Growing up in Texas, I figured I would be a Texan my entire life. I went to college and dental school in Texas. It just made sense that I would buy a practice near where I grew up. But this path was not meant to be. I ended up in West Virginia, and I can truly say that AGD is the reason I have the position I have. And for that, I love AGD.

I heard about AGD in dental school. However, I did not participate in Fellowship activities that were offered. There was no reason; I simply did not know much about AGD at the time. But the organization was about to impact my life in a big way. On March 16, 2016, my wife and I opened her residency match envelope and found out we were moving to Charleston, West Virginia. My wife was to begin a five-year combined medicine/psychiatry program in a state we had never visited, much less lived. We were both excited and scared, but I was most worried about where I was going to get a position. As we had never lived in West Virginia, I had no leads on dental positions. That’s where AGD comes into frame.

A few weeks after the envelope-opening day, I was talking with one of my University of Texas School of Dentistry at Houston professors, Ralph Cooley, DDS, FAGD. I mentioned my family was moving to West Virginia after I graduated and was unsure where I would get a position. Cooley mentioned he knew some people from West Virginia. Specifically, he knew Steven Ghareeb, DDS, FAGD. They served on an AGD council together years prior. That night, Cooley sent an email to Ghareeb, and the following day Ghareeb and I spoke on the phone. Within five minutes of speaking with him, he offered me a position. This started a working relationship that turned into a dental practice partnership that continues to this day. Without AGD, I would not have my current position.

Ghareeb was a fantastic boss for the many years I served as his associate. He mentored me and sent me on continuing education trips. The courses he sent me to laid a foundation of knowledge that allowed me to run my current practice, a Ghareeb Dental Group location. The best advice I can offer to young dentists is to look for mentorship. The easiest way to find a mentor is to look within AGD for a Fellow, Master and/or Lifelong Learning and Service Recognition recipient in your area. The only reason I was able to join an AGD council, be the Region 6 regional director and now be the Region 6 trustee was because of the people I met along the way. 

Simply put, AGD is an organization that is set up to grow young dentists into advanced dentists who mentor future generations of young dentists.

Carson Henley, DDS, FAGD, practices in the Kanawha City location of the Ghareeb Dental Group.