For some reason, it came to me that I had to write this blog. It’s been in my mind for a while.
I was thinking about the person I wanted to be in the next 10 years, as far as a clinician is concerned as I start to plan out the time to get to 60 and beyond.
I was thinking of the person I am and the person I'm not and started to think about the best clinicians I've seen are the people who’ve presented the best material in the best possible way and how that would be inspirational to young dentists coming through.
As I was thinking of that, I thought about what a young dentist would do, someone who was trying to carve out a life for themselves; one where they had contentment and joy and satisfaction in the work that they did, but also had the ability to create a life where they didn't have to worry too much about scrambling for their next meal so it could make the right decisions based on ethics and advocacy and looking after patients in the best possible way.
And so, as it mulled around in my mind of all the people that I've seen and of the great clinicians I've had the privilege to watch or to learn from, I thought about Rob Oretti.
I came across Rob Oretti some time ago and ultimately invited him to come and speak for us at The Academy, which he's done for quite a few years now.
Watching Rob speak and listening to him is beyond what most other people can comprehend or explain.
Rob is an expert in almost every aspect of dentistry that you can think about and although he doesn't practise every single bit, he understands it.
He is first and foremost a periodontist in the way that he handles and manages soft tissue.
He's a brilliant surgeon who's able to place implants in exactly the right position and to add material around them in a way that makes them the most biologically brilliant restorations that you could imagine.
He's an orthodontist who is able to move teeth into the correct positions to allow restorative dentistry to be as close to perfect and he is one of the highest-level restorative dentists that you will see.
He also presents his work in such a fantastic way that it’s able to be picked up and captured by other people to at least about 50% of his level, but never to much more than that.
Exceptional clinicians like Rob are made in exceptional circumstances.
It would be almost impossible for someone now to replicate the circumstances in which Rob became brilliant, but it's certainly worth trying.
If I were a newly qualified clinician, I would look at Rob Oretti and I would try and aim my career towards that.
I would not specialise in anything; I would specialise in everything.
We used to say that the hardest job in the world was to be a really good general practitioner. The impossible job is to be a brilliant general practitioner.
Rob Oretti achieved the impossible job.
And so, I would set my sights as high as I could at that.
I would be a brilliant restorative dentist through practise and understanding and assimilation of information from great clinicians.
I would understand and be able to practise surgery to a level that would allow me to do that, but I would focus my surgical techniques in periodontal surgery, not oral surgery.
I would also understand how to use aligners and fixed orthodontics appropriately in the cases where I needed to use them in order to get the best possible results.
And then I would make sure I was the best communicator that my genetics would allow me to be.
The specialisation in healthcare is dead, we tried that and went too far.
I have worked with orthodontists who told me that they don't take X-rays because they're an orthodontist.
I've worked with other specialists who refuse to cement temporary bridges because “they haven't done that for years”.
A dentist is a dentist, whether they’re an oral surgeon, an orthodontist, a restorative dentist, an endodontist or any other type of dentist you care to mention.
Giving up on being a dentist is giving up on the bridge that you had to a better world, to a fulfilling and wonderful career that allows you to look after people to the best of your ability.
Hail to Rob the generalist.
Blog Post Number - 3326
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