Six cheers, not just three, to Dr. Gordon Christensen for his November JADA column, "The Advantages of Minimally Invasive Dentistry" (
JADA 2005;136:1563–5[Free Full Text]
). It is a wonderfully crafted call for moderation in treatment that should always put our patients’ interests first: their clinical interests, their emotional interests and their financial interests.
We are of the same generation, he and I, and have lived through the emerging high-tech age of dental care of the mid-20th century to see so many of the wonderful advances that have made our profession more efficient and more productive, both for the practitioner and the patient. However, as members of a trusted and honored profession, we dentists must strive to avoid creating our patients’ perception that we are providing "dentistry for the dentist," rather than "dentistry for the patient."
Dr. Christensen’s column should be kept in the forefront of thinking of all who are graced with the privilege with the sponsorship and trust of their patients.
