The Full Circle of Mentorship

  • by AGD Staff
  • Mar 22, 2021

The first several years after dental school can be a daunting time. Even though clinical skills may be fresh in your mind, navigating the workplace requires an entirely different skill set. For many young dentists, a mentor can provide a career roadmap and help to fill in many of the essential skills not covered in dental school. To help explain the process of finding a mentor — and how to make a mentorship successful — AGD Impact asked members of the Communications Council to provide insights. 

The Value of Having a Mentor 
By Mohamed Attia, DDS, MAGD, DICOI, AFAAID

Finding a mentor is beneficial for dental students and soon-to-be dentists alike. It’s a rewarding experience to find someone to help direct you and set a positive foundation for your success. 

AGD can make the process of finding a mentor easy with the AGD Mentor Match Program. This program is fantastic in that it will help you find, connect and share experiences with a mentor or mentee within your constituency. It will also support the relationship throughout the program with tools, coaching calls and creative assignments. 

Remember, you get to decide who your mentor will be. Not every mentor will be the right fit, and that’s perfectly normal. You have to make sure you’re both comfortable. When you find the right mentor, you will know. 

Most dentists love the profession and are eager to share their knowledge and skills. Your relationship with your mentor and the knowledge you gained will help pave your road to success. Perhaps, in the future, you will be a great mentor yourself. 

Mohamed Attia, DDS, MAGD, DICOI, AFAAID, maintains a private practice in Alexandria, Virginia.

The Different Types of Mentors 
By Lauren N. Massey-Williams, DMD

Everyone strives to be a great dentist, but, as a young provider, you have no idea what that should mean to you. This is where mentorship can transform you and your career. The following are three areas in which graduates need to find mentors. 

Clinical Mentors
When I started seeing how dentistry was not as textbook as I learned in school, I started developing a network of dentists to call on and, without realizing it, established mentors who have helped me throughout my career. As you are learning, you will sometimes get in over your head, and having another provider who can both guide and educate you is invaluable. 

Lifelong Career Mentors
Following graduation, the last thing a dentist wants is to sit in a lecture hall again. You are ready to get your hands dirty, work with patients and, most of all, make some money. What many fail to realize is that there are so many more hours that need to be spent in high-quality continuing education to ensure the best patient care and the highest profits. Picking a career mentor will put you on a steady climb to progressive success. 

Personal Mentors
Finally, you are a person with a multifaceted life that includes dentistry. Reaching out to your personal network of dentists will help you find someone whose life you want to emulate. Bonding with various types of mentors can help define these boundaries and set you up for success on your own terms.  

Lauren N. Massey-Williams, DMD, practices in Shelby, North Carolina.

What Not to Say to Those You Mentor
By Janet Hatcher Rice, DDS, FAGD

We all know the importance of mentoring, but, unfortunately, some mentoring can be negative and harmful. Here’s what not to say to your mentee when you become a mentor: 

  • Do not question the new techniques your mentee may have learned. Instead, ask questions about them, and be interested. This is called reverse mentoring. 
  • Do not put down new technology. Dentists should strive to make dentistry and the delivery of dental care better with each new generation and acknowledge that change is inevitable. 
  • Do not deter new ideas. Listen, give thought to the ideas, and explain your thinking if you disagree, thus making it a two-way conversation. 
  • Suppress the urge to criticize in front of a patient. Criticizing is disrespectful and does little to build mutual respect and trust. 
  • Try not to be solely focused on making or saving money. Strive to show the mentee how excellence in patient care will eventually lead to monetary rewards. 
  • Emphasize the importance of continuing education, and be supportive of lifetime learning. This will be the greatest gift you can give your mentee. 

If your mentor is not helping you achieve your dreams, keep looking.

Janet Hatcher Rice, DDS, FAGD, maintains a private practice in Bristol, Tennessee.

Mentoring Predental Students
By Margaret Scarlett, DMD

While dental mentoring typically involves an experienced dentist and a new dentist, mentoring a learner whose aspiration is to be a dentist is an equal privilege. Dental school applicants are required to log a number of hours — up to 100 — shadowing dental practitioners, so the need for successful mentoring relationships is readily apparent.

Some of my dental school mentees include:

  • A young man who recently shared joyful news of his acceptance to the Creighton University School of Dentistry. 
  • The son of my accountant, who is now at the Temple University School of Dentistry.
  • A naturalized citizen from Ukraine who has wanted to be a dentist since she was four.
  • A part-time teaching assistant at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Dentistry. 

It is my privilege to mentor this group. I have learned much from them about the current dental school application process and about other challenges, especially financing today’s dental school education. I’ve also learned about new opportunities for dental students after graduation, including dental service organizations, colocation of multispecialty practices and faculty practice within dental schools.

What I ask in return from mentees may be even more important. When they ask what they can do for me, I say, “Pay it forward.” Find someone else to help through the maze of the dental school application process, and help guide them to successful acceptance and beyond. Your perspective is valuable and will help guide our profession to the next level of excellence — all while you are learning about today’s learners.

Margaret Scarlett, DMD, is owner of Scarlett Consulting International, a health consulting company with innovations and strategies to improve health outcomes, and previously worked for nearly three decades as a senior policy analyst and infectious disease epidemiologist for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A Successful Connection Through the AGD Mentor Match 
By Henry Assad

Through AGD, I have been able to connect with not one, but two phenomenal dentists who have been incredibly supportive of my development and that of my student colleagues. I witnessed my first implant surgery, shot my first digital dental photographs, and will get firsthand experience with microscopes, CEREC, and computerized anesthesia through the support of local AGD mentors. These experiences and many others wouldn’t have been possible as a student without the Quebec AGD chapter and the Mentor Match program. I would urge any student looking to gain more knowledge or to network outside of school to sign up for this invaluable experience. 

Henry Assad is a fourth-year dental student at the McGill University Faculty of Dentistry.

Read the full article here. Learn more about the AGD Mentor Match program, and sign up today.