Did You Choose Dentistry or Did Dentistry Choose You?

Dentists with an entrepreneurial mindset recognize their practice as not only a profession but also a stewardship. Altruism leads to personal and professional success.

Let’s imagine for a moment that you have a dental practice, which serves hundreds or even thousands of patients and is located in a remote area where the closest dentist poses no threat of competition because of the great distance away from your practice. Imagine also that you are the sole dental care provider in your community. Based on this example, if you were to examine your practice as it is currently constituted, with the list of services you provide, how well do you think you would be able to accommodate the diverse needs and wants of each patient in your town? Furthermore, how well would you say you know your patients; their names; their oral care needs, etc? Hold this thought, as I will return to it shortly.

In a previous post, I compared the differences between the entrepreneurial-minded dentists to the “so-so” dentist that appears to merely go through the motions as a service provider. I must point out that in almost every continuing education course that I have hosted, the differences in attitude between the two are palpable. In reality, the so-so dentist is rather easy to pick out in a crowd. From the moment they sign in to the final “Thank you for being here” farewell, the so-so dentist exhibits a certain body language that demonstrates a degree of apathy. Here are some clues:

• If the so-so dentist could show up in pajamas without public humiliation, he probably would

• The so-so dentist occasionally musters up a rare courtesy smile from time to time, but puts little effort into friendliness

• The so-so dentist arrives on the hour or shortly thereafter with newspaper, not notepad in hand The so-so dentist that does come early does so to grab the closest corner seat to the back of the room

• The so-so dentist looks for an electrical outlet to make sure they can text and surf the net without their smart phone battery going dead

• The so-so dentist is first to the free buffet line, first to exit at the end of the day and last to take any valuable notes that could actually enhance their practice

I may have taken some liberties with embellishment (not much), but I suspect you get my point. Now, let's contrast this with the entrepreneur dentist of which I have identified earlier. Before so doing, however, let me just make it clear that I am one that does not equate the entrepreneur to the “evil, greedy, insensitive capitalist”, as some new age thinkers would classify. The truly successful entrepreneur as I have come to know them is the backbone of society and their income and lifestyle is more a reflection of their goodness rather than any vices they would possess. In fact, success and goodwill are parallel and seem to follow them wherever they may go. Here are some traits possessed by the entrepreneur dentist that are evident at CE courses I’ve hosted:

• The successful entrepreneur dentist shows up with shoulders upright and head held high

• The successful entrepreneur dentist is dressed like a pro and shows up early

• The successful entrepreneur dentist smiles and shakes hands upon arrival

• The successful entrepreneur dentist speaks to others on a first name basis

• The successful entrepreneur dentist shows up early, sits up front and take notes

• The successful entrepreneur dentist respectfully contributes to the discussion with great questions and shares valuable experience while never stealing the spotlight

• The successful entrepreneur dentist sees continuing education as a way to better care for his/her patients; they actually want to be a more effective practitioner!

As we consider our original scenario, what must the progressive dentist do to go above and beyond mere so-so efforts when serving patients and what is it that would keep patients faithfully coming back again and again with confidence in their provider? I believe the successful dentist; the entrepreneur dentist, first and foremost embraces education and takes what they learn with the intent to further develop a broader range of skills for a more complete care for the benefit of their patients, recognizing of course, the need to refer to other professionals when it is appropriate to do so.

Finally, much like the shepherd that better knows his flock than the sheepherder, the caring dentist knows their patients by name and by need. In short, the caring dentist chooses the pursuit of excellence in dentistry because of personal pride and out of duty; a Hippocratic call to serve if you will, which makes the successful entrepreneur dentist a master of both relationships and service. Perhaps it could it be said that dentistry has chosen them, not the other way around.