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Life and Practice Updates
6 Plays3 minutes ago
About the Hosts:
Dr. Savanah Craig is a practicing dentist who completed her residency and is currently advancing her career in a private practice in Ohio. With a keen interest in sedation and implant dentistry, she is actively involved in furthering her skills through continued education and advanced training such as attending Implant Pathways.
Dr. Ronnetta Sartor is a skilled dentist and practice owner who recently completed a mini residency with the Dawson Academy. Her focus is on comprehensive dentistry, integrating overall health into patient care. She is passionate about practice development and mentoring young dentists, evident from her contributions to IgniteDDS and her recognition by the American College of Dentists.
Episode Summary:
Welcome to an inspiring episode of "Beyond Graduation," where Drs. Savanah Craig and Ronnetta Sartor bring their expertise to the forefront as they share insightful career updates and experiences one year into their professional practice. This episode provides an engaging glimpse into the world of dentistry beyond residency, highlighting personal growth, overcoming challenges, and the pursuit of excellence in dental practice and patient care.
Dr. Savanah Craig discusses her journey in private practice, detailing her accomplishments in sedation dentistry and her ongoing educational pursuits in implant dentistry, having recently completed the Implant Pathways course in Arizona. Meanwhile, Dr. Ronnetta Sartor delves into her transformative experience with the Dawson Academy, which has revamped her approach to comprehensive dentistry by connecting oral health with overall patient wellness. In this episode, you'll discover the simple yet profound analogy of gardening as Dr. Sartor reflects on how nurturing plants parallels building a dental practice.
Key Takeaways:
- Dr. Savanah Craig is thriving in private practice, focusing on sedation and implant procedures, and stresses the importance of continual education in dentistry.
- Dr. Ronnetta Sartor has transformed her practice with insights from the Dawson Academy, advocating a comprehensive approach to dentistry that bridges oral and overall health.
- The episode highlights the role of mentorship, practice systems, and external coaching in achieving successful practice management and patient care.
- Personal and professional growth themes are explored, emphasizing the importance of setting goals, pursuing further education, and embracing the journey beyond residency.
- Both dentists emphasize celebrating small successes and the joys of seeing the fruits of one's labor both in practice and personal projects like gardening.
Connect with Us:
- Savanah Craig, DDS: @savanahcraigdds
- Ronnetta Sartor, DMD: @dr_sartor
- FutureDentists Beyond Graduation: @futuredentistsbeyondgraduation
- Dental Residency Guide and Beyond Graduation eBooks: https://ignitedds.com/subscription-resources/
Are you intrigued by the journeys of Drs. Craig and Sartor? Dive deeper into these inspiring narratives and valuable life lessons by listening to the full episode. Stay tuned for more insightful discussions and expert advice in dentistry and beyond on "Beyond Graduation."
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Transcript
Introduction to the Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
Join Dr. Savannah Craig and Renetta Sartor as we navigate life beyond graduation. Real conversations about forging our own paths in our early years in our careers. There's a reason it's called practicing dentistry.
Life Update: Career Progress
00:00:16
Speaker
All right, welcome back to another episode of Beyond Graduation. I am Savannah Craig, and with me as always, it's Renetta. Happy to be back. What are we talking about this week? So this week is a fun week. um This is our life update um episode. um So it's been maybe about a year since our last episode.
00:00:40
Speaker
to jog some of
Savannah's Practice Ownership and Renetta's Private Practice Transition
00:00:41
Speaker
y'all's memory. The last time we recorded this, I was about a year into practice ownership and had just started my journey with the Dawson Academy's mini residency. And Savannah had just joined her private practice back in Ohio after leaving residency and was a few months in at that point. um So what has life been like for you since that time?
00:01:10
Speaker
ah It feels like yesterday for some reason, you know what I mean? Like so much has happened, but also its time is crazy. But yeah, so still at the same ah job, which is awesome. Super happy with how all of that is going. We sedations are rocking and rolling, doing about four to five a month, which I think is a good number.
Savannah's Implant Training in Arizona
00:01:40
Speaker
um taking lots of CEs. So I did, I think the biggest um chunk of that was implant pathways. So we had a lot of implant experience in residency, but I had the opportunity to take the course. My um boss felt really strongly about sending me because a couple of the other um Docs have done pathways, so always good to have us all on the same page in as many ways as possible. So went out to Arizona for a week, had an awesome time, and thankfully
00:02:24
Speaker
people are accepting and implant cases are rolling. A lot of the cases that I extracted and grafted sort of in the beginning of practice are now ready for um implants. So sometimes you just have to be patient and wait it out, but we're rocking and rolling and having a great time. what's great What about you?
