractions, and check ups. This program would benefit close to a million children in 2008 and upwards of four million in 2012. Surely, the health minister’s proposal must have made most Spanish parents happy but it did a good job to anger one Spaniard in particular. Spanish minister for the economy, Pedro Solbes was openly critical of the health minter’s plan, stating that it would be too expensive as well as questioning its viability. This may have come as no surprise to the Spanish citizens seeing how Mr. Solbes had shot down countless ideas suggested by the government because of cost reasons. The minister for economy was critical. He was against not only the health minister's new dental care plan but, many other plans which came before.

After coming across this article, questions about our own dental care plan here in the United States began to rise. Seeing how we consider ourselves ahead of other countries, why did we not already have a dental plan, which would provide free dental care to all children? More than money, free health care is probably one of the most important things that the government can provide for families throughout the United States. This would allow parents the freedom to not have to worry about their children’s oral care. It was quite recently when twelve-year-old Deamonte Driver (pictured to the left) died from what most people would call a ‘toothache’. What began with some simple pin in his mouth turned into a severe infection, which eventually worked its way up to the young boy's brain and lead to his eventual death. This one event should have been enough for the United States government to take action. The government should use its money not to keep our troops overseas in Iraq, but to help children back here on our home soil with simple things like the ability to get a cleaning, filling, a tooth extraction or even a simple check up.

Reading this article and realizing how much help some people need in the United States makes me wish I could jump into the future, where I plan to use my Dental degree for not only start a private practice, but to also do pro bono work. Much of this pro bono work would be like something similar to what is currently being done in Florida as part of what is called Project: Dentists Care. Establish and supported by the Florida Dental Association, (pictured to the right) this program includes a community of dentist volunteer their time and services to provide a safety net to preventive and restorative dental care for those in greatest need. I believe that, by providing free dental care for all children, should be plan implemented in the United States to help prevent what happened to young Deamonte Driver from happening to other young children. There is no reason why somebody should suffer or even die from something that is treatable and can be taken care of so early and easily.