GDA Action October 2021

36 • October 2021 your help. You can volunteer to keep yourself up to date and refreshed. You can positively affect the life and dental career of a young person who would benefit from your dental and mental wisdom and experience (Photo 23).  Conclusion Personal Gratification Imagine if someone in your family had special needs. How would you want them treated by another dental professional? I treat every older patient the way I want Dr. Mondre to treat my parents when they see him in NYC. I enjoy professional satisfaction when a dental procedure goes well, when the margins and occlusion are fine, the appliance goes in without complications or issues. More than that, I derive personal satisfaction when I can provide a dental service for a patient who was initially a challenge and ended up surpassing expectations. It is these mini successes that provide my greatest personal gratification and professional satisfaction. Working at Full Throttle How long does it take you to do two crowns start to finish? What about six large composites? How about full mouth deep scaling by your hygienist? How much longer would that same procedure take on an uncooperative or intellectually or developmentally disabled or frightened, anxious patient? Realize that when patients are sedated with pills plus nitrous oxide, there is about a 95% chance you will successfully complete that procedures in nearly the same amount of time. The little extra time for sedation and possible restraint should be financially compensated by the fee generated from the nitrous oxide. Here’s the interesting news. When you perform the same procedure in the OR under general anesthesia, you can expect your production to quadruple. My production is always about four times faster when the patient is asleep and not moving. We work 6-handed with no pausing. We start every case on a full stomach and empty bladder, and work straight through to completion. I call this working at full throttle and providing the finest clinical dentistry one can render. It is easier than working on manikins or dentiforms, because you have two assistants (or a hygienist) helping you. What now? Where do I go from here? Here is the story I promised you earlier. My mother and father, now in their late 90s, living in New York City, are survivors of the WWII Nazi concentration camps. As a German born child of two Polish Jewish Holocaust survivors, I grew up in Brooklyn, NY keenly aware of the life-long effect of being denied access to medical and dental health care. My parents often talked about being denied all human rights for 3½ years each while imprisoned in the Nazi forced labor camps. Today, they are alive and well in NYC, and still talking with area students eager to learn some valuable life lessons. One lesson, in particular, was suppression of human rights and being denied access to health care. This was part of the mosaic as I was growing up in their home, their environment, their memories, and their experiences. This is part of what motivates me to act in promoting access to dental health care. I dedicate this series of articles to my prime inspiration, my parents, Leon and Lili Levy (Photo 24). So now I ask. What motivates you? What will you do to act? Will you obtain the skills and tools to make this world a better place? You have what it takes. Treating patients with anxiety or special needs is not for everyone. But if you have the motivation to leave the world a little better than you found it, here is a wonderful opportunity to challenge yourself and share the skills you already possess. It is both a practice builder and a humanitarian gesture. I applaud you for your efforts on your personal journey. I can be there along with you should you reach out. I sincerely want to hear about both your successes and your frustrations. Together, we can problem solve the clinical challenges you will encounter. Together, we can improve what we know can be improved. My email is hlevy@ drhlevyassoc.com. We can do hard things. Personal and professional rewards await your next step. Note: Images of people not masked or gloved are patients’ family members. All patients or their POA have provided written consent. Photos taken prior to the COVID-19 pandemic may not reflect current PPE standards. ANXIETY OR SPECIAL NEEDS Continued from page 35 Dr. Harvey Levy practices general and hospital dentistry in Frederick, Maryland, where he emphasizes comprehensive dental care for individuals with anxiety or special needs. He graduated from Tufts Dental School in 1974, GPR at Eastman Dental Center in 1976, taught full time at UPenn GPR, and is on Dean’s faculty at UMD Dental School. Dr. Levy has earned a Mastership and six Lifelong Learning Service Recognitions by the Academy of General Dentistry (AGD), along with eleven fellowships, five Diplomate certificates, and board certification in Integrative Medicine. He is the recipient of the ADA Access to Care Award, the AGD Humanitarian Award, MD Governor’s Doctor of the Year Award, Special Care Dentistry’s Saul Kamen Award, Morgan State University Public Health Award, Tufts University Distinguished Alumni Award, Inaugural Maryland State Dental Association Humanitarian Award, and the honor of running the 2002 Olympic Torch in honor of Maryland patients with special needs. Dr. Levy has authored 40 dental journal articles and book chapters, and has presented over 150 lectures and workshops on treating patients with special needs. More on website drhlevyassoc.com. He is also a martial arts master and three-time inductee into the US Martial Arts Hall of Fame. 24-Leon and Lili Levy in NYC