Dragged through a hedge backwards

A few weeks ago I took some one to get a COVID vaccination. As we were sitting in the waiting area one of the doctors who was giving the injections walked by to get something out of a cupboard.

He looked like he had been sleeping rough for several days. His hair was long, dirty and uncombed. His shirt was heavily creased and untucked. He had a two-day growth. His jeans were skin tight and worn out. His shoes were dirty and unpolished. In all he looked a total mess.

After he went back to his consulting room the lady beside me turned to me and said: "I hope I don't get him!"

While the old saying goes, "You can't judge a book by its cover", people can and do all the time. By looking like a homeless person this doctor diminished his trustworthiness in he eyes of many of his patients.

To me, his appearance indicated carelessness and lack of attention to detail. It also indicated thoughtlessness because, had he cared to ponder for a moment, he might have realised that patients would find a slovenly doctor unappealing.

Maybe he graduated top of his class, but based on his appearance I would not trust him to do any significant medical procedure for me.

As dentists we need to be careful with the image we project. Are our finger nails clean? Men, have we shaved? Is our dental jacket or scrub clean and freshly ironed? Are our shoes polished?

These may seem to some people like trivialities but the general public has no solid criteria for judging our competence. Therefore they will use things such as how we present ourselves to make that assessment.