Part-time dental teaching: a personal retrospective

A prosthodontist in private practice who teaches part-time describes the benefits he has received from combining these aspects of his career. The rewards of teaching early in professional life include professional identification, the opportunity to share views with senior colleagues, and learning from the patterns of mistakes make by students. Later, the rewards included experience synthesizing and organizing one's knowledge and the inspiration to pursue advanced training. Still later, the challenge of working with graduate students who are constantly striving to advance the field prove rewarding. Throughout, the common theme of personal and professional inspiration is a characteristic of dental education.