Concepts Editorial: Tribes

Editorial:

I was sitting in the backseat of a Piper, 4-Seat, Archer II at the Durango La Plata Airport listening to my son get clearance prior to take off with me as a passenger for the first time. After a smooth lift-off, we were airborne flying over Mesa Verde and around the Sleeping Ute Mountain (shaped like a sleeping Indian lying on his back) on our way to Monument Valley. It was a bright, clear, western day with a slight head wind. I was reminded of the legend of the Sleeping Ute. The Native Americans in the area believed that this Great Warrior God would rise again to unite them and help them in the fight against their enemies. They, however, never united and their Great Warrior God is still sleeping there. What if a majority of the 253 North American Native tribes had united? Could they have negotiated a better settlement with the United States government? Although several regional treaties existed, notably with the Northern and Southern Arapahos, the Kiowa, the Apache, the Creek Confederacy, the Iroquois' “Six Nations,” and the Choctaw Confederacy, along with the large but unwarlike Cherokee to mention only a few, the tribes largely maintained their independence, while fearing and fighting with each other as aggressively as they did with the settlers. My son, the pilot, is also a dentist, and I am reminded of some advice a dentist grandfather of an oral surgeon colleague of mine received prior to entering dentistry: “Dentists are an unusual group. They arrange their firing squad in a circle–aiming in.” Of course, this has nothing to do with wet- and dry-fingered dentists criticizing each other's techniques or lack thereof. I am equally sure it has little to do with misunderstandings and lack of communication among dentists who practice in clinical settings and those who teach in dental schools or those who review for insurance companies. It probably only mildly relates to those professionals who use articulators, face bows, or myomonitors, and those who do not. It could even involve those dentists who are occlusially-oriented and those who do not respect the tops of the teeth. What about those who now take courses avowing to crown every tooth in the upper and lower arch in the name of esthetic dentistry as opposed to those who practice conscientiously? What about those who practice East Coast Dentistry and those who do West Coast or Florida Dentistry? We have groups with ideological guidelines and flash points that keep even the closest of colleagues divided on key issues. What if all these groups “buried the hatchet” so to speak and decided that it is of common interest to work together on issues where we have major agreement and resolve differences equitably? The Sleeping Ute did not awaken. The mountains confirm this, the Native American tribes did not unite, and they are living on separate reservations. When will the sleeping TMJ tribes unite into a formidable nation? Currently, the American Alliance of TMD Organizations is working tirelessly to unite the various disciplines and groups and experiencing some measure of success. It is the only organization that seems to care about such issues as grants for clinical research, teaching TMD courses in dental schools, the right to practice, insurance reimbursement, and guidelines for clinicians. Will other organizations step up and offer their expertise, and influence and join the cause, or will their alarm clocks remain on snooze?