00:02:49
Speaker
Oh man, it's been a whirlwind, but a lot of things have
Impact of Dawson Academy on Renetta's Dentistry Approach
00:02:53
Speaker
happened. So in May of this year, 2024, um, I finished the residency, um, the mini residency with the Dawson Academy. So it's completely shaped and changed the way that I practice. Um, and just from our new patient intake,
00:03:16
Speaker
um all the way to treatment planning. um It's just kind of opened my eyes to looking at teeth and what's happening around the teeth and how the body, you know, relates to the teeth and just being a more comprehensive um type dentist and having a lot more discussions and conversations with patients of how their health impacts their teeth and vice versa and being an advocate for them to not only treat what's wrong with their teeth but treat what's wrong um if they have any other health or systemic type ailments. So that has been really rewarding for me.
00:04:05
Speaker
um to kind of look at the patient beyond the teeth. And it's not to say that I didn't do it before, but I think um I'm more intentional about it now. Kind of like a a more like a framework to work within. Right. I have a system and a process um that I go through with every patient so that um every time I talk to someone, it's this you know the same thoughts that come to head, same checklists and all of those things. um I'm also into the second year of being a practice owner and that's been
00:04:48
Speaker
pretty cool to see all of the processes and systems come together and kind of starting to see it run like a well-oiled machine.
Renetta's Growth Epiphany: Gardening Analogy
00:05:00
Speaker
um in And Savannah and I were laughing before we got on because I have a ah veggie tail to talk about as you all know. um I love to garden and um I had an experience in my garden recently that um I thought parallel to dentistry, but also parallel to life. And um a couple of years ago, I decided that since I love asparagus so much, I would try to grow it. And asparagus is one of those plants that takes quite a while to grow. So I was outside, you know, pruning my plants and, you know, doing what I do out there.
00:05:43
Speaker
and just having a good time and, you know, something told me to look down and I looked down and after two plus years, I see my first asparagus spares coming through the ground. And um I told Savannah, I was like, I had an epiphany. I had an aha moment while I'm In my garden, and I'm like, wow, what are the odds that like, I'm finally feeling like, you know, I'm getting the hang of practice ownership and, you know, um, everything is working together, the processes, the systems and the people in my office and,
00:06:23
Speaker
um, you know, it's moving on its trajectory and it's just like gardening and you know, dentistry can be just like life too, where you plant the seeds and you water and you water and you water and then you prune things a bit and get rid of some stuff and you keep adding the fertilizer and you keep watering. And then you look up one day,
00:06:51
Speaker
after doing all those things and you realize that the harvest is here and everything that you've worked towards, um everything that your team has worked towards is right on the horizon.
00:07:06
Speaker
And so um we laughed about it, but I was like, I mean, this might be why I love gardening so much because, you know, beautiful things come about and it's just the beauty of the process too. And sometimes the process.
00:07:23
Speaker
It's not beautiful. It's not pretty like I'm out there. I don't take pictures in my garden because I'm like sweaty and and nasty. The hard work. right but her work and I know um as dentists, a lot of you feel that same way when you're in a hustle and bustle of the week and you're having team meetings and doing all this things all those things to like elevate the practice so that you can help elevate patient care.
00:07:50
Speaker
Um, so that's my veggie tail guys. And, um, I hope you like it. Some, someday, you know, you you get to see the fruits of your labor in, in your garden and in your practice. I think that's awesome. That's awesome. Um, yeah, you're doing so many crazy cool things, not just practice ownership. You've got some extra letters after your name now with ACD.
