Reality Slap 101: Dental Disciplinary Meetings...Not for Amateurs...

       So, as I sit here after a whirlwind day of disciplinary hearings, I'm exhausted, yet more passionate than ever about the fate, and the future of our field of dentistry. But I have to just say it because I'm STILL shaking my head....Holy Hot Dental Messes, Batman! When will dentists learn that they can run but they can't hide when it comes to complaints filed, violations piling up, disciplinary sanctions issued, fines, penalties and costs multiplying like rabbits? And, might I just add that showing up to face these unattractive situations completely unprepared is NOT a good STRATEGY!!??!! You know, it takes a lot to shock me...really...but today, I'm still rather stunned and definitely shaken...as I patiently await the appropriate time for the commencement of Merlot-Thirty to smooth out the jagged edges created by 23 disciplinary actions, and 3 (count them THREE) dentists who 'Voluntarily Relinquished their Licenses'. Yowza! How the heck does it even GET to this stage? This is a sad day for Florida dentists, my friends, but as soon as I'm done mentally processing this catastrophic situation, I will get up, dust myself off, and trudge on with renewed purpose to save dentistry....one dentist at a time. Unfortunately, I feel like I will need to be working OVERTIME on that monumental task. Ugh....

       So, let's back up here for a second. When I received the agenda from the Board of Dentistry for today's meeting I was extremely disheartened to see ALL THOSE DENTISTS' NAMES on the docket to address complaints issued against them, plus 3 dentists who have to literally give up their license...as in, you will NEVER practice dentistry again because you did NOT learn your lesson the first, third, or twelfth time you were sanctioned (in more states than just Florida, for some) so we are left with no choice but to have you VOLUNTARILY relinquish your dental license. Period. The End. Buh Bye, Dental Career and Future Dental Income! It sure was nice knowing you, and you DEFINITELY will be missed!

        That really hit me and I began researching these situations to find out how this could happen to not one but THREE dentists in this FIRST Board meeting of the year. We still have 3 more meetings to go this year and the docket is overwhelmingly full! In fact, many of these cases go back to 2009 so this is one heck of a pile of complaints and actionable violations here yet to be resolved. Where's my massive shovel and flashlight when I need them most? This pile literally needs some strong TOOLS to get through here!

       Well,  like a combination of a good archeologist and Sherlock Holmes, I can pretty much dig up anything on anybody so researching these situations unearthed a dentist with many relinquished dental licenses in many other states BESIDES Florida.....! What the heck??? Ok, this sounds like we have a 'Serial Dental Violator' on the loose in Florida that has finally been caught but I still ask myself...what in the heck are these dentists thinking? I can imagine a trail of lousy dental work and dissatisfied patients across many states who have pursued on, followed these dentists' trails, and filed complaints to each state's Board of Dentistry (exposing the sins committed in prior locations), with tenacity and newly-scorned determination, until one by one, the licenses were revoked; state by state. How awful. How truly, really, awful. Everyone loses in a situation like this; patients, communities at risk, colleagues fooled, and the field of dentistry with additional burdens trying to minimize the damage and continual repairs needed to FIX this bad situation ("reputation management", we now call it). How ridiculously sad......Merlot-Thirty can't come quick enough today it seems.

       On good side of this, however, and yes, there really IS a (small) good side hiding underneath this pile of disdainful disciplinary damage, which can be taken away from today's injurious events, and that is this: there are some VERY important lessons that can and should be learned from this hot mess of a situation. If a dentist ends up being summoned by the Board of Dentistry for a Disciplinary Hearing, I STRONGLY recommend the following actions be undertaken by the dentist (pay attention here; this is where I get direct):

1. SHOW UP ON TIME!
For the love of GOD, make this a priority and DON'T go into other areas to talk on the phone, text whomever, or check on your emails while waiting to be called!! This SHOULD be common sense but it was not for some dentists. The Board members had to go OUT into the HALLWAY and call out the dentists' NAMES, for heaven's sakes, and it would appear to me that there was DEFINITELY a correlation with less patience on behalf of the Board (and rightly so) and more cases being settled in record, speedy, time with little opportunity for negotiating or commenting (again, and rightly so after wasting the Board's time HUNTING for dentists). In fact, one No-Show dentist received the highest fine of the day of $20,000.00 (not including court costs, restitution, or other fees assessed) which was hitherto stated as Moved, Seconded, and So Accepted by Board members in 'likitty-split' fashion! Poof! Just like that! You win the big penalty prize of the day! Done! 20 Grand Now Due! Please Remit Immediately!Thanks so much and Have a Great Day!

