Dr Phillip Palmer, November 2015 - (NOT WALTER) Palmer

2015 will go down as the year I didn’t kill a lion… not that I killed one in 2014 or 2013. In fact, I’ve never killed a lion. But you might not know that if you put “Palmer” and “dentist” into Google. In July 2015 news agencies and social media erupted in outrage that a dentist with the (sexy, but until then unassuming) name of Dr Palmer went on a recreational hunting trip to Zimbabwe and killed Cecil the lion, a much-loved attraction at the Hwange National Park.

No one has actually confused me with that Dr Walter Palmer from Minnesota in the US. However, I now have to deal with the mild annoyance of people who search for me on Google needing to scroll through some interesting links and photos to find me.

In an interesting parallel, in July 2015 and July 2014 tens of thousands of dental patients were sent letters urging them to get tested for hepatitis and HIV, over infection control standard breaches in several, separate dental clinics across Sydney.

We had a client near one of these clinics. They were initially excited at the prospect of a large competitor nearby shutting down, as they assumed that it would be a huge boon for their practice. The opposite occurred. Business plummeted. Why? For the same reason that I have mild annoyance at Walter. Guilt by association on Google.

When someone now Googles dentist and this client’s suburb, they get inundated with articles about poor sterilisation and infection control issues. New patients have all but disappeared. The same thing happened to another practice in Sydney that shared the same, very generic, name with one of the practices being shut down.

These infection control breaches are not born out of malice, but rather laziness and apathy when it comes to quality control and Continuing Education. One of the dentists that had infection control problems this year was interviewed in the papers about it. He said that he was “very sorry” about what had happened, and that he had been an “old duffer” when it came to sterilisation standards. He said he had difficulty keeping up with the changing rules around infection control because of his advanced age - “I was behind the times; I’ve caught up now.”

As dentists we sit in a very fortunate position in society. We have the privilege of being able to alleviate pain and make people look and feel better about themselves; we are usually well-remunerated for doing so, and there is generally an inherent respect in the community that comes with the title of “Dentist”. There is, however, an obligation and responsibility that comes with the title, and it seems that some dentists aren’t taking this seriously. As dentists we need to hold ourselves to a high standard, and take pride in the service we provide and the trust that people have in us.

As a new year’s resolution I would like to propose that dentists Australia-wide make 2016 a year when we, as a profession, aren’t afraid of being found guilty by association.

In 2016, make sure that you are focused on customer service, patient experience and, of course, being up-to-date with clinical standards. There are myriad courses that you can do, on topics from customer service, to communications, and all through every conceivable clinical subject imaginable (and some that you never would have thought as being part of dentistry) being run throughout the year, all over the country.

If not for yourself, then do it for your patients. And if not for them, do it for the rest of the industry….you’re giving dentists a bad name!