The Portuguese words “Ócio” and “Negócio” have common roots.
The word “Ócio” comes from the Latin “otium”, which refers to free time, leisure, rest. Over time, this idea of free time evolved into the modern concept of leisure.
The word “negócio” comes from the term “negotium”, which is a combination of “nec” (not) and “otium” (leisure). So, originally, “negotium” meant something other than lei- sure, i.e. an occupation, activity or enterprise.
We’re not going to go into detail today about the importance of leisure, and in particular Being, to the detriment of Doing, particularly in today’s societies: for some reason we’re Human Beings and not Human Doings…
What I wanted to emphasize is the importance of valuing the concept of Business, because it has a very respectable origin.
We often hear people say that dentistry is not a business.
It seems to me that, in fact, what they’re trying to convey is that it’s not a business like any other.
In Portugal, for example, the law states that the performance of a dental medical act corresponds to a pecuniary consideration from the recipient of the services, without prejudice to the legislation applicable to voluntary work and social action. This recognises the obvious, which is that dentistry is not only a health activity but also an economic activity.
So what is the business in dentistry?
You can read the full article, in Portuguese or English, in the Portuguese monthly edition of Dentistry magazine:
Open the English version of the article (pdf).
Open the Portuguese version of the article (pdf).
Posted by Orlando Monteiro da Silva 
Orlando Monteiro da Silva 