“Did you always know that you wanted to teach?” This is a question that I’m asked very frequently, and my answer is probably like many of my colleagues: “Absolutely, not!” When I entered dental school, my goal was to return home to Memphis, Tennessee, after graduation and practice general dentistry. Little did I know, my career would take… Read More »
Each year in general dentistry has taught me something about myself and this profession. As I prepare to go into a yearlong special-care residency program in June, I am looking back on everything I have learned in the last four years as a general dentist. The first year of dentistry taught me about treatment planning…that I could no… Read More »
In the 1980s, it was said by an inventor, R. Buckminster Fuller, that human knowledge had been doubling every century. As of the year 2020, researchers have estimated that our knowledge is now doubling at a rate of once every 12 hours. With an exponential increase in knowledge over a 40-year period, and with a constant rise in… Read More »
One of the best things about being a dentist is that your career is what you want it to be. On the surface, I know a great deal about many subjects. Dental school prepared me with just enough knowledge to get by and sent me on my way. From there, it was up to me to seek opportunities… Read More »
Being a new dentist in the current job market is not easy. Sky high tuition loans, a shortage in the labor market (that includes assistants and hygienists), being asked to perform hygiene apart from clinical dentistry, and having to pay high rents if you prefer to be in the city, are just some of the concerns we are… Read More »
A little over a month ago I left working full time at a Federally Qualified Health Center. I have spent the last six years of my career working in public health, and the first three years were a couple of short stents working in mobile dentistry visiting nursing homes, a couple of different private practices, “Medicaid offices” and… Read More »