Where Are You From?
For me I love the question: Where are you from?
When I was in high school and college and had the thought of dentistry as my occupation, I spoke with my own dentist and orthodontist about their experiences. I wanted to know what they enjoyed about their job. One recurring comment was that they enjoyed their patients; not just the job, but their patients. They loved the interaction and the friendships that were created. They were able to follow families over years and decades and often generations. They knew about their patient’s life highlights and lowlights and could either celebrate or consol. They seemed to have a family away from their immediate family at home. The workday for those two dentists’ was rather a day of talking with friends it seemed. Hearing this from them made the job additionally more appealing.
As the years past and I entered dental school I found that my interests moved towards that of Endodontics. I wanted to limit my dental practice to root canal therapies simply because it was the procedure I enjoyed the most. What I found out in making that decision was that I was also going to limit the patient to doctor interaction. I was about to take a pathway in a direction away from one of the best parts of being a dentist. And to some degree that bothered me.
You see the job of an endodontist can differ from many other dental practices and not just because of the limitation on types of treatment we provide (again root canals only). As an endodontist I see patients for shorter periods of time and most often only 1-2 appointments ever. That is a severe blow to the concept of developing relationships with patients over time. Even my endodontic professors would comment on the lack of patient interaction they would have as compared to that of most dental offices. A patient may not recall who performed their root canal, but they certainly will know their dentist that they see a few times per year, year in and year out. Teenagers will know their orthodontist after 30-40 appointments over a few years. And in most cases a patient will refer to their dentist as a friend or at least minimally someone that they really like to be around.
As an endodontist for just about 10 years now, I admit that the patient to doctor relationship is inherently different because of the type of work we do and the infrequency that we see a patient. However, it does not follow that our bedside manner and communication is any less important. It does not mean that we do not have to have a bond with our patients. We simply just have less time to create a trust and bond.
One thing that I have come to learn over the years of working with patients is that there are so many interesting stories they might have. And it is their stories that I have used to not only learn about life experience, but also help me to get to know my patients. Even if it is just for 5, 10, or 15 minutes that I listen to a story, it actually is enough for me to enjoy my patients so much more. It brings me back what I was told by my dentist and orthodontist. I have been so pleasantly surprised that my choice of specialty has not at all entirely limited getting to know my patients. I may not see them year after year, met their children, or know when they have had high or low emotional periods in their life, but I do get to know them and perhaps better than even many of my endodontic colleagues around the country. I just have to find a way to connect with them.
For me I love the question: Where are you from?
It is simple, but conversations can really blossom. For example, my partner who is as into creating a bond as I am, learned last week that his patient was originally from Oklahoma and had ended up in Hawaii. She had just been married to a Marine and was celebrating their honeymoon near Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941. Her husband had to go and she did not see him for 3 days while she herself helped move children into shelters.
My patient just last week was from up-state New York, but lived in Manhattan, NY for 20 years. As it turned out, he lived just 3 blocks from where my wife and I lived for a couple years. We knew the same restaurants and grocery stores that have been there for years. In fact we were fairly certain that the same waiter at Genario’s pizzeria was both of our favorites.
The things I learn from my patients, unrelated to their dental concerns are sometimes really remarkable. And I often share their stories to my wife at home or certainly with my partners here in the office. Learning someone’s story creates a bond of some sort. And that bond leads to mutual appreciation, trust, and calm; all of which lead to a better patient experience. For me, it leads to more fun on the job and gives me so much of what I had hoped from my career in dentistry.
It takes two people to have a successful outcome or experience. And I am not just referring to the techniques of endodontic therapy, rather, the success of the human relationship. The patient needs to know that I treated them from a personal level as well as a skillful level. I like to know that I was also appreciated on both levels. Of course this is true for most any relationship we have. So why should my job be any different? It’s not. So despite the limitations of my dental practice and the infrequency that I see patients, I still get the opportunity to interact personally with patients in at least a similar way that I had hoped for when I first spoke with my dentist (Dr. Geoffrey Murray) and my orthodontist (Dr. Ray Kieffer Sr.).