Today I started to review some basic questions on physiology and histology of periodontology. I couldn’t remember the answers to some of the questions like which Protein molecule can be found Keratinocytes?
On the other hand, there were many questions I could easily answer based on my experience in my practice; like which area has the least amount of keratinized gingiva?
These two different situations made me realize how the world of practice can differ from the theory-based knowledge. In theory we usually had to learn from the molecular level despite not using all those information in our daily practice. To be honest not all those information is actually needed in our clinical based daily practice anymore. Yet there is many other information we get to learn (and not just memorize) while we put them in use, which I believe make bigger impact in our daily practices.
In my field of practice there is no room for error and therefore I have to be able to equip myself with as much updated knowledge through Seminars, Workshops, Books and Articles. But the skill to recognize which information can be useful in my practice on treating my patients can actually be useful on a long run as well.
Some of my students or colleagues may ask “then why we had to study all those detailed information when in fact some of those are not actually handful during practice?” and the answer lies in the importance of the basic science.
Yes, I agree that I cannot remember all the histology slides we memorized under the microscope with their three main colors of red, pink and violet cells. But still it was knowing them that had brought us here and knowing those basic sciences had helped us to have a better understanding of what’s going on in a larger anatomical scale.
For me it’s always a must to review those basic sciences like physiology, histology and pathology in the molecular and cellular level at times just to remember the results we see in our patients after each treatment is because how the body responds to those treatments at the cell and molecular level. Also, I am truly fascinated by how nature works in molecular and cellular level.
But I have to admit the college world is totally different from what we use and seek in our clinical practice. If the earlier was about passing the requirements and getting better score, the latter definitely is about best treatment we can offer our patients with the most comfortable process they can experience.
Maybe that’s the main reason as practitioners we become more clinical oriented after graduation and working as healthcare providers rather than mere theoretical information. After all our patients prefer to be treated by a doctor who has a healing hand and is expert in treating their diseases rather than just knowing what type of chemical attachment do keratinocytes have to basal lamina!!!
“Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.”
– Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.