Category: Opinion & Editorial

I just read an alumni newsletter and a long-time faculty member at that alma mater institution is retiring and transitioning to teach in a dental therapy program. I talked with a colleague from Arkansas who reported that their new dental school was experiencing some bumps. Email threads lament the inability to find auxiliary staff after COVID-19 ... [continue reading]

This semester, I have facilitated sessions of the Ohio State Interprofessional Education program on Building Teams and Professional Collaboration. One of my roles at OSU is to integrate the dental profession more completely in the overall care of patients of the Wexner Medical Center and the James Comprehensive Cancer Center. Working on that stage ... [continue reading]

My last child is getting ready to graduate from high school and we are going through the interview process. We have been fortunate that three of our four children have been inspired by their parents to become health professionals. So naturally all kitchen table discussions end up with prepping our child. Do you remember that question “Why do you ... [continue reading]

Work-life balance is the mythical equilibrium where a person equally prioritizes the demands of one’s career and the demands of personal life. While it is difficult to describe what good work-life balance looks like, people easily understand when imbalance occurs. Some of the common reasons leading to poor work-life balance include working ... [continue reading]

As part of their practice management curriculum, I asked my third-year dental students to describe the practice they envision 20 years from now and craft a mission statement for their office. I was impressed and encouraged by their responses. They took the assignment seriously and were amazingly honest and open with their dreams. The mission ... [continue reading]

When Dr. Fauci announced his retirement, we all thought that meant the COVID pandemic was over. But, if you follow the news on COVID-19, you know that while it has ebbed, people are still experiencing serious problems from the virus. How will we know, really, when COVID-19 joins smallpox and bubonic plague in the annals of infectious disease ... [continue reading]

The Cambridge Dictionary (the fanciest online dictionary I could find) defines fellowship as “a group of people or an organization with the same purpose.” Now many a person has come up to me and asked why I choose to spend my difficult to come by free time both volunteering for and being a part of organized dentistry. The answer is ... [continue reading]

As we near the end of another year, this is a time of reflection for me. Around the dental school, we are putting the final touches on another admissions cycle and it is time for us to plan next year with 120 new members of our profession. I have a busy spring ahead, as I am the course director for two courses: Practice Management for the third ... [continue reading]

Being a dentist, I always thought we were natural born leaders. We lead our teams at work. We often take on volunteer roles in our ... [continue reading]

While in Houston for the ADA meeting, I enjoyed a ride with a most interesting UBER driver.  His car was decked out with small white Christmas lights on the ceiling in the back.  With long stringy gray-brown hair and beard, Jerry looked like a retired member of the band ZZ Top.  It was early evening, and we were returning to our hotel from ... [continue reading]