Mouth Cancer Action Month

Here’s an article from my most recent Ezine, about Mouth Cancer Awareness Month.

Please read it in conjunction with my blogpost on the cause of Oral Cancers that I wrote in August last year.

…….On my first full afternoon, tiring of shopping in The Mall and dreading spending any more time than I needed in the 115F desert heat, I took refuge in the multiplex. I chose the new Michael Douglas movie, Wall Street 2, Money Never Sleeps. It’s not a great film (I am a poor film critic usually managing to find some small thing to redeem even the biggest turkey) but Douglas does give a good performance reprising his role as Gordon Gekko, the cigar-smoking financier. The fine Havana cigars are quite a change from the packs of cigarettes that the actor used to consume when a younger man.

As in the first Wall Street film he gets to give a speech about money and greed, I was fascinated, staring at the huge screen, whether I could make out any external sign of the advanced throat tumour that would soon leave the actor devastated by chemotherapy and fighting for his life. His illness being reason that his wife Catherine Zeta-Jones had to leave her native Wales after welcoming the visitors for the Ryder Cup to return to his bedside in New York a couple of days earlier.

November is Mouth Cancer Actions Month; organised by the BDHF and supported by Denplan – some revealing statistics have been published.

•    1 person in 10 has never heard of throat cancer – more awareness predictably being in the over the age of 50.
•    An increasing number of young people are being diagnosed with the disease.
•    It is responsible for 1 death every 5 hours in the UK alone.
•    It kills more people than testicular and ovarian cancer combined.
•    The rates of mouth cancer have increased by 40% during the past decade.
•    There has been an increase in 10% over last year’s figures to 6,000 new cases a year.

Dentistry is primarily associated with quality of life and rarely with life and death. People survive without teeth – although I would not want to be one of them. Mouth cancer is devastating in treatment and consequence.

Sadly it seems there are still some dentists who do not routinely examine their patients for early signs of the disease inside the mouth and fail to examine the areas outside the mouth for lumps and bumps.
So:
•    Tell your patients what you’re looking for
•    Tell them what signs and symptoms are so that they become aware and can share what they know
•    Tell them how many people die of the disease
•    Tell them what the risk factors are
•    Tell them that’s why it’s important to have a regular screening as part of their routine recall
•    Tell them “if in doubt….get checked out”

Why not?
•    Tell your local media all about Oral Cancer Month,
•    Contact your local GMPs to remind them what they should be looking out for,
•    Spend a staff meeting talking about the subject

Isn’t this very least you can do?

Two Great Meetings In Gloucestershire

I was in on the “ground floor” of Gloucestershire Independent Dentists when it formed in the early 1990s following the NHS fee cut and (yet another) new NHS contract.

I still attend their meetings when I am able and am happy to present advance notice of a couple of good ones upcoming in the next couple of months.

Tell them I sent you and you’ll get a 10% discount on the already very reasonable fee of £270.

To attend get in touch with Mark Smith, Moorend Park Road, Cheltenham, GL53 0JY. 07766 878356. info@gid.org.uk

First up in December, Michael Norton and Nigel Rosenbaum are presenting an “Update on Implants and Dentures”.

In January Derek Mahony & Simon Littlewood present an “Update in Orthodontics for the GDP”

Alice Dancing Under The Gallows

I would like to thank my friend Richard Charon for bringing this short film premiere to my attention. Having just re-read Man’s Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl I felt a remarkable synchronicity.

I say no more.

Stephen Hudson writes about the CQC & Dentistry

Stephen Hudson is a GDP (General Dental Practitioner) in Chesterfield, he writes well, and often, on matters relating to dentistry. I’m sure sometimes he feels like the lone voice in the wilderness. Here is his latest blog post which speaks for itself. I don’t agree with everything he writes but I’ll go along with Voltaire’s sentiments; it is a great shame that the dental profession has so few people like Stephen who can both see a bigger picture and be bothered do or say something about it.

