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Dr. Jamine Ifedi and Dawn Ifedi: Clinical Mistake
19 Plays4 days ago
What happens when #DentalFuel meets Generational Dental Wealth? Magic. ✨
Episode Summary:
In this crossover episode of Dental Fuel, host Tanya Sue Maestas welcomes Doc and Dawn Ifedi, two dynamic figures in the world of dentistry, for an engaging conversation about navigating the complexities of dental practices. The episode delves into the professional journeys of Dr. Jermaine Ifedi and Dawn Ifedi, uncovering their unique perspectives on practice management, financial growth, and patient care in dentistry. With insightful anecdotes, they share their wisdom on working together as a couple in the dental business and how these experiences have shaped their respective careers.
This episode addresses the challenges and successes encountered by both Dr. Ifedi and Dawn in the dental field. They discuss the importance of case selection, handling patient relationships, and the value of specialization in treatment plans. Key themes such as collaborative approaches in dentistry, financial literacy for dental professionals, and innovative practice management strategies are highlighted. Through their candid reflections, the Ifedis offer listeners valuable insights into building sustainable, patient-centered dental practices that align with personal and professional aspirations.
Key Takeaways:
- The importance of identifying and managing cases that may require specialist referrals to ensure optimal patient care.
- Understanding the role of collaboration and financial literacy in enhancing dental practice management and generating wealth.
- Emphasizing the need for strong patient management skills and recognizing when a dentist-patient relationship is not mutually beneficial.
- Insights into integrating personal passions, such as geriatrics and financial coaching, into a fulfilling dental practice.
- The benefits and challenges of working with a partner in professional settings, focusing on enhanced communication and shared goals.
Connect with Dr. Jamine Ifedi and Dawn Ifedi: @mydentalwealth
Connect with Ignitedds and Dr. David Rice: @ignitedds Free Intro Call
Connect with Tanya Sue Maestas: @tsmaestas.dds
Learn more about Ignite Coaching : https://ignitedds.com
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Transcript
Introduction & Podcast Background
00:00:00
Speaker
Dental Fuel, the podcast that focuses on what no one else is talking about, mistakes. The dental world is full of before and afters, and no one is talking about the middle.
00:00:11
Speaker
Dental Fuel brings you the unspoken in between. Dental Fuel is brought to you by Ignite DDS Coaching, empowering dentists to build self-determined futures. Together, we're shaping the next generation of leaders in dentistry.
Meet Doc and Dawn Ifedi
00:00:24
Speaker
In this episode of Dental Fuel, we have Doc and Dawn Ifedi, a super passionate and dynamic duo who are here to share some insights and some mistakes. In this first episode, Doc and Dawn talk about some clinical mistakes that they have made and how they handled them.
00:00:41
Speaker
Let's listen in. Doc and Dawn Ifedi, welcome to Dental Fuel. How are you doing today? Doing great, doing great. We're great. Thank you for having us. We're excited for this crossover episode.
00:00:52
Speaker
It's going to be a fun one. Yeah, I'm excited for this crossover episode. And I'm excited to learn more about you all and and what you all do in your ah world of of dentistry. And um so before we get into it, I would love if you would let our listeners know a little bit about yourself.
Dawn's Journey in Dentistry
00:01:08
Speaker
All right, so I will start. So my name is Donnie Fetty. I'm a registered dental hygienist, as well as the office manager of Empire Dental Group. as well as the Rich Life Coach for the generational dental wealth group, amongst many other things.
00:01:25
Speaker
So I am to start, well, the registered dental hygienist at Empire Dental Group. So I, as well as Dr. Isetti, one of the two practitioners there. So we see the patients every day. We do all things, practice, practice management.
00:01:42
Speaker
and We work with other doctors, when it comes to building their rich life, what that looks like for them, and how to take their life that they currently live and maximize it to the the biggest and the best potential. Sounds good.
00:01:55
Speaker
Very cool. You wear a lot of hats. It sounds like maybe you're working harder than Doc is. But Doc, tell us a
Doc Ifedi's Path and Philosophy
00:02:01
Speaker
little bit about yourself. She forgot the most important job. She's my life. Yes. Oh, that's right. That's right. There you go. Oh, that's very nice. name was a giveaway.
00:02:09
Speaker
I thought it was a giveaway. No, that's not. So for myself, my name is Dr. Jemani Fetty. Originally from Nigeria, born and raised in Charlton, North Carolina.
00:02:19
Speaker
I went to East Carolina for undergrad and graduate school. like I got my master's business administration from there. Then I went on to UNC Chapel Hill and got my DDS. That's why became a dentist. So since then, since graduation, I was a traveling dentist, working almost 90 different cities.
