There’s probably nothing more beautiful than a smile. We can connect with everyone with just a simple smile. It’s an emotion, a way of expressing, a symbol of hope, and a sign of happiness. There’s this small thing with such a large impact to be thankful for and then there’s one person who works on what’s behind it, a dentist. We talk about a lot of things in the world and if we just stop and imagine a world without dentists, our teeth will start aching, the smiles will fade and the beauty will surrender. That’s the importance a dentist holds in our lives. It’s just we don’t appreciate what we are blessed with, we lack a sense of gratitude. A dentist is an artist and many fail to understand. He’s the uncrowned king, the architect of smiles, a surgeon of a kind with the clash of styles. When we suffer from toothaches, our all other capabilities are hampered and there’s a saying “It isn’t the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out, it’s the pebble in your shoe”, the pebble here is the toothache and the dentist is the one who gets rid of it. It’s like he sets us on a different path altogether to achieve our goal that otherwise seemed impossible because what we don’t lose, we don’t go looking for. Not everyone can stay for hours and work on our teeth, not everyone can work endlessly without complaining, not everyone will go out of his comfort zone to relieve you of some pain, a dentist could do it and today we will talk about one of those dentists, Dr. Abid Majid.
Abid Majid hails from Hyderpora, Srinagar. He’s a Dentist in Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir. He has done BDS from JSS Karnataka and MDS in Periodontology and Implantology from Ghaziabad, Delhi NCR. Currently, he’s working as a Dental Surgeon at Health Department, Government of Jammu and Kashmir, and at Safe N Sound Dentocare in Srinagar.
The way it started, Dr. Abid initially wanted to be a Pilot, but due to some health conditions, he had to opt for something else. He recalls, “Luckily, I was a versatile person so my next option was to be a medico. I got a little bit of research done and found dentistry to my interest. So I opted for it as I love to share smiles”.
While practicing dentistry there were a lot of challenges he had to face but there was this one glaring thing present that he focussed upon as he mentions, “There are many challenges but the most noticeable ones are lack of knowledge on the importance of oral health among patients. Number one. Number two, misconception about most prominent dental procedures, like RCT, etc. Thirdly, the importance of saving a tooth as many go for tooth extractions despite knowing the fact that the tooth could be saved. Number four, dental quacks have created a mess in the market with regards to different dental treatments resulting in patients’ lack of faith in dental procedures. And lastly, treatment charges, as quality comes at a price especially in the dental world as it is a costly affair. Even though to deal with all such challenges is really difficult, but I have tried my bit to overcome these problems as much as I can”.
Dr. Abid mentioned a lot of things that he wants to change and bring into the oral health scene. Those changes included,
- Imparting proper Dental Education to patients before the start of treatment.
- Trying to convey the truth behind most of the Dental misconceptions.
- Making patients know the difference between a Dental Quack and a Dental Surgeon and how these Quacks make a fool out of these innocent patients by offering them mouth-watering, very low charges against different Dental procedures
- And of course the treatment quality.
Dr. Abid also shared an incident that he vividly remembers, “About five years back, I was coming back from the hospital, from a far place named Khan Sahib, Budgam as I was posted there. There was a complete shutdown in the valley with no transportation available. A lady patient had visited some local dental technician at Khan Sahib for tooth extraction. He had fractured her bone and she was suffering from excruciating pain, lying on the roadside at Khan Sahib with nowhere to go. While I was traveling back from the hospital some informed her about me. They stopped my car and pleaded for treatment. After taking permission from Block Medical Officer I took her to Sub District Hospital Khan Sahib and fixed her fracture. It took a lot of time as the procedure was complicated and resources to treat her were limited. But thanks to Allah I did it and succeeded in treating her. And all this I did at the behest of my life as conditions were really bad outside and I had to travel a lot of distance. All these problems felt small in comparison to her smile after she got relieved from that condition”.
We don’t see acts of kindness like these anymore, this is something that is becoming very rare given the fast-paced lives and when we mentioned it to the ever-humble Dr. Abid, he responded with, “Haha! There’s nothing like that. Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. If we are good the world is beautiful”.
Dr. Abid also spoke about the advancements extensively. Since everything in the world is gaining positive momentum in terms of techniques and technologies, Dr. Abid emphasizes, “Future advancements and techniques are a boon for coming generations. To name a few, we have Lazer guided Dental Procedures, Nanotechnology, Regenerative dentistry with stress on stem cell regeneration, Implants, Microscopic aided surgeries, Prickless injections among others”
As the techniques and technologies advance, a process of evolving also starts to kick in. It depends upon a lot of things and it’s a process that takes years as Dr. Abid says, “Dentistry has evolved a marathon. As a matter of fact it has completely advanced subject to condition if it’s being practiced”.
Finally, he spoke about the things that he’s looking forward to, “There is a lot I wish further. I’m dedicated to providing optimal health care in a relaxed environment where I treat patients like they are part of my own family. I hope one day I can reach the poorest of the poor and still offer him the best. I have a dream of a charitable chain of hospitals all around. Delivering health benefits to all, of top-notch quality with rich and poor being no bar to receive the best”.
Author is a Journalism student at Women’s College MA Road Srinagar. She can be reached at [email protected]
