My story

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leia05 said:
maddy i'm with you on that one but don't forget those of us down south! we care too! well...at least i do...and lily...not everyone has your viewpoint that no one else gives a s### about anyone else. maybe that's how you were raised but i for one was not. my family brought me up to care about others and how they are treated...which is one reason i'm going into this profession. and no, i'm not naive. i know there some are a##holes out there since i've worked in a public service capacity for several years while in school. but you know what? kindness spreads just as easily as smiles, only you gotta actually put in the effort...but people like you apparently don't want to take that time. how sad...


Anyone else care to join the women on this one?? :laugh: I'm sure we have all had the experience of "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em". that is about where i am. maybe i'll give the genuine interest thing another go later on, but for now, i'll just be the insensitive prick, joining the many who truly don't care that much about the family life of a particular patient. do you actually have time for that??
p.s maddy, YOU mispelled naieve. check it on microsoft word. na i(with an umlaut above the i, which in english, equals na ie ve. the i coupled with an e gives the i an ee sound. the fault lies with me in being authentic. pm me with any other vocab hardships. much love 😍
 
lillytwig said:
Anyone else care to join the women on this one?? :laugh: I'm sure we have all had the experience of "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em". that is about where i am. maybe i'll give the genuine interest thing another go later on, but for now, i'll just be the insensitive prick, joining the many who truly don't care that much about the family life of a particular patient. do you actually have time for that??
p.s maddy, YOU mispelled naieve. check it on microsoft word. na i(with an umlaut above the i, which in english, equals na ie ve. the i coupled with an e gives the i an ee sound. the fault lies with me in being authentic. pm me with any other vocab hardships. much love 😍

Wow lillytwig you are a real piece of work. Your patients are going to see the kind of person you are and hopefully go somewhere else. If all you care about is money you are going to be a sad person. Good luck with your life.
 
GoDucks69 said:
Wow lillytwig you are a real piece of work. Your patients are going to see the kind of person you are and hopefully go somewhere else. If all you care about is money you are going to be a sad person. Good luck with your life.

have you ever seen the movie patch adams? you will remeber when robin williams is talking with his roomate, who is kind of an ass? i think when it comes right down to it, most of us will want an insensitive prick [socially] who knows exactly what he is doing [medically] if our lives were depending upon it. i like to think that i will be that person. after more than 200 hours of shadowing gps, oral surgeons, endos and orthos, and after a rather long stint working in a public health dental clinic, i think i fit better in a non-bs, no thought to how your day has been setting. i guarantee that when you come to the ER, the last thing you'll be thinking about is whether or not your doctor cares about your family. i'll be just fine with that.
on a different note, i know a dentist has to gross something like $350 an hour to break even here in las vegas. i am sure it doesn't vary far from that figure in any desirable place to live. with all the fraternizing and schmoozing some of you envision yourselves doing, how do you plan on making any money? excuse me, how do you plan on getting to a point where you have time to give back to the community? most dentists, orthos,endos, etc. don't walk around and chat. once again, time=money, and most people in practice understand this.
 
A large part of your job as a dentist is to make your patient feel comfortable. It takes some conversation to tell them what you are doing and maybe do some joking around in order to lighten the mood. I would never refer someone to a dentist that is like a machine that tries to get me out of there as quickly as possible and is obvious that they could care less about me. You might be doing a good job but as a patient I may feel like I was rushed out of there and did not get the best care.

I shadowed my cousin at his practice and he jokes and talks with his patients. He gets them out of there quickly since he has a lot of patients but the atmosphere is calming and sincere. He does very well. Like it or not dentistry is a job where you work with people and if you want to build a large patient pool you need to cater to your patients. That involves actually being human with them.
 
lillytwig said:
have you ever seen the movie patch adams? you will remeber when robin williams is talking with his roomate, who is kind of an ass? i think when it comes right down to it, most of us will want an insensitive prick [socially] who knows exactly what he is doing [medically] if our lives were depending upon it. i like to think that i will be that person. after more than 200 hours of shadowing gps, oral surgeons, endos and orthos, and after a rather long stint working in a public health dental clinic, i think i fit better in a non-bs, no thought to how your day has been setting. i guarantee that when you come to the ER, the last thing you'll be thinking about is whether or not your doctor cares about your family. i'll be just fine with that.
on a different note, i know a dentist has to gross something like $350 an hour to break even here in las vegas. i am sure it doesn't vary far from that figure in any desirable place to live. with all the fraternizing and schmoozing some of you envision yourselves doing, how do you plan on making any money? excuse me, how do you plan on getting to a point where you have time to give back to the community? most dentists, orthos,endos, etc. don't walk around and chat. once again, time=money, and most people in practice understand this.

