NAME: Dr James Tomlinson B.Ch.D. MFGDP(UK) M.Med.Sci (Oral & Maxillofacial Implantology) Specialist in Oral Surgery
PRACTICE: Oxford Place Dental, Barrow in Furness, Cumbria
POSITION: Clinical Director
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How do you maintain a healthy work/life balance?
That’s an interesting question. I’m not sure I always have done over the years, far too much work and not enough relaxation. The balance is ensuring your working environment has your health in mind. Things like not overloading your appointment diary, not making the day too long and taking adequate rest. A lot of the stress in dentistry is caused by not being able to see what you’re doing properly or working with unreliable equipment. If you can’t see what you’re doing you end up struggling with your posture – we’ve all been there!
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What measures do you take to ensure a healthy, stress-free practice?
It’s lots of things if you step back and think about it. Ensuring my staff are well trained and happy so they can take better care of our patients (and me) is a good start.
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What steps do you take for the welfare and comfort of your patients?
It’s all about the design of the practice. Ensuring the premises are modern and clean with stringent infection control measures in place. It’s also about treating patients on the most comfortable chairs and in the most comfortable position for them. This is made much easier by wearing loupes as they give you more leeway as to where the patient is positioned. Relying on plain eyesight means you may have to ask them to adopt positions they are not comfortable in, just so you can see what you are doing.
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Name a product that improves your personal wellbeing.
Personally, I’ve always been a big advocate of loupes. They certainly help you to see better, but the biggest benefit they give is to the health of the clinician – you can’t underestimate that. They make you sit ergonomically in a favourable work posture, allowing you to sit up straight and work from a distance without bending to get really close to the patient.
If I need to improve the clarity slightly working with loupes, what I don’t do is to bend forward. I actually pull back a little from the patient, keeping my back straight. Loupes encourage you to do this rather than being hunched up in a bent position all day long, which so many clinicians without loupes find they have to adopt.
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Name a product/technique that has improved your professional wellbeing.
Again, for me it has to be loupes. Being above average height (I’m 6’ 4’’ – though I’m probably shrinking slightly as I get on in years). I learnt early on that dentistry is not an easy job for tall people. Working posture is so important, particularly if you’re tall, coupled with doing a job that’s very demanding. Loupes without doubt allow me to adopt the correct working posture. As a consequence, and I’ve been in practice now for 38 years, I’ve never had a day off work with a bad back or neck problems. That tells you something!
