Keep an open mind

Dentists tend to have very strongly held opinions, even when they're 100% wrong.

When I participated in a chat group recently I raised an interesting topic and got buried under an avalanche of negativity. Life is too short. I deleted the post and it will be the last time I actively participate in that chat group.

It's a shame because I was making an interesting point that could have been explored. It was a good thought starter but because people closed their minds they missed any possible benefit.

Let me tell you a story about myself.Years ago I was on a chat line and a dentist asked whether 6-handed dentistry made you more efficient. At the time, I thought I knew it all and said "no" and gave the reasons why. Fortunately, later, I realised that it was stupid for me to reject something I hadn't even tried so I decided to give 6-handed dentistry a go.

Wow! It made me 30% more efficient which easily covered the cost of the extra nurse and made my practice more profitable.In this case, keeping an open mind (and being prepared to try things) benefited my practice tremendously and earned me literally hundreds of thousands (perhaps millions) of dollars of extra profit over the following decade.

So, my suggestion to you is to keep an open mind. Never assume you know it all.

You will find interesting ways of improving your practice are all around you once you take the blinkers off. But, if you instantly reject all ideas that challenge your current world view then you will be stuck doing the same old thing for 40 years.

And, that would be sad.