2. BE PREPARED!
Bring every and all documents related to this and other situations similar to this violation, like CE records, Payment or Refund Information, Letters of Apology to whomever, Witnesses or Witness Statements that are Notarized for the events that took place, and if guilty of the violation, ADMIT IT, show attempts at restitution, and illustrate how this violation can be AVOIDED in the future by the new PROTOCOLS that have been put in place to correct the error and/or deficiency that caused the violation! I was literally flabbergasted at how unprepared these dentists were and how their inability to prove anything stated impacted their accountability. I sat there and listened to dentists state that they have learned their lesson but when asked by a Board member (and rightly so!) what changes have been made in their practices to avoid this happening again,.... NOTHING CONCRETE was even explained! No new protocols, no new training, no new safety precautions, no new continuing education completed, no new checklists designed, NOTHING...other than, (and I'm paraphrasing here) 'Well, I know not to do that again". Huh??? That's IT???? If I wasn't so stunned at the lack of preparedness for a vast number of these cases, I would have likely seen the equally stunned look on the faces of the Board members who (I'm told) were as incredulous as I was!

3. ACCEPT ACCOUNTABILITY!
Since no one is perfect, and people of all professions and walks of life make mistakes everyday, it is how these mistakes are CORRECTED that can make a powerful and more positive impact on the end result. In fact, here's the research from the National Institute of Health to substantiate this approach: Communication Gaffes: A Root Cause of Malpractice Claims. Therefore, I STRONGLY suggest (as do the researchers on this topic) that an attitude of humility and honesty be taken, that dentists not argue out the details of a bad situation in an attempt to make it all SOUND better than it is, and APOLOGIZE for the mistakes made. I recognize that if dentists were able to do this to begin with then 98% of the complaints submitted to the Board of Dentistry would likely not be submitted at all, but I know what I know about this topic and here's what I know. Dentist's don't like confrontation, nor do they like admitting they are wrong on something regardless of the fact that doctors in all disciplines make mistakes from time to time as well. I don't know how dentistry compares to doctors, since I'm in dentistry, but I do know that dentist's generally don't like confrontation. Ask any staff members of dentists and they will likely confirm this (in my humble opinion). Being arrogant, argumentative, defending the actions, or worse yet CRITICIZING the complainant and/or patient will get dentists an UBER-UGLY result! In FACT, if a dentist DID make a mistake, and actually DID apologize for it to the patient and whomever was impacted by the mistake, there is a VERY real likelihood that the complainant would not even REPORT it to the Board of Dentistry, ESPECIALLY if a dentist attempted to CORRECT it to the patient's satisfaction level! But no...that does not happen as much as it should based on the 26 names and cases on the Disciplinary Agenda for this meeting alone. We still have three more to go for this year. I'm pooped just thinking about it.

       So, here we are at the corner of What The Hell Just Happened Street and You Just Lost Your License Boulevard, and it's an ugly crossroad to be standing at, and an even uglier place to spend the rest of your life living in; I can assure you. I'm hoping that the severity of this sobering meeting will make a difference in the way mistakes are handled by dentists. I'm hoping that this lesson in Reality Slap 101 is an effective "redirect" for dentistry as a whole. If you are a dentist, and you're reading this, and you're angry at my words, chances are that you may have a negative attitude that will not get you far in the field of dentistry (in my HUMBLE opinion). It just won't. If you're a dentist and you read this and you're saddened, shocked, or embarrassed by my words, then there's hope for you going forward because you realize the seriousness of this situation. I call 'em as I see 'em and this one was ugly on all levels. Let's face it; they don't call me the Scariest Woman in Dentistry for nothing. And, if you're a dentist, and you're having a hard time believing the severity of this meeting, or the facts and opinions stated here in this blog posting, then I invite you to visit the website for the Board of Dentistry's Meetings and download the Meeting Minutes from past meetings, as well as this meeting which will be posted soon.

       Additionally, I encourage you to attend a Board of Dentistry meeting, and there are 3 others this year in Jacksonville, Orlando, and Gainesville. In fact, here is the link: Florida Board of Dentistry Meetings and Minutes. It will be an eye-opener for sure, and hopefully, it will impact your own practicing of dentistry in a more positive way. That's my hope and I'm going to keep hoping that it will. In the meantime, there's a 'crap-ton' of more work to do to save dentistry and dentists themselves, so I'm going to get off this blog and continue my massive amount of work on that next!

       Thanks for stopping by, and remember, you only have to brush and floss the teeth that you ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY, want to keep. That's it. Nothing more.

Dr. Driscoll

 

I've officially read the Dental Xray Study! Round two (ding, ding!)

FINALLY, my final comments on the controversial study on dental x-rays and brain tumors.........ugh.

