In Japan, it is still common to shoot patients' x-rays and immediately grind away if there is a decayed tooth, but in the west it is different. In an emergency situation, such emergency measures are sometimes carried out, but it is otherwise common to undertake fundamental treatment. First, the entire oral cavity is thoroughly inspected, a treatment plan based on scientific evidence is set up, and a plan is decided on while discussing with the patient before treatment finally begins. Compared with Europe and the United States, I feel that Japan's dental medical care is 30 years behind at the point of university education. Although there is no problem with basic and universal knowledge because the number and shape of teeth, anatomy, histology etc. do not change, there is no high-quality literature or research article being produced in Japanese despite clinical knowledge, dental technologies, materials, and facilities being developed day by day through deepening research.
For that reason, it is difficult to acquire cutting-edge technologies and knowledge in Japan, and we are constantly conscious to update them by participating in overseas academic conferences and training. What I do think I am lucky in is that this is occurring in this era. Even though I am living in a rural area, I can gather the world's information on the internet. I am fortunate in that I would not have had access to this information several decades ago. Instead of treating patients with empirical rules and intuition, I collect various types of information to conduct treatment based on scientific evidence, and try to implement treatments that have had no issues for over a year after their clinical trials.
There are times when the pain of the tooth becomes as bad as the pain of delivering a baby. The very first dentists came about to remove that pain, but that kind of treatment is completely common now. I think that what is more important than that is the restoration of the teeth after ridding the pain. If you are treated in the current Japanese medical insurance system, tooth filings which were put in to fill a hole may come off or crack, cavities may form between said filling and a tooth, and secondary problems can occur as a result of the initial treatment, and there are cases where treatment must be continued over and over. However, if appropriate measures are taken, these fillings should not become broken so easily. The current system has the advantage that the citizen can receive medical practice affordably, but on the other hand, high-quality treatment cannot be provided. In that case, there is no choice but to reduce the cost by all means, and the direction becomes one in which the latest knowledge and technology acquired become meaningless. I feel that this is the current trend of dentistry in Japan and it is a problem. In its essence, healthcare costs money. What is the patient's desire? Do you only want to take away pain? Do you want to find a problem even if there is no pain, and fix it so that the tooth can be used for a long time? There are various patterns of demands. In order to find the best landing point, our clinic has made it possible to choose non-insurance-covered treatment.
For people who wish for high-quality treatment without insurance coverage, I recommend "dental doc". It is the dental version of a complete medical checkup, and we take X-rays of the mouth, look at the engagement of teeth with a model, and conduct inspections for periodontal diseases or the presence or absence of bacteria in the saliva. Based on the result of the examination, I will give counseling for about an hour and explain the current problem and actions that must be taken. It is very hard to fix your teeth after you get cavities or get an oral disease. In order to minimize the burden on patients, it is important to discover a problem as early as possible.
I have never felt that I cured a patient 100%, and I still continue to study because I think that it is not enough. Of course it is not that I have failed, but there are times where I feel that I did perfectly, only to think later that I could have done this and that, or that I could have taken another approach. I want to provide perfect treatment for all patients in all situations in all fields of dentistry. I would like to perfect my dental care. For that purpose, I think that it is necessary to reduce the size of the clinic when thinking about the span of the next five to ten years. Once, the number of patients increased too much, temporal restrictions became more of a problem and I was not able to provide care that was up to my standards. It is obviously good from a managerial point of view, but I was not feeling much pleasure.
Rather, it became a huge stress because I could not provide the type of quality care that I was aiming for. On the other hand, if I do things truly as I'd like, the clinic will close in three months. In that sense, I think that I will never obtain 100% satisfaction, but I'd like to get as close as possible. At the same time, I think that my mission is to train younger dentists. That's why I give lectures and write books besides my daily practice work. If there are more copies of myself, the level of dentistry in Japan should rise. Because what I can do is limited, I would like to contribute to society narrowly and deeply. My treatment takes time and I look at the very core of issues, so it takes longer than average to finish treatments. However, since it increases the prevention awareness of the patient at the same time, when looking at it in the long term, the number of doctor visit will decrease. I would like to make it a clinic that provides even higher dental care.
