Dentistry can be a rewarding career for many practitioners, with opportunities to manage a business, build relationships and learn new skills.
Six dentists recently shared with Becker's their biggest career accomplishments.
Editor's note: These responses were lightly edited for clarity and length.
Question: What is the biggest "win" of your career so far?
E. M. Ferneini, DMD, MD. Greater Waterbury Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeons (Waterbury and Cheshire, Conn.): The biggest "win" of my career so far has been to take care of my patients the way I want to be treated. This means allowing adequate time to treat each patient as needed. This involves spending ample time to diagnose each patient and perform the appropriate surgery. Part of our patient management includes being available for our patients to answer their questions and concerns. I feel lucky that a lot of my patients have become friends.
Joseph Graskemper, DDS. The Bellport (N.Y.) Village Dentist: The biggest win in my dental career was the formation of one of the first fee-for-service, large (at that time) multi-specialty practices back in the early 1980s, with 10 dental chairs in approximately 3,000 square feet in a large regional mall. It was situated on the outside entryway to the mall. It gave me great insight into the various specialties and how integrated they are. It has shown me that it is the general dentist who is the captain of the patient’s care, working together and directing the patient and specialists to provide the optimum outcome for the patient.
Having such a large practice when I was young (under 30), marketing was necessary, so I founded Dentcom Advertising to provide ethics-based advertising and my own dental lab, Sorrento Valley Dental Arts, which provided full service to not only my office but several others. There was also the large staff, the start of infection control as we know it today and the conversion to computers back then, which were all real challenges. I must add that interest rates for business loans were at an all-time high with the prime rate being about 20%. It was a very challenging time but very educational for developing a great team practice with full capabilities to fulfill all of the patient’s needs and wants.
Peter Lucchese, DDS. Hudson Valley Dental Arts (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.): Dentistry has allowed me to support a family with two daughters that included private school from pre-K to graduating high school, as well as my daughters graduating with no college debt. Secondly, during my 31 years of practice, I have restored many mouths. Six anterior all-ceramic restorations, single tooth implants, full arch extractions and implants or full mouth rehabilitation. So the patients have won with the high quality of dentistry I delivered consistently and my family won with the compensation as a result of my profession.
Patrick Petley, DMD (Bethel Park, Pa.): The first "win" was when I made the decision, after five years of general dentistry, sole proprietor experience, to become a fee-for-service provider and no longer be a network provider for any insurance companies. My life changed. I stopped working evenings. I was no longer burned out. My gross production decreased and my net income increased. I got my life back.
The second "win" in my career was the day I was accepted into a graduate endodontic residency after 25 years of general dentistry. It was a life-changing event of great proportion. I am so happy today as an associate endodontist working for an amazing employer. I have enjoyed an incredible dentistry career journey.
Rick Singel, DDS. (Cincinnati): Without a doubt, the biggest "win" of my career was building a practice that doesn’t stress me out. I love working. I love being in my office. It wasn’t always this way, but now I love what I do and plan to never retire.
Clark Stanford, DDS, PhD. Dean and Professor at the University of Iowa College of Dentistry (Iowa City): The opportunity to work with incredibly smart faculty and students, creating learning opportunities with every patient encounter. Dentistry is changing so fast, and I’ve had the ability to see the sense of discovery when a student uses a technology for the first time, encounters a challenging situation and deploys the ability to address the issue(s). Being a part of so many advances in discovery research, clinical innovations and education is the best reward anyone could ever ask for.