We all have people\nwe look up to, whether it is in our personal or professional life. One of those people in my professional life\nis the late Dr. LD Pankey. Dr. Pankey was a true visionary. There is an advanced\ndental education institute named after him in Florida, where dentists learn\nfrom his influential teachings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I recently read an\narticle he wrote in 1981, 8 years before his death. It is interesting to read\nsome of the things he wrote, because it shows how much things have not changed\nand how well he understood people and his profession. I would like to share a\nfew paragraphs from this piece:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAnother important element, then, in the future of\ndentistry is determining the answer to the question: why don\u2019t more people with\nneeds go to the dentist? In-depth studies on consumer attitudes have turned up\na host of reasons, but one surpasses all the rest. Most people who fail to seek\ndental care fail because they don\u2019t perceive their need. More astounding than\nthat is the fact that the majority of people who do go to the dentist don\u2019t\nperceive the need either!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n If the public is ever to be enlightened about the\nimportance of dental health, who will have to do the enlightening? I\u2019ve never\nfound anyone else I could depend on to do it. I had to build the one-to-one\nrelationships with my patients that were needed to make my practice- and thus\nthe future of dentistry- prosper and grow.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n People with dental needs are out there, all right, but\neven when they do perceive their need, they must be assured there\u2019s someone\navailable who will identify with what they\u2019re feeling and devote themselves to\nhelping them to be healthy, happy and whole.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Dr. Pankey asks\nwho will enlighten the public about how good dental health is better for your\noverall health? His answer is the same today as it was when this piece was\nwritten. The dentist (and dental team), who is dedicated to taking the time to\nlisten and build a relationship with the patient, is the only one who has the\nbest interest of the patient. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The insurance\nindustry is trying to turn dentistry into a commodity, where a \u201ccleaning\u201d, a\nfilling a crown or a denture is the same anywhere. It\u2019s just \u201cstuff\u201d that\u2019s\ndone to fix problems. The insurance company\u2019s main interest is profitability \u2013\nperiod. Does it make sense that an insurance company should be able dictate who\nyou can see as a provider?<\/p>\n\n\n\n The business of\ndentistry has reacted to these things as well. One example are the commercials\non TV for a corporate dental facility that only does dental implants. The ads\ntarget the large sector of the population who thinks removal of teeth and\nreplacement with dental implants fixes them for life. This is far from the truth.\nWhile there are patients who truly benefit from these types of procedures, many\nothers have healthy teeth removed because it seems like the easier thing to do.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n You have to be the\none to decide how important your health is. In 1981 there were no connections\nbetween oral health and systemic health. Today we know that a healthy mouth is\nso important to a healthy body. If your health is a priority, you should seek\nregular dental care with a professional team who has your best interest at\nheart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dr. St. Clair maintains\na private dental practice in Rowley and Newburyport dedicated to health-centered\nfamily dentistry. If there are certain topics you would like to see written about\nor questions you have please email them to him at jpstclair@stclairdmd.com<\/a>.\nYou can view all previously written columns at www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We all have people we look up to, whether it is in our personal or professional life. One of those people in my professional life is the late Dr. LD Pankey. Dr. Pankey was a true visionary. There is an advanced dental education institute named after him in Florida, where dentists learn from his influential teachings. I recently read an article he wrote in 1981, 8 years before his death. It is interesting to read […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1078"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1078\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1083,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1078\/revisions\/1083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}