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 This device was designed to turn your handpiece into a dental version of the classic f"miller". Well...good luck! I can't imagine something like this in a patients mouth. This item never made it into my dental "tool box". I will be the first to promote any "special instrument" or device that will indeed make any procedure easier. Items such as root tip picks and diamond grip bead special forceps come first to mind. These instruments facilitate the human skill behind them, not try to eliminate it from the equation. Another such useful device (I'm not plugging any specific company) is the " Denlite" by Welch-Allyn. This electrically lit disposable illuminated vision is essential in crown preparation. It's very DARK in the human mouth and it's a luxury to really see what you are doing !! Of course handpiece illumination and better chair lights have been a significant help. These are products that are not gimmicks which when used and mastered are a great help in sharpening your personal skill and thus raising your technical quality.

 I tell my patients that the products produced in the Dental industry are perhaps one of the few exclusively hand produced items left in this "disposable" society. "Craftsmanship" as some of us still know or remember it is gradually fading away with those generations before us who made this country what it is. Brick by brick, project by project. When I think of all these gadgets I can't help but to wonder if craftsmanship is fading in Dentistry too. I never want to think that. Patients will never realize how much personal skill it takes for us to do our jobs both in our office and in the lab every day. Frankly very few of them care.

 My grandfather (my mother's father) was a master mason. This 4'11" little Italian man who could barely scrawl his name was a genius in stone. To this day I have his simple personal tools. The most "technical"device he had was a level and a crude one at that by today's standards. All of his expertise and accomplishments came from his personal skill, not from any gizmos, gadgets or gimmicks. And so it should be the same for us. If we lack those essential skills, then that's what "hands on" type courses are for. We should always seek to improve our work and ourselves. We should also earn our fees in the process. The next time a patient complains about the length of a crown appointment or the cost, just do this. Reverse the roles. You get in the chair and sit them on your stool. Explain to them what they have to accomplish in the time frame of the appointment. See what happens. No gizmo or gadget will ever replace your personal skill only enhance it at best. The rest is always up to you.

Any Questions ???

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