The Future of Prosthodontic Practice
June 24, 2016
Dr. Sree Koka, Associate Editor of the Journal of Prosthodontic Research, joined Dr. John O’Keefe in this conversation about the changes that the field of prosthodontics will undertake in the next 10 years.
Among six dentists, Dr. Koka is the founder of Career Design in Dentistry an organization that helps dentists plan their careers on a personal as well as business levels.
Highlights
- The prosthodontics knowledge base is extending on two fronts:
- There is a new marriage of materials and technology: we are on the threshold of tremendous potential of technology being used with certain materials to impact the day-to-day practice.
- Industry is increasingly interested in ceramics and metals because those materials encompass typical restorative dentistry and implant dentistry.
- Imaging technologies are changing the way dentists diagnose and provide better care for patients.
- Educational programs need to provide opportunities for dentists to learn to use the new imaging technologies.
- A game changer that could have an impact in dentistry is the use of robotics which provide more precision and control over some surgical procedures.
Value-Based Dentistry….Hummm……may need to stand in line behind all the other newly minted “categories” of Dentistry. LVI…Laser…Holistic…Family…Cosmetic…Spa…3D…Digital….to name but a few I see on the signs of Dental Offices or hear being promoted by misleading dentists.
I graduated in 1979, before blatantly spurious forms of misinformation and advertisement were in vogue. At least here in Toronto. Yes, before Internet too. Back then, there were only two types of dentistry…Good or Bad. Before the term “Cosmetic” Dentistry became entrenched, Good Dentistry demanded that we did our best to fabricate durable crowns in the anterior that blended with adjacent teeth and were harmonious with the patient’s physiological, psychological and fiscal demands. Bad Dentistry was the inability to do so.
We did not stand back and claim we were somehow different or superior to the next dentist, then go out and start an Association to hand out self-aggrandizing plagues and citations.
At least the ethical and honest ones didn’t.
Great…now someone has come along and created a “New and Improved” type of Dentistry…”Value-Based”. What? Do we need to now codify and teach Common Sense? The answer I fear is YES.
I see it in the “New Generation” of folks raised on the Internet and Social Media. The Google patient that walks in with info from Dr Google on how to be treated. They confuse Information Retrieval with Knowing. By Knowing, I mean understanding a topic thoroughly. You can not Know anything by spending 10 or 20 minutes, or even hours on the Internet. There is too much misinformation by unscrupulous practitioners of any field trying to lure uncritical seekers to their office.
Good Dentistry demands that we honestly and compassionately help a patient navigate the turbulent ocean of Misinformation that is the Net. “Teeth In A Day”…..give me a break!
So, yes, perhaps we need to have discussions on “Value-Based” Dentistry, because calling it “Common Sense” Dentistry ain’t as catchy a label and “Good Dentistry” just don’t got that zing.
Hope you are now all sufficiently “Empowered”.
Go Forth and Associate!