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Supporting the Next Generation of Dentists w/ Dr. Craig Armstrong
88 Plays1 year ago
Dr. Craig Armstrong and I had a wonderful conversation at the Texas Dental Association Meeting in San Antonio, Texas a few weeks ago! Dr. Armstrong shares how he sold his practice to fellow University of Texas School of Dentistry at Houston graduate and new dentist Dr. Glennis Katzmark. Both Dr. Armstrong and Dr. Katzmark are absolute superstars and their practice transition was quite a journey.
Dr. Craig Armstrong is the current 15th District American Dental Association Trustee representing Texas Dentists on the ADA Board of Trustees. He has held many leadership positions with the ADA and the Texas Dental Association. He currently serves as chairperson of the ADA Foundation, most recently served as chair and member of the ADA Science and Research Institute, ADASRI, and he has served as chairperson for the Council on Governmental Affairs for the ADA. Since 2002 he has been a delegate or alternate delegate to the ADA House of Delegates, chairing a reference committee in 2015. He has held the position of President for the Texas Dental Association, the Greater Houston Dental Society, and the Texas Academy of General Dentistry, having been awarded the TAGD’s Dentist of the Year award in 2015.
Dr Armstrong, a general dentist, lives in Houston Texas with his lovely wife Lana. In their spare time he and Lana enjoy traveling, searching out the best restaurants and spending time with their grandchildren that live in Chicago, Illinois and Austin, Texas.
Connect with Craig Armstrong: @drarmstrong01
Connect with New Dentists on the Block: @newdentistsontheblock
Connect with Tanya Sue Maestas: @tsmaestas.dds
Full video on Youtube
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Transcript
Introduction to the Podcast
00:00:02
Speaker
Welcome to New Dentists on the Block, a podcast featuring new dentists sharing their experiences in the world of dentistry. Successes, challenges, and life in between, navigating dentistry together one experience
Meet Dr. Craig Armstrong
00:00:16
Speaker
at a time. On today's episode, I have more words of wisdom from a seasoned dentist. Dr. Craig Armstrong and I had the opportunity to reconnect at the Texas Dental Association meeting in San Antonio, Texas.
00:00:27
Speaker
Dr. Craig Armstrong is the current 15th District American Dental Association trustee representing Texas Dennis on the ADA Board of Trustees. He has held many leadership positions with the ADA and the Texas Dental Association. He currently serves as chairperson of the ADA Foundation, most recently served as a founding member of the ADA Science and Research Institute, and he has served as a chairperson for the Council on Governmental Affairs for the ADA.
00:00:54
Speaker
Since 2002, he has been a delegate or alternate delegate to the ADA House of Delegates, serving as a chair of a reference committee in 2015. He has held the position of president for the Texas Dental Association, the Greater Houston Dental Society, and the Texas Academy of General Dentistry, having been awarded the TAGD Dennis of the Year award in 2015.
00:01:15
Speaker
Dr. Armstrong, a general dentist, lives in Houston, Texas with his lovely wife Lana.
Reconnecting at the TDA Meeting
00:01:21
Speaker
And in their spare time, he and Lana enjoyed traveling, searching out the best restaurants, and spending time with her grandchildren that live in Chicago, Illinois and Austin, Texas. I learned so much about Dr. Armstrong during our conversation and about his practice transition with a new dentist who came out of school. I hope that you will learn and find some pearls in our conversation.
Practice Transition Experience
00:01:42
Speaker
Let's get to it.
00:01:45
Speaker
Craig Armstrong, welcome to New Dennis on the Block. How are you doing? I'm doing great. Thanks for having me. I am so excited to connect with you live and in person here at the TDA meeting. And I know it's been a while since everyone has been here and in the flesh. But how are you feeling about this week? You know, it's been amazing so far. It's been a great day. I started with the morning run around the Riverwalk.
00:02:05
Speaker
and that kinda got me set for a great day, and it's good catching up with you. We haven't seen each other very much. In a while, yeah. Yeah, since we were out in El Paso. Yes, yeah, it's been a few months, but we loved having you, and it's so wonderful to be here and see everyone that I don't get to see on a regular basis. I definitely miss that time in Houston when we could see everyone a little bit more frequently. Absolutely. Well, you're still one of my favorite superstars from ASDA, from UTSD, so. Well, thank you, and UTSC has produced quite a few superstars, that's for sure.
