Inspiring Comprehensive Patient Care

Transcript from Video:

My name is Dr. Umar Haque. I’m a dentist in Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois. It’s a small practice; a lot of families come to me. I’ve been practicing there for about 10 years now.

I just started working at Midwestern University as well as an adjunct faculty member one day a week as well and I really love dentistry. I enjoy a lot of different elements of dentistry. I enjoy the surgical side of dentistry, enjoy the restorative side of dentistry and enjoy integrating the two substantially and just creating ideal care for my patients.

The first thing that really hit home to me about Seminar 1 was just the balance; the overall balance of things and just the philosophy of care.

That was one big take home for me was balancing, you know, life with family and profession and faith and fun and putting it all together in that sense. But besides that, in terms of dentistry, just understanding the entire TMJ complex and understanding how it relates to musculature. I’d read about it. But when you actually sit there and hear it and really feel it, it was inspiring.

Ever since starting the Dawson Academy, one of the things that has changed dramatically is the way I approach every given patient.

It’s not just exams and an x-ray; it’s really studying the patient and what their needs are. Not just on the surface, but comprehensively and completely. That has changed the way in which, you know, in terms of the office how I schedule my initial consultations. It has changed the way in which I approach every given patient. Not every patient has the same treatment.

Back before Dawson, you know, I wanted to give everyone essentially sort of the same smile so to speak. But that’s changed dramatically since taking Dawson. Before Dawson, sometimes I did feel like a tooth carpenter, and that’s not what we are. We are physicians of the masticatory system, and if we implement all of the essential protocol the right way and record the data the right way, we’re going to have excellent results; and just make sure we don’t skip steps.

I have to thank Dr. Polansky for encouraging me to join with the Dawson curriculum. I have to thank all of you for doing an amazing job coordinating all of the seminars. I’ve really enjoyed the sort of continuity that one sort of built upon the other and just enjoyed the engagement that I’ve had with my peers as well and it’s continued outside of the confines of the Dawson curriculum. A number of the other faculty members within Dawson, I’ve connected with them. Dr. Scott Finlay, Dr. Raj, Dr. Glenn DuPont, Dr. Wilkerson. I’ve been able to email with them and correspond with them and ask questions and bounce ideas off of them and I’m looking forward to joining the Alumni Academy as well.