Reality Bites

ONs IN PRINT Reality Bites

Michael Young (65-72) faces up to a life beyond dentistry and the search to finding his ‘label’.

Michael with his award-winning book: Diagram Prize for the Oddest Title of the Year 2010. Photo by kind permission of The Yorkshire Post I ’d been taught how to do dentistry at dental school, but I was not taught how to manage a dental practice, which if you ever come to own a practice is something you really need to know about. I therefore taught myself how to manage my practice and when I thought I knew enough wrote about it in dental journals and magazines. Then, after 25 years of being a dentist, misfortune struck: I was diagnosed with the early signs of osteoarthritis in my hands and wrists, and was losing the essential manual dexterity needed to carry out clinical work. I sold the practice and after a period of not quite knowing what to do with myself decided to write a book about practice management.

All in all it took me about four years to put together a manuscript I thought was ready to submit to a publisher. The first (and the only) publisher to whom I submitted my manuscript offered me a contract; six months later the book was published; a year later it won the Diagram Prize for the oddest title, which is Managing a Dental Practice: The Genghis Khan Way. Now I didn’t even know there was such a prize, but each year the winner receives a great deal of international publicity, sales rise, and my book and me suddenly became the equivalent of dentistry ‘A-listers’. A James Robson (86-93) was in the audience at one of the first talks I gave to a dental business club meeting in Oxfordshire. Because of our common interest in dental business I have also met with Alan Suggett (64-70), a Newcastle-based chartered accountant and dental business specialist.