The CQC
Hello again
As you may be aware, the CQC will soon descend upon us. Unfortunately for you lot, I have a small problem with the CQC. Whilst I admire the idea logic behind protecting the public, the CQC in my eyes is not about protection, Quangos never are. It is about increasing the power of government and those connected to government, whilst tightening the regulatory noose around the neck of the profession even further. I say government, I doubt those we elected actually know what is going on. The wheels of the civil service are just rolling on from the last administration regardless. I would like to think that the present administration would stop this juggernaut in its tracks if it knew the truth.

You have to remember, this isn’t just us this is happening to. Virtually every industry is having regulation after regulation dumped on it from a great height. And I don’t even blame the CQC. From where I’m standing, they are as much a victim as anyone here. They have been tasked with something they are ill prepared for, and have little in the way of understanding about what dentistry actually entails. Much of the problems that will arise will do so because they don’t understand what it is exactly that we do, but the registration rolls out regardless. They, in their eyes, have a job to do and the growing aggression and resentment from the profession will only harden their stance. And they haven’t even gotten to the doctors yet.

However, with that being said, there is something you have to remember. The government doesn’t care about you, it only cares about itself. It only cares about feathering its own nest and about justifying itself by exerting more and more control to counter perceived threats.

And despite my mention of growing aggression from the profession, really most of us do nothing. We bend over and take it. Some of even ask for more.

But let us for a moment look at the big picture. There are 600 people who are signed up to this newsletter, most of them being dentists. And I am talking to you all when I ask the following question.

What kind of a country do you want your children to grow up in? Do you want a country where they are free to speak their minds, to express their ideas, to go about their business with the minimum hassle from government pen pushers and their lackeys? Or do you want them tagged, monitored, cowed and conformative, where they dread the day agents of the state knock on their door and say “Citizen, your papers please”?

Which do you want? Because now it‚s time to choose. Yes that‚s right, you have a choice in the matter. You can bow down to the CQC and let them descend upon you twice a year like locusts, or you can tell them NOW that their regulation is not needed. You can let them know what you think, they are after all inviting you to do this. So have you? Have you been to their website and told them what you think, given them your ideas?

So here is a proposed action plan:

  • Write to your MP and tell him/her that the CQC is unwanted, dangerous to the public and an unnecessary burden
  • Contact Tony Jacobs at tony@jacobs.net who wants a list of names to go along with a letter to the editor of one of the big newspapers.
  • Read the Health and Social Care Act 2008
  • Take their issued guidance and ask for them to send you a copy in a form of English you can understand. It is incomprehensible.
  • Research what they are proposing. Does it breach anti competition rules? Does it breach the EU human rights legislation?
  • Write to the head of the CQC and tell them that much of their proposed regulations are already covered by our existing regulator the GDC. Ask for clarification on whatever points you do not like.
  • Write the GDC and tell them the same.
  • Go onto the CQC website and engage them in their consultations.
  • Go to the upcoming meetings and ask the CQC representatives questions.
  • Write to the newspapers, to Private Eye, and let them know that the CQC are a risk to the public and will reduce access to dentistry.
  • Write to the BDA and insist they do more to counter the CQC or you will cancel your membership

Or you can sit on your hands, and moan into your beer in a years time

And now here is your warning. The proposed actions, if done as an individual will put a big spotlight on you, and you do them at your own risk (see the disclaimer below). You will be noticed. Files may well be opened on you, and you may come under scrutiny. You may even go to the first in the line when it comes to inspections and investigation. Men in overcoats and hats may follow you down the street when you pop for a chip butty (ok, ok, that won‚t happen). Who can say? What I can say is that sitting on your hands doing nothing is the safer, and easier option….. at least for you, at least initially. But what about your children? What about ten years from now when there are two more regulatory bodies just as damaging, just as unwarranted and just as expensive? When the regulation affects other aspects of your life and the life of those around you.

“Oh come off it Steve, the CQC are hardly the Stasi”.

No they aren’t. Many of the people working there are decent, honest individuals who are just trying to make their way through life (as evidenced by the low satisfaction ratings people have with working for the CQC). They are not the Stasi, the KGB or the CIA. They are, to some, a symbol.