00:08:21
Speaker
Yes. That's exciting. That's been an amazing experience. And, um,
00:08:29
Speaker
it's almost, I'm going back to my garden. I'm going back to my veggie tail Savannah. Bring it back, bring it back. But I'm going back to that because, you know, while you're doing the hard work, you, you don't realize who might be looking at you and seeing you, um,
00:08:50
Speaker
And I didn't even know I was being nominated. So it's an honor to even be in the name and be a member or a fellow of the Academy of the College of Dentists. And so I'm just grateful. Yeah. It's, it's, I think it's so special how it happened because I mean, obviously I'm a big fan of yours and I consider you a friend and a mentor, so but you're so humble about all of the awesome things you're doing. So I think it's cool to get recognition when you least expect it. Because I think there's a lot of, with social media and things like that, all of us are trying to get
00:09:32
Speaker
validation, myself included. So it's cool when you're just nose to the ground doing your work and people recognize how awesome. you're
Ignite DDS Coaching: Streamlining Processes
00:09:43
Speaker
doing. So you deserve it totally. Thank you. I appreciate i appreciate it. Always. um Also tell the people you've been doing some of the awesome coaching at Ignite with the practice. How has that been going for your team? and That's been awesome. So when I was telling my veggie tale story,
00:10:06
Speaker
Or my veggie tail pretty much I talked about the systems in the process and the people I have been fortunate to have the people and so we've spent um Some time working on getting the systems where they should be in our processes where they should be and now no three are working hand-in-hand and It just works um
00:10:33
Speaker
But I think what's been most important is like how we say sometimes when people are on the outside looking in, they can see things that you can't when you're in it. And so it's been amazing to have a team that helps coach you who are on the outside and they're like, okay, well, have you thought about doing this? And they can be something as simple as like,
00:10:57
Speaker
The other day we were talking there, we're like, well, why don't you like have your practice management bridge like um rectangle health on an iPad? So like if a patient has to go out or do something like that, you could just have them pay on an iPad. And I'm like, well, we have an iPad and we're paying for rectangle health. But, you know,
00:11:17
Speaker
I didn't think to like put it on the iPad and just make that one, a level of convenience, not only for the patient, but for our team yeah to just make it easier. So um it's been amazing. So anyone out there that struggling with, you know,
00:11:35
Speaker
finding the right people for your team, finding the right processes, and solidifying it. But more importantly, for processes and systems like holding people and yourself too accountable to those systems and processes, definitely check out Ignite DDS's coaching um If you're interested, um you can always reach out to me. I'm more than happy to let you know about my experiences and chat with you one on one about your experiences as well. That's awesome. Yeah, I think I think that's one of the coolest parts of now coming up on a year of practice is for me is
00:12:23
Speaker
Some things are just flowing now. There's not as much like, ah there's always going to be new things that you're like, I don't know what's going on here, but 90% of the things I've seen it before. I know how to, there's less, uh, new, new stuff now. And the team is used to me and things, things are flowing a little bit better, which is really nice.
00:12:55
Speaker
That's awesome. So what what's on the horizon? well boy what's What's new? what are you What are you into right now that when we come back a year from now, we'll ah reflect on. Yeah. Um, there are some opportunities with partnership or those sorts of next steps of growth in the practice.
Future Plans: Partnerships and Education
00:13:21
Speaker
So we'll see how that all shakes out. Um, feeling very like, so I don't know, adulting is a construct. I want, you know, we've talked about this, so I feel like you feel that way of
00:13:38
Speaker
the practice maybe with the practice and those sorts of things of, am I really in charge? Can I make this decision? How do I know what's the right time or step or all of those things? And it's awesome to have really cool opportunities in front of you and be able to say yes to things, but I think it's always a level of scary of I don't know. i ah I never honestly thought about life after residency. but That was my trajectory. High school, college, dental school, residency. Be a dentist, but who knows? So it's exciting and scary to get to make those adult. not I mean, nothing is forever, but it could be forever um decisions.
00:14:29
Speaker
But as far as other things hoping to do um some endo CE, some botox CE in 2025 and get some new and exciting things under my belt. So those are the goals because I absolutely despise root canals. And that's always, you and I always laugh about that, but trying, still trying to figure out if I hate them because I hate them or I hate them because I'm not
00:15:02
Speaker
as confident in them. So I'm trying trying to push myself to do more and do and take some courses related to that. um I think a big goal I would like to get my fellowship um in the Academy of General Dentistry. So working on getting more CE hours and I need to just buckle down and take the exam.
00:15:27
Speaker
the So a piece of advice I had um from dentists that had done it before me was the closer you are to being out of school, out of residency, that's when to take it, because you can take the test whenever, yeah and then just get the hours later. and um yeah Luckily, when I was studying for mine, it was like when the world was kind of shut down, so I had nothing better to do.
