{ outreach in action } by Paul Roberts • Foundation & Outreach Director L


isten closely and you'll hear knocking on the door to the future of the dental profession. You are uncertain, perhaps even leery, of what’s on the other side. Will you open up?


Door imagery seems apropos for this article. Think for a minute about a door’s purpose. It is to create a passageway between spaces. Can you visualize special doors in your world? The front door to your practice set- ting is a passageway for patients to improve their oral health. Perhaps you grooms out there remember the doors of the church opening to reveal your splendid bride who passed through to begin a wonderful mar- riage journey with you. Others of you might recall the stately doors of your favorite museum or theater opening to reveal a new enriching and memorable experience. Cur- rently, I have a new front door sitting inside my house waiting to be installed to provide a more welcoming entrance to our remodeled abode. Doors can lead to all sorts of places.


Doors can serve a reverse purpose as well of keeping things separate and safe. “Close that door, we aren’t air conditioning all of nature”, your thermostat-obsessed father would bellow in your youth. We all felt a bit of relief and safety when the movies had the prison doors clink shut on the bad guys. And anyone who has been a teenager or who has a teenager knows the earth-shattering slam of the bedroom door and the echoing “leave me alone” sentiment.


So what does this have to do with dentistry? It all depends on how you choose to view the doors in front of you. For a long time, the majority of the doors in dentistry read, “Dr. White Male Dentist, Proprietor”. If you think this is still the case, you haven’t opened your door to the outside lately. Women and mi- norities are flooding the profession and em- bracing different titles (like associate, instead of owner) as they pass through community health clinic and DSO doors. Do you view these doors as wider passageways to better


20 focus | SEP/OCT 2022 | ISSUE 5


oral health or are you slamming your door to stay safe from trends and changes that rock the establishment? The future of dentistry swings on your response to the fast-changing landscape being settled with new creativity and values by your younger colleagues. Can you welcome the diversity and champion new ideas while keeping a shared and sacred bond around patient care? W. Clement Stone said, “Big doors swing on little hinges.” Each MDA member is a little hinge and your choices and responses to change will deter- mine what doors swing open.


Our current structure and you, its many faithful and wonderful members and leaders, have served this association admirably. You have made the MDA the authority on oral health in Missouri. Your dues and engage- ment have yielded strong advocacy for the profession and many programs and events that benefit members. But old ways don’t open new doors. It’s a new world of technol- ogy and values. Younger people are cautious, if not distrusting, of institutions. That’s not a judgment on all the MDA has done, it’s just a reality.


It’s time for the MDA to re-envision itself. The Board is on notice. The staff are gather- ing the facts necessary to pave new direc- tions. It will take time. It will create discom-


fort. It will take a lot of listening. Change is a door that can only be opened from the inside. Do you love your patients and the profession enough to open up? It will require new structures and new leaders. Maybe beloved traditions (like this very Focus maga- zine) need to give away to new communica- tion efforts. I don’t know what it all will look like, but without change it will just look like a grand castle that has outlived its purpose.


My plea is to not be passive in the process. Voice your opinion on where we miss the mark or how we can evolve to better serve dentists and their patients. Paint a picture of a future that will serve you well and keep this great profession strong. Us older folks might need to channel Jim Morrison and another set of Doors and “break on through to the other side”.


Contact Paul at paul@modentalmail. org. Read his blog (modental.org/ blog) for a weekly MDA snapshot.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32