“Regrets, I’ve had a few, but then again, too few to mention.”
Written by: Alan Stern, DDS
I think these lyrics from the song My Way, performed by Frank Sinatra and beautifully covered by Elvis Presley, apply to most of us—present company included.
In dentistry and in life, we are faced with challenges, problems, or tasks we don’t want to confront. Sometimes we think they’re too difficult. Sometimes we’re a little lazy. Sometimes we prefer to focus on easier, more pleasant things. Sometimes we’re just scared of doing hard work. And, especially in dentistry, we fear making mistakes!
I had a great career in our profession. I did some pretty cool things, helped a lot of people, made a lot of friends, and had a lot of fun. I learned from some of the best teachers in the profession, including the amazing faculty of the Pankey Institute. My peers and specialists told me—privately and publicly—that I was pretty good. However, despite my best (?) efforts, I did not achieve the clinical mastery I sought. In retrospect, I bypassed the opportunity to do more to avoid making mistakes, and it took me decades to come to grips with that. I saw myself as a failure and could not comprehend why I couldn’t do what some of the great clinicians were able to do. Eventually, I came to accept myself and learned to love dentistry as the clinician I chose to be. Do I regret not advancing my clinical skills to another level? Yes, I do!
I Understand More Now
In his wonderful book, Hidden Potential, Adam Grant talks about the rewards of making mistakes. He describes people learning languages by briefly studying the basics and then immersing themselves in a country where that language is spoken. These individuals made tons of awkward, embarrassing mistakes. But at the end of the day, they learned! In fact, Grant writes, “The best cure to feeling uncomfortable about making mistakes is to make more mistakes.” Had I known this 40-plus years ago, maybe I could have done things differently a bit earlier in my career.
But I Learned It
About 20 years into my career, a friend encouraged me to join our local chapter of the Academy of RV Tucker Cast Gold Study Clubs. Our group consisted of about a dozen really good dentists who met eight times a year at a large dental facility. We would bring our own patients and prepare a cast gold inlay or onlay under the supervision of our mentor, Dr. Warren Johnson, photographing every step of the process.
At the end of our clinical session, much to my terror, Dr. Johnson would review our work, critiquing every step—from rubber dam placement to prep design to impression. A month later, we’d repeat the process when we seated and polished our restorations. In the beginning, I felt like an amateur as Dr. Johnson helped me correct my “faulty” preps. Over time, my confidence and competence grew. A few years later, Dr. Johnson told me in front of the group, “You’ve come a long way, baby!”
Mistakes Are the Best Way to Learn!
My toddler grandson is amazing. He is determined to climb, push, tug, and do more with his growing strength and coordination. After a few tries, he can accomplish almost anything—driving my daughter and son-in-law to a beautiful exhaustion! He learns everything by making mistakes.
This is a very hard concept to integrate into dentistry, where patient safety and trust are critical and where we are constantly admonished to be perfect (none of us ever are, by the way!). But we can attend facilitated clinical training and participate in study clubs. The more we do, the more we learn. The truth is, there are very few catastrophic, uncorrectable mistakes in most aspects of our profession, which is blessed with countless resources for training and, dare I say, mistake-making (read: learning). Let’s use them!
My grandson crawled before he walked, walked before he ran, and ran before he climbed. He falls on his face a lot, and with the help of Mom and Dad, he learns from his flops. If I had kept this principle in mind throughout my career, perhaps things would have been different. I remind myself, however, that they turned out pretty well anyway.
Know yourself, love yourself, love your work and those you work with, and grow to the best of your clinical and intellectual ability. And never forget to Enjoy the Ride!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Alan Stern, DDS, retired from clinical dentistry in 2023 and now operates Better, Richer, Stronger, LLC. He is a dental practice coach, keynote speaker, and author.
His book, Enjoy the Ride, is available on Amazon.
Join his Facebook group, strangely called Better, Richer, Stronger.
He can be reached at alan@betterricherstronger.com.
