NEWS A DENTIST’S LIFE

A

typical day begins early with a visit to one of the local cafés. I find it helpful to change the environment, and the exercise in going there is healthy. There I fine-tune the day’s events over a coffee and iPhone. My ‘boutique’ practice is small but nicely formed; some may say elite. The premises contain many of the elements I require including a newly built conference building in the garden, and a private cinema/studio on the top floor. A day is divided into three or more portions. I have a clinical list in the morning, then perhaps a lunch meeting with a dental industry or research person. This is a time when I can attempt to keep updated: our ADAPT society thrives on evaluations of dental materials. ADAPT stands for Aesthetic Dentistry and Professional Testing and I am chairman. It is a study club with a purpose: to evaluate and share our experiences of using newer or improved materials. We have been going nearly 20 years now, and have had a lot of fun. It would be fair to state that I have devoted 40 plus years of clinical practice to a step by step process to improve and extend skills, which had a beginning with aesthetics. After some time it became clear that I was being limited by lack of knowledge about occlusion, and so I embarked upon a learning experience with two very dear colleagues in the USA, who generously spent time assisting me in the quest for a greater understanding. Then of course the field of dental materials is what ADAPT is about. I owe much to Gordon Christensen who has also been a mentor and icon of dedication and energy. My practice is private in the sense that patients attend from wherever and together we establish a long term rapport. Over the years I have collected an interesting group of patients. The emphasis is on aesthetic restorative dentistry, occlusion and all

HOW COOL IS THAT Howard Stean began a dental practice in his own home in Kew when he qualified as a dentist in 1971. As well as practising dentistry, Howard is a dental educator, photographer and film maker. His partner, Jean, is also a dentist.

the necessary other disciplines to offer a comprehensive service. I refer orthodontics to a colleague, and inpatient surgery to a private hospital. I might have free time booked for the afternoon, and try to be creative in preparing for my next film with visits to possible locations. As a child I was torn between a career like my dad, who was a musician and performer, and Uncle Joe, his brother the doctor. I chose dentistry as the ‘day job’ and have never regretted the choice, since I am able to afford my creative film and music hobbies. Photography and music have always been there and so the decision more recently to move into films seems quite natural. The first film was a ‘short’ documentary about the changing face of one of London’s famous markets: Portobello. It took me almost half a year to make this, and just to make the challenge greater it was shot on 16 mm film, not video. This requires a lot of concentration and tight editing. I reckon it was worth the effort as the film was well received and has now been submitted to the BFI film festival. As a documentary I tried to depict people and ways of life that might no longer exist in the near future. Sadly, I was all too correct in that Mr Price the grocer died shortly after filming, but now his image and memory can live on. The next film will be more ambitious and without letting on too much, has required me to buy a taxi cab. The planning stage is over and it will soon be time to begin shooting.

8

I view the creative spirit in film making and music as just another example of providing therapy to people. Dentistry and medicine are therapeutic in the clinical sense. Offering therapy to others is one of the most satisfying tasks a person can perform. My style is to try and make the dentistry fun or at least interesting for the patients. Evenings might entail being a delegate at a dental event, or hosting a tutorial back at the practice. Other times I might be playing jazz piano or visiting a club or concert venue, depending on what’s on. One of my patients, a delightful Englishman, owns his own theatre in Rome ... how cool is that? I’m waiting for the invitation. My day might sound busy, but in the words of the late Peter Ustinov, it is ‘not at all stressful, one activity relaxes me from the other’. In my life the saddest fate would be to waste time; it is much better to be occupied with interesting activities. I meet many dentists in my role as educator, and am saddened sometimes when I sense the frustration and lack of prospects for the future. Dentistry has certainly changed since I began, some for the better (technical advances) but there are also many more regulations and restrictions imposed upon newly qualified dentists. Set against that I recall my early days when advertising was forbidden in the UK and private practice was a tiny proportion of a mainly NHSbased service. People were poorer but had lower expectation too... and the GDC was self-regulated so if a case went wrong it was just a pity, and we all moved on. If I were to start out again now, it would be with a different set of problems to overcome and it might be more difficult to succeed in achieving one’s ambitions. There is no denying that dentistry by its nature can be stressful and worrying, but I maintain that by adopting mechanisms to contain this aspect it is still possible to have a full and happy life. INTERVIEW BY KATE QUINLAN

BRITISH DENTAL JOURNAL VOLUME 217 NO. 1 JUL 11 2014 © 2014 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved

A dentist's life: how cool is that.

A dentist's life: how cool is that. - PDF Download Free
645KB Sizes 2 Downloads 3 Views