00:02:35
Speaker
So that was a good time with a specialized Care for geriatric patients that was my heart my love and passion still is my love and passion with the average age of our patient based being around 40 to 50 years old We don't see many kids, but we see a lot of grandparents and great-grandparents, which is always fun for us So for myself personally passionate about dentistry passionate about finances I would say my first love was understanding and my mba far so it was actually kind of difficult going from nba program to dental school
00:03:07
Speaker
andba program all collaborative case studies, groups coming together figuring out how can we solve these different challenges and maximize um businesses. When I came to dental school, it was shocker.
Collaborative Dentistry & Financial Insights
00:03:18
Speaker
I thought, we're going to come in, we're going to collaborate, we're going to figure this thing out. quickly found out that, you know what, this is a race you might have to run with a little bit less people. But as you continue to go on, I'm glad I never lost that because as i entered the field of dentist that collaborative spirit came back and group
00:03:40
Speaker
motivated us to be able to create the Generation of Inner World platform in the Dr. World Group. Now we get to be able to talk to so many different doctors, lead so many different groups, and be able to help people figure out how do you maximize your personal check.
00:03:54
Speaker
Tell us something about you, Dr. Tainey. but Well, thank you for the question. And doc, you know what, ah before I get into talking a little bit about myself, I'll tell you what, I'm not the numbers girl. So I'm excited to learn a little bit about what you all are doing and helping dentists out. But, you know, I was excited when I got into dental school and only had to count up to 32.
Host Tanya's Role & Networking in Dentistry
00:04:10
Speaker
So just ah a little bit of a difference there. But I'm Tanya. I work in in public health.
00:04:15
Speaker
And um yeah, i I just have a kind of a commitment to serving the underserved and I also am a part-time faculty member at a dental school here in El Paso, Texas, and I'm excited to be hosting Dental Fuel. I do this for Ignite DDS, and I get to meet so many wonderful people like yourselves and kind of hear different dentist stories and dental professional stories and, you know, their walks of life and all the awesome things that they're doing. And I learn, and hopefully our our listeners learn so much um from everyone who we've interviewed. And so it's been very rewarding to have this opportunity to do this.
00:04:47
Speaker
That's amazing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We invited him to come speak at our national conference probably four five years ago, and that's first time I met him. He graciously accepted the invitation, came out and gave so much great information so much great energy.
00:05:02
Speaker
So this a full circle of moment. We actually interviewed him on our podcast before, and for some odd reason, the episode got deleted. So we're going have to run that episode back. We've all been there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Don't you Yeah, we've all been there.
00:05:15
Speaker
man. So it's a full circle moment. So I'm glad that it's rolling. Oh, that's wonderful. Yes. roll is Yes. ah David is just such a great supporter of, you know, young dentists and even seasoned dentists, but he really just tries to help where he can. And he's an excellent speaker as well, too. So if any of our listeners are are looking to plan a meeting, definitely reach out to him because he's ah a great supporter you of all things dentistry. And he'll come. That's right. That's right.
00:05:42
Speaker
He'll come. That's right. That's right. Well, here at Dental Fuel, we're dedicated to learning from each other's mistakes and growing from
Mistakes as Learning Opportunities in Dentistry
00:05:50
Speaker
those mistakes. And sometimes we say that, you know, mistakes really aren't mistakes, but they're just kind of ah learning ah opportunities that we learn along the way of life.
00:05:59
Speaker
And so, ah you know, don't don't think mistakes are too scary, but it's a great opportunity to learn from each other. But I would love to know a little bit about a clinical mistake that maybe you all have made in your journey so far and how you decided to handle that.
Patient Management & Referral Challenges
00:06:20
Speaker
I would probably say, personally, one of the biggest clinical mistakes I had wasn't really necessarily clinically based, but it was the patient management aspect, which is probably one of the biggest aspects when it comes to clinical dentistry.
00:06:32
Speaker
You're not just treating teeth. You're treating a person that day moves around and lives an entire life. So dealing with this particular patient was not necessarily understanding that this is just one of those patients who just were not going to solve their problem.
00:06:47
Speaker
It doesn't matter what you do. It doesn't matter. what answer you give There's just certain certain patients that unfortunately, you're just not the best dentist for them. It doesn't make them a bad patient. It doesn't make you a bad clinician.
00:06:58
Speaker
It's just sometimes you can't serve everybody. And I think i if I would have identified that earlier in our relationship, it would have left a lot less strain. oh and All practicing dentists that I've seen or thought to themselves one time, when you see a certain patient on your schedule, it's just like, oh, not again.
00:07:17
Speaker
Honestly, though, I mean, life is so short, we shouldn't even have to really sit through those kind of tough situations like that because patients feel that, right? And they deserve to be in the best place for them where somebody's excited to see them do a thing, right?
00:07:30
Speaker
So if I would have identified that earlier and said, this relationship wouldn't have worked out, I would have been able to, you know what, say, it might be best if we get you referred out somewhere or I can get you to another colleague that is better suited to be able to help you get to where you need to be.
00:07:45
Speaker
I think one of the biggest things that that complex that we did have with a generational And there was no way he wanted it bridged. It was just something that he was okay with.
