Doctor, let me encourage you as you take impressions, bite registrations, and fill out your work authorization, to make it a policy that no cases leave your office without you seeing what is being sent to the laboratory.  Additionally, if there is ever any doubt about an impression or bite please immediately retake the impression, or if your day is falling apart, have the patient come back for the “final” impression in a few days.  In the end the patient will be coming back for the delivery appointment only to find out that the restoration did not fit, and that a new impression is needed anyway—otherwise, the big impact is to your patient’s confidence in you and your practice.

 

How often have your heard the awful phrase, “That’s good enough”?

 

Have you stopped to think what this really means?

 

Most certainly it does not mean “good”. It conveys no connotation of meeting standards of high quality or of striving to achieve the best. It is, instead, the passive acceptance of mediocrity. Implicit in the statement “good enough” is the ending….”to get by”.

 

Dentistry and dental technology are parts of a health care system that responds to the physical and psychological needs of our fellow human beings. They also provide a means of self-expression and creativity which is a unique combination of intellectual and artistic endeavor. It cannot be overlooked that dentistry is also the means of making a living for a lot of people. And therein lies the rub. There is constant pressure in our society to acquire more material things. We are always reminded of the necessity to heed the “bottom line”, i.e., “What’s in it for me?”

 

Everything that we do in our lives does not have to be governed by the profit motive.

 

Striving for excellence produces its own reward in the warm glow of satisfaction that we derive from doing anything well – from investing that inanimate object or process with a bit of our own spirit. Added to this pride of craftsmanship is the fact that our efforts provide a service which will, to a greater or lesser degree, alleviate the discomfort of a fellow human being. A good rule to follow is to ask whether we would want the fruits of our labors to be placed in our own mouths or in those of our families.

 

The next time you inspect the tooth preparation you have just completed or the margin you have just waxed, don’t ask yourself, “Is it good enough?” Instead, simply ask, “Is it good?”