Antony Smith BDS DPDS
It's my retirement hobby to combine my experience in dentistry and my interest in computers. I have written a biography to explain why I've made websites, Apps, and videos. I like playing around on my laptop. I do have a life and have added pictures to show I'm not nerdy. I have met thousands of people trapped in my chair, and I never wanted to swap with any of them for many reasons. Dentistry has been an excellent career for me, and I wish you as much fun and stress as I have had. I'm lucky to be an optimistic activist with a shocking memory. I only remember the good bits.
I worked as a dentist for 38 years. The first few years were grim. I never had any adequate supervision immediately after leaving Dental school. I left my first practice after my first and only GA session in the practice, where we saw about 16 children in under two hours taking out teeth. I can still hear the crying. I think I was almost as traumatised as the children.
I then worked in a busy NHS practice without any supervision. A patient complained to me about the condition of the practice but was perfectly happy with her treatment. I asked the patient to complain, which was so effective that I had my first and only trip to London to say hello to the GDC.
The outcome was a fine of two weeks' net income even though my BDA contact stated it was the absent principles responsibility to provide adequate premises.
I struggled with dentistry, and my poor opinion of the GDC was cemented. It hasn't changed.
I then worked in a busy NHS practice without any supervision. A patient complained to me about the condition of the practice but was perfectly happy with her treatment. I asked the patient to complain, which was so effective that I had my first and only trip to London to say hello to the GDC.
The outcome was a fine of two weeks' net income even though my BDA contact stated it was the absent principles responsibility to provide adequate premises.
I struggled with dentistry, and my poor opinion of the GDC was cemented. It hasn't changed.
In my next practice, the principal had a lab that the dental hospital also used. He was the chairman of the Pankey Institute in the UK. Through him, I realised that not everything I learned at dental school might be appropriate for the patient's needs and to question and think about my treatment.
He was the most skilled clinician I have known in all my years of practice. Through access to his dental lab, I realised that I was not the worst clinician, in fact, I was firmly in the top 50%. Some of my clinical work was superior to consultants lecturing on the subject.
I didn't have much income there, so I bought into a large NHS practice which was affectionately known as the amalgam factory at age 26. It was around when we started wearing gloves, as a virus came on the scene. We began wearing gloves that did not protect against a needle stick injury but were reassuring for an anxious public. It did help against Hepatitis B, but as for our redundant dishwashers for CJD....
We can learn from history, but large businesses' lobbying is more influential than scientific evidence. Their priority is for shareholders, not always the public.
I think there are many good reasons for Private dentistry, and I went to the inaugural Denplan meeting by Stephen Noar around 1987. In the '90s, my partners wanted to transition to private practice while I tried to remain committed to the NHS, as we were in a relatively socially deprived area. We parted company, I worked and expanded three mainly NHS practices, and I think we provided an excellent service to make my patients "dentally fit".
He was the most skilled clinician I have known in all my years of practice. Through access to his dental lab, I realised that I was not the worst clinician, in fact, I was firmly in the top 50%. Some of my clinical work was superior to consultants lecturing on the subject.
I didn't have much income there, so I bought into a large NHS practice which was affectionately known as the amalgam factory at age 26. It was around when we started wearing gloves, as a virus came on the scene. We began wearing gloves that did not protect against a needle stick injury but were reassuring for an anxious public. It did help against Hepatitis B, but as for our redundant dishwashers for CJD....
We can learn from history, but large businesses' lobbying is more influential than scientific evidence. Their priority is for shareholders, not always the public.
I think there are many good reasons for Private dentistry, and I went to the inaugural Denplan meeting by Stephen Noar around 1987. In the '90s, my partners wanted to transition to private practice while I tried to remain committed to the NHS, as we were in a relatively socially deprived area. We parted company, I worked and expanded three mainly NHS practices, and I think we provided an excellent service to make my patients "dentally fit".
I then had a challenging year while gradually moving my patients to alternative premises and starting a practice I could be proud of. It went well, and it became a four-surgery VDP training practice. We were approached and then applied for funding to expand the practice and build a further extension for two surgeries, offices, storage, and a staff room. It was 2006, and the conditions for the provision of NHS dentistry changed. The promised capitol support funding for the NHS expansion was withdrawn, and no extra UDAs either. We were going to bankrupt.
I had a partial conversion into a mixed practice and invested in a digital scanner to help fill in our white space. I had a spell as a clinical supervisor at the local dental hospital and have run a peer review group for about ten years. Throughout this period, I had been on the LDC for around 25 years and a trainer for 20.
In 2014 I sold the practice to a large dental corporation and continued working part-time. I am worried about how we seem to be specialising to such an extent that the public has difficulty accessing general dentistry. The App I have produced is an attempt to help engage the public with their Oral Hygiene, and the blog is an effort to open up a discussion on where dentistry is moving.
We must be more united and proactive and "take back control" of our profession. We seem to be governed by lawyers and people who have little understanding of general dentistry, or empathy with us
Matt Hancock stated in November 2018, "prevention is better than cure" and as applied to NHS dentistry, it was only for under fives with no extra funding. There is no money tree for dentistry. We will have to "think different" to engage the public who can't afford it or are scared to see us. The teeth4life App is my attempt to do this.
Matt Hancock stated in November 2018, "prevention is better than cure" and as applied to NHS dentistry, it was only for under fives with no extra funding. There is no money tree for dentistry. We will have to "think different" to engage the public who can't afford it or are scared to see us. The teeth4life App is my attempt to do this.
Like the vast majority of dentists, I am not a specialist. I see the need for specialists, but it creates a problem in the expectation of the GDC, lawyers, and whoever you work for. It would be a shame not to pass all the good and bad experiences we have had to support the younger dentists who are leaving the profession disillusioned as I nearly did over thirty years ago. Please think about how we can help one another.
As an insight into the future, dentistry is in the first chapter of the 2020 book The Innovation Ultimatum, and I will promote my ten years of experience of MID using cad cam technology in some future blogs.
I follow Dr Bicuspid from the States. I don't agree with all of this article, but I think it's insightful for the changes in dentistry we are experiencing.
As an insight into the future, dentistry is in the first chapter of the 2020 book The Innovation Ultimatum, and I will promote my ten years of experience of MID using cad cam technology in some future blogs.
I follow Dr Bicuspid from the States. I don't agree with all of this article, but I think it's insightful for the changes in dentistry we are experiencing.
I did this while trying out some new software with early AI to translate into most languages. Initially, I made it in Spanish. This is an English version.
I was in India in March 2020, and when repatriated, I couldn't work like everyone else. The new corporate who had taken over the practice were charging for PPE for plan patients who had not been seen in over a year, and worse dubious activity to manipulating income streams. I have two threatening letters from my corporate employers. As I had an NHS pension, I left. I was earning more during lockdown than I was earning before I sold the business. I had always enjoyed the challenge of family-based general dentistry, but "working" for a corporate was delivering poor service, and it was too depressing to be complicit, and I thought I could sleep better if I continued to try and promote prevention in dentistry, even if I was no longer working in it. I finished in September 2020.
"The best way to predict the future is to create it"-Peter Drucker