Dentistry, Helping Hands, and Me: the person behind the mask

When I go to the office each day, there are so many things that I enjoy. I enjoy the ability to work, most of the people I work with, the craft and potential for growth as I learn to be a better practitioner and help eliminate pain. And I enjoy educating people about dental health and making them smile. But I was reflecting today and one of the things that I realize I enjoy most is that for a few hours a day, I don’t think about myself and my problems and personal issues. Instead, I put myself aside, put on my coat, put on my loupes, put on my mask and gloves, and focus on helping others – addressing the tasks at hand, addressing SOMEONE ELSE’S needs. I am able to learn about others and connect with them. I get a glimpse and am included in the lives of others.

I know that I am very blessed and have a lot of fun and excitement in my life. But just like everyone I am dealing with some personal issues– crossroads regarding work, crossroads regarding family, trying to think of future professional plans while still thinking of personal plans and issues, health, my aging parents, my own desire for family, mortgage, bills, student loans, etc. But when I’m at work I realize that how I deal with my own complex and perplexing situations is to not think about them so much and focus on other people. While reflection (and self-reflection) is very important to our ability to learn from situations– I feel that sometimes we take too long to think about ourselves and our worries (current, future, or past situations). It can become a vicious cycle and skewed memories of events that don’t even matter anymore. As we become involved in our own fun, exciting, and complicated lives – worrying about the future, worrying about a bills, worrying about family matters, anything – it is easy to spiral and get lost in your own concerns.

But when I come to work – problems are presented to me that I feel that I can solve or learn from and help solve and REALLY help someone else. It is inevitable that patients share their current life issues when you spend time with them – and I see that everyone is going through their own personal experiences trying to survive, like me, this wonderful and complex situation called LIFE. Even with personal matters on my mind, the smiles and encouragement and help and assistance I give to my patients each day is genuine and out of genuine caring for them and the end result of their improved dental and overall health. And even, if I make them smile for a moment, their mental health…and mine.

I read an article from 2010 after writing my above post today and it talked about how helping others improves mental health (http://www.momlogic.com/2010/01/how_helping_others_improves_me.php) and this holds true probably for many in the medical, dental, health, and public service professions.

And then, I come home tired from work and tired from talking and sharing myself with others, but at the same time I am REFRESHED & REJUVENATED. I have a refreshed, different opinion, perspective of life and appreciation for the important things– family, love, happiness… and all in partly because I am happy that I helped that scheduled list of patients and people during the day. I come home, make and eat dinner and share myself with my friends on the phone, or husband while eating dinner, and realize that perhaps the problems I might have now will settle and resolve, and I SMILE and look forward to the next day of scheduled patients that I can help.

image courtesy of: www.momlogic.com

Disability Insurance and Irks from the Dentist chair

I had a meeting last week with my disability insurance agent and was admittedly a little disgruntled after my meeting – not only by the fees but also by the WORDING of disability policies. Why hasn’t anyone before fought these insurance companies on their POOR policies!? I pray SO much that nothing happens to me where I need to access by disability policy and yet monthly, I still pay without fail my premium.


As a young woman in my 30s and having an overactive thyroid (a chronic autoimmune problem that has been a part of me since I was almost 23 years old) my disability policy is about $118 per month with dividends that reduce that by a little – but it is STILL a significant expense through the month. My chronic health issue that was more genetically linked than anything I have done has caused me significant concern in my life all by itself- in the fact I have it, medications, side effects, etc. That it is in underwriting as a rider on my disability insurance is a HUGELY annoying and irksome side effect that I cannot ignore and that I cannot forget every time my back feels a little sore or my thumb hurts a little bit after a full mouth extraction case!!!

As a dentist, it is a catch 22. If you don’t have disability you don’t have the option of having aid. You have disability, you pay out the nose and every little thing from the broken toe as a 3 month old to now comes into effect. As a female dentist, I am at a catch 23 (if there ever was a thing). Disability doesn’t include maternity leave – not even as a partial disability when you can’t work because your stomach is preventing you from moving and everything is swelling. As an independent contractor, I am at a catch 24 (again I am making it up), as I do not have workman’s compensation. Disability is all on me. And The wording in my disability policies regarding my inability to be paid if I ever REALLY NEED disability, unless I am a vegetable (which I hope to God I never have to even think about), really makes me LIVID!!!

