There has been a lot of dentist bashing lately on the news. Recently after enduring another bout of news about “terrible dentists”, exasperated, I sent an e-mail to the news anchor at Sky News.
No doubt, there is good and bad in all professions, but often to the press, there is only one type of dentist – the bad one! I thought, “That is not my story! I am absolutely passionate about my work and I’m fortunate enough to work with a team who shares a similar passion”.
There is danger in only hearing one side of the story – the danger of a single story. Here’s mine…
My heart sings every time I drive in to work – literally! It does this little thing in my chest… And, I know I’m where I’m meant to be. Some days, I see my ‘Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious’ nurse Lorraine at Dental397, who I know feels the same passion and she has a smile lighting up her face just to be at work, I ask her – Can I give you a hug? We share a quick hug and a knowing smile – we are blessed to do what we enjoy.
You see, the press doesn’t know about the patient who suffered a fall cycling to his appointment and who Lorraine had dressed his abrasions and made a cup of tea all before I got in to work at 8am. They don’t know that she drove him to A&E to get looked after and put his bike away for safety as well as calling his next of kin to inform them. They don’t know about the patients who stop in for a chat and a cup of tea just because they were in the neighborhood. They don’t see the look of surprise of the patient who says that was the best clean and most comfortable clean they’d ever had at the dentist.
My e-mail to Sky News concluded with me telling the news anchor that in my net life, I was coming after his job. On second thoughts, a job where I wake people to tell them the worst thing that has happened in the world everyday would not be for me.
I realise dentists will always get bad press because that’s what sells… but no amount of bad press can touch the magic… Shhhh!
(photo credit: Alba Soler Photography)
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