Technology in the universal sense of the word is evolving at an ever increasing frantic pace.
My phone can do more than my computer from ten years ago could. TV screens are reaching cinematic proportions. Cameras have more pixels than you'd ever thought you'd need. Thousands of songs can be carried around in a device smaller than a cassette. We can communicate across the world with the click of a button. There are so many gadgets that there are now even gadgets for the gadgets. I'm breathless from just trying to keep up with the latest technological must have!
This is much the same for dentistry. I suppose my definition of a gadget is something that enhances your experience or helps you in a task and makes your life easier. Loupes, digital software and imaging, rotary endo, CAD CAM and new materials to name just a few. The list is always growing. Of course they make practising dentistry easier. For me, I began my career with all this and it's hard to imagine having to work without it.
The current state of technology is just accepted by our generation. Devices are more advanced than they have ever been. Despite this we still want superior computers, higher quality music, larger TV screens, better phones, faster internet and much, much, more. So how does this apply to dentistry? Modern dentistry gives us the means to do more than was ever imaginable. We even have implants to "reinsert" teeth where they have been lost! One day we will even be able to see our own teeth grown again from stem cells.
Just because we have all these wonderful items doesn't mean that you can rest on your laurels. We still need to have the skills to use them. We still need to carry out the research to see how effective something new is and whether it's worthwhile. We still need to have the judgement of when to use the right tool for the job. Just like the gadgets advancing around us, it's our responsibility to enhance our skills and knowledge to harmoniously work with them. That's what we as dentists have to do through teaching and research of our own.
You might be a young dentist, but as a young dentist, you are the next generation of dentists. Somewhere among our generation are the consultants, lecturers, teachers, researchers, innovators and designers of tomorrow. We weren't trained just to be dentists, but to rise up and eventually fill the voids left by those departing from the profession. As the next generation, it's up to us to move dentistry forward and continue to improve both ourselves and the technology at our fingertips. The future looks very bright, for both dentists and patients and I for one am very excited to see what it brings.
Hussein Hassanali
Dental Protection is the leading indemnity provider.
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