Biography:
Professor Richard J. Simonsen retired from his position as Dean and Professor at the University of Sharjah College of Dental Medicine in 2016. Prior to that he was the inaugural Dean at Midwestern University College of Dental Medicine, Glendale, Arizona. Educated at the University of Minnesota where he gained his DDS degree in 1971 and then his MS in Epidemiology and a certificate in Cariology. Professor Simonsen was awarded an Honorary PhD degree from the University of the Western Cape, South Africa in 2010. He has published extensively particularly in the areas of preventive dentistry, esthetic dentistry and minimally invasive operative dentistry. He authored four text books and was the first to publish on the Preventive Resin Restoration (PRR) technique and on the etching of porcelain for restorative procedures such as porcelain veneers.
- How did your perspective on the Middle East change after living and working here for some time?The average American probably has a questionable attitude towards the Middle East, just like so many from that region may have of the USA. I wanted to see for myself what the culture and the people were like. I was excited to meet the people and explore a new part of the world! I wanted to find out for myself how things are in your country. My perspective changed from one of concern for my safety— (so many people asked me “aren’t you scared? It’s not safe there!)—to excited positivity. I found the people in the Middle East to be wonderful people who want the same things in life that we want in the United States: a good job; a safe home; a good education for their children; and to be able to have a job and to be able to put food on the table for the family and live comfortably. I really enjoyed meeting you and your friends and the people of the region. So I have become a very positive ambassador for the UAE and the Middle East with everyone I meet in the USA!
- What is a simple everyday rule that students should stick by to be successful in their careers during student life and perhaps later on in their careers? A good simple every-day rule to be successful is to find a niche in the profession where you can be the best of the best. Dentistry is a wide-ranging career that makes it difficult to be always up-to-date in every area. Dentistry offers many different employment options from practice to teaching to administration, and many different specialty choices. You need to be good in many, but an expert in one area. I think you will have great satisfaction throughout your career if you have an area of expertise where you are regarded as the expert in your dental community and respected by your peers.
- What was the most challenging aspect you faced straight after graduation? The most challenging aspect that I faced straight after graduation was whether or not to go to graduate school immediately, or to go out into the practice world. I’m in favor of a year or two of practice before going to a specialty career as this enables you to have time to be sure of your choice. You need to love what you are doing every day, and if you don’t, then you are in the wrong career. I spent two years in practice in a community clinic for school children in Norway, and then returned to the University of Minnesota for two years as a clinical instructor and in practice before going back into graduate school after deciding that research, teaching and academic life was what I wanted to pursue. I have never regretted any of the paths that I chose and I’m very happy that I ended up in dental education and administration.
- Is there something that drives/drove you to accomplish the goals you set out to achieve? I have always been driven by a sense of doing everything to the best of my ability, so I guess that is what drives me, and it’s what I tell my children. Do the best at any job you have whether it be as a street cleaner, or as president—just do your best. So that is what has driven me throughout my career; a career that just sort of fell into place, and for which I never really had a plan. It just happened! And that’s too long of a story to tell here but obviously having a plan would be better!
- What did you enjoy the most practicing or teaching? What would you say is your favorite aspect of teaching? Well, since I left practice for teaching, I guess it’s pretty clear that I enjoy teaching more, although I really did enjoy practice very much while I was in practice, and I was reluctant to give it up for many years. But you can look at it this way, when you’re in practice you are affecting positively one person at a time—your patient. And that is in most case a very positive effect. But when teaching you can affect a whole classroom, or a whole college, hundreds of people at one time in some way. So your influence is potentially much greater as a teacher and it continues on. When your patients die, your work dies with them. Your effect on students however, can go on for years and then be passed on to their students or colleagues. Perhaps some of the things they learned go on and on and on helping the profession through many generations of future patients, in different ways. My favorite aspect of teaching is without a doubt being around the young bright minds of students, and being able, I hope, to positively influence their career path and perhaps even their lives in some small way. Students become just like my children and with a happy investment of time, effort and love, I hope they will go on to wonderful careers, and to influence others in a positive way.
- What part do you believe social media has to play in today’s practice of dental medicine? Is it a good addition or does it do more damage than good? Social media: that’s a tough question because social media can be both positive and negative. We can spread the word to patients and educate them on social media, but some colleagues choose to promote themselves at the expense of the profession, of knowledge, or of their patients. I find that unseemly and also when certain unproven aspects of dentistry are promoted on social media, perhaps methods that have no scientific basis, it makes me uncomfortable as many people will believe what they see and not be able to properly assess if the treatment is safe and beneficial. A perfect example is cosmetic dentistry—veneers for example. They are a wonderful treatment, where indicated. But they can also be misused for profit. The patient must be able to trust the dentist to do the very best for them, the patient, rather than what is in the dentist’s own self-interest. We are in a profession where the public trust is inviolable for the ethical practitioner. We must strictly hold to science and not to those aspects of practice that generate the most income, but those that generate the best outcomes for our patients.