I have two different policies with two different companies- but what about the wording policies look like regarding % disability (what makes me 18% disabled vs. 19% vs 20%) and how is that even measured??? Why is one policy significantly less but pays more – is the wording of the policy going to make it impossible for me to get access to disability? So what am I paying for?!?! And why do I still need to keep adding more and more money to a policy that I don’t even know I’ll get access to.
Insurance is something we all have JUST IN CASE – but we ALL pray we don’t ever have to need it. But, in my humble opinion, if we need it, we should be able to get it – without games, without headache. Insurance claims, health or otherwise, and the companies are formidably known for denying claims and people are FIGHTING for payment. In health cases, I strongly believe that this shouldn’t be so. If you are disabled and you have to fight not only for your life, family and livelihood AND have to fight the insurance company just on semantics bothers me IMMENSELY.

So…I guess I am VERY passionate about this. But my question is – what do we do??? What about legislation? What about dentist and people’s rights? I know that some people abuse the system but that is NOT everyone by any means. Do I continue to pay my disability insurance monthly and pray I don’t have to use it, and say YAY and HOORAY because I pay something and get nothing!!!?? Or do I not have disability insurance, and get screwed because I don’t even have the option of having assistance?

I always try to be positive – but so far all the alternatives sound, all around, questionable. HELP!

image courtesy of: sagacheapinsurance.com

Invaluable Mentorship, Friendship, and Life Coach

Mentorship used to be how many in society taught the next generation a trade or a skill – and mentors were respected and PAID for their assistance and advice. I have been very fortunate in my life to have a friend and mentor who I greatly respect, but who didn’t sign up to be a mentor and wasn’t paid for all his help.
In all areas and arenas of life I feel very lucky, blessed, and grateful to be where I am. As we all move forward in this journey of life, appreciation is not, and should not, be far behind. While I know that I worked very hard (and will continue to), I am also very aware that I would not be where I am today if it weren’t for the advice and help of many people along the way. For everyone, I’m sure this statement holds true. Included in that list of people are my family and friends and a few mentors. And it is one specific friend and mentor in the dental field that I want to post about today.
I met Dr. C – my friend and mentor over 12 years ago when I was just a fledgling college student looking for a job and more exposure to the world of dentistry. I applied for a job helping in the front office of Dr. C – an established periodontist in the community that worked very close to my college university. I helped out a few days a week in the office – with insurance and scheduling and office management – allowing me a taste of the front office world of dentistry. And I worked there for a year after college while I applied for dental school. Little did I know then that this job and the people that I met there, and relationships I made, would be some of the most influential in my life.
When I reflect back on the many years that have gone by and his involvement in my life development I can truly say that not only is Dr. C a friend and mentor, but has been a life-coach as well. Dr. C was my employer and knew that I wanted to go to dental school. He was one of the people to review and even edit in RED pen some of my personal statement for my dental application!!! He encouraged me to apply outside of California for dental school thus encouraging me to go to school on the east coast (something I wouldn’t really have considered if not for him). When I received an interview for entrance into dental school he coached me on interviewing skills and the interview process. When I went to the east coast for my studies and we still kept in touch – over holidays and emails. His previous office manager is like a second mom to me – and recently helped me with all my wedding flowers and arrangements. When I wanted to return to California for residency, he offered and applied to help teach the specialty of periodontics to me and my co-residents during our year of study! If that wasn’t enough he even helped me find one of my current jobs, in a time when the economy is so terrible.  I mentioned both him and his previous office manager in my June 2011 wedding speech- they have been THAT influential in my life. I’m exhausted just LOOKING at all he has been involved in. I have called him many times and we have spoken at length about jobs and work and I even called him TODAY to ask him about a possible job opportunity and situation. I realize that next to the opinions of my family and a few friends, his thoughts and opinions are ones that I highly value.
In turn, I have also been rewarded by not only his advice and friendship but also seen his life progress as well. During the course of knowing him, he met and married a beautiful and smart woman, bought a lovely home, has two wonderful boys who are amazing bright and growing SO fast, and seen him and his practice continue to be a success and leader in the community. As my own life becomes more and more complicated and the days become more and more busy, I reflect and realize that he didn’t have to help me or do all these things. He has a life and family of his own and a busy schedule and patients and bills and his OWN life to deal with and figure out, let alone mine. And it makes me all the more in awe and appreciative.
So this post is in honor of my mentor and friend and life-coach Dr. C. It is also in honor of mentorship – and appreciation – and how by having a mentor it makes me not only grateful but also happy and willing and hopeful that I can have even the smallest kind of influence on someone or others as he has for me.
Do you have a mentor or friend that has influenced your life? I would love to hear your story!
image courtesy of: primarygoals.org

Making Dentistry Fun – finally a responsible Dental Contest!!

