The benefits of being an expert witness – a personal view

I have my own personal take on this, but suspect that the response will be different from anybody that you ask. Some people who just love clinical dentistry may not really see the point of pursuing a career in a non-clinical setting, but for those who perhaps want to reduce their clinical commitment slightly, diversify their income streams – or simply try something new – then these are some of the many positives.

Professional development

I have honestly learnt as much about implant dentistry from researching the scientific literature for the preparation of medico-legal reports as I did during any formal dental education. Good quality systematic reviews and meta-analyses will become the foundation of not only your written opinions, but keeping up to date with the latest research will also probably change the way you practice for the better. Your clinical decision-making will evolve through greater familiarity with current evidence, thereby reducing risk and enhancing outcomes from your own treatment.

You will also see first-hand how important accurate records are within a legal context, and improve your own record-keeping as a result.

Professional sustainability

By sustainability I mean two things. The first is physical – in dentistry we are notoriously prone to musculoskeletal problems and a bit more time away from the chair can be no bad thing. Whether this is simply less time doing dentistry, or maybe freeing up more time to exercise, there should be scope to reduce the risk of developing a problem – or allowing an existing problem to develop to the point where it becomes a more significant issue.

Secondly, now that I don’t work clinically full-time I definitely enjoy the time that I am seeing patients a lot more (and am probably much nicer to work with!). I’m still in my 40s so have a way to go yet, but currently I feel that I’ll be able to go on much longer in dentistry with a mix of clinical and non-clinical work compared to what it might be with just clinical work. 

Flexibility

Talking about this to a friend recently, they put it better than I ever could have. They said that in dentistry we become “institutionalised” to working in a certain place at a certain time – as people of many professions must do. Of course we can potentially control this to an extent, but there is no real opportunity for any spontaneous change and we are often governed by surgery time, staff availability, opening hours etc etc. Working from home writing reports for which the deadline is a few weeks away changes that. 

For example, if the weather is good I will often go for a long run or do something else outdoors, and then catch up with work in the evening (or get up really early and do it before). Or if you’re just content with your workload and fancy a day off to do something nice, you can do it! It takes a while to get used to this way of thinking but it can be incredibly liberating once you do. 

Plus you can work from anywhere, rather than having to commute to a dental practice. This would usually from the comfort of your own home, but can also be from a separate non-clinical office space or even whilst travelling. 

No “Emergencies”

Expert witness deadlines are usually set far in advance with plenty of opportunity to stay ahead of time as long as you are organised. With this type of work there shouldn’t be the potential for a patient calling in pain just before you go home (the dreaded 4.55 toothache), or somebody with a fractured upper anterior bridge on Christmas Eve!

Family time

For much of the time that my children were very young I worked full time in clinical practice. Many will be able to empathise with the feeling of being either absent (or exhausted!) during a lot of this period of life, and for me that was one of the most significant reasons I began to consider the potential for non-clinical work. I’ll now take my youngest to school a couple of times a week and/or pick her up, and I’m much more involved with taking them to their various activities after school. The odd walk and pub lunch with my wife when the kids are out is also a highlight!

Financial Effectiveness

Expert witness work can potentially be favourable to clinical in terms of financial reward, depending on the type of dentistry you do. This may potentially allow you to work fewer hours overall. In addition, since expert witness work does not incur any significant overheads such as a dental nurse, surgery hire, materials, or anything else included in a “split” of your clinical gross income, the profit-per-hour can be highly attractive.  

It wouldn’t be fair of me not to caveat these comments by saying that it took several years to build my expert witness career to the point where it could reliably replace the income from a day or two of clinical work. I worked very hard to do that, and for a while the expert witness work got squeezed in around everything else in evenings and weekends, effectively making me busier than ever. These benefits do not appear overnight – for anybody who has trained to specialise you will know that the education is just the start. With the correct training however you will be much more attractive to instructing solicitors, and at The Dental Expert Witness Course we will do everything we can to give you skills you need to build your career.

James Stafford