About DrJohn

byJUtama

194 followers

4 years ago

About DrJohn

Since my third diagnosis of cancer in May 2020, followed up by a major surgery and grueling radiotherapy sessions, I made the decision to hang up my dental hand piece. You can read my story 'Why me to lucky me a dentist's story on surviving oral cancer'. In addition to the cancer, I also suffered debilitating neck and back pain for three years prior to the (third) diagnosis. The decision to retire from dentistry was both hard and easy. Easy, because I came to terms to the fact that both the physical and mental stresses had taken their toll on my body, and were not sustainable if I did not make any changes. Hard, because I am giving up something that had been a major part of my life. Prior to the third cancer diagnosis, I had planned to practise dentistry until the age of 70. That's still a long way away and I feel that I still have a lot to offer in the dental world, in a different way, by way of writing.

My experience

In my 35 years experience of practising dentistry, the biggest challenge has been reconstructing a seemingly hopeless case, from a mouth full of broken down teeth, a 'dentastrophy', restoring it to full function and aesthetics.At the same time these 'cases' can also become the most rewarding experience in dentistry.

I did not see 'cases', but I saw a person, a human being, behind the dental carnage, who needed urgent help. This type of treatment can literally change a person's life, to see people who haven't smiled for years in public to someone who cannot stop smiling when they see you. I am the architect, builder, engineer, internal decorator and painter, working in the patient's mouth, with a mission to rehabilitate their teeth. You can read Barbara's story here.

I have been practicing dentistry for 35 years, during that time I have completed numerous dental courses in practically all disciplines of dentistry including oral surgery/oral medicine, orthodontics, TMJ pain,

cosmetic dentistry, sleep medicine, endodontics, prosthodontics (restorative dentistry) and sleep dentistry. I'd like to consider myself as a supergeneralist.

Now I am not directly involved with patients, I feel that I am still able to contribute to the community by applying my experience and knowledge in dentistry, to carry it forward and to help as many people as possible.

My core values - HATI

H - Humility

A - Authenticity

T - Tenacity

I - Integrity

Anatomically, the word hati means ‘liver’ in Indonesian, which is a common delicacy in Indonesia. But liver also means 'heart' when used metaphorically in both literature and in the spoken language. The acronym above represents my values that I carry on my day to day life and I will be mindful that these values will be reflected in my blog posts as I write from the heart.

What I will be writing

I will initially start writing on the most commonly asked questions by patients at my practice, such as braces, aligners, sleep dentistry, and so on. The blog posts will cover any dental topics based on my 35 years experience as a dental practitioner, on the nuances of all aspects of dentistry. Today anybody can literally find any information on the internet, but personal experiences are more difficult to curate.

I urge you to write back to me, to ask me any questions on dentistry. You may want to share with the readers your own stories of your dental experiences, good or bad. My goal is for readers to gain dental knowledge and to avoid pitfalls they may encounter when they visit their own dentist.

John Utama
Founder of Dentally Aware
BDS MBA