The Campbell Academy Blog | Colin Campbell (78)

The change in the wind - patience required

Last Friday, I had the enormous privilege of being invited to speak at the Yorks and Humber DFT day they hold at the end of the year.

I was invited by the genius that is Ian Wilson, the founder and driving force behind Bridge2Aid.

Ian and I have been friends for some years; he is the best of men, and it is always a joy to see him. I will always answer the call if Ian shouts.

I spoke to these guys about five years ago. In fact, I met Dominic Smithers, who's now a young, up-and-coming genius implant surgeon and all-around great general practitioner.

I met him at the DFT, which was at Elland Road, five years ago. We talked about oral surgery, having an oral surgery career, and the fact that you didn't have to go to the hospital to do it.

Dominic came and spoke to me after that and for one reason or another, we kept in touch, and now he works four days a week and his future is completely intertwined with us at The Campbell Clinic.

I wondered if that would happen again.

This time, I was charged to speak about 'life after DFT', a very dangerous title to give to me because you know that I will just go off on one entirely philosophically.

I decided to develop some lessons for post-DFT life and have some significant dates.

I talked to everybody about what life was like in 2018, what they were doing, what I was doing.

I showed them how we built a practice and what happened, and I told them what I thought would happen in the next 30 years. I told them I wasn't retiring for 33.

It was extraordinary to talk to those guys, not only because the room was so full of possibility, brightness, intelligence, and motivation but also because it seems to me that DFT groups have changed and are changing.

I had the chance to speak to the Birmingham DFT group about a similar issue last December, and I think I'm back there this year, too, and I'm noticing a change in the wind.

I've been speaking to DFT groups since 1998. It seemed easy then. Everybody seemed committed, honest, and ethical, pointing in the right direction. Then we entered the phase where many guys in DFT groups were all about money, watches, fast bucks, and how quickly they could make a living that was as good as possible, regardless of the patient.
I had some dark, dark days teaching DFT's and I realised the direction the profession was heading (or at least part of it).

Honestly, it seems a change again, at least in my small sample size.

People who came and spoke to me afterwards were genuinely interested in healthcare, genuinely good people wanting to do the best work, wanting to look after people the best they could, ready to be harnessed in the service of others.

We talked about how we are custodians of dentistry and how my job was to pass it on to them in a way that was better than what I found.

I've got 33 years to make up for any of the mistakes I've made in the first 30 but I hope that these guys will be with us side by side as colleagues and friends and partners in the rebuilding of dentistry which can be better and brighter for everyone involved, for the patients, for the teams, for the guys who were sat in front of me on Friday.