Its been a few weeks since my last blog post. Nearly every day I have thought about writing something, but circumstances have conspired against me. I have been very fortunate to see a whole new world opening to me recently, in no small part due to this blog, so I feel very guilty in missing these posts. Opportunities, contacts and friendships have been made in literally every corner of this planet – yesterday I was discussing my amazing profession with people in Australia and Germany. Prior to that its been Spain, Libya, Brazil and South Africa and of course the wonderful dentists of Egypt as well. How did the world become so small?! With the click of a button, in a matter of milliseconds information and thought spreads like wildfire and its been awe inspiring and a joy to get to engage with all of you through this medium. The rapid fire way things have proceeded reminds me that its important not to stay stationary – but to keep moving and improving every single day. Running water is free from dirt and is used to purify and clean other things. Stagnant water usually becomes dirty and a source of harm. So motion is vital for life for sure.
Florin Cofar in Romania has a course that I would love to attend called Emotion in Motion. You really need to see things in their fluid magnificence to really appreciate their true beauty. Not contrived like a photo, but real life, using video – allowing us to reveal the hidden and sometimes overlooked nuances of our subject. I can safely say that employing the technique in our clinic has revolutionised our practice of dentistry. Digital Smile Design with video and from here digital scanning of the mouth and teeth, together with CT scanning of the jaws has allowed us to build a picture of the patient that has hitherto been only dreamt of in the wildest of dreams.
And the result? delivering as close to perfection, replicating the glory of nature in its minutest detail… absolutely sublime and a wonderful advantage for all our patients, as I am sure we are one of the first to do this, bringing all these techniques together in this manner here in the UK. And I have been wanting to burst with all the creative inspiration that this has provided. In this respect, a few dentists approached me recently to put on a course to share this knowledge gained over 15+ years of dentistry . Its a privilege and honour to be asked and I am pleased to say that this August 15th we will get together at the Hilton Garden Inn in Glasgow to do this and it will be emotional, as Esthetics and Smile Design is my passion.
In the past, I have been known to keep my emotions bottled up. Like a poker player I’ve learned over the years that its better to keep in check those things that show too much of you, in order to protect oneself from life’s harsher elements. But that comes at a cost -very often people on the outside can misread this as being uncaring or unthoughtful, and this is the farthest thing from the truth. Truth be told I’ve always been a happy (and caring!) person thankfully, and I realise how blessed I have been in this regard. Those that have seen through the checkpoints I have put up, have remarked later, that its a good thing that they gave me the benefit of the doubt in the beginning, otherwise on first reading the book would have been judged by its cover and tossed away!
All of us have a self that we project and a self that we really are deep down. I am struck by how many patients I meet that want the hidden side of their personality to come out, but because of certain things like being so self conscious about their smile, that they feel they have to conceal and live life in a manner that does not let them shine. And this is a tragedy, as life does not need to be like that for them. Skills and technology have moved on so far in todays day and age, that we as dentists literally can and have, changed peoples lives for the better by giving them back that thing that all of us should feel is the easiest thing in the world to do -the magic of a smile – the ability to change someone else’s day or even life by the simplest of actions. So, don’t hide that smile, because we are here to help you shine!