Page 5 - Bulletin Vol 27 No 1 - Jan. - April 2022 FINAL

Message from Donald Hills, DDS

Our Art

I went to see the Venus of Urbino at the Uffizi in Florence Italy. I was
moved by her beauty. Beauty can have such an affect.
Many will agree Titian’s painting personifies beauty, some may think
otherwise. My wife wanted to move on, I had to stay a little longer.
Great art can do that. As dentists, we are blessed with the ability to
create our own great art. I am not just talking about the obvious
completed case esthetic; beauty also can be in a crown prep or a
perfectly placed suture. A beauty only dentists can see. I often take a
moment and stare at a completed cavity design, no one else in the room experiences it quite like I
do. It takes just a moment, and the satisfaction is very real. What a wonderful thing we get to
enjoy.

Do accountants get the same feeling from a perfectly balanced spreadsheet? Does the
barista at Starbuck’s rejoice in a perfectly brewed creation? I hope they do. A perfect sinus lift, or
implant placement, a flawless impression, or spot on root canal fill are truly unique to the “I am a
dentist experience.” I wouldn’t want it any other way. We are driven by science, but the art of our
dentistry defines who we are. We are artists, don’t let anyone say otherwise.

The paint brushes of the great Masters of the Renaissance and our handpieces both creates
lasting beauty. The Masters’ to be enjoyed through the centuries, ours to be admired in the here
and now. For the patient, the art that is his treatment matters most. As dentists, we get the
added pleasure of the journey (the cavity prep, the suture placement). The science makes it
possible; our artistry creates the outcome.
The beauty we create is done to exacting detail in a living, breathing, sometimes wet or
bloody environment. Michelangelo may have been 70 feet in the air, but his stone canvas was
pretty stationary and dry. It could be argued ours is the more difficult working field. Is the finger
of God, reaching to touch Adam’s outstretched hand depicted on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel,
more special to Mrs. Smith than my finger finishing off a class IV restoration on her front tooth? I
think for Mrs. Smith, perhaps not.

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Without the science, the 21 century technology and the material advances at our disposal
our art would certainly be more difficult. Yet together, the skill we possess, and the science we
have, allows us to create truly lasting beauty. Titian had his canvas, we have our patients, both of
us have our art. The Venus of Urbino looks out to us through the centuries and brings joy, the art
of doing quality dentistry, on a more personal level, does so as well.

Don

Editor-in-Chief

Nassau County Dental Society ⬧ (516) 227-1112 | 5