Asking for insights leads to good decisions

As endodontists, keeping up with the latest advancements in technology is simply part of the job. As we endeavor to provide our patients with the best possible care, it’s our responsibility to ensure we’re up-to-date on the best possible tools and technologies to help us provide that care. It’s what our patients deserve and what our profession promises. But amidst our long hours and packed waiting rooms, how can we use our limited capacity to separate the gimmicks from the legitimately important advancements in our profession? In a world of finite resources, how do we ensure we’re investing our time, effort, and money on things that will actually improve our patients’ lives as well as our own?

I remember when I finally decided to take the leap and invest in cone beam computed tomography. It wasn’t an easy decision. Navigating how to incorporate this new technology, as well as the financial investment of the CBCT equipment and the financial impact on patients, was a challenge. And then there’s simply the resistance to change. So many aspects of endodontics are tried and true. We all become proficient in a certain way of doing things and become hesitant to anything new that deviates from that trusted path. But next to the microscope, the use of CBCT imaging has become the most important development in endodontics. It has increased our ability to diagnose and treat pathology efficiently and correctly. The switch wasn’t easy, but the long-term positive impact for my patients and my practice has been worth the effort.

But how did I come to that decision? Of course, I stayed current on the latest literature and attended continuing education courses. But more than anything, I relied on what I consider to be the most important tool in any endodontist’s arsenal — my colleagues.

No advancement, no new piece of technology, no exciting new technique will ever be more valuable than the minds, experience, insight, and fellowship of our fellow endodontists. Being a partner with HighFive Healthcare, I have access to a network of brilliant, hardworking, and generous people who all bring their own unique perspectives, knowledge, and history to the table and whose advice and guidance I can rely on when faced with challenging decisions. I didn’t just read articles about the CBCT; I asked my colleagues. I got their first-hand experiences. I learned the ups and the downs, the pros and the cons. I had people I trusted to help me make that important decision and help make it the right one.

Technology is always changing. There’s always some new thing on the horizon that claims to change the way we practice for the better. And some of them actually will. But nothing will ever be more important than the relationships we build with each other. And anything that allows us, as endodontists, to increase those connections, to improve our communications, to bring us closer together in order to share our expertise with one another, that is the most important innovation possible.