Mentorship
We live in a really weird and funny time in history. Let me explain. I like to play golf, which is not uncommon in our profession. I started playing golf when I was 17 years old. In the almost 30 years since I started playing I’ve taken maybe 4-5 lessons. I’ve just learned how to play on my own, which is how I think most people learn to play golf, at least most people that I know and play with. On a recent golf trip with my friends I play the worst golf I had ever played. It was exhausting and embarrassing. I strongly considered never playing again. That’s how bad it was. After coming home I decided it was time to rework my swing and try to actually learn how to hit the golf ball as opposed to just going out there and winging it. I started watching a lot of Youtube videos from reputable teachers. I also joined a couple of Facebook groups for beginning golfers. While I wasn’t technically a beginner, I felt like I had to strip everything down and build it back from scratch, so I wanted to act like a beginner. I learned a lot from those Youtube videos. The next time I met up with my friends to play I played considerably better and felt good about where my game was at.
This isn’t a story to tell you what a good golfer I am now. As I spent time in some of these Facebook groups I noticed something that blew my mind. Every single day, multiple people would video their golf swing and post it on the Facebook group. They would then ask for comments or feedback on their swing and what they should change. This absolutely floored me. Why on earth would you be soliciting advice from total strangers that may or may not have any idea what they’re talking about? I could have easily commented on anyone’s video and given them terrible advice. Before you call me a cynic, I don’t believe people’s comments on the video were meant to be malicious, but what makes them qualified to comment on anyone’s golf swing? They could have meant well, but they could have been a total hack like me giving advice that they don’t have any business giving. It led me to think about dentistry and who do we seek out as mentors in our profession.
If I were a new grad/younger dentist I would greatly appreciate some mentoring, but what should I be looking for in a mentor? To me it comes down to three things, amenability, availability, and capability. First and foremost, does the owner doctor even want to be a mentor? There are plenty of associateships were the senior/owner doesn’t want to mentor someone. There are associateships were you are either working alone or with another associate. You could be working with someone who graduated with you, or maybe a year before you. Listen, some experience is better than no experience, but you’re just barely scratching the surface of dentistry a year out of school. You also don’t want to be learning someone else’s bad habits. You also want to look for a mentor who is patient and kind. I know that’s tough to tell after having just met someone. You most likely haven’t worked with that person to see how they really are at work, let alone if they would be a good teacher, but I also believe that if you ask the right questions you can drill down to whether this mentor would be a good fit for you or not.
Secondly, you need to look for someone who is available. The mentor might be a great guy/gal but they’re not available. You might be working in one of their offices that they don’t work in. You might be working the day’s he doesn’t want to work because he’s cutting back and doesn’t want to work as much. That’s why he/she hired an associate. I was an associate for a year when I lived in Fort Worth, TX. The owner had another practice that he worked in exclusively. He never set foot in the office I was in unless it was to tell me that bite registration material was just as good as heavy and light body impression material and that it was cheaper. I spent an entire year having to deal with crowns and bridges that didn’t fit because the owner wanted to save a few bucks and didn’t have to deal with the ramifications of using the incorrect materials. Plus, he had a cut-rate deal with a lab that would push his crowns to the back of the line because he was paying them half of their published rates. Needless to say, this wasn’t a guy that I wanted mentoring from. I’m glad that he wasn’t available to me because I didn’t agree with anything he had to say, but I digress. For whatever the reason, if you are looking for a mentor to work with you, be upfront about that from the get go. Make sure the hiring doctor knows that’s what you want. I currently have three offices and while I work in all three, I’m obviously not in all three everyday. When I interview potential associates I make them aware of that fact. I actually think it’s the best of both worlds. I’m available to demonstrate procedures, talk about treatment planning, and generally just answer questions, but the associate also has the autonomy to make decisions on their own and learn lessons the hard way, like we all have. A good mentor isn’t going to prevent an associate from making any mistakes, but he/she is going to help coach the associate on what to do better next time to avoid said mistakes in the future.
The third thing to look for is capability. As an associate you’re not going to really know if your mentor is the best clinician on the planet, and spoiler alert, he/she probably won’t be, but you can know if they do the procedures you want to learn and get better at. You can also learn a lot about procedures in dentistry that you may not want to do from a mentor. My first associateship out of school was with a father and son duo. The father, to this day, is probably the best clinician I’ve ever known. He was very well versed in full mouth rehabilitation and he was good at it. What I realized by working with him was that I was not interested in tackling full mouth cases. They required so much time, so much money, and I new that level of dentistry would be way too stressful for me. If you are wanting to place implants, best to find a mentor who does so. If you’re unsure as to what you think you will want to do, then find someone who does a little bit of everything. Get as much exposure to “bread and butter” dentistry as you can. You might decide, like I did, the molar endo isn’t for you, or vice versa. Find a situation where you will get as much exposure to as many aspects of dentistry as you can, and go from there.
It goes without saying, but I’ll say it again. I believe these opportunities are more readily available in rural practices. Rural dentists usually choose to expand their skill set to help as many patients as they can. Otherwise, patients may have to travel long distances to see specialists. Regardless of where you choose to practice, if you are seeking a mentor make sure they are amenable, available, and capable of helping you.