00:02:34
Speaker
But Craig, please tell our listeners a little bit
Mentoring Dr. Katzmark
00:02:37
Speaker
about yourself.
00:02:37
Speaker
Well, I'm a general dentist from Houston. Been in practice about 34 years. Recently sold my practice to a UTSD graduate, Dr. Glennis Katzmark. And I think for your listeners, I think she's got a great story that I'd like to share with you guys. Yes, yeah. Please tell us a little bit more about that story. Yeah. Well, so Glennis and I actually met when she was a first year dental student. And my wife, Lana, and I were actually doing
00:03:06
Speaker
a volunteer event down at the George R. Brown Convention Center screening kids for the Affordable Care Act. And we were in the parking lot and we ran into this young lady who was setting up her, you know, stuff to her booth. And so we got to talking and it turned out she was part of the group that I was there with. So we ended up, you know, screening patients and stuff that day.
00:03:28
Speaker
And I kind of forgot about her a little bit, but I kind of kept my eye on her throughout school. And, you know, she's a superstar anyway, and she's so involved with everything. And one of my passions is advocacy, and that turned out to be one of her passions. And so I kind of saw her going through UTSD and she did the Advocacy Academy and so forth, which I know you're familiar with.
00:03:49
Speaker
And so when it came time for her to graduate, I said, you know, this is probably somebody that would be a great fit to work in my office as an associate. Absolutely. Glennis was a powerhouse at
Challenges and Success of Dr. Katzmark
00:04:02
Speaker
UTSD. Absolutely. She's amazing. I would say that one of the reasons that I became passionate about advocacy were her efforts and John Vogel's efforts, but also seeing all the support that we had from community dentists. You know, you all coming in and really stressing the importance on advocacy in the profession.
00:04:17
Speaker
Absolutely. And I know I'm a little biased because I am from Houston, but I think the Houston dentists do play a big role at the school and encouraging our young future dentists to become involved and advocate for the profession. And Glennis certainly has done that. But I think the part of her story that really resonates with me is, is, you know, she became an associate and
00:04:38
Speaker
quite quickly into her first year as an associate, she became pregnant. And that's not the ideal situation necessarily, but she made it work. And so she comes in, she's an associate, she's just getting her feet wet. She gets pregnant, takes some time off to spend with her child. And her husband, very supportive, which I think it's great to have a partner that's actually supportive of you.
00:05:03
Speaker
And so then she came back and started working as an associate again, and it was great. And then I started thinking, what do I want for the future for this person? And I said, this is going to be the person that's going to buy my practice. And so we started talking about it.
00:05:19
Speaker
And the thing that was really amazing to me was for someone as young as she was and really not that experienced, she wasn't scared of anything. She was ready to go. She wanted some mentorship, but she had the tools already to be successful. So she worked for me for a couple of years, and then we talked about buying a practice. And so we kind of situated it or positioned it where she was going to buy half the practice.
00:05:47
Speaker
we were going to work together as partners. And then two and a half years later, we'd buy that she'd buy the second half. Well, unfortunately, she bought the first half right before COVID, which was not a great time. I mean, as you know, we we all of us had challenges during COVID. But she made it work. She went on to have a second child.
00:06:06
Speaker
And the thing about Glennis that I think is remarkable is her story is many people would tell her that she couldn't do something because she's a new mom, she's got these responsibilities of a new practice and so forth, and she proved them all wrong.
00:06:21
Speaker
I mean, she has been a rock star when it comes to making things work. She's got a busy practice now. She owns the practice completely. I work for her. All right. And I'm happy to say that she's a good boss. All right. But it's been a great experience.
00:06:37
Speaker
I've often said to people at the ADA, you really need to do a story or anything on her because she really is, I think, an example to a lot of dentists out there that don't think they can have it all. Like I said, she's got two children. She's president of the Houston Academy of General Dentistry. She's on the Den Pack board right now at the state level, and she's running a busy, busy practice.
00:07:03
Speaker
To me, that's a success story that I think needs to get
Advice on Practice Transition
00:07:06
Speaker
out there. So I'm really proud of where she's at. I'm proud of the example she sets for others because I think that a lot of times there are a lot more people telling you you can't do something. And to see someone actually making a go of it and being successful, I think that encourages other people to do it.
