Beyond Clinic Survival

In Dental School at The University of the Pacific, a few fellow classmates and I began a series of what we called "Clinic Survival Courses" where we would document our cases and share tips or techniques with one another from the things that we were learning  -- things that we had tried that went well, or things to avoid that went wrong -- things that we thought would be of value to eachother from our early beginnings in clinical dentistry.

As I started putting these Powerpoints together each month for my classmates and studying the upclose photography I had taken, I began to see the details of my work -- and I tipically found a lot of room for improvement. Consiquently, I started seeing my work with different, more critical eyes. Knowing that I would be presenting to my peers and answering questions on whatever the subject of the month would be, such as "tecniques to taking a better impression", or "how to predictably take an accurate centric relation bite record", I started studying the material from a different perspective.  It wasn't long before I felt myself and my understanding grow through this process. I soon saw my clinical ability greatly develop and improve at a faster rate than ever before -- and I loved how that felt! Since those"Clinic Survival days", Even now I am all the more hooked on, and convinced of, the educational value of photodocumenting the procedures I do in an effort to continually improve upon my current clinical ability.

I really hope that this blog becomes something of value for those who feel driven to persue excellence in their own clinical dentistry, and something of interest to all those who simply appreciate the philosophy behind that kind of quality. I do want to display my work, not because I think it is perfect -- its not, and that is the beauty of it! -- but rather because I feel there is great value in observing the clinical process though upclose photography where one can critique and learn from what went well, and more importantly from what went wrong. It is in our shortcomings, our weakness, or setbacks where the opportunity to grow is greatest. It is my intent that this record become in the end a portrait of great growth -- and at the same time, not only something interesting to look at -- but worthy "dentistry to talk about".