A symbol?

A symbol of what this country has become. A symbol of where this country is going. It is a symbol of where you as an individual can make a stand, now, in this instant. A stand for yourself, a stand for those around you, a stand for your children. As an individual your stand will feel meaningless, an ant against a Lion.

But together, your voices will be heard, and the Lion will run. You will be able to shout from the rooftops and hear the quivering of those in power. They do not care if you stand alone. They do mind if you stand en-masse, if you shine a spotlight on the darkness of their proposals.

Together we can bring some sanity to this and send a message that this tightening of the noose stops NOW. You send a message that you have had ENOUGH. Yes the CQC might get through, but at the very least your legal, non-violent rebellion will instigate concessions, and give them pause. It will make them think “if this is the rejection we get from the dentists…………”

Now some of you won’t see what all the fuss is about. Some of you won’t have a problem with the CQC or what they represent. Some of you may even see it as a good thing. Perhaps it is, who am I to say otherwise?

And you know what, I have no challenge with that. If that is your belief then I respect it.

If however you feel in your heart what I feel, if you see with your eyes what I see, then how can you roll onto your back and expose your belly? How can you look yourself in the mirror knowing what you know?

Fear is no longer an excuse. Fear is their weapon, their power. I no longer care. The choice is yours. You have a moral right, no a moral duty to act with your beliefs. What does you heart say? Find out and act accordingly.

Yours in commerce

Stephen: Hudson the authorised representative for the legal fiction Dr Stephen Hudson BDS, MFGDP, DRDP

Please help support the Sick Dentist Scheme and the BDA Benevolent fund by buying my book at Choose Your Reality. A proportion of the profits from its sale are split equally between these two charities

PS: Please feel free to pass this newsletter onto anyone you feel may be interested in it
PPS: Remember to check out our regularly updated PDS blog at http://nhsdentistry.blogspot.com/
GDP Resources
Disclaimer: S.Hudson or SNH Publications will not be held liable for any actions taken based on the information provided in this newsletters. This information is for entertainment only.

The Monday Morning Quote

“One of the bonuses of saying what you think is that when it is said it is done.”

R.N. (A long time and tolerant client, who has helped my growth as a coach)

The Monday Morning Quote

“Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it became a butterfly.”

Anonymous

Thanks to Ray Prince for suggesting this one

Orthopaedics v Anaesthesia

But it could be applied to any surgical specialism. Early in my hospital career I quickly tired of patients being referred to the wisdom teeth in bed 22 or the fracture on ward so and so.

One of my early coaches, David Price, used to pose the question “What will you do for the benefit of your patient if I take your drills away for a few days; and no you can’t take the time off!”

ASU researchers confirm brain’s decision-making function

Article from www.ASUstatepress.com

ASU researchers are finding out what makes people tick.

ASU Associate business professor Pierre Balthazard and independent scientist Kathy Kolbe hope to apply data from a new scientific study on the third faculty of the brain, called conation, to learn what drives people.

The study, administered at Kolbe Corp., Kolbe’s company, examined the brains of 117 leaders from a variety of fields. It is the first scientific proof of the existence of conation as a function of the brain.

Conation is a separate but cooperative function of the brain that influences how people make decisions, Balthazard said.

Kolbe hopes to use the information from this and further studies on the topic to help people make better decisions and learn about what drives them, she said.

Balthazard wants to apply the findings from the Oct. 6 study to teach the future leaders of the world at ASU.

“I predict we will apply this knowledge to enhance managerial performance, decision making and leadership,” he said.

Conation is associated with a person’s will, impulse or instinct and has never been studied scientifically before now. This puts ASU in the history books on conation, Balthazard said.

Separate from conation, the “cognitive faculty” of the brain relates to how an individual handles information. It is associated with learning and intellect, Balthazard said.
The “affective faculty” deals with emotion and personality and how the brain handles them.

A faculty is a part of the brain responsible for certain thought processes.

“Conation drives everything and it is just as fundamental as cognition and affection,” Balthazard said.

