When I graduated from dental school in 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, I was excited to start my career. Yet, as the weeks and months progressed, I began to feel a sense of loneliness. Maybe it was the abrupt way my dental school education was cut short by an unprecedented global public health event — or maybe, I thought, it was because of the nature of general practice dentistry. I realized rather quickly that day-to-day dentistry can be pretty isolating. Enter AGD — I was at the right place at the right time when a former dental school instructor approached me about getting involved with AGD. As an eager new grad, I thought it couldn’t hurt to get involved with organized dentistry. I couldn’t imagine, at the time, that joining AGD would turn out to be one of the most formative decisions of my early dental career. Five years later, I can confidently say that AGD has positively impacted my career through extensive continuing education, challenging yet rewarding leadership opportunities and a great variety of benefits, both official and unofficial.

The first and most profound way that AGD has improved my career is through extensive offerings of continuing education (CE). Most importantly, as someone with the hefty weight of student loan debt, AGD offers quality, affordable CE. Despite many other CE offerings available to dentists, AGD remains the premier provider of continuing education that won’t break the bank. This was imperative for me as I tried to chip away at my student loan payments. I’ve grown to appreciate that AGD is so conscious of cost efficiency for new dentists. AGD understands the economic burden of dental school today and has tried to make it affordable for new dentists to become involved. It does this not only with affordable CE, but also through membership discounts for dentists less than five years out of dental school. This allowed me to really dive headfirst into AGD CE as a new dentist member, broadening my scope of practice and introducing me to other like-minded AGD dentists.

As I began to attend more AGD CE, my involvement as an AGD new dentist member began to change. I noticed that AGD dentists were driven, attentive and striving to be better practitioners. I wanted to be more like them — I wanted to be more involved! In the years that followed, my membership in AGD evolved from a “new dentist member” to a member of various constituent, regional and national committees within AGD. In this way, I was able to use the organization as a vehicle to serve my profession while also developing my leadership skills. Through attending the scientific session and Leadership Development Symposium, I was able to immerse myself in the world of AGD. These meetings are some of my favorite benefits, and offerings that I highly recommend to young dentists looking to find their place in a seemingly daunting world of organized dentistry. You will learn more about AGD, yes, but you will also learn so much about yourself.

Perhaps the greatest benefits of AGD are “unofficial.” These benefits aren’t listed on AGD’s website, but they are what drives my membership the most — the benefits of friendship! The camaraderie available is truly unique. I have made friends and gained valuable mentors around the country. These are people I can turn to for advice on everything from root canals to business ownership — people who get it. I recognize these relationships are rare and to be cherished, and I am so grateful to AGD for supplementing my life and career with such fantastic people. This hidden benefit is what makes me most proud to be an AGD member. 

Emily Bujnoski, DMD, MPH, is a general dentist at Fox Family Dental, Peoria, Arizona.