It is difficult to disagree with Dr. Marjorie Jeffcoat’s February editorial, "A Matter of Life and Death." It’s the "motherhood and apple pie" stuff that dentists love to hear if, for no other reason, to reinforce and convince us at the grassroots level that dentistry is an important and serious endeavor.
It’s drummed into our heads in dental school that we are not second-class citizens to our physician colleagues. To receive the title of "Dr.", we’d better darned well earn and deserve it.
We come out of dental school with a handpiece in one hand and stethoscope in the other. Then, somewhere along the way, the influences of self-promotion, hucksterism and commercialism get their grip on us in the name of marketing and, to a greater or lesser degree, the professionalism slips away.
Every practicing dentist has to filter what he or she wants to project as his or her image. The pressures of private practice are too great to reject all forms of communication with the public.
But do the refrigerator magnets of Mr. Happy Tooth, the sleazy ads and the cartoon recall cards really project our image? We wonder why our physician colleagues (no less our patients!) don’t take us seriously. Would a neurosurgeon have a picture of a brain on his business card?
Let’s stop with the "Smile Centers" and "we cater to cowards" promotions. This sends a message in conflict with what we really are and how we want to be perceived. Throughout my 30 years in practice, I have contended that to be treated like professionals, we must act like professionals. The rest should eventually fall into place.
