Bah Humbug?


I went to a colleagues holiday party,  I found my self sitting across from a retired periodontist who had  been my former Nerb examiner (  exam that facilitates licensing for northeast United States) in 1980. I must confess I was terrorized by him, but now after all these years not so much. Although he can be somewhat Scrooge like in his demeanor he is living the good life with a house in the Hamptons and a peid a terre in Manhattan. It turns out he is a man of many interests and spends a great deal of time  playing the saxophone. Who knew? I thought he was an ogre, but actually even though he has a gruff exterior he is an interesting guy.  Around 9 pm he left to head home and new dentist arrived and took his seat.

As luck would have it, another dentist took his seat. She was a recent graduate of NYU's endodontic program she was still "soft on the outside". We chatted about her life since graduating. She works in a group endo practice and seemed happy to be finally practicing dentistry after all her years of study. Her father is a dentist of my vintage and after practicing as a general dentist for several years she went back to study endodontics.

After we got to know each other she confided in me that she was upset with an interaction she had earlier with another general dentist who, after she called him to discuss a patients treatment plan seemed angry with her. She had communicated something of the effect that "he and she were part of the team treating the patient and she was interested in what sort of restorative plan he had in mind for the patient?". This sort of conversation goes on all the time at the dental school between the various departments and can be helpful insuring the patients end up getting optimal treatment. Unfortunately the general dentist was not willing to entertain her input and quickly shut her down. He said: " Your not part of my team!- the patient chose you from a list of endodontists accepting his insurance " and then hung up the phone.

Needless to say the young endodontist had her feelings hurt and was still somewhat upset by the interchange. I felt badly for her and hoped this negative interaction would not spoil her holidays.   I advised her not to take it personally since the angry general dentist she encountered was probably unpleasant with everyone and it wasn't really about her.

It's shame, sometimes,  when older practitioners seem to be channeling  their inner "Ebinezer Scrooge" "when conversing with younger dentists. Yes, dentistry is not always a bowl of cherries, but we shouldn't rain on anyone else's parade, especially one  who is just getting started.. Maybe for Christmas I'll anonymously send her general dentist  a CD of the Christmas Story for him to both enjoy and contemplate!

from Ask Dr. Spindel - http://lspindelnycdds.blogspot.com/2018/12/bah-humbug.html - http://lspindelnycdds.blogspot.com/

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