00:07:25
Speaker
Oh, absolutely. And I have a few thoughts here, but you know, the first thing I want to touch on is you as a more seasoned dentist, how did you feel ready to let that go and to bring a new dentist in? I would say that maybe those who are more seasoned may be a little bit more reluctant.
00:07:42
Speaker
Yeah, you know, that's a great question. I think that, you know, I like the term more seasoned dentist because, you know, that that's a better name for it than some of the others I've heard us being called. But it's good that that that you use that term. But I think that for me personally, I remember back when I was a new dentist and one of the things that I felt like
00:08:06
Speaker
for me personally was that there weren't very many opportunities. And so I was the new guy that came in and the doc wanted to, everybody, all the patients wanted to see the old doctor and not me. So I'm very sympathetic to those kinds of things. So I think it made me
00:08:23
Speaker
better able to adjust to being an employee, first of all. But to be able to let go of the practice, I think you've got to be ready. For one, you've got to be ready financially, but you've also got to be ready emotionally. Because I basically, when I sold half the practice, I let her
00:08:41
Speaker
have some experience in running the practice, even though I was part owner, because I knew that she was gonna buy the second half, and for her, she has to make it her own. And that involves some failure. I mean, we're gonna try things. She has ideas that she'll readily admit that weren't successful. But I had to kind of pull back on trying to help her there, because I think that failures are your best teacher, right? We learn more from our failures than we do to our successes.
00:09:11
Speaker
She's no exception. Now, do I have any doubt that she's going to be successful? No. But sometimes, you know, I see that the older doctor or the more seasoned doctor can be an obstacle to that success. So there'll probably be a time coming that she'll want me to leave so she can, you know,
00:09:31
Speaker
Bridge the gap to the next phase of her practice and that's fine. I'm ready for that. But I think it just takes The the seasoned doctor being you know, really being honest with themselves Because I think a lot of docs when they sell they're not ready to sell they think they are right and that's when it leads to problems and that wasn't my case I was ready. I had the right person. I had the right connection and
00:09:54
Speaker
And I think it's all about relationships. And that's, I mean, that's what everything is about. I think in life is about relationships. Oh, absolutely. And I think that it's so key for our listeners who are listening to, you know, likely as new dentists, but to reach out to those who are involved in your dental school to if you're looking to buy a practice.
00:10:12
Speaker
to find that mentorship and to find somebody who's ready to help mold you. And I want to say that when I found out that y'all were partnering together, I thought that that just was the perfect match.
The Role of Organized Dentistry
00:10:22
Speaker
I mean, who better to put two people together? Thank you for saying that. Two powerhouses there, in my opinion. My other thought was just, you know, what a huge life change for Glennis. This is now going to be called Glennis' episode. But, you know, she came into a new practice and she got pregnant.
00:10:38
Speaker
almost immediately. And as a female in the profession, you know, you think ahead as to what life is going to look like. And sometimes it's a plan and you kind of have to roll with the punches, but to go into a new setting and have that support from your new business partner to, you know, be welcoming to that new addition into your personal life. I think it's huge. And I think we would love to see more of that, but I think the reality is that that's not true across the board.
00:11:02
Speaker
Unfortunately, I think you're right. But I think that I can set an example. And if somebody sees this or hears it and it spurs somebody else to do the same thing that I did, then that's great. I think that's what we have to do. But I would tell a lot of your listeners, I think that the
00:11:22
Speaker
The real key for me is establishing relationships. And I think that what happens for a lot of us is we graduate from dental school, we go into our little world, and we don't come out of that. And I think that you go from a relationship-based program at dental school where you've got all your colleagues to lean on, and then you go out into private practice, it can be kind of lonely.
00:11:41
Speaker
So I've heard from lots of recent graduates that they feel that they don't have that connection anymore. And I think that we have to do a better job as the more seasoned dentist of reaching out to the younger dentist and say, you know what, call me if you need a hand with something. And those kind of relationships evolve and say, you know what, there's going to be a time when I'm ready to hand the reins
Future of Dentistry
00:12:02
Speaker
over. And maybe this is a relationship that can grow into what Glennis and I have.
