Love this perspective. I wish I were taught it was okay to do hygiene, but I got sucked into that group think that it was below us. It’s amazing how a simple belief can create an entire reality.

Eric, I love hearing your perspective. You’re right– patients often love it when the dentist cleans their teeth. Re. the community… because I couldn’t be myself, I never felt I belonged, even though I liked many of the people. I think you’re not on social media, but it’s allowing us to create unique communities of like-minded dental professionals. It’s really great that we can do that now. At the end, yes, we just need to be open-minded!

I appreciated the story of your first job — when you were only doing prophys. I had a very similar experience in the first office where I worked. It was only later did I learn that many of the patients thought they were receiving ‘special treatment’ by the fact that the dentist was doing their cleaning, instead of the ‘nurse’ or assistant (those were the words they used).

Similar to what you say in this post, it was a viewpoint I had never even considered. Just goes to show it is worth being open to all possibilities and perspectives.