The blog of Alun Rees, The Dental Business Coach
“Never take a mean advantage of anyone in any transaction, and never be hard upon people who are in your power.
Try to do to others, as you would have them do to you, and do not be discouraged if they fail sometimes.”
Charles Dickens in a letter to his son – 25th December 1868
Always make space for heroes in your life.
Sir Alexander Fleming announced his discovery of the mold by-product “penicillin” on this day in 1929. Fleming’s scholarly paper only tentatively suggested that penicillin “may be an efficient antiseptic” against some bacteria — his department head at St. Mary’s Hospital, London even wanted this speculation edited out — and his experiments over the following decade arrived at nothing close to an eureka! Unable to move much beyond his initial discovery, and with few other scientists interested in penicillin’s potential, Fleming all but dropped his research on the topic. In 1938 a team of Oxford researchers lead by Howard Florey and Ernst Chain took interest in Fleming’s 1929 paper; by 1940 they were able to produce penicillin in a pure and stable form, suitable for antibiotic applications; in 1945 Fleming, Florey and Chain all shared the Nobel Prize for Medicine.
Fleming always tried to dispel the myth, still persistent today, that he discovered one of the century’s most important drugs. Nor did he mind telling, even in his Nobel Lecture, the now-famous story of how his first batch of penicillin resulted from a messy lab, the mold found growing in an unwashed petri dish. In The Mold in Dr. Florey’s Coat, an account of the wider serendipity that surrounds the “The Discovery of the Penicillin Miracle,” Eric Lax describes Fleming as a man with “a frolicsome mind” and a talent for “play with microbes”:
Fleming well knew that different bacteria take on different hues as they grow, and he was adept at carefully planting various microbes on a plate of agar—the waxy, gelatinous laboratory food trough for bacteria—so that when they bloomed, the plate turned into a colorful painting of, say, a ballerina in a red skirt or a mother nursing her baby with a bottle.
Lax notes that Fleming became so adept at his microbe art (some samples at left) that he displayed it at science conferences — raising eyebrows among those colleagues who felt that “this whimsy lacked the dignity and seriousness appropriate to the high-minded work of science.” But a lot of good science can come from playful creativity, says Lax:
When a visitor to the lab of the Danish physicist Niels Bohr [Nobel, 1922] told him with some disgust, “In your institute nobody takes anything seriously,” Bohr answered, “That’s quite true, and even applies to what you just said.”
PSA report makes concerning reading says BDA
A Professional Standards Authority (PSA) report of an investigation into concerns about the General Dental Council (GDC) raises serious concerns about the performance of the organisation in recent years, the British Dental Association (BDA) has said.
The report makes significant criticisms about the handling of the disciplinary process surrounding the departure of former GDC Chair Dr Alison Lockyer from the organisation, including the lack of a complainant or complaint against her, the lack of an established process for dealing with the situation and flaws in the way that the matter was dealt with.
The report also looks at the GDC’s performance more generally, noting that concerns about the handling of Fitness to Practise cases appear to be being addressed and that improvements are being made.
Peter Ward, the Chief Executive of the BDA, said:
“This report identifies deeply concerning failings around the departure of Dr Lockyer from her role at the GDC. The mishandling of proceedings that is spelt out in this report is astonishing. For a professional regulator to have made such errors in the handling of proceedings is deeply troubling.
“Dentistry needs a strong regulator in which practitioners and patients alike can have confidence. The GDC will have a great deal of work to do to assuage the doubts about it that will have been engendered by its handling of Dr Lockyer and convince the profession that it really has achieved the improvements in its regulatory performance that the PSA identifies.”
Ends
Notes to Editors
The British Dental Association (BDA) is the professional association for dentists in the UK. It represents 23,000 dentists working in general practice, in community and hospital settings, in academia and research, and in the armed forces, and includes dental students.
For further information, please contact the BDA’s media team on 0207 563 4145/46 or visit http://www.bda.org/news-centre/. You can also follow news from the BDA on Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/TheBDA.
Here’s a request from some help with a research project – it will take you about 10 minutes – please help.
“This is an online research project, looking at whether showing people images of melanomas actually makes them better and distinguishing benign from serious things. It is all randomised so different people see different things. It takes around 10 minutes or so.”
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
Winston Churchill
Sub-Titled – “A Treatise on Dental Economics” this book was first published by J.S. Cottrell in 1931, those were pre-second war days between general strikes and the great depression. I came across it on a client’s bookshelves where it had stood since its receipt as a present from his wife; sadly I don’t think he had read it.
In the foreward of four paragraphs Edward Samson makes several points which are still valid 80 plus years later.
Obviously there are some areas of Dental Practice that have changed significantly since Mr Samson’s day. His views on dental nurses would have a 21st century employment lawyer licking his or her lips in anticipation of the fees to be made at the tribunal. The chapter on equipment is almost funny with the hindsight of 8 decades of advancement in dental technology.
The kernel of every point made in “Progressive Practice” is still true today, I dare say that the word marketing hadn’t come into usage yet the author understood completely the principles involved.
I thoroughly recommend this, Edward Samson was a very wise man, a successful dentist and a prolific & humorous writer. It’s a pity that this isn’t compulsory reading for all new graduates.
To get a copy for yourself? Probably E-Bay, second hand shops and patience is your best bet.
“Ideas without precedent are generally looked upon with disfavour and men are shocked if their conceptions of an orderly world are challenged.”
From The Cockroach Catcher blog retelling of the story of Heliobacter well worth a read on how Marshall & Warren eventually gained acknowledgement for their research and ultimately were rewarded with a Nobel Prize.
Blog entry here
Nobel Press Release here
Barry Marshall’s story here
“First ask yourself: What is the worst that can happen?
Then prepare to accept it.
Then proceed to improve on the worst.”
A new orthodontic course under the leadership of Professor Ross Hobson promises great things; I wish them well.
Orthodontics at the UCLan School of Postgraduate Medical and Dental Education
The UCLan School of Postgraduate Medical and Dental Education has recognised the need to have Orthodontics as a key speciality to complement its current postgraduate programmes and is in the process of establishing a course in orthodontics. This will be a 4 year part time M.Clin. Dent. conforming to the curriculum and training programme set out by the UK Specialist Advisory Committee in Orthodontics.
Professor Ross Hobson who is an accomplished teacher and clinician is to be the academic lead and the training programme will be based in the recently opened university campus dental clinic.
The process of recognition to enable trainees sit the MOrth examination is in progress and should be completed early in 2013. Already there has been substantial interest shown by potential applicants who will be kept on hold until full approval has be achieved, at which time the course details will be advertised.
Any student who wishes to register their interest in this programme can email meddent@uclan.ac.uk with their contact details.
Further course information will be available in due course.
“If there is something you want in life, then you’ve got one of two things.
You’ve either got it or you’ve got a story about why you haven’t got it.
Drop the story.”
The Incisal Edge 