It is Sunday – one of my favorite days of the week. Hard because I know the work week is fast approaching, but wonderful because it is STILL the weekend!!! So, I thought I would have a fun post (like you have the comic sections (aka: the funnies)) on Sundays.


I was looking around and realized that there aren’t many dental giveaways (not like clothing giveaways, bridal giveaways or makeup giveaways or contests). As a dental professional if I buy from a company a COSTCO sized bulk amount of toothbrushes, toothpaste, and sample floss then I am able to get some little extra goodies included. But this doesn’t apply to the wonderful mass public and social media– hence not promoting the fun side of dentistry! So, I found a website that is having a dental contest and wanted to share!! I think we’ve all heard of the Ultimate Makeover and I am very aware of that dentistry is no small expense. SO for one lucky person who needs dental work this contest might be the one for YOU!!!
Dear Doctor (Dentistry & Oral Health) www.deardoctor.com is having a SMILE MAKEOVER CONTEST!

How do you enter? You go to http://www.deardoctor.com/makeover/ and you can fill out your online registration form. You can enter every day, once a day. Contest ends September 30, 2011. I appreciated that they said that if you need a complete and total smile makeover then they would help you, but if you win and need only certain aspects of dentistry addressed (including braces, gum health evaluation, implants, etc) then they would address those needs and not force you to have a complete and total makeover. That is responsible, professional, and FUN. The website also has great articles in their magazine about dentistry, current events, and an area you can ask dental questions. So check it out!

Good luck and Happy Sunday to you all!

Image courtesy of: libertyhilldental.com

Starting-A-Business Side of Dentistry…Um…Wow

A girlfriend of mine in the state of New York is in the process of acquiring a practice and we were discussing her current situation today in her long and tedious yet EXCITING process of dental practice acquisition. After hearing about the army of people she has at her disposable – her accountant, her lawyer, brokers, fees, etc I was admittedly very overwhelmed and started to try and find out information (for my own future knowledge) about what I would need to do here in California before I considered working on my own or if I ever buy a practice, etc. So I started to do some research into the great unknown for me – the BUSINESS side of dentistry. In this case – we’ll just start with the STARTING-A-BUSINESS side of dentistry even before we delve into the rest. And let me just say…WOW.


According to a poll I saw in the ADA News (August 1, 2011 volume) in 2009 the most common type of employment among private practitioners was SOLE PROPRIETORS over 60%.) I am an independent contractor in one office, and an employee in another. Independent contractors apparently made up 3.6% of those in private practice in 2009, while an employee status was 10.5%!!!! We are in a very volatile and risky time in the economy – unemployment is extremely high, jobs are scarce – but it also seems that there are just as many businesses thriving. So what do you do?

There is SO much information out there and legal terminology. And so many questions arose while I was JUST STARTING my research.  What is the first step that you have to do? Sole proprietorship vs Corporation. What is the difference between an S corporation or a C corporation and LLC? What about the Professional Corporation title? What are the repercussions tax-wise and long-term financially for me? What about liability?
In my limited research today- so far I have found that if I wanted to start the process today being in California I cannot form a LLC as a dentist (a professional practitioner). So that option would be out. Being a sole proprietor (while doable) is not advised as it doesn’t provide as much of a safety net liability-wise for your business OR your family (we want to keep our home right???). So an S corp or a C corp are the options left being a professional dentist that requires a LICENSE to practice I would be required to have a Professional Corporation. I have to choose a name (not similar to any other), see if it is even available and reserve it if it is available, and then I would have to file an article of incorporation with the state tax board. This might seem easy enough to do and you just pay the fees associated with it – but what about the repercussions of choosing this??? This is just the BEGINNING…

One website Ehow  (www.ehow.com) shows how to form a professional corporation in California http://www.ehow.com/how_6706460_form-california-professional-corporation.html . They also share some tax benefits a professional corporation has. http://www.ehow.com/about_6454661_professional-corporation-tax-advantages.html

If you are in California you can refer to this document for further application for a professional corporation – http://www.sos.ca.gov/business/corp/pdf/articles/corp_artsprof.pdf

I am just starting my journey to find out more – but I’m already admittedly quite overwhelmed. I know that in this case: knowledge DEFINITELY is power. No blind-sides here!!! Patience, advice from others who are well versed in these terms (CPAs knowledgeable in dentist needs, lawyers, other dentists who have gone before) will serve all of us new dentists well in this endeavor should it be in our future!