00:12:06
Speaker
Absolutely. And to pivot a little bit in building on relationships and mentorship, you and I are very passionate about organized dentistry. And we have all seen that the numbers are starting to dip a little bit. But I would say that a lot of it is that our generation and the younger generation really don't know what that value is anymore.
00:12:25
Speaker
And I think that a lot of that can be boosted by having those relationships and having the more seasoned, you know, share the importance of being part of organized dentistry and building our profession up and pushing it forward. And I think that that's part of, you know, going into the right setting and having the right mentors behind you.
00:12:40
Speaker
No, I totally agree. And I think it is a value proposition that we need to work on and do a better job of. I think that the – first of all, as a former board liaison to the new dentist committee, I can't tell you how big a –
00:12:55
Speaker
big of a fan I am of the new dentist because I think that where you all are at right now in your stage of your life as a new dentist is like leap years ahead of where I was and the opportunities that you have and the things that you'll see in your practices that we have not seen or will have seen are amazing.
00:13:17
Speaker
very optimistic for the future for dentistry, and especially for our new dentists. Coming out to your school out in El Paso, and I see that you guys are doing all these, there's no wet impressions, it's all scans and everything. Crazy, right? It is. It's hard to wrap your head around it if that wasn't your teaching model, but what you're doing out there is the wave of the future, and we've gotta embrace that. But I think that the things that you're gonna do with that technology in your school and your graduates are gonna do,
00:13:46
Speaker
are going to set this profession on its ear. And I'm excited to see that. And I might not be involved in it inherently, but I'm going to still be around dentistry for the rest of my life.
Communicating Value of Organized Dentistry
00:13:56
Speaker
And I'm happy to see where the profession is going with the stewardship that's happening under the new dentist, because I think you guys are rocking it.
00:14:04
Speaker
I'll tell you what, every time I'm at that school, I learn a ton. I mean, the technology is out of this world. But I'd like you to expand a little bit about what you see the future of dentistry looking like. In your opinion, if you could craft the ideal version of dentistry in the next 10 years or so, what would you say?
00:14:23
Speaker
I'm an optimist by nature anyway, and so I really am. I think that the future is bright. I think that you're going to see the proliferation of more small group practices. I don't mean that just to be in the corporate world like the DSO world.
00:14:42
Speaker
have an opportunity here to set up some type of a template for our young people to say, you know what, if you want to be part of a group or you want to practice with your classmates, we've got a model here for you. And I'd like to see that. I think that the future is the economies of scale that you get by going in with a group.
00:15:03
Speaker
are so much better than private practice. So I see that small group practice is going to be smaller. The numbers are going to be smaller. And they'll always be the boutique practices. That's always going to exist. But I see going forward that in order to have the technology, the SERACs, the 3D printers, the CBCTs, you're going to have to pull your resources together to make the numbers work. I am optimistic that the future
00:15:31
Speaker
You know, the boomers are retiring, so you guys are taking it over now, okay? So it's going to be on you to make the future to shape it. But I think that with the proper, you know, groundwork that we're laying right now to create, I think we need to do a better job of creating value for you to come to the ADA, for instance, if we're going to be the resource for you to shape that future.
00:15:55
Speaker
The things we're doing at the ADA now are very exciting, and a lot of it is geared towards new dentists. And I think if we can keep that message coming out there and create the value that you know, you've got to be a member of the ADA, not just for the advocacy part of it, but for every part of your practice life. In order to be successful, you're gonna have to be a part of the ADA. I think that's when we get the numbers back. But as far as what practice looks like, I think that, you know,
00:16:22
Speaker
I come from an era where I've seen a lot of change, but it's been taking a long time. The changes that are happening now are happening so rapidly that robotic dentistry, like we talked about, digital dentistry, all of those things are
00:16:38
Speaker
You know, those are commonplace almost in some places now. So for me to even speculate as to what it's going to look like is a little bit difficult. But I think the bottom line is we're still going to the profession is strong. The people who are graduating are amazing. The caliber of student applying to dental school is higher than it's ever been. So I think with those things in mind, as long as we take care of the patient and put that out there first and foremost, I think we're in good shape. I think you all have a bright future.
00:17:07
Speaker
I love that. I'm going to put you in the hot seat a little bit. What do you tell the new dentist who doesn't see value in being an organized industry? How do you retain their membership?
