Gheghis Khan Dentistry Book Wins Odd Title Prize

A book advising dentists to run their practice with the brutal tenacity of Genghis Kahn is a must-read for aspiring clinicians this spring.

“Managing a Dental Practice: The Genghis Khan Way,” by former dentist Michael Young, won the honor of oddest book title this year from The Bookseller. Most of what qualified it for the Diagram Prize had less to do with quality advice than the head-scratching thesis that managing your dentistry in the methodology of 13th-century warlording would maximize income and profit. To non-dentists, the knowledge of your practitioner reading this would only lead to speculation of he or she becoming a “butcher.”

This year’s winner follows in the wake of other remarkable oddities, including “Living with Crazy Buttocks,” “Greek Rural Postmen and Their Cancellation Numbers,” “How to Avoid Huge Ships,” and “Highlights in the History of Concrete.”

In the foreword to “The Genghis Khan Way,” one Stephen Hancocks writes, “Although some in the West see him in negative terms, the Mongol leader created one of the world’s greatest empires. His hugely successful strategies included intelligence gathering, understanding his rivals’ motivations, being quick to learn and adopt new technologies and ideas, and successful people management. Genghis Khan is one of history’s most charismatic and dynamic leaders – and you will need all his skill, strength and tenacity to succeed in both dentistry and business.”

And there you have it. Dental clinics across the English-speaking world (for now) will model after the empire-building of Genghis Khan, the man who 700 years ago slaughtered an estimated 40 million people and raped a record number of women. In two violent decades of conquest, Khan’s sexual activity helped people the world, with 0.5% of all living men descended from the Mongol emperor. Is this the kind of man you want working on your teeth? We hope not.

Genghis Kahn (1206–1227): lover, fighter, accidental environmentalist, dentist rolemodel.