Image courtesy of superstock.co.uk

Free Storage Options – for your own virtual cloud

I was speaking to one of my very tech-savvy employers today and I told him about my last post regarding my last almost crisis with loss of information and how it helped me realize the need to always backup all your information, your work, pictures, documents…everything that is important to you. From previous work done before (for documentation and history) to the equally precious immediate work that consumes your more recent hours, days, and thoughts.


I told you yesterday that I was going to go out to Fry’s Electronics to buy a backup hard drive. But today I learned of a virtual cloud program called Dropbox (their website: www.dropbox.com). He saves work files to it so he can access patient files from home. He is able to have a safe place to backup patient charts, safety and documentation.

After finding out about it I did a lot of research and found this website: http://techsplurge.com/910/top-5-free-cloud-storage-options/ that discusses the TOP 5 free cloud storage options and I wanted to share this information with you!!! All of the different cloud options have the ability to expand their storage amounts for a fee – but you have to start somewhere right? Included in the article is SugarSync (which is fantastic because you can sync it through your mobile phones, ipads, everything, in addition to your computer). Also, GoogleDocs (only 1 GB free), MemoPal (3GB for free and 200 GB for $50 per year), and Amazon Cloud Drive (5 GB of free storage).

Since my employer recommended Dropbox and he is all about efficiency, technology updates, and anything paperless I decided to check it out. And I was NOT disappointed! It was SO easy to use!! With dropbox you get 2 GB for free (if you have a lot of information or pictures or PATIENT FILES you need then it is 50 GB $9.99 per month, and 100 GB for $19.99 per month). If you use it for your business you can possibly write off part of the expense for keeping your work data safe. But If you have a lot of high quality photos or videos that take up a lot of space – then maybe the external hard drives are the way to go for you – because 2 GB isn’t enough. But if you have word documents, documents for work, powerpoints – then 2GB will suffice!

So what do you do to use this?? All you have to do is go to the website, download the program to your computer and install it. Once you have it, you can put any files you want just like a computer folder, and you can access them FROM ANY COMPUTER that you have installed the Dropbox program to! You can share files, you can share pictures in the “public file” folder with anyone YOU want making file-sharing quicker than you say file share!!!

So take a look at these free storage options for your data (and I’m sure there are a LOT more available). But the more information that you have at your fingertips and the easier access to your information – the better!!! With any of the free storage options – “the cloud” is useful, efficient, easy-as-pie to use, AND a smart bargain – for your info AND your peace of mind!

Would love to hear what you use for your storage backups!

Image courtesy of: cloudcomputingsys-con. com

Backing up your work…A MUST!!! Blessed be to the virtual CLOUD!!!

This morning I open up my email and my web-admin in the headline says “we have a major problem.” It was almost like the infamous “Houston – we have a problem” although I have nothing up in space at this time.
I didn’t know how to react to that at first – who wants to start their day that way!!?? After a momentary hiccup I opened the email and it stated that the website had some coding associated with the themes of both the websites that I work on and that I might possibly have to repost, redesign, pretend as if the hours I devoted to them never happened and start EVERYTHING from scratch! AGGGH!!!!
My GOSH – all the things I’ve written and devoted time to how the websites look and the special little additions. Finally I was at a place where the groundwork and layout looked like how I wanted it – but all the content!!!

Crisis averted…thankfully one website was fine. BUT this dental perspective website -I did have to start from scratch again!! I had to redo everything, repost, redesign. BUT -  I was fortunate enough to put all my blogs not only on a backup file at home, but also on a backup file on another website associated with my email! My own created “virtual cloud.” And so….what could have been devastating to me – loss of information, loss of time and effort with nothing to show for it – instead turned out to be more an inconvenience than a devastating loss and even more importantly a disappointment for me.

What if this had been patient charts, patient information?!?! What an irreplaceable loss that would be – and a liability!!! That is why at the offices I work at there is an on location backup and an alternate backup. And this goes for EVERYTHING in life – not just dentistry – anything on your computer, tax information, addresses, notes, anything – this just was one more reminder, for me anyway, to back up everything!
So if you’re backing up all your data, you are AWESOME!! If not, do it as soon as you can! It makes me think that there really is more to the idea of “the virtual cloud” – so all the information cannot be lost and easily accessible to you if you need it!!! They might ask for a service fee for the “cloud” or do you just want to have your own hard drive backup?? Up to you – either way – have something, for your peace of mind.
Fry’s electronics – here I come – I’m off to get a hard drive backup right now!!!

image courtesy of: silicon.com