Dental Humanities

The next couple of weeks are going to be a pretty hectic, so I apologise in advance for the slightly disorganised posting of blogs. This week I want to discuss an idea that’s been circling the brain for the last couple of months, regarding dental humanities.

Firstly, my experience within the medical humanities over the previous months has massively expanded my understanding of the relationship between health professionals and their patients, as well as the societal cultures surrounding professionals, ethics, medicine and healthcare in general. Dentistry is such an underrepresented field within the humanities, and I believe a greater focus within this area would be of huge benefit. I take great inspiration from the dental historians who have dedicated their efforts towards the history of dentistry, whether through the History of Dentistry magazine, Lindsay Society or Henry Noble group (David McGowan, Jo Cummins, Rufus Ross and Helen Marlborough, just to name a few). I believe it is so vital to learn about how our profession came to be, and how that can guide us moving forward. I also admire the fascinating work being done at Kings College London with the development and integration of the humanities within undergraduate dental education. And the work of Shaun Sellars and Colin Campbell with their podcast Incisive Decisive, contextualising philosophy and ethics within current issues in dentistry. I wish (and hope) for the greater establishment of a dental humanities network, that would provide a platform to highlight different aspects of the humanities and to be able to educate not only undergraduates but qualified practitioners. As health professionals we are dedicated to the continuation of our education throughout our lifetime, but I believe the non-clinical aspects can shape how we practice much more than the clinical. These are not simply ‘soft skills’ (a term I detest). I hugely believe that expanding our knowledge outwith the purely clinical realm will not only expand our comprehension of our profession but will make us better practitioners. Whether this is ethics, social geographies, anthropology or the arts (and many more); there are always relevant lessons to be learnt. The underrepresentation of dentistry within the realm of healthcare is by no means a new issue, and the quasi-separation of dentistry from medicine is historic, but not always a negative thing. I think that forming a more prominent platform of dental humanities would encourage more people to not only engage and expand their knowledge but motivate people to contribute to the discipline. If you know of any such platform that is involved with the humanities in dentistry or would be interested in trying to establish such a platform or network - please do get in touch!

Olliver