Not a sermon…

November 10, 2009

Just wanted to share a little episode out of my work day that is, to me, puzzling.

Had conversations with two clients – one person with whom we’ve worked for years, and a new customer.

The long-time client called to discuss material selection on a case he had just prepared.  We discussed a couple of options, and then settled on a type of restoration.  Afterwards, we entered into a general discussion of the business climate, which by all accounts is definitively slower compared with the recent past.  I think all of us have a tendency to do a little soul-searching under the circumstances, so I asked my client about the quality of the work he’s been receiving from our laboratory lately.  I regard this person as a very good clinician who makes an effort to keep abreast of the latest in materials and techniques.  I was pleased when he gave me the proverbial “thumbs-up”.

Later in the day, the new customer called.  He had just attempted to seat three, posterior crowns, and was not happy.  In his mind, the contours were awful; the contacts were way off – in short, nothing about these crowns was satisfactory.

I couldn’t do anything but scratch my head.  You see, I do all the final contouring of the restorations for our long-term client.  I pride myself on my morphology and anatomy.  I am diligent about insuring proper occlusal and proximal contacts (carefully seated on a separate solid model), and I had just been told that all was well.

And, I contoured the three crowns that our new client found to be completely without merit.

How is it that possible?

How can two dentists view the same technician’s work and have such diverse judgments?

I have ideas – For one, I’ve been working with one client for a long time.  Maybe over time, we’ve come to know what we expect from one another, and maybe there’s a touch of serendipity – The client’s preps and impressions match well with my die stone expansion (I would mention investing and casting, but we also do a fair share of CAD products like Lava and e.Max with excellent results), so we get a very accurate transfer of reality from tooth to model.  Or, maybe its in the temporization.  Or, maybe I had a bad day, but given I was trying to please a new client, I’m pretty sure I made every effort to put my best foot forward.

I just don’t get it, and its frustrating.  The new client made mention that we may be remaking the case.  Obviously, I would rather not have a remake, but there may be a silver lining.  If I get the crowns and models back, I can analyze what went wrong.  Once I have an idea as to the nature of the problems, maybe the doctor and I can have a discussion as to how we can prevent a repeat.  Maybe that discussion will be the beginning of another long-term relationship with a client who likes and respects what I do.

I sure hope so…

© 2009, Jeff Saylors. All rights reserved.