Balthazard’s research at ASU studies leaders in today’s society to determine what qualities lead to good decision-making.

The EDGE Innovation Network, an organization that consolidates innovative scientific research, originally introduced Kolbe and Balthazard a year ago because those at the network thought the two had similar research goals.

“Our research interests had a lot in common,” Kolbe said.

Balthazard brought his experience with electroencephalograms, machines that scan for brain activity, as well as previous research on leaders’ motivations, while Kolbe brought 30 years of previous research on conation to the table.

Although philosophers as far back as Plato and Aristotle speculated on conation, scientific proof of it had yet to be found before the study, Kolbe said.

Kolbe discovered the four action modes of conation 30 years ago through extensive research.

The four modes are engrained tendencies, or instincts, in an individual’s brain that work together to form a person’s modus operandi, which deals with his or her habits or work approach, Kolbe said.

The four action modes deal with information intake, information storage, risk taking and sensory learning.

Kolbe worked with Balthazard and a team of ASU researchers to scan the brains of 117 individuals in leadership positions, from former athletes, to a three-star general, to business CEOs.
“Community leaders lent us their brains, so to speak,” Kolbe said.

The subjects were put in stressful situations through tests and their brains were scanned to see how they instinctively reacted to the strain, Kolbe said.

The scans showed that different neural connections were made related directly to each action mode. These pathways were different than those used in either cognition or affection, and were different for each person, Kolbe said.

Kolbe added that conation is not a learned process, but like DNA, is set from birth.
“You can learn more and your attitudes can change, but conation is the bedrock of who you are,” she said.

Ty Crossley, a first-year doctoral student in the Department of Management at the W. P. Carey School, worked to gather and analyze the brain scan results.

“This is cutting edge research, with a very unique application,” Crossley said in an e-mail. “ASU has the opportunity to be at the forefront of it.”

The Monday Morning Quote

“Nullius in Verba”

I thought the above which translates as “On the words of no one”  particularly apt at the moment in view of the very tsunami of unfounded, unscientific legislation that is threatening, if not to overwhelm, then to seriously distract many practice owners from the one thing that should be most important to them professionally, namely the day-to-day care of their patients.

The phrase is the motto of the Royal Society and points out that we must believe in the words of nobody, but we have to use science to establish “the truth of scientific matters through experiment rather than through citation of authority”.

Apparently this motto is an adaptation of a quote  from Horace, Epistles, book I, epistle 1, line 14, where the Roman poet (First Century BC ) points out that no one is bound to believe in the words of any master (Latin, “Nullius addictus iurare in verba magistri” meaning “I am not bound to believe in the word of any master”), that is to say that we must have individual experience and reason in the constitution of our knowledge, without  depending upon the citation of authority.

I wish that not only would politicians, civil servants and the apparatchiks of state cease paying lip service (at most) to science but also that the dental profession would stand on its collective feet, have the courage of its convictions, and say no to unproven and untested changes in patient care and the management of their practices. The current administration is very fond of the word “care” it’s a shame that, like their predecessors, whilst they may say they care, in practice they don’t seem give a damn for anything but dogma and expediency.

Dental Showcase – the BDTA doing it’s bit for exports.

Just back from a great couple of days at Dental Showcase, good content and the  excellent networking opportunities. I have made my feelings about the Venue, ExCel, pretty clear in the past. Dreadful to reach by road or rail, everything within a few miles is over priced and the vast majority of people attending, both exhibitors and  delegates seem to share my opinion.

I spent a great deal of my time pursuing and clarifying a host of business opportunities which seem to be coming thick and fast. Some very useful meetings with people who want to do things rather than just talking about how they can steal each other’s business.

I heard a tale that there seemed to be a “coachload” of Eastern European Dental teams who were intent on filling their bags with not only freebies but also anything that wasn’t nailed down. As ever, in spite of the reliability of the person who passed on the information, I took this as rumour as I hadn’t encountered the phenomenon personally.

However, when I was leaving ExCel, I spotted the evidence.