In June 2018, I went to Elland Road in Leeds to speak to the York and Humber DFT Group in the function suit beside the football ground.
It was a pretty big gig; maybe 250 dentists were in there to hold an exhibition. There was all that stuff, different speakers, and it was pretty decent.
I was talking about oral surgery and then about implant dentistry.
I can't quite remember now, although I still have the presentation somewhere.
I met a young guy there who was a hygienist who had gone back to do dentistry. He came to ask me how he could get into oral surgery, whether he had to go through a training path, or whether he could do it from practice.
We had a really good conversation about that (I don't believe you have to go through a pathway anymore), and I told him that and gave him ideas on how he might make it.
That guy is Dominic Smithers, a really talented and up-and-coming young implant surgeon and clinician who works four days a week with us.
He stayed in touch, watched what we were doing and pitched up to start working for us last year after attendeding some of our courses and study clubs.
On the 5th of July this year, I'm back again (For the first time in six years)
I wonder whether I wasn't invited back because I wasn't good enough, but I don't really think that's the case.
The last time I spoke, the sun was shining.
I was on the way to being in one of the fittest conditions I've ever been in as I rode a three-day stage race in Italy later that year, I would travel to China that year for a week and do five cities in five days on a lecture tour and I was building well, at least designing a beautiful new, all singing, all dancing practice and it seemed at that stage that I had enough money to do it to.
What could possibly go wrong?
Much has happened in the interim; I lost the use of my thyroid, which is one of the biggest things, I guess; I had long covid and chronic fatigue; we built the practice and ran out of money and almost completely died, and my fitness well, it's not quite at 2018 levels.
I turn up again to a similar demographic, a similar group, this time to talk to them about how to make a proper future for yourself in dentistry.
What would you say?
What would you say the future is for young dentists, and what should they do?
How should they seek out professional contentment, happiness, and fulfilment?
How can they light that inner fire that makes someone want to care for others for the rest of their careers?
How can they cast aside modern generations' selfishness and understand that getting anything good out of a career like this takes years and years of work?
It comes about four days before I'm 30 years qualified (Another blog there).
An interesting proposition, isn't it?
"How do we inspire ourselves to greatness when nothing else will do?"
How do I inspire them to join us?
Blog Post Number - 3852
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