Dentaltown October 2022 - 10

professional courtesy
column
The Magic of Mentorship
Dentaltown's annual New Grads supplement ships
with this issue of our magazine to dental students and
recent graduates. As I reviewed the content for that
special edition, it provided some inspiration for this
column, addressed to the not-so-new grads.
Whether you are a few years out of school or a few
years from your planned retirement, periodically having
a look back can provide some valuable insight about
our place in the profession. There is so much more to
the profession of dentistry than just a knowledge of
anatomy, chemistry and math. A huge chunk of success
in dentistry requires expertise with people, processes
and management. These are lessons learned in the
classroom of real life.
My dental school had a big brother/big sister
program for all students. In my fi rst year, I was assigned
a " big brother " who was a third-year dental student.
In effect, this was my fi rst mentor in dentistry and his
job was to help me navigate the early years of dental
school-what to expect, how to handle the workload
and what I needed to do to survive until graduation.
When I became a third-year student, it was my turn to
return the favor. The process served as a great model for
our working life, because there is so much that we can
learn from the experiences of others. Or we can choose
the diffi cult path of learning everything the hard way.
After dental school, my fi rst mentors were attending
dentists at my GPR who supplied valuable insights into
their areas of specialty and guided me through several
complex cases throughout the year. This amplifi cation
of knowledge served me well with my next mentors in
an associateship. The two dentists I worked for were
partners. While they had many things in common,
their differences in approach further
defi ned my development as a dentist.
I met my most signifi cant mentor
when I moved to Arizona and started
working for Dr. Howard Farran. I was
fortunate to learn from him within his
wildly successful practice as well as
a new project he was launching,
called Dentaltown.com.
If someone asks who your current mentor is and who
you are mentoring, I hope you have an answer for both
questions. I think this profession retains its honor and
dignity by supporting each other through mentorship.
A mentor can help you navigate diffi cult decisions and
accelerate your expertise by sharing valuable lessons.
As a mentor, you can pass along lessons learned to raise
the collective clinical standards.
Dentaltown's message boards have provided virtual
mentorship for thousands of dentists for more than
20 years. This is a great place to start giving back to
your profession by fi nding a virtual mentor or becoming
one. If you have a local study club or you are planning
to hire an associate in your practice, these are great
opportunities to mentor in person.
Dentists in the latter half of their careers will face
decisions around the sale or transfer of their practice.
If you have sharpened your skills as a mentor, your
transition will likely be more successful because you
may be able to fi nd a buyer among the dentists you've
mentored. This can provide long-term value in the
event of overlapping ownership. In the absence of these
relationships, young dentists will fi nd a profession that
is more cutthroat than collegial, along with a lack of
support that makes for diffi cult, less satisfying work.
If you want to share a story of mentorship, please
post it in the comments section of this article on
dentaltown.com/magazine. You also can reach me
directly through email at tom@dentaltown.com. ■
by Thomas Giacobbi, DDS, FAGD, editorial director
10 OCTOBER 2022 // dentaltown.com
http://www.dentaltown.com/magazine http://www.Dentaltown.com http://www.dentaltown.com
Dentaltown October 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Dentaltown October 2022
