I have taken a greater interest in other people's blogs since I had started my own. I mostly look for dental blogs, although not exclusively. There is plenty of information in those sites about running a more efficient practice/business, discussions on new tools and products, and events such as continuing education programs. In addition to these dental blogs, I have also been reading a number of articles from the oral health divisions of the WHO and CDC. These particular organizations mostly discuss research findings and their implications on both national and international scales.
What I noticed early on is that information from research organizations such as the CDC and dental blogs rarely intersect: the business side walled off from the academic side. Furthermore, there are no links from these dental blogs to academic sites or vice versa. To date, the only exception I have found is the ADA, who does make an attempt to include academic and business dentistry for the general public and dental professionals.
Yet, the ADA is definitely an outlier when looking at the universe of dental-orientated websites out there. Most dental sites aim at business dentistry as opposed to academic dentistry. And this is not surprising. Keeping up to date with the newest research does not necessarily make you money at the end of the day, but the newest teeth whitening agent may. In a battle between the two, a dentist will inevitably read the latter.
Although I do not propose a change to the current status quo, I do suggest an improvement on current dental studies: make the findings less academic and more accessible. I am not suggesting that full-fledged research reports be done away with; however, I do believe that it is better to stress the implications of a study's findings as it relates to the general public and the dental professional. If a dentist can see how a particular trend will effect their own practice, may be then they will actually sit down and read that academic article after teeth whitening.
The purpose of this blog is to write about my preparation for dental school and some thoughts on the dental world in general. Undoubtedly, some random, completely unrelated things will be written here, but dentistry will always be the focus.
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About Me
- GDL
- I have a long standing interest in Dentistry and aspirations to practice. I am currently a student at Tufts University School of Dentistry.
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