by Betsy Bakeman, DDS
Growing up in a large family, I found tasks like taking out the trash or cleaning the kitchen not particularly satisfying. Let’s face it — the first person to come back into the kitchen a few hours later and open the peanut butter and jelly jars to prepare an evening snack and one might question whether the counters had been cleaned, the sinks scrubbed, or the dishes washed. The results of cleaning the kitchen in a family of 12 were just not significant or long lasting enough for my taste.
I preferred tackling those projects that resulted in a "major transformation" — like cleaning the attic. The attic in our household, as in most, was the repository for all the things that no one currently wanted but might want someday. The musty boxes, discarded appliances, and broken furniture accumulated throughout the years until the makeshift aisles became non-navigable. That is when the teetering, dusty towers called to me in a way that no dirty glass in the kitchen sink could ever come close to. Tackling a project like cleaning the attic from top to bottom gave me a sense of pride and a feeling of accomplishment for a job well done. And the results lasted; perhaps not forever, but long enough that we could all enjoy the fruits of my labor for several years.
Modern dentistry has proved to be a wonderful field for those of us who like to participate in "major transformations." Of course, improving anterior esthetics is one means of transformation, but so is replacing failing amalgam restorations with all of the superb functional and esthetic options we have today. With the advent of esthetic options for the posterior quadrants, not only do we as clinicians become excited about the prospect of making a change for the better, but our patients share our enthusiasm.
While taking a more comprehensive approach to treatment can be very rewarding for both patients and clinicians, it does involve mastering certain skills in order to feel comfortable approaching treatment in this manner. Over time, I have had to align the new-patient examination, my approach to treatment planning, and my ability to effectively communicate a proposed treatment plan with this comprehensive philosophy. Certainly, the proper management of occlusion is also an essential skill that must be mastered and cannot be ignored.