       First, below is the link to the study documents. Well, actually it is the 8 page condensed version that was published by the peer-reviewed journal, Cancer. At the top of the page you can click on the "Full Article (html) and that leads you to view the full article (a whopping 8 pages!?!?) or download the PDF version. Personally, I'm rather surprised that an article attempting to tie dental x-rays with brain tumors is only 8 pages (including references, no less). That's pretty short in publication terms, especially for an article of this suggested "profound correlation" to the "Big C". Most journal articles with a thought-provoking topic like this are normally 15-30 pages long. I know, because I review them for a number of respected peer-reviewed journals, such as The Journal of the American Dental Association, The Journal of Public Health Dentistry, The Journal of Sexually Transmitted Disease, and a journal called Vaccine. Believe you and me, 8 pages is a walk in the park compared to most comprehensive studies accepted for publishing! (Hint, hint)..

  I have read the study documents numerous times by now. I've also been developing and teaching an executive-level business program specific only to dentists, which is why I'm just now getting back to this blog. Going forward, I'll be blogging regularly again since there's apparently NO END to the controversies we have in dentistry! So much controversy....so little blogging time...but I digress...

Link to Study: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cncr.26625/pdf

Dental Xrays and Risk of Meningioma Study

       Ok, here we go...
I officially stand by my prior rant of a post regarding this study. It is beyond flawed. The fact that it was conducted by researchers from Yale probably had a lot to do with it being published as Yale is a (normally) prestigious ivy-league university, of (hopefully) prestigious ivy-league researchers (ahem). HOWEVER, it is so flawed in so many ways, that I am FLOORED it was approved for publishing. Floored, I tell you!

        I read through this 8 page document in no time flat, while my blood pressure rose alarmingly high due to my growing outrage over its contents and assumptions. Honest to God, my blood pressure was off the charts by the time I was done reading it and looked at who in their RIGHT MIND had funded this study. Then I calmed down.....and I started to smile...and actually laugh a little. Why, you ask? Well, because this study was funded by the National Institutes of Health by 5 R01 grants (FIVE!!!) PLUS funding from the Brain Science Foundation, and also by (get ready for this one, folks, because it will have you in stitches momentarily) the Meningioma Mammas. That's right. You read this correctly. In fact, the total wording from this document states: the following:

"This work was supported by National Institutes of Health R01 grants CA109468, CA109461, CA109745, CA108473, and CA109475 and by the Brain Science Foundation and the Meningioma Mommas."

       Huh? What? Who in the world are the Meningioma Mammas and why are they sponsoring/funding this study? Well, I now know who the Meningioma Mammas are from their website (thank you, Google!) and I'm still thoroughly confused as to how this group is even associated with, or attempting to fund an ivy-league research effort. Granted, they are looking for answers in the form of correlations so they can find out why people are getting these common tumors, but for Yale to have to take that funding from this group, after using 6 other forms of grant funding from respected sources, is unbelievable, really.

        To get the FULL SCOPE of this, these Yale researchers (who are NOT dentists, by the way) had to secure funding from THREE sources, and FIVE different NIH grants, and the best they can produce is an 8 page document based on childhood memories of dental visits from 70 year olds??????? Wow. What in the heck did they do with all of that money (more than half a million dollars just from one grant alone) and no other means of gathering data than to ask people in 5 locations to remember and recount what type and how many x-rays they received throughout their childhood and adulthood with NO factual verification of these self-reported memories? Yowza.....unbelievable....

       Apparently, I'm not the only PhD in the pack to really object to this study, its flawed methodologies, and its attempted tie-in of dental x-rays and brain tumors. An NYU College of Dentistry dental researcher (Dr. Arthur Goren) called the results of the study "based on supposition", and was further outraged by the fact that the study was not "reviewed by a dental radiologist (prior to publication)" and called it "ludicrous". Many other members of the American Academy of Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology (AAOMR) disputed the (ahem) results of this study at their November 2012 annual meeting held in Savannah, Ga. AAOMR Statement on the dental xray & meningioma study conclusions

     I feel validated! It IS INDEED ludicrous! I remain staunch in my position that this study was SO flawed, and very over-funded (in my HUMBLE opinion), with ludicrous conclusions based on "guestimates" from people of all ages, including senior citizens. To say this is unacceptable is an understatement. It is flat out IRRESPONSIBLE to ATTEMPT to correlate dental x-rays (from antiquated machines back in the 1960's) with brain tumors, based on guesswork as the basis of the data collected to come to this conclusion. Yale, or no Yale, this study should NOT have been published and lacks all evidence-based scientific credibility (in my HUMBLE opinion). Oh, the horror!

       As Karl Pilkington, from An Idiot Abroad, would say; "Its BULLOCKS!"... and I have to say.....I concur. Not only do I agree, but officially feel validated from all of the other responsible researchers disputing the conclusions made in this ghastly study! Finally! Common sense has prevailed!

       Well, that's all for me today! Thanks for stopping by, and remember...you only have to brush and floss the teeth that you absolutely, positively want to keep. Nothing more. That's all.

Dr. Driscoll