Orthotown October 2019 - 10

embrace progress

The Seven Deadly (Ortho) Sins
Pride/Humility

by Dan Grob, DDS, MS, editorial director, Orthotown magazine

If you want to build a successful practice,
there are many skills you can add to enhance
your natural abilities and learned techniques.
Heck, each issue of Orthotown is filled
with articles on marketing, mechanics and
management. This isn't by mistake!
Many orthodontists, however, still have
a difficult time-they're constantly putting
out fires, changing direction or, worse yet,
starting over. Some just don't make it.
Keeping it simple works for most, yet for
the few aggressive and driven folks, a more
deliberate, focused approach is utilized.
A recent news story about one of our
colleagues getting into legal trouble inspired
me to reflect on my own practice life and to
identify times or incidents when I got close
to having to reinvent myself.
For reflection and reference, I decided to
revisit the timeless "seven deadly sins." History has it that the Greeks were responsible
for identifying and passing these personality
traits to our modern culture. Later, the
Roman Catholics purportedly based their
weekly preconfessional preparation on these
"sins"-parishioners and congregants were
to review their past habits and misdeeds in
anticipation of spilling the beans to the priest
behind closed doors. (If you aren't familiar
with time spent in a confessional, you might
want to check out the 19th episode of
Seinfeld 's eighth season, "The Yada Yada,"
when Jerry's dentist converts to Judaism.)
For your benefit, I've listed the deadly
sins, with some commentary on how you
might avoid trouble in practice and life. I've
also included a positive trait that will help
you counteract each sin.

10

OCTOBER 2019 // orthotown.com

Sloth/Diligence

Pride/Humility
Wrath/Patience
Wrath
It's not hard to find an excuse to get angry
in practice when patients, staff or lingering
issues from the family spill over into your
daily life. However, we are not only in the
customer service business but also dealing
with patients who often aren't thrilled to be
at the orthodontist, no matter how unique
and comfortable our experience is crafted.
Positive trait: patience
As often as it is easy to justify getting
angry at others, we need to check it in the
parking lot when we enter the building. I
was taught years ago that the introductory
greeting and the exiting comments leave
the most impact with patients and often
can smooth over the rough parts of a visit.

Greed/Charity

Sloth/Diligence
Envy/Gratitude
Sloth
You do something, but you do it
haphazardly, performing only enough to
get it done. Instead of giving your best,
you give only what it takes to get by.
Most orthodontists-and dentists, for that
matter-did not get to where they are by
being lazy. However, once the pinnacle has
been reached, the tendency to slow down
tempts us all. After all, don't they say that
the hardest part about dental school or
orthodontic training is getting in?
Positive trait: diligence
Getting your life on a regular path
or system with clearly defined goals and
objectives is the best way to avoid the
"lazy" trap.

Wrath/Patience

Envy/Gratitude

Discover more about practice management-
and earn continuing education credits too
Dr. Jamie Reynolds' online CE course, "4 Pillars of Modern Orthodontic Practice
Management," outlines the title topic, as well as key data-driven insights into
patient and insurance accounts receivable, and how to leverage financial flexibility
and maintain practice cash flow. The course is free to view at orthotown.com/ce
and, for a fee, readers can also take the exam to claim 1.5 CE credits.
http://www.orthotown.com/ce http://www.orthotown.com
Orthotown October 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Orthotown October 2019