00:17:20
Speaker
Well, let me flip that around a little bit. I think that it's a great question, but I think
ADA's Changes for New Dentists
00:17:25
Speaker
the fact that you're asking that question means that we're not doing a good enough job of communicating our value to new dentists. So I think if we do a better job of communicating to you in the manner or modes that you want to be communicated with,
00:17:45
Speaker
and we can actively take our message to you, I think that you're going to see the value in that. Now, I think we've got some work to do. That's part of our transformation at the ADA right now. As you were here today, Dr. Komiya was here. He's a visionary. The board of trustees has bought into that, and we're behind that 100%.
00:18:08
Speaker
But I think that the challenge is we've got to make sure that we're taking care of you guys in the front end. But also, some of our hangers on, our boomers are still hanging around. We gotta take care of them. But I think that the question centering around the value for the new dentist, I think that's on us. I don't think we're doing a great job of doing that. And quite frankly, some of the values that we
00:18:34
Speaker
we are providing when we talk to new dentists, they don't know that we're doing it. So that tells me that our communication platform is not where it needs to be, and the message isn't getting through. Because as you know, you're very active in social media situations. A lot of what we get beat up for on social media
00:18:55
Speaker
is not accurate. We're actually doing some of the things that we're getting slammed on in social media. And I think that that's just a reflection of where we need to go and what kind of a job we need to do to get to that. The ADA has a lot of layers, and I would say that they're doing so many more things than people really know about. And I agree, I can see the organization transforming into something that's more tailored and delivered to its individual member.
00:19:22
Speaker
And I think that we're headed in that direction. But you're right, we all have work to put into to make our organization better.
Dr. Armstrong's Best Advice
00:19:27
Speaker
For sure. I really enjoyed this, but I'd like you to share if you had the best advice that you could give to a new dentist, what would that be?
00:19:35
Speaker
I've lived by the motto that I'm going to take care of my patients in an ethical manner. I'm going to live my life responsibly, financially. I'm going to retire my debt. And I'm going to be disciplined. And I think that if you can maintain those things, and I know it's a challenge.
00:19:53
Speaker
with the ever-growing amount of student debt that you guys are taking on. But I think financial responsibility, being disciplined with what you're doing, but always putting the patient first, I think that everything else falls back into place. And that's something that may sound cliche or corny or old-fashioned, but it really does pay dividends. Everything I've done in dentistry, I've done
00:20:21
Speaker
the right way and it's paid dividends for me to do that. I haven't taken shortcuts along the way and I think I've been pretty successful and success to me is different for different people, right? It's not just financial. It's about
00:20:37
Speaker
the four generations of patients that I have in my practice that still come to me. And they don't live by me. They travel from out of town. That says something to me about the product that I put out in my 34 years. To me, that's a success. So I think you have to define what makes you successful for sure. And I think if you do the things I've mentioned, I think that you're gonna be successful by any measure.
00:21:05
Speaker
Great advice.
Conclusion and Contact Information
00:21:06
Speaker
Any last thoughts for our listeners today? What can you do to make a difference in the profession? And I think if you're asking yourself that as you go forward, I think it keeps you hungry, it keeps you eager to learn, and it makes sure that you're on the right path. And I think that those are good things to keep you balanced and centered in your life.
00:21:30
Speaker
Well Craig, it's always an honor to have the opportunity to speak with you and thank you so much for what you've done for our state and for our association. I can't wait to see what's to come for you and if our listeners would like to connect with you in some way, what's the best way?
00:21:44
Speaker
You can find me at my email address is drarmstrong01 at Gmail. And I'm on Instagram, drarmstrong01. And I've got a Facebook page as well. So Craig Armstrong. Love it. Keeping up with the times. I'm trying. You know, it's hard. You guys are challenged to try to keep up with you, but it's fun. Well, thank you so much for your time. My pleasure.
00:22:07
Speaker
Thank you for tuning into this episode of New Dentists on the Block. If you would like to connect with Dr. Armstrong, you can find him on Instagram at Dr. Armstrong01. Please be sure to subscribe to the podcast on YouTube and on all major podcast platforms. I would love if you would leave a review of the podcast.
00:22:24
Speaker
If you know a new dentist or you are a new dentist and you would like to be on the podcast, be sure to send an Instagram message to at newdentistontheblock. You can also connect with me on Instagram at tsmiestas.dds. We'll catch you next time.