Once a dentist decides they wish to jump into the airway arena to try to help kids it is challenging to know where to go and what to do. I can look back almost 45 years ago when I rejected my traditional training and sought to make better looking faces. It actually took me more than 20 years of CE and experimenting on my own to realize better looking faces actually meant better airways.
I started my own journey seeking to make better looking faces. I took any course I had heard about from dentists and orthodontists I met at various events. I spent massive sums of money on travel, tuition, and time out of the office. I didn’t know how to evaluate quality and just kept going from one course to another.
I tried things that were being suggested and later realized that some of the people promoting treatments had little knowledge and experience themselves. “See one, do one, teach one” was something I discovered in retrospect. I was actually a beta test site for certain treatments without knowing it. Many of the courses were not worth my time, but I wasn’t sophisticated enough at the time to see that. I just knew I had to find something other than what I had been taught.
Stumbling through the wilderness as I did isn’t fun, but it forces a person to be critical and evaluate treatments with a skeptical eye. Skepticism is a good thing in this business.
I kept going from one course to another and tried things on my own in a small town where you can’t hide if things don’t go well. I was fortunate that nothing I tried had serious negatives. On the contrary, merely stopping the removal of teeth and retraction to close spaces made a huge difference and parents noticed better results. That alone caused my practice to grow.
Most of the CE I took was about technique. It was still all about the how to do something but short on the why. After a decade of CE trying different appliances, I was pretty much on my own with little support and still looking for concrete reasons to support what I was doing.
Frankly, it was lonely and demoralizing. Not one course offered any long term support. There was no one I could submit cases to before treatment, no one I could consult with mid-treatment, and no one who offered support afterward.
I realized going to more courses wasn’t the answer. I had traveled plenty and spent tons of money.
Finally, I was fortunate to find someone who showed great cases with long term follow up. It wasn’t a mentorship but I could see the results of cases years after treatment. Here was someone with a philosophy based on sound science and decades of experience.
I could have easily burned out and given up had it not been for him. I am glad I persisted.
Today I interview most doctors who show interest in my mentorship. I don’t just accept everyone. I want to know they are properly motivated and that I will enjoy working with them.
Virtually all of the people I interview have gone down a similar path to mine. They complain that no one supports them after the course is over. Many have taken multiple courses and don’t know what to do on Monday morning. Rather than risk doing the wrong thing, they do nothing and hope the next course will provide the answer.
Some have tried what they were told, only to find the outcomes unsatisfactory. When they ask for help, the answers they receive are often quick and unhelpful.
In my mentorship I bring together all I learned from others and from my own experiences to help doctors provide treatments that are rewarding and life changing for both patients and practitioners.
Going through the CE wilderness almost to the point of burnout helped me find a better way. That is why I focus on mentorships, not short 2 or 3 day courses. I want to be there for treatment planning, execution, and follow up.
