The New Beginning.

You can continue reading over at www.endodontics.ca.

The End of the Experiment.

I can't remember exactly why I started this blog. I do remember thinking around that time that blogs seemed like self-indulgent, silly things.

I also vaguely remember thinking that a blog would be a good way for me to stay in touch with my writing--something that I've always enjoyed doing, but had less and less time for. It would give me a reason to write and an imaginary audience to write for. Over the past couple of years, the writing aspect hasn't really developed as well as I had hoped but my soapbox sure has become quite worn down with my footprints.

Readership has really only grown because of Google's pagerank and the random hits the blog receives through search. I have few dedicated readers. Facebook has increased my readership through their ability to link the blog to my facebook profile. Facebook has also been responsible for the demise of other blogs that I read. As long as one person reads the blog I'm happy.

I'm also happy that a good friend was found through the blogging process. Granted, they have trouble speaking English the proper way--they say brazier instead of bra--and they are hopelessly dedicated to beating me at Scrabulous. I've also made the acquaintance of a dental student down under who, although at times is angsty, is a cool person.

All things must come to an end, especially good things. Bad things seem to last forever...

The experiment that spawned this blog has come to an end.

I've come to feel increasingly limited by Blogger's interface. Don't get me wrong--Blogger is still my current preference for an easy to use blogging system but there's stuff that I need done differently that Blogger can't accommodate. Despite that I'm indebted to Blogger and the staff that run the system for the help they've provided me in the past.

I have too much to say, however, to stop blogging.

I'm currently working with my tech guy (my brother) to migrate to a hosted blog system (the host will be his corporate site). I just have to decide between either MovableType or Wordpress as the blogging platform. Once I get that all worked out, I'll start blogging again at a different URL. I'll let you know when and where.

The new blog will be a work in progress for a while, just as this one was. But the point is that blogging is no longer an experiment for me. Two years later, it has become a part of our lives here in Cowland. It is a productive waste of time that feels therapeutic. It is also the diary/journal that I started on paper in the mid 90's and ended up aborting at the end of that decade.

I am, therefore I blog.

People and Their Jobs.

I've worked for people, under people, with people, and been in charge of people. I've also read lots of resumes and CVs.

Isn't it funny how some people think that a fancy job title makes them more important? I've actually used this point to my advantage when hiring. There is a surplus of dental auxiliaries looking for jobs with fancy "management" titles. So much so that the best staff I've ever found, who are a pleasure to work with and who do an effective job, are the ones who appreciate the job for what it is and not what it's called.

A job ad for a Treatment Coordinator that leaves out the name of the position but instead describes the successful candidate as a people-person, team-player, analytic, needing X amount of experience in a dental office, etc. will produce many different resumes than a job posting for a "Director of Treament Coordination", who will be "in charge of", "manage", "oversee".

The dental office environment demands a team approach with every member helping each other. If one person feels that because they are the "manager" they should only be telling people what to do, the system breaks down and poor morale develops.

Patients see all of this. It reflects badly on the dentist because everything in a dental office trickles down from the top. If patients pick up poor staff morale, what do you think they'll think of your actual dentistry?

Dentistry is not the only place that works best with a team approach of course. Practically any work environment needs this.

Interviewers for potential dental school candidates often will attempt to assess if the interviewee has leadership ability. At an interview level this really just translates to confidence and past acomplishments in organisations.

I've never been interested in leading people and yet have been put in this role uncountable times. I can't tell you how well I manage staff, but the success of my office on a personal level satisfies me that I'm doing something well.

There are two lessons that I learned about being a manager that will forever rule me.

The first is through a job that I had at a camera/photofinishing store when I was in my first year of university. The store manager gained my respect and my desire to help him do his job simply by doing as much of the work that was required of us himself. He would ask for help as needed. Ask not tell. He led by example to the point that we employees took on responsibilities willingly because we saw how busy he made himself as he was pulled in many different directions. We genuinely wanted to help him. Does he sound like an ineffective manager? Was his day too scattered to properly "manage" the store? Shouldn't he have properly delegated jobs?

