THE LOST ART OF READING

Abstract

Life is synonymous with flux, change and a sheer lack of consistency. With so much innovation and evolution going on around us, resting on one’s laurels is purely ludicrous. Therefore it should come as no surprise as the word “Iqrah” is often quoted by educators and scholars for it literally commands us to continously push our horizons of knowledge, explore new avatars of all that exists by “reading”.
By the end of the final professional examination, most of us general practioners scarcely pick up the books again, until we plan for postgraduation. Even after postgraduation, there is a trend where most of us lock up the books for good and indulge in a monotonous routine of practising what ever we find comfortable e.g. doing a root canal treatment just with manual instrumentation or treating a fracture with one time tested and practised approach. Where has the innovation gone? Why have we stopped enlightening ourselves?
Some may argue its a lack of time, a busy routine, the uselessness of it, no apparent benefit, the difference between bookish techniques and clinical experience and others may not be comfortable in experimenting with approaches they have not done in routine before. The fact is that reading is not limited to just books, continuing education of dentists requires reading of journals, attending seminars, symposiums, conferences, workshops and journal clubs etc. Achieving and attaining degrees like BDS, FCPS, MDS, MSc, Mphil is not to make books disposible, rather it is to develop a taste for learning and expand on it as we strive for positions of higher learning. Day by day and year by year, our profession strives for achieving the next closest thing to perfection,
and only those will acheive it who shall pursue a tradition of constantly reinventing themselves as practioners and teachers by doing sub specialty specialization, short locums or completing additonal masters in health professionals education, health research or doing something as simple as reading a book...