Darn Good Advice

Kuzmak (Townie name: skuzma2dds) graduated from University of Maryland. He practices in Glen Burnie, Maryland, as an associate. In his free time he likes to attempt Tommy Emmanuel songs on his acoustic guitar, although claims they take decades to learn.

Love science. Hated the idea of being in a lab all day. My dad mentioned dentistry calling it “people work,” which appealed to me because I’m an extrovert! I was initially opposed, but soon after realized it was the perfect career for my personality.

I thought that it would be easy; that patients would accept the recommended treatment; that I would always have patients.

Practice management; how to talk with patients to increase acceptance; how to increase production.

Other dentists; Dentaltown; videos and DVDs; CE; my employers.

The variance in treatment planning among dentists and finding a good associateship.

I might have considered moving out of state more seriously.

Your reputation is the number-one most important part of your career. Out of this saying comes treatment planning, quality, honesty, treating staff well, etc. Reputation is everything.

Patient communication.

The ongoing discussions of dentistry with other dentists throughout the world; CE; the availability of resources; networking with dentists in my area.

Fleming (Townie name: who R U) graduated from Ohio State University. He practices in Sarasota, Florida, and appreciates homemade meat loaf and macaroni and cheese.

I tried unsuccessfully to get into medical school. Once I got into dental school, I saw that dentistry was actually a much better fit for me.

I thought that patients would come easily and so would the money.

Business principles.

Dentaltown; CerecDoctors.com; Colleagues; my Patterson rep.

How difficult the managerial aspect turned out to be.

Business and investing courses

Be humble and have a willingness to learn.

Health issues and how they can affect a practice.

Advice, advice, advice. The boards are helpful in every aspect of practice.

Scoles (Townie name: drscoles) graduated from Temple University. He practices in Issaquah, Washington. He is a sponsored remote control helicopter pilot.

I lived in rural Oregon growing up. When I was 17, my doctor let me hold a mirror while he took my wisdom teeth out. I found it fascinating.

Dentists don’t have the same treatment goals or deliver the same level of care for their patients, even though we all get trained with specific goals in mind.

Management. We had one class on practice management. School prepares you to pass the boards, not run a practice.

Dentaltown; the two dentists I purchased my offices from; CE.

The morale of your staff is just as important to your success as being able to do a crown prep in a reasonable amount of time.

I would have pursued more education in the specialties earlier.

Make sure you understand your debt load and what it will take to repay student and practice loans.

Successfully balancing time between family, practice, professional development and fun.

In every way, about 50 times a day for the past nine years.

Harris (Townie name: Linc) graduated from University of Queensland. He practices is Bargara, Queensland, Australia. He claims to enjoy the offbeat hobby of farming.

When I got fissure sealants in my last year of high school.

I thought that I would earn a massive income. I neglected to think about tax, cost of living and student loans.

More repetition of procedures. It would have helped build hand-eye coordination.

Dentaltown; international travel; intensive hands-on courses; my reps; failures.

How long it took until simple procedures were no longer stressful.

A lot more continuing education in the first few years, even if it meant having to wait a bit longer to buy a house.

Spend most of what you earn on the best international CE for the first two years.

Dealing with crazy women who want dentures with flanges thick enough to perform plastic surgery miracles on their sunken lips… seriously.

Absorbing enormous amounts of information; presenting your own cases teaches you more than what anyone learns from your case.

Bailey (Townie name: drtammy) graduated from Case Western Reserve University. She practices in Wausau, Wisconsin. She enjoys a well-prepared steak.

It’s a second career for me. I went back to school for business management (health care) and realized I needed to be on the clinical side of things.

I didn’t worry about the size of my student loans. I thought I would have plenty of money.

Practice management and ortho.

Dentaltown; friends; my reps.

How difficult it is to get patients to complete the work that they need.

I would have been less of a pushover with treatment planning. I knew what the patients needed, explained it to them and then would let them talk me into something else. This unfortunately led to not always doing treatment in the patients’ best interest and not always getting paid.

Learn everything you can about dentistry and business management. No question is stupid. Don’t be afraid to work hard and charge what you are worth. Have fun every day.

Personal management can be a headache even if your staff gets along and works hard. Things are always easier when money isn’t a struggle, but that is when you have to best manage expenses.

Connecting with friends; learning; CE.

Dersley (Townie name: gdersley) graduated from Columbia University and University of Maryland. He specializes in prosthodontics. He practices in Burtonsville, Maryland.

I didn’t decide until my junior year of college. I liked health care but didn’t like the institutional feeling of hospitals and when I shadowed some physicians, I didn’t like how little time they could spend with the patients.

I didn’t take into account that in private practice, dentists have to work very fast in order to make a good living.

Communication and business skills.

Dentaltown; Dental Economics; Journal of Prosthetic Dentistry; PubMEd; Dental Clinics of North America.

The difficulty in filling my time and having enough patients with my initial associateship position.

I would have been more selective about where I chose to work. It’s very important to make sure your standard of care matches that of the office you choose to work in.

Find a place to work that has enough patients. You don’t want to sit around all day! You can’t develop your skills unless you practice.

I had multiple associateship positions that did not work out. Finding the right associateship position is very challenging.

Reading old threads; starting new ones; supplementing where dental schools lack in management and marketing; meeting and networking with doctors around the world.