Boring is good?


My mother, may she rest in piece, use to have this as her mantra. When I was younger, it didn't make sense to me then, but it does  now.  When I was young I craved excitement, but now not as much. As I matured I realized that there was a risk and a downside to exciting activities. Skiing, for example  is really fun, that is until you take a spill and break a bone or mangle a joint. Most of us age out of our desire for excitement as we age.  The same is often true of the dentists I know.  The young students I teach are often gung ho to start esthetic  dental treatment plans that may involve multiple anterior restorations. Possibly they may not  realize that sometimes "less is more". While a beautifully executed smile make over can really change a patients smile or even their lives, achieving these results can be difficult for  dentists to execute properly. Often their can be "bumps" along the road and the road to delivery and subsequent patient satisfaction can take longer than initially expected. Appointments usually are scheduled for longer periods of chair time and if work needs to be done over, the scheduled extra time can make these restorations less profitable and less fun to do. That being the case,  learning how to perform dental procedures is what turns on most dental students and this is quite understandable, since they are in school to learn as much as they can. Esthetic dentistry courses are among the most popular for young dentists to take for their continuing education as well. Many younger dentists may secretly ( or not so secretly) wish they could specialize in mostly cosmetic dentistry since it's relatively high status and well paid ( when all goes well).

My older colleagues, many of whom have serious skills in performing cosmetic dentistry, often confide that they really prefer single tooth posterior restorations as opposed to anterior esthetic cases. They recognize that anterior esthetics can be tricky and can result in failures or "do overs" that make these procedures much less profitable and potentially more stressful. Performing a smile make over sometimes can be a little like  what I imagine climbing a mountain might be like; both exhilarating and stressful at the same time.

When I am examining my patients on regular recall, no finding makes me smile as much as "no new findings" and a happy patient.  After all continued good dental health is probably the best gift we can provide to our patients. Achieving this result may involve what some neophyte dentists may see as boring and not as well compensated work; Oral hygiene instruction, good home care, frequent cleanings and dental work that stands the test of time. Yes, completing a dazzling make over certainly is still rewarding for me, but truth be told,  I experience great satisfaction and pride when I examine long term patients, who  present with  no new problems and get "clean" check ups. Their mouths may lack excitement, but sometimes boring is definitely good!

from Ask Dr. Spindel - http://lspindelnycdds.blogspot.com/2019/03/boring-is-good.html - http://lspindelnycdds.blogspot.com/

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