obviously you're lacking in some social skills if you can't manage to get things done while carrying on a conversation. by talking with your patients you'll get a better idea of how to treat them. i.e. some people don't take their meds like they're supposed to...some people live in areas without fluoridated water, etc. etc... i mean, come on...you can learn so much by talking to people. it's not that hard either! your patient will feel more relaxed because you're taking an interest in them...and that will help you out financially as well (since i'm sure you're interested in THAT angle) because you'll have to spend less on advertising since your patients will take care of that via word-of-mouth. get a clue, lilly. there's more to life than money. and for the record...merriam webster agrees with maddy and me as to the proper spelling of "naive" try looking in a dictionary every so often as you may be surprised at what you find.
 
leia05 said:
obviously you're lacking in some social skills if you can't manage to get things done while carrying on a conversation. by talking with your patients you'll get a better idea of how to treat them. i.e. some people don't take their meds like they're supposed to...some people live in areas without fluoridated water, etc. etc... i mean, come on...you can learn so much by talking to people. it's not that hard either! your patient will feel more relaxed because you're taking an interest in them...and that will help you out financially as well (since i'm sure you're interested in THAT angle) because you'll have to spend less on advertising since your patients will take care of that via word-of-mouth. get a clue, lilly. there's more to life than money. and for the record...merriam webster agrees with maddy and me as to the proper spelling of "naive" try looking in a dictionary every so often as you may be surprised at what you find.

yes, i agree with what you say. a dr. needs to treat his patients. did you think i was meaning absolutely no conversation?? get a clue, leia!i will concede that i do lack the skills to carry on a genuine and meanigful conversation with a patient while drilling in his mouth. genuine meaning that the patient would need to interact, right?? i'm a social ****** because i don't see how that can work (productivity in mind). all that i am saying is that it would be wise to manage time in a way that you can be a great dr. and still be productive. a patient comes in, you discuss their history, drill and fill , and send them on their way.
do you comprehend what $250,000 with compounding intrest really is?? a lot of people have this kind of debt upon finishing dental school. check my posts, i have never said that money is everything, but it is really important with a note like that, wouldn't you agree?
 
lillytwig said:
yes, i agree with what you say. a dr. needs to treat his patients. did you think i was meaning absolutely no conversation?? get a clue, leia!i will concede that i do lack the skills to carry on a genuine and meanigful conversation with a patient while drilling in his mouth. genuine meaning that the patient would need to interact, right?? i'm a social ****** because i don't see how that can work (productivity in mind). all that i am saying is that it would be wise to manage time in a way that you can be a great dr. and still be productive. a patient comes in, you discuss their history, drill and fill , and send them on their way.
do you comprehend what $250,000 with compounding intrest really is?? a lot of people have this kind of debt upon finishing dental school. check my posts, i have never said that money is everything, but it is really important with a note like that, wouldn't you agree?

all of the dentists i have shadowed and worked with manage to make their patients feel important yet also do quality work. so what is it about that which seems so hard for you? treat them as human beings, not walking debt-reducers. that's all i ask. i'm hoping you're a nice and friendly person outside of the dental office so why not be the same way even when you're the doc? you don't have to have heart-to-hearts with your patients, just make them feel comfortable and that you care. learn a few jokes or whatever it takes. my bottom line is that patients aren't just paychecks. they're people.
 
leia05 said:
all of the dentists i have shadowed and worked with manage to make their patients feel important yet also do quality work. so what is it about that which seems so hard for you? treat them as human beings, not walking debt-reducers. that's all i ask. i'm hoping you're a nice and friendly person outside of the dental office so why not be the same way even when you're the doc? you don't have to have heart-to-hearts with your patients, just make them feel comfortable and that you care. learn a few jokes or whatever it takes. my bottom line is that patients aren't just paychecks. they're people.

AND paychecks. of course treat them like a human. that is all a doctor needs to do. i don't think they are coming to the dentsit because they are not sure of themselves and need support. my bottom line is that we've all thought about our interview and personal statements too much. an accountant helps people, yet he does not go around saying i just want to help people. same with an attorney, a grocer, your banker, yet you don't hear them talking about helping and loving people just because.
like i said, i don't totally disagree with you-- we just have different styles, and that is just fine.
 
To Leia and GoDucks,
Glad to see you agree with me. (BTW Leia, I actually live in the South too, and southern people are GREAT! Didn't mean to leave you out.)

Anyways LillyTwat, just because we care for our patients doesn't mean that we are going to follow them home and cook them dinner or something. My dentist knows me by name and each time I go in he asks how my DAT went, how my parents are, etc. And you know why I keep going there? Because HE CARES!
 
