Aims after graduation?

This is a message for those dental students entering the big wide world. Take it easy. There is no rush to be the biggest and the best. On a daily basis we are exposed to flash and fancy dentistry but you have to realise that this isn't what most people do day in and day out. Menial tasks such as checks and cleans and simple restorative are the bulk of most if not all general dental practices. Get good at the simple stuff first. Focus on your bread and butter dentistry in getting efficient, high quality dentistry going and focus on the fancy stuff later. What is more important and impressive than doing high quality fine tuned prosthodontic work is to give painless injections, managing patient expectations and providing a comfortable and stress free appointment. In the end, no matter how fancy your work is, the patient has to like you to return and give you repeat business. It is all well and good to have high aspirations, but don't rush into things at 100km/h. And never think you are as good as you can ever be. There is always something new to learn and ways to improve. Dentistry is an ever expanding field and we have to keep at the forefront if we don't want to become a relic of the past.