The fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results – Teamwork and Dentistry

Over the last 2 weeks we have had some days of intense disruption caused by the snow storms. This has affected people all over the country. Just when we thought we had overcome the snow storm, we were all met with a surprising snow fall again on Thursday morning, bringing everyone to a halt during the morning rush hour.

The impact on schools, businesses and people’s lives was challenging and as a result, many schools were closed, businesses made losses and people’s lives were put on hold.

We understand that extreme weather like this only affects our country every 3-4 years on average and so we accept the challenges that come with it. However, what was surprising to me was that every member of our team made it to work on every single one of those snow days! A surprising number of patients also made it to the clinic to attend for their appointments, even though a phone call to reschedule would have been much easier. Maybe this is an indication of the care and loyalty that both our patients and team have for the work we perform each day?

Dentistry is more than just what you see…

At our clinic we are immensely proud of our achievements since we started this journey.  Every member of the team is able to bring a unique skill to our dental clinic. Our dental team comprises of surgeons who have honed their skills in specific dental treatments such as implant dentistry, sedation, root canal treatment and periodontal (gum) therapy. Although it is possible for one dentist to be able to provide all of these treatments, at our clinic we believe that our patients who undergo multi-disciplinary dental work should be treated by the relevant members of the dental team to ensure that we can provide our patients with the best quality of treatment at all times.

At a hospital, you wouldn’t expect the heart surgeon to also treat patients with fractured bones. We know that a heart surgeon may well possess the skills to perform orthopaedic surgery as was the case as recently as 80 years ago. However, medicine has evolved and improved; now we would not expect one surgeon to perform a variety of treatments, unless in the case of a national emergency such as in a war zone or natural disaster.

Our wider dental team comprises of dental nurses with specialist qualifications and treatment coordinators with excellent communication skills and dental knowledge. Our team has a wide range of skills distributed among the whole team.

The care offered to our patients can only reach it’s optimum levels if every member of the team is available to contribute to the care, utilising each individual skill.

There are many great examples of team work in both modern times and history. A living example that affects us all is the alliances between different countries to work together for mutual prosperity and well-being. Organisations like the United Nations and European Union have made the world a better place with more peace and development in these economic areas.  Therefore, team work is indispensable among people who have a desire to do something special.

“Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organisational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.” – Andrew Carnegie

Thank you for reading

Mohsin Patel BDS MJDF RCS (Eng)