Chasing after the irrelevant

Please indulge me for a brief moment — this has a valuable point.I have a life outside dentistry. Next year I'm helping run an art show. The raison d'être for the show is to raise money for charity.

This art show has several major income centres and several areas that are a time-wasting, money-draining distractions.Yet, the people who run the pointless areas love them.

They nurture them and feel very protective if anyone threatens them. But, the bottom line is this — they take a lot of time and effort and produce negligible results.

Are there similar areas in your practice of dentistry?Botox? Dermal fillers? TMJ? Sleep apnoea? Dentures? Paedodontics? Fresh breath? Cerec? These areas aren't time wasters in and of themselves but they are time wasters if you just dabble in them.

These areas can use lots of time and require endless CPD hours but do they make a commensurate contribution to your income? Probably not.A simple PFM or all ceramic crown is simple, easy and profitable. Yet it is so unglamorous and under-appreciated.

If you want to have a successful and magnificent 2017 focus on the areas that produce the results. Refer off the rest.