{"id":22075,"date":"2022-09-05T09:00:24","date_gmt":"2022-09-05T14:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aae.org\/specialty\/?p=22075"},"modified":"2022-09-12T10:28:22","modified_gmt":"2022-09-12T15:28:22","slug":"clear-is-kind-our-responsibility-as-educators","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aae.org\/specialty\/clear-is-kind-our-responsibility-as-educators\/","title":{"rendered":"Clear is Kind: Our Responsibility as Educators"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t\t\t\t\"FeatureStoryIllustrationSept\"\n\t

By <\/i>Kent A. McBride D.D.S., M.S.<\/i>\u00a0<\/p>\n

What do the following cases have in common?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Yes, all three previously treated teeth are great candidates for non-surgical retreatment, but the similarities don’t end there.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

All three patients wanted a second opinion because their general dentists gave their teeth hopeless prognoses and suggested expensive implant or FPD treatment plans. <\/i><\/b>Interestingly, these patients self-referred to our office because of positive past experiences.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now, we’ve all seen patients like these.\u00a0 So the question is, how many similar cases are we NOT seeing because they’ve gone ahead with potentially excessive initial recommendations?\u00a0<\/p>\n

I do believe the vast majority of general dentists sincerely desire to provide the best care for their patients and are not primarily motivated by finances.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

But endodontists who have been in practice for any length of time will surely concur that many of our referring doctors lack a deeper understanding of topics like antibiotic usage, diagnosis, retreatment\/apical surgery indication, cracked\/fractured teeth, resorption, pulpal regeneration, etc.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, many dentists receive biased education from well-meaning sales reps, make decisions based on antiquated research, or apply standard practices from when they were trained (perhaps many years ago).\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

I can certainly appreciate that as a general dentist, it must be incredibly challenging to keep up with advancements in every specialty while perhaps starting a family, running a practice, and attempting to have a social life simultaneously.\u00a0 It’s both a blessing and a curse that we live in a time with such rapid scientific advancements.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Colleagues, it’s our job to educate.\u00a0 The good news is that educating our dental communities has never been easier.\u00a0 Here are a few very actionable and simple ways:\u00a0<\/p>\n