Dental Tribune United Kingdom Edition

page10DTà It won’t last much longer... Experience our irresistible price combinations NOW See all the package details, including full lists of units and added extras now at www.kavo.co.uk/icehot Quote reference ‘on ﬁre’ when you order KaVo Equipment Experience our irresistible price combinations NOW Prices increase 01/01/12 9FeatureDecember 12-18, 2011United Kingdom EditionUnited Kingdom Edition M y first article touched upon some of the reasons why dentists might be dissatisfied and dis- heartened with the profession, and offered some words of en- couragement. This next arti- cle is for those who have made the decision to leave and for those who, for whatever rea- son, have to leave. It answers the question, “What else could I possibly do, apart from being a dentist?” The first thing you must do is perform a SWOT analysis on yourself, that is, determine your personal strengths and weak- nesses, and what are your op- portunities and threats. Draw up a list of your transferable skills; be honest with yourself. Dentistry is obviously a sci- entific discipline, so it is not unreasonable to suggest that a dentist could move with relative ease into another scientific field. A number of years ago I bumped into one of my contempories from dental school who, not long after graduating, had decided that dentistry was not for them. They retrained as a teacher and taught general science at a local college. They were happy with their choice. There are many science-based jobs that a den- tist could think about doing, but perhaps in the current economic climate, now is not the best time to be looking for any job! Dentists working in prac- tice might want to simply free themselves from the hassle of a practitioner’s life, but don’t want to give up dentistry altogether. Making the sideways move into a dental school could be one option worth exploring, either as a teacher or as a researcher. However, nowadays universities have their own set of pressures, targets, rules and regulations. I was fortunate enough to work in two dental schools over 20 years ago, when the atmosphere was fairly relaxed. You might be contemplat- ing a complete change of ca- reer altogether. One career that seems to attract its fair share of dissatisfied dentists is the legal profession. Through my work as an expert witness I was able to dip my toe into the waters of the law; I speak from experience when I say that the grass is defi- nitely not always greener. The law is often about conflict so you must be prepared for that and it is nearly always about money. The area I worked in was clini- cal negligence, most of which was funded by legal aid, which the government now plans to radically cut. Imagine if instead of just having your fees tinkered with, as in NHS dentistry, they were stopped altogether! I learnt that dentists and lawyers inhabit totally different intellectual worlds. The legal profession is not like dentistry; lawyers are trained to extract information from documents, to ask closed questions, but above all, to win their argument no matter which side they are on. An excellent solicitor or bar- rister will be able to present a good argument from both sides. When putting together their case they want answers to the particular and the general, the empirical and the theoretical, the objective and the subjective. What you do as a dentist seems rather less certain when a good lawyer interrogates you. Your most difficult patients are pus- Stop the world, I want to get off Michael Young answers the question: What else can I do apart from dentistry?