We have frequently heard that dentists are, as a group, different from individuals in other professions. Although I may be challenged on this subjective observation, I believe we tend to think differently than other professionals such as engineers or architects. I don't believe that most people outside of dentistry really understand us, or our profession. I was once asked by a very nice, sincere woman why dentists have been reported as having a high suicide rate. Working as we do in a confined area without peers, our work largely unseen or unnoticed when it is successful, giving intense attention to details that will not be appreciated by those outside the profession, and largely guided by our own knowledge, conscience, and ego, we take pleasure primarily through inward gratification.
Prosthodontists are probably an exponent of the above characterization.
I appreciate that other specialties in dentistry also deal with minutiae and attention to detail, but from my biased vantage point, I believe that, generally, Prosthodontists would be characterized as being obsessive- compulsive. With time we come to accept the fact that our goals and our criteria for acceptability must often differ. In time, we come to another realization - that most of what we do will eventually fail. Nothing is more disconcerting than to have to remove a fixed restoration that you had once placed with a modicum of pride and satisfaction. Let me add another word to the characterization of a dentist - passion.