Madeleine405 said:
To Leia and GoDucks,
Glad to see you agree with me. (BTW Leia, I actually live in the South too, and southern people are GREAT! Didn't mean to leave you out.)

Anyways LillyTwat, just because we care for our patients doesn't mean that we are going to follow them home and cook them dinner or something. My dentist knows me by name and each time I go in he asks how my DAT went, how my parents are, etc. And you know why I keep going there? Because HE CARES!

i am glad for you. i hope that gives you strength during you day. as for me, i will run a business, and keep my socializing to a minimum while so doing.
have you really reduced yourself to name calling??
best of luck to you all. 😀
 
lillytwig said:
AND paychecks. of course treat them like a human. that is all a doctor needs to do. i don't think they are coming to the dentsit because they are not sure of themselves and need support. my bottom line is that we've all thought about our interview and personal statements too much. an accountant helps people, yet he does not go around saying i just want to help people. same with an attorney, a grocer, your banker, yet you don't hear them talking about helping and loving people just because.
like i said, i don't totally disagree with you-- we just have different styles, and that is just fine.

i agree that we have different styles. however, some of us didn't BS our interview or personal statement. what you see with me, you get. and actually some people DO go to the dentist for support. why else does cosmetic dentistry exist? because people are unsure of themselves. and just because you don't hear people actually speaking the words "i want to help people" doesn't mean it's not in their motives somewhere. it's part of being human because like it or not, regardless of background, race, or religion we're all of one community (aka humanity). i've worked during my collegiate years as a grocery store checker and managed to learn my customers...their likes/dislikes, a bit about their families...yet i was extremely proficient at my job. people always came to see me because they knew that i'd smile and talk with them during a chore that most people hate, AND i got the job done fast. the interaction with people is one reason i chose dentistry, most especially my interest in general practice. the things you do in life really do impact the lives of others so try not to take such a cavalier attitude towards this issue. what you do in your office is a representation of all dentists if you really think about it. remember the scared child in the chair? yeah, he or she's going to grow up and remember how you handled his or her fears. eventually another dentist down the road will have to either admire the work you did or try to fix it, emotionally and/or physically. therefore, act accordingly.
 
leia05 said:
i agree that we have different styles. however, some of us didn't BS our interview or personal statement. what you see with me, you get. and actually some people DO go to the dentist for support. why else does cosmetic dentistry exist? because people are unsure of themselves. and just because you don't hear people actually speaking the words "i want to help people" doesn't mean it's not in their motives somewhere. it's part of being human because like it or not, regardless of background, race, or religion we're all of one community (aka humanity). i've worked during my collegiate years as a grocery store checker and managed to learn my customers...their likes/dislikes, a bit about their families...yet i was extremely proficient at my job. people always came to see me because they knew that i'd smile and talk with them during a chore that most people hate, AND i got the job done fast. the interaction with people is one reason i chose dentistry, most especially my interest in general practice. the things you do in life really do impact the lives of others so try not to take such a cavalier attitude towards this issue. what you do in your office is a representation of all dentists if you really think about it. remember the scared child in the chair? yeah, he or she's going to grow up and remember how you handled his or her fears. eventually another dentist down the road will have to either admire the work you did or try to fix it, emotionally and/or physically. therefore, act accordingly.

I think this arguement has officially been won!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Some people are terrified of dentists. I think being personable makes those people more at ease. It only makes sense from a business standpoint. You want those terrified people to trust you and think that you actually do care for them. Then they will come back.
 
you think that the joke a dentist tells, or the warm smile he greets you with is more impressive than the large syringe and the needle stick, or the smell of burning tooth material, or the bad taste of anesthetic? i respectfully disagree. it is a tough sell no matter how one approachs the inherent fears many have of a dental office. i maintain that the in and out approach would work better for me.
 
lillytwig said:
you think that the joke a dentist tells, or the warm smile he greets you with is more impressive than the large syringe and the needle stick, or the smell of burning tooth material, or the bad taste of anesthetic? i respectfully disagree. it is a tough sell no matter how one approachs the inherent fears many have of a dental office. i maintain that the in and out approach would work better for me.


i've talked to people about this who are non-dentists. have you? some people will be scared no matter what, based on stories and/or experiences they have had or heard. BUT for a large number of people, the intimidation factor goes way down when you are in a friendly atmosphere. you're still nervous but you're not going to bolt outta the chair when you see the needle. talking to the patient will let you know what method works better 😉 some people actually do prefer your method. that's cool, and i will respect that when they're in my chair. however, ask or use your intuition as to what your patient wants/needs.
 
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