00:15:57
Speaker
Congrats. But study. um But you'll do it. You'll do it. And a lot of it, when you start reading and studying, it'll come right back to you. so Yeah. I just need to to do it. so e This is my accountability. Everybody check in with me. Make sure I'm actually signed up for an exam and I start studying.
00:16:23
Speaker
What about you? what is Are there still big goals? I feel like you have checked some really huge things off of the to do list. Um, so are there still big goals on the horizon or I don't know. When do we, when do we start just coasting and living? I think I would see the fruits of the, you know, enjoying the harvest.
Renetta's Practice Growth Goals and Sleep Dentistry
00:16:47
Speaker
Yeah. I think I'm probably not going to coast for a very long time. Shocker. Yeah. I think, um,
00:16:56
Speaker
It'll maybe be in retirement or, you know, when I retire from life and I'm dead. Who knows when I just feel like my, my to-do list or my checklist will continue to be a, um, ever flowing thing. Um, but maybe The list will change in terms of nature. Sure. Of the items on the list. So at the top of the list right now is to grow the practice and continue to provide um the continuing education and coaching that my team and I need to have everything we need to excel. Yep. um That's the biggest thing. um When I purchased the office, the previous dentist didn't do any implants or any of that stuff. So
00:17:48
Speaker
I finally have equipment and implants to start placing. So I'm excited to get back into it. Thank you. That's really cool too. You know, you have those skills and you did a lot of it and then you took a little time off. So I think that's, that's something really cool about dentistry is that you can get back into it. And so I'm excited for that journey for you.
00:18:14
Speaker
Yeah, so we'll be talking. We'll be talking more about it. Um, yeah, it's, it's exciting, but it's also, it's nerves cause you're like, okay, I know it'll be like riding a bike again once I start, but it's just like, I haven't done it in like two years. So like, I want to make sure that my skills are up to par. Um,
00:18:36
Speaker
And I think more so just growing the comprehensive dentistry type stuff. Um, I knew that this upcoming year I'll be learning a lot more about sleep. Um, not to say that I'm going to actually, you know, start doing sleep appliances and everything, but, um, I'm planning to learn as much about it as possible because we're supposed to be screening. And I will say, um, I'm screening a lot more, but I think,
00:19:05
Speaker
It's a lot more for me to know and the more that I know the more that I can educate our patients and we can get them healthy. Yeah. So those are probably my top three. Well, yeah. Top three things. And then the the fourth thing would probably just be on a personal level, just make more time for myself. And as we all know, I struggle with actually planning for my time off. Um, but I'm trying to be better and I already have like the time that's already off plan. So with my time off, I want to try to just have time off and reset.
Savannah's Take on Downtime and Learning from Schedules
00:19:43
Speaker
That's awesome. i ah I feel like I'm doing the opposite in taking a page out of your book of taking time off to do nothing because I'm always like, all right, we've got two days. Let's go to 7,000 places. And but Adam is like, do we ever rest? No, it's fine.
00:20:07
Speaker
Or i'm I'm guilty of like, so this endo course is like in Santa Barbara or something like, well, we, then we can go and we can do California and Adam can come and he's like, just, just chill out. But I, I have no chill.
00:20:22
Speaker
I was going to say, you you heard my story about Disney and FAGD and Nina vacation when I came back. so Yeah, I did not learn from your mistakes.
00:20:36
Speaker
I got to make that mistake on my own, apparently. It's okay. I'm here to support you once you do. When I say ah you told me so and I understand now.
00:20:49
Speaker
It's okay. We all have to do it, right? Yes. yeah see This is the the other side of mentorship. You can learn from their mistakes or you can make the same mistake and then have somebody to commiserate with.
Engagement Invitation and Social Media
00:21:05
Speaker
All right, folks, well, let us know um what is new in your life since season one and what you are looking forward to, what cool CE you're taking, what good self-help books you're reading, all of those things that we love, and we will catch you all soon.
00:21:22
Speaker
Thank you for joining us for this episode of Beyond Graduation. If you enjoyed this week's episode, be sure to share it with a friend. Connect with us on social media, Savannah Craig, DDS, and Dr. Underscore Sartor. And remember, you are not alone on this journey. This episode was sponsored by the Dental Residency Guide and the Beyond Graduation eBooks. These eBooks can be found at IgniteDDS dot.com slash eBooks. Thank you so much for listening to Beyond Graduation brought to you by Ignite DDS and Future Dentists.