After my tour of duty as a navy dental officer, I opened my private practice in 1979. This was well before the Internet and smartphones. And I didn’t have a network of experienced doctors to help me in a time of need. Whenever I had an unfamiliar situation, I only had textbooks, copyright 1950, to refer to. These textbooks explained how to place silicate restorations and how to remove impacted teeth with a hammer and chisel – not very helpful.
Fast forward to today, I have been a supported doctor with Heartland Dental for the past 9 years. Heartland has an incredible network of mentors to help our doctors. My role is a Regional Doctor Mentor (RDMO). As a RDMO, my role is to oversee and support mentors, making sure every doctor in our network receives the guidance they need. Mentorship is a deeply rewarding way to give back. There are many times that I will be walking down the hallway to my next patient only to receive a text from one of my mentees. “Dr. G, I have a patient in my chair and I am not sure how to handle this situation.” I can’t help but think how much would I have loved to have had that support to lean on when I started.
Heartland Dental has a wonderful number of resources to help our doctors. To start, we all know that dental school does not prepare you for every situation that can occur. That’s why each RDMO holds a weekly training session for new graduate doctors. The meetings not only work on expanding clinical skills, but also on how to gain patient rapport, case acceptance and managing staff. These are skills that are rarely touched on in dental schools.
Beyond mentorship, we also have a remarkable education department. Courses range from expanding endodontic and orthodontic skills to communication with patients and staff. There is a year one track which helps hone basic skills and a second track which includes more advanced procedures to add to one’s toolbox. And as a doctor learns these new skills, they know that they have an experienced mentor available to help them.
As part of the educational offerings, we have a series of workshops where the participating doctors have the opportunity to work on live patients to either learn new skills or finetune ones that they already have. These workshops cover a variety of themes such as esthetic dentistry, implants, endodontics and oral surgery. These workshops also include over-the-shoulder mentorship by highly skilled practitioners.
Another invaluable resource is the All Doctor email. It’s a wonderful forum where clinical and management questions can be answered by world class dentists who have an enormous amount of knowledge and experience.
If you are an experienced dentist who would look forward to giving back to the profession, mentoring with Heartland Dental is an incredibly fulfilling opportunity. And if you are a fairly new dentist, Heartland provides magnificent support for making your entry into the dental profession as smooth as possible.
Explore how Heartland Dental can support you here.