Nope. His management strategy was the most effective I've ever worked under.

The second lesson that I learned was during my endo program. The dental assistants were arguing among themselves about whose fault it was that some item was not working properly. The argument wasn't heated but had gone on for at least 5 minutes. I needed a functional version of the same item for the case I was working on.

Practically without thinking I left my op, went over to the staff and told them to blame me for the broken item. I told them to tell their boss that they could come and talk to me about it. Then I said that I really needed a working one.

Each of them blinked at me in surprise then ran off in different directions to find me what I needed. To this day they still remember me and "what a nice resident I was".

Good management empowers staff and helps them to appreciate the job they have. The team effort that results minimizes the actual need to "manage" and maximizes a positive, enjoyable work environment.

-- Ameloblast, Supreme Director of Endodontic Therapy, Workland, Ontario, Canada.

What Animal Was I In a Previous Life?

You Were a Raccoon

You are a master of disguise and multiple personas. You are infinitely curious and question others without fear.

What Animal Were You In a Past Life?

I'm Not a Hunter.

We've been leaving food out for the deer around our place, but with all the rain and snow, the bucket that the food is in has been collecting water. Thanks to a suggestion from ReceptionChick, we ended up getting one of these:
We spent an extra $10 to get the "quiet" model because I thought it would be less scary for the deer when it activates. As I read the instructions while putting the system together I realised that the "quiet" model is quiet so that when you're out hunting deer and you hang the feeder up, other hunters won't hear it when it activates.

We don't hunt deer.

And nobody else hunts on our property.

Oh well.

Case of the Week.

Nothing earth-shattering here, but this case is another example of how canals can exit roots short of the radiographic apex (RA). For this case, the working lengths were consistently electronically verified. You can even see that the canal appears to stop short of the RA.

My thoughts are that the root actually ends where the canal does and there's either radiographic artifact or some bony trabeculation that makes it appear longer.

Compare and Contrast.

We're spending Christmas in St. Lucia, but here's music from Bryan Adams to kick start the festivities!

How to Poorly Manage a Dental Office. Part 2.

Action: Assign a supervisory staff member (usually the hygiene or treatment co-ordinator or office manager) to dispense minute quantities of prophy paste to hygienists when they are ready to polish.

This ensures that you save money because the hygienists are not wasting prophy paste.

Weekend Update.

This past weekend saw lots of snow dump on us. I spent a fairly quiet time at home tidying things up in preparation for us going away to St. Lucia on Friday.

Some minor calamities that resulted in physical injury did befall me however:

• As I was making some bird toys out of PVC tubing, the hand saw that I was using jumped off the tubing and landed on my thumb, cutting open the tip.
• Sundance bit me on my right index finger through the skin on Friday.
• Tango bit me on my left index finger through skin on Saturday.
• I steamed some rice in the microwave and got a burn that stung for a few hours on my left hand when I opened the cover and the steam came out.
• I stubbed a toe on the base of a ladder. It is now bruised and swollen and I'm limping.
• I broke a compact fluorescent bulb a couple of feet away from me. It contains mercury vapour.
• With the snowblower, I ran over our delivered newspaper that was buried under snow at the base of the driveway. I tried to use a plastic poker/scoop to get the paper out but had resort to doing it by hand. I forgot I'd left the scoop on the driveway, then ran that over too once I got the snowblower running again. I had to remove one of the auger blades to get the tool out, then I cut my left hand in the process.

So The Girl once again reminded me of why I'm not allowed to use the chainsaw or get up on the roof when she isn't home. She almost sent me to work with a helmet and mittens today.

Not sure why, but patients seem a little nervous today when I tell them the story...

Odd Thomas.

I thought I'd try another Koontz book to see if he's managed to change his style at all.

I found this book fairly typical of his contemporary work: somewhat 2D, almost cartoonish characters. Granted, there's no Man, Dog, Woman theme like his older books (eg. Watchers--which was one of the first books of his that I read; and really enjoyed).

Although I found the book a little stale in parts, it's intelligent and ties up nicely.