Mamacita says:  Check this out, teachers and parents and critics who go bump in the night!

The Best Dentist

By John Taylor, Superintendent, Lancaster County School District, South Carolina

My dentist is great! He sends me reminders so I don’t forget check-ups. He

uses the latest techniques based on research. He never hurts me, and I’ve

got all my teeth, so when I ran into him the other day, I was eager to see if

he’d heard about the new state program. I knew he’d think it was great.

“Did you hear about the new state program to measure the effectiveness of

dentists with their young patients?” I said.

“No,” he said. He didn’t seem too thrilled. “How will they do that?”

“It’s quite simple,” I said. “They will just count the number of cavities

each patient has at age 10, 14, and 18 and average that to determine a dentist’s

rating. Dentists will be rated as Excellent, Good, Average, and Below

Average and Unsatisfactory. That way, parents will know which are the best dentists.

“It will also encourage the less effective dentists to get better,” I said.

“Poor dentists who don’t improve could lose their licenses to practice in

South Carolina.”

“That’s terrible,” he said.

“What? That’s not a good attitude,” I said. “Don’t you think we should try

to improve children’s dental health in this state?”

“Sure I do,” he said, “but that’s not a fair way to determine who is

practicing good dentistry.”

“Why not?” I said. “It makes perfect sense to me.”

“Well, it’s so obvious,” he said. “Don’t you see that dentists don’t all

work with the same clientele. So much depends on things we can’t control.

“For example,” he said, “I work in a rural area with a high percentage of

patients from deprived homes, while some of my colleagues work in upper

middle class neighborhoods. Many of the parents I work with don’t bring their

children to see me until there is some kind of problem, and I don’t get to

do much preventive work.

“Also,” he said, “many of the parents I serve let their kids eat way too

much candy from an early age, unlike more educated parents who understand the

relationship between sugar and decay.

“To top it all off,” he added, “so many of my clients have well water, which

is untreated and has no fluoride in it. Do you have any idea how much

difference early use of fluoride can make?”

“It sounds like you’re making excuses,” I said. I couldn’t believe my

dentist would be so defensive. He does a great job.

“I am not!” he said. “My best patients are as good as anyone’s. My work is

as good as anyone’s, but my average cavity count is going to be higher than a

lot of other dentists because I chose to work where I am needed most.”

“Don’t get touchy,” I said.

“Touchy?” he said. His face had turned red and from the way he was clenching

and unclenching his jaws, I was afraid he was going to damage his teeth.

“Try furious. In a system like this, I will end up being rated average,

below average, or worse. My more educated patients who see these ratings may

believe this so-called rating actually is a measure of my ability and proficiency as

a dentist. They may leave me, and I’ll be left with only the most needy

patients. And my cavity average score will get even worse. On top of that,

how will I attract good dental hygienists and other excellent dentists to my

practice if it is labeled below average?”

“I think you are overreacting,” I said. “‘Complaining, excuse making and

stonewalling won’t improve dental health’ … I am quoting from a leading

member of the DOC,” I noted.

“What’s the DOC?” he asked.

“It’s the Dental Oversight Committee,” I said, “a group made up of mostly

laypersons to make sure dentistry in this state gets improved.”

“Spare me,” he said. “I can’t believe this. Reasonable people won’t buy it,” he said

hopefully.

The program sounded reasonable to me, so I asked, “How else would you

measure good dentistry?”

“Come watch me work,” he said. “Observe my processes.”

“That’s too complicated and time consuming,” I said. “Cavities are the

bottom line, and you can’t argue with the bottom line. It’s an absolute measure.”

“That’s what I’m afraid my parents and prospective patients will think. This

can’t be happening,” he said despairingly.

“Now, now,” I said, “Don’t despair. The state will help you some.”

“How?” he said.

“If you’re rated poorly, they’ll send a dentist who is rated excellent to

help straighten you out,” I said brightly.

“You mean,” he said, “they’ll send a dentist with a wealthy clientele to

show me how to work on severe juvenile dental problems with which I have probably

had much more experience? Big help.”

“There you go again,” I said. “You aren’t acting professionally at all.”

“You don’t get it,” he said. “Doing this would be like grading schools and

teachers on an average score on a test of children’s progress without regard

to influences outside the school: the home, the community served and stuff

like that. Why would they do something so unfair to dentists? No one would

ever think of doing that to schools.”

I just shook my head sadly, but he had brightened. “I’m going to write my

representatives and senator,” he said. “I’ll use the school analogy. Surely

they will see the point.”

He walked off with that look of hope mixed with fear and suppressed anger

that I see in the mirror so often lately.

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Especially these days. These days, especially.