Posted by seattlebill on April 29, 2005 at 08:03:28:

In Reply to: Re: Dental Appliance + Tongue RF posted by billinvan on April 28, 2005 at 16:54:42:

Bill,

I totally agree with your approach. You must be pro-active about these things (as you are doing).

Not all old school guys are dead wood. However, in surgery and surgical sub-specialties there is definitely a quantum divide (as it were) between generational styles and teaching. Some old techniques get modified and come around...but old-school slice & dice is an anachronism .

Judging one's operative skills based on research is another tricky area. It depends on which author you are on the paper as to if you are the generator of the concept, a research flunky trying to buff-up your cv, or a clinical participant in the department. Although, I will grant you that at least a well published doc is open and alert to, and will be very analytical about the latest developments. I'm just not sure about his actual operative skills and judgement.

As for the stats & numbers...I collected a ton of medical articles and papers trying to chart my course before my multiple interventions. I even bought a couple textbooks too. Most of the stuff is on-line...can be googled (through a lot of sifting though) or on sites like med-line, med search, etc...

I always quote stats on these posts that are documented. When someone here or on TAS posts that their doc gave them a "50%" chance of "cure" or improvement, I take it as based on individual judgement and based on individual patient assessment rather than (in most cases) numbers based on medical literature. As you know, these stats too can be manipulated somewhat. I'm not sure which numbers are more reliable...but I think it is potentially mis-leading to post an individualized quote as many may refer to it as the common experience.

Anyway, I'll get out of this never-ending string. See you on Forum 17

Bill

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