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Professional Courtesy Thomas Giacobbi, DDS, FAGD, Editorial Director Dentaltown Magazine

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Married to Dentistry


Thomas Giacobbi, DDS, FAGD
Editorial Director,
Dentaltown Magazine
 One of my unique traits as the editorial director of Dentaltown Magazine is the fact that I practice dentistry four days a week. Four times each year, in our Office Visit feature, I ask Townies to open the doors of their practices for the benefit of our readers. This month, you will get to read a special edition of Office Visit – my own practice (see page 54). I have frequently discussed practice issues and lessons learned in this monthly column, but I felt it was time to share a bit more information about myself and my practice. The interview process was both enjoyable and unsettling at the same time. Most dentists are private by nature and even the thought of opening your office to a photographer has you looking at your practice in a new way.

The questions that Ben Lund asked Grace and me in the interview were thought provoking and illuminating. Grace and I shared our thoughts on an issue that many of our readers are involved with – dental spouses. In our case, we are both dentists. Grace and I were classmates in dental school and we got married the year after graduation. When I started dental school, marrying someone in my profession was the last thing I expected to happen, but by the time we got married, I realized the wisdom of our decision. Having a spouse who fully understands the daily challenges of dental practice, and has the ability to cover for me when I can't be in the office is a terrific benefit.

I think there is an important distinction to be made between the dentist/dentist spouses and dentist/team member spouses. When both spouses are dentists there is a better balance of power in the office since both serve at the top of the organizational chart. On the other hand when the spouse team consists of the dentist and another member of the team (office manager, hygienist or dental assistant), there can be many obstacles. Once you have an owner mixed in with the non-owner team members there is a dynamic as if they are working with a "narc." They must be very careful in the presence of this person because they know it is a direct line to their boss. Additionally, the owner/team member may begin to assert his/her "higher rank" with co-workers and resentment can develop. Other members of the team cannot go to the owner dentist to share their displeasure with this person.

For example: when I finished my residency program, I started working for two male dentists who went to the same dental school 20 years earlier. They had a very successful practice and they needed help. After a few months in the practice, it became clear to me that one of the dentists had a relationship with his dental assistant. Everybody in the office knew about it, but the relationship was never officially acknowledged. In other words, the dentist and his assistant thought the rest of us were too dumb to see what was happening. When his partner discovered this situation he was confronted and he refused to let the assistant go. The two dentists parted ways after more than 20 successful years together.

Grace and Tom Giacobbi in their Chandler, AZ practice		 Please take a moment to read this final paragraph before you start sending me angry e-mails. Over the years I have met many dentist/team member spouses who are very successful together. The common threads I have observed in these successful pairs: the spouse is the office manager, a position that keeps them one organizational step above the rest of the team, the spouse is more hands-off to daily operations and often works outside of the office for part of the week, and finally, the spouse never pulls marital rank on the dentist in front of the team. I hope you find the points discussed in this column as a helpful springboard to improve the spousal relationship in your dental practices. Do you have a practice problem and need help finding a solution? Please send your questions, comments and suggestions to: tom@farranmedia.com.
Dentaltown Magazine
September 2025
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