00:07:56
Speaker
So I'm used to it with the fashion for geriatrics. I'm used to seeing all different kinds of generations. um But this particular bridge was just one that just could not be crossed. So by the time the relationship finally get in, he was very vocal about it.
00:08:10
Speaker
He wanted to leave reviews about it. And he wanted to make a bang on his way out. But again, he can't really help it. So um through two plus...
00:08:20
Speaker
For two plus, two and a half years of my practice at that point? Yeah. All five stars. He was the first one. So no matter how much you give, right? No matter how hard you go sometimes. You can't satisfy everyone. You can't satisfy everybody. That's right. So that's just something I had to internalize.
00:08:36
Speaker
So instead of thinking to myself, oh my gosh, you got a one-star review. Yeah. I thought to myself, oh my gosh, you got 200 five-star reviews. Yeah. How do you stay positive keep reminding yourself that, you know what? you You bring something great to the table, right?
00:08:48
Speaker
And unfortunately, not everybody, that's going to be their flavor, right? But that's not definitely what I think it was. yeah I'll tell you what, you know, before I before i went to dental school and, ah i you know, when i always thought I would become a dentist, I thought everyone was going to love me, you know, that would have a great time. And, you know, I'd bring i'd build rapport with everyone and it it would just be all rainbows and butterflies. But that truly is not the reality of the profession.
00:09:13
Speaker
yeah And so I think that it's just it's so important to have these conversations and to learn to kind of build past it and look at the positive. And, you know, for for one bad review, you have so many other positive ones. And the same thing, you have so many other positive ah relationships in your practice.
00:09:30
Speaker
But what about you, Dawn? Any clinical mistakes on your end? I would say kind of similar to Dr. Thais, but more so like case selection. So when it comes to patients, which cases are the best to take on, which ones make the most sense.
00:09:43
Speaker
So when it comes to certain patients, especially if you are starting a new practice or taking over a previous practice, you want to make sure there's a smooth transition when it comes to patients.
00:09:54
Speaker
So when it came to this particular patient, he it was more so that he was teetering on that line of needing to see a specialist, but Because if he was able to maintain in the practice, because as we all know, sometimes if a patient has periodontal disease, they can be referred out and they can stay or they can be referred out and come back to general practice.
00:10:17
Speaker
So for his case, he could be could have been referred out and come back, but he was a previous patient. we wanted to see what we could do for him at the practice first to make sure that we got him in the best hands if need be.
00:10:30
Speaker
Or if he were we were able to kind of manage and maintenance things in office, and he was able to maintain things at home. so But we gave him the entire spiel of everything. let him know his current condition with updated x-rays, everything.
00:10:45
Speaker
And um when it came to the point where we needed to refer him out after going over everything with him, i think he came and said probably to practice twice for perio-maintenances. He just refused to understand what the next steps were supposed to be for his current condition.
00:11:01
Speaker
So when it came to that, there was a bit of a misunderstanding or a refusal more so of understanding on his part. i don't even want to say misunderstanding because we tried the best to our ability to explain to him what his condition was, what we need to do, what next steps. But what one thing about dentistry and a lot of patients that they don't necessarily understand the referral process like they do in the medical field.
00:11:26
Speaker
In the medical field, it seems like they have more of a clear understanding of, okay, you need to go see a specialist because of this. This is a primary care provider office, and we need to get you to this orthopedic doctor or this ear, nose, and throat doctor or anything like that. But when it comes to dentistry, although general dentists, general practices can do a lot in-house, and generally you do a lot in-house, once it gets to that point, a lot of patients just see as me going to a specialist is more dollars on.
00:11:58
Speaker
And that's not always the case. It's more so you have a specialized case. Let's get you to this specialist to make sure it's taken care of properly. So when it came to this specific patient, he just wanted to do a lot of back and forth. And I'm sure we've had a lot of patients like that where they don't understand it. They they just think that it's a money grab or and um we're just doing something special or something new in dentistry.
00:12:21
Speaker
And it's not the case. We just want to make sure that we get you to the best hand.
00:12:26
Speaker
case selection is huge, but also doing the right thing for our patients and trying to guide them, I think is so important. and And I completely understand. I think that there is a lot of misunderstanding and lack of knowledge from the, from the patient part, as far as how referrals work and why they have to go and see different specialists. But I think that the ah parallel is there with medicine. It's just on a smaller
Explaining Patient Referrals
00:12:49
Speaker
scale. yeah So I think that trying to make that connection can be really big, but you know, one thing that, um,
00:12:55
Speaker
kind of struck my mind is, you know, the importance of helping our patients go to those specialists and understand that.
Next Episode Teaser: Financial Advice
00:13:03
Speaker
Doc and Don bring a lot of energy to the rest of our conversation. Tune in next week where we talk about some financial advice.
00:13:09
Speaker
we're Ready to take the next step in your journey? Book an intro call with Ignite DBS Coaching today and level up your future in dentistry.