Opinion I


had the pleasure to meet up with several of my Irish colleagues recently at a big dental event in Barcelona and I was delighted when several of them told me they enjoy


reading my musings. To be honest, it gives me a boost to hear that I make a difference to some of you. When I sit down to write this little opinion column, I always try to be positive in a world that sometimes appears full of negativity. Dentists in the UK are being inundated with regulation and a regulator who appears to have gone into overdrive with complaints against dentists, which are increasingly ridiculous. It appears that the actual dentistry is not as important as the record keeping in minute detail and, whatever the initial complaint began as, does not have to be where it all ends up. It genuinely appears as if the council in


the UK is attempting to persecute dentists for the most trivial of issues. How would we all measure up for an overhang on a temporary restoration where the expert stated that this was “less than ideal”! How about the issue of not recording the spotting of periodontal disease five years before a patient makes a complaint? If any of you wants to amuse yourself


for a couple of hours, just look at the completely open information available on


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Bruce Oxley Tel: +44(0)141 560 3050


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Advertising sales manager Ann Craib


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Column


with Dr John Barry


Are we looking after ourselves?


the GDC hearings section. It is getting to a stage that almost all the dentists I know are currently dealing with one form of “concern” or “complaint” at the GDC. On the other hand, the Dental Council


in Ireland seems much more balanced and fair, which is to be welcomed, encouraged and maintained. I am completely clear that we all have a duty of care to our patients and I am positive that no one goes to work to do a bad job. I am also clear that we have one of the most difficult jobs in the world. We work in a micro environment while being influenced by multiple external factors, including physiology, anatomy, attitude and anxiety. We then need the fabric, the support team, the materials and then we need to get remunerated for it by patients who usually do not really want to engage with us. On top of that, we have to ensure we


do not make careless mistakes that can impact on our patients or ourselves, all while having to diagnose complex issues effectively and sometimes very quickly. We then have to explain our findings and then execute almost perfect solutions in order to get paid at a level that will give us a sustainable business. It’s exhausting even writing about the


perceived current roles and responsibili- ties of the modern day dentist. I asked in my title “Are we looking after ourselves?” and my simple aim is to get you thinking about the issues I have highlighted so that you make sure you are asking the right questions, recording what you say and do, justifying what you do and effectively protecting yourself from spurious complaints. Wouldn’t it be lovely to be simply appreciated for the highly trained, highly skilled professionals we all are?


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info@connectcommunications.co.uk Ireland’s Dental magazine 5


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