I now help other dentists redesign their dental careers! I figured out the formula, so I get to share it with others now. I did pay off my student debt before I allowed myself to change, but money is money, so with my coaching, I also help dentists explore how they can pay off their loans with other work. Happy to chat if you want. https://www.lolabeescareercoaching.com/contact-me-2/

The job loss isn’t my focus; it is what’s required–hoops to jump through, tricks of the trade, manipulation of people, sales techniques which I refused to employ, living scared shitless day to day with managers calling endlessly about whether I closed a sale at my last call….rather than being able to rely on my experience, education, knowledge, clinical skills, excellent relationships developed with my clients to grow my sales and retain my employment. But ironically, even dentists would at times play a role in my stress levels as they manipulated me and knew the sales game better than I did. All the while, I was made to question myself and my abilities, reminded that I’m just not doing enough, that I’m not as good as “Sally” in another state who’s knocking it out of the park, etc.

Not all dental offices exposed the cult mentality, indoctrination and mind control, but there were many that absolutely did. For example, loud morning staff meetings about reaching our daily/weekly/monthly office sales goals were meant to pump us up and get the team ready to increase revenue with every single patient we saw. How to convert a restoration into a full coverage crown was huge especially when the CEREC technology came into the offices. In my opinion, patients would look for another dentist if they knew the office was focused on it’s production and revenue over patient care and health. I believe if you focus on the right thing (excellent care and service) the other will come (profit).

In San Antonio, Texas, I experienced one dental practice where I was lied to continually, and lied to even when I confronted the Office Manager and asked her if she was lying to me. This place was a nut house and I only survived 6 months–long enough to get about 20 patients out of the practice into healthy dental environments where I knew they would get much better care and honest treatment.

Another practice in that city had a dentist who tried to convince me that his “periodic exam” could be done from the doorway and that he did not need to enter the operatory, pick up an explorer, or look at the radiographs or actually look into the patient’s mouth. What I found going on in his patient’s dental health my first day on the job was the most shocking of my career. But he yelled at me and told me that’s why I am paid so high an hourly wage, and those things are my job, not his. I gave notice on that very first day, explaining that he will be facing legal action some day for certain, but that I did not want to cause his staff undue stress at having to reschedule the next two weeks of patients if I just walked out–so I cared for patients over the next 2 weeks informing all of them of the lack of care they’ve received and provided other dentists names that they should call. I really didn’t care what may happen to me as a result of that.

And finally, there were multiple dentists who fell into this scenario over and over and over…..a patient would present with anywhere from 6 to 12 mm probing depths–localized or generalized, including mobility, exudate, bleeding and radiographic bone loss. The patient’s records showed routine prophylaxis treatment twice a year for years, the adult 1110 code. When I brought the patient’s conditions to the doctor’s attention after my full periodontal evaluation, the dentist would say “well, let’s just check everything in 6 months and see how he/she looks.” Okeedokee.

Were these examples of cults? No, not really. But dentistry continued to have really weird situations going on unless I was lucky enough to work with very ethical, caring, well-meaning practitioners who knew both the business of excellent patient care and excellent business practices. If the office or dentist lacked those qualities, it seemed that really weird things crept in and took over; quite often through the doctor’s spouse, sometimes an “office manager”, sometimes through outside management companies–but it would happen usually when the dentist just didn’t have his/her eye on the business practices, was too lazy to pay attention, or just didn’t care.

Oh yeah, and don’t even get me started on what many dental consultant companies or just consultant individuals would try to implement for office protocols or practices. It would be comical at times. And those circumstances could get very “culty” very quickly.

Forgive my long windedness, but dental hygiene was my passion. I loved every moment of patient care and witnessing improvement as a patient went through therapy. And I enjoyed working with some of the best dentists in the industry during my career. But I met some doozies, too, and will never forget the impact left behind that affected other team members, patients, and ultimately the business’ bottom line. I became aware that many practices provided the “kool aid” and as a staff member you either drank it and got on board, or you chose not to and moved on.

In regards to dental sales, there are some very healthy and well managed companies who value their representatives and treat them with respect, and compensate their success accordingly. Unfortunately, there is always a quota and at the end of the day it doesn’t matter how good you are at your job, how well your clients/customers like you, how well you know the product, how effective your time management and organization skills are, etc–if you are not able to meet the quota, you are replaceable with someone else who hopefully will.

That’s my two cents!

I felt exactly the same, at some point I realized I just don’t care. I had a very different idea of what would life be when you are a dentist/doctor and during my studies I met a lot od very successful people. It changed my outlook on economics and lifestyle I want for myself. So I dropped out of university. And it REALLY DID feel like leaving a cult. Dentistry as a medical field is not a cult but the idea behind “being a dentist” is.

Vera, this is great. It always amazed me that people in the business of taking care of people could treat others this way. Luckily, we are starting to call out this behavior and stop being silenced by it. You are awesome!

I agree that the bullies are the minority and unfortunately they can get under one’s skin. But, the funny part is that they became bullies because deep inside they are scared that someone has found out their dirty little secret: that they are scared when they too have doubts about their life choices, which have become their entire identity! And how dare someone point this out to them. This really sore spot that is being pressed.

I admire anyone who can break out of their paradigm, when it has stopped serving their happiness and life purpose.

You are welcome! It is really hard when this is all you know. Agreed– life is too short to remain suffering through it! You might like my Facebook group called Dentist Side Gigs. It’s for dentists like us and a great way to get ideas and network with like-minded dentists. It’ll be more interactive than my blog, if you’re looking for that. Here is a link. https://www.facebook.com/groups/dentistsidegigs

Thank you for your blog and reply. I have no idea what my future holds, all I know is dentistry. It’s all I’ve done, but I’m so over it. Too many sleepless weekends worry about a case. The whole atmosphere of dental has changed. It’s scary as hell leaving a job in the middle of a “pandemic” with no idea what I want to do. I was a hygienist before I went back to dental school. I owe tons of money but whatever. Life is way too short! Thanks for your support. Thank you for this safe place to know that one is not alone in this world. Sometimes that is really easy to forget.

Congrats on taking this first step! I know it can seem daunting, but hopefully with a little time off, that will open up space for you to explore. One thing I’m sure of… you won’t miss dentistry! You may want to connect with Eric R. You share some commonalities with your stories. He has commented on most recently on this post: https://www.lolabeescareercoaching.com/using-crisis-to-shift-your-priorities/#comment-10126