President’s Message – October 2021

I am entering my 10th year of practice as a pediatric dentist and, my oh my, how things have changed in such a small amount of time. I could go on and on about the long list of things that are different from “the way they used to be” as my grandfather would say. Sometimes I think it’s just me getting older, but then I’ll share a story with a colleague and they will immediately reply, “Me too!” I am sure some of it is perspective, and some of it is actually big changes in our society that have made a big difference in the way we practice.

It is easy to be discouraged by some of the changes we are facing as pediatric dentists. Some of them are unique to our specific practices and others we all share as a profession. There have been times after a rough day I have found myself asking, “How am I going to be able to do this another 20 years?” Or sometimes I think I need to completely hit the reset button and just start things over. This was my general attitude some days before I even stepped foot into the office, and it was only making my overall excitement about my job less and less. I could still put on a happy face for my patients and perform good dentistry, but my family and staff saw through it.

Until one day something very awesome happened. It was a normal day, going through all the motions as usual, decisions to make about a staff member that is out again, parents who want to bring all extended family with them to their one child’s appointment, insurance audits, internet problems in a Cloud-based office, scheduling issues, air conditioner not working, hand pieces going out (or accidentally thrown away), toilets stopped up in waiting room, oh and of course dentistry (this was just a normal day, nothing to do with the dramatic changes in society I mentioned earlier, you can just add that on top).

This particular day I was in a typical dentist/patient conversation, when the kid stopped mid-conversation and looked at me with a pause and said, “Hey doctor, what do you want to be when you grow up?” I stopped in my tracks. What is this patient asking me? What do I want to be when I grow up?

It was like one of those moments in the movies when the film flashes back to a past memory of a character to set the stage for present time. My mind flooded with thoughts about me thumb wrestling, getting in “water gun” fights, telling jokes, and having the best time at my pediatric dentist as a patient 30 years ago. I remembered telling my parents one day after an appointment that it would be so much fun to be able to be a pediatric dentist and that is what I wanted to be when I grew up. In preparation of this message I asked my parents when that time frame was for me, and my mom showed me (she keeps everything) a picture I had drawn in the 7th grade of me as a pediatric dentist and what would one day be a patient of mine.

Needless to say, when my trip down memory lane ended and I zoned back in to reality to answer the question the patient had asked me, he had a bizarre look on his face as though I had suddenly vanished and reappeared. I quickly responded to his question with the answer, “I’m living it every day being here for patients like you, and I hope that when I grow up I am still able to be here for you.”

I chewed on that moment for a few days, coming to a great realization that I am living the dream I had envisioned so long ago. It has been so easy to get bogged down by a daily grind, decreased reimbursement, impending pressures of what could eventually be a corporate life, staff members that can’t decide if they want to come to work that day, parents that instead of having a meaningful conversation leave a crazy review, a schedule that falls apart, increased cost to operate, and I’m sure we could go on and on.

At the end of the day, all that I really want to do…is make a kids day, make them laugh, maybe give them the only hug they have gotten that day, make the dentist fun and not fearful, show them that I care, offer a compliment that makes them smile, inquire about their life, and provide a service to them that they can trust. It is so easy to lose sight of what I signed up for by what I have to walk through in order to achieve the actual goal.

Since that moment I have been able to circle back to my beginning days when many of the struggles I face today were unknown. Putting on the perspective of my 7th grade self makes the problems seem so much easier to handle.

Yes, the problems are still there, but when I approach them with a new mindset of why I am facing those problems, it takes away the frustration that has come alongside them before.
So as I wrote this message, I hope that whoever reads it can take a step back, look at how you got to where you are, why you are doing what you are doing, and find refreshment in the real reason we are pediatric dentists.

It has been a pleasure serving the SWSPD as President this past year, and what a year it has been. I want to thank all of our officers and wish a very successful year to Emily Fourmy as she takes the reigns of this great Society.

Please don’t forget to visit the SWSPD Facebook page for upcoming events, especially the Winter Ski Meeting in Vail. And we are so excited to announce that we are bringing back a Summer Escape meeting next year in Jackson Hole, Wyoming! Find more information and register at swspd.org.

Here is to everyone in hopes of a wonderful year ahead and to us all continuing to give the best to those little ones under our care.

Mitchell Glass
SWSPD President