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Residency
30 Plays6 months ago
About the Hosts:
In this episode of "Beyond Graduation," listeners are introduced to two seasoned dental professionals, Dr. Savanah Craig and Dr. Ronnetta Sartor. Dr. Craig, fresh from a General Practice Residency (GPR) program, speaks from her recent experience and its profound impact on her career, particularly in the context of private practice. Dr. Sartor brings a wealth of knowledge, reflecting on the substantial growth and assurance gained from her own time in a residency program as well as her practice in a rural area. Both doctors highlight their commitment to continuous learning and patient care, sharing insights gleaned from their careers in dentistry.
Episode Summary:
In this enlightening episode of "Beyond Graduation," Dr. Savanah Craig and Dr. Ronnetta Sartor delve into the transformative journey of General Practice Residency (GPR) programs and their long-standing influence on dental careers. The conversation opens with a candid reflection on personal and professional development, with Dr. Sartor advocating for the confidence boost and comprehensive knowledge she attained that propelled her to practice adeptly in a rural setting.
Further into the discussion, the doctors dissect the myriad benefits of GPR, from knowing one's limits and pushing clinical boundaries to managing complex patient cases with ease.
Key Takeaways:
- GPR programs are instrumental in building confidence and competency in young dentists, particularly for those serving rural communities or requiring additional mentorship post-dental school.
- Hands-on experience during residency helps distinguish personal and professional boundaries, reinforcing the significance of understanding and enforcing limitations in practice.
- Lifelong learning and continuous education, evidenced by participation in advanced dental courses, are vital for remaining at the forefront of evolving dental practices and technologies.
- Choosing the right residency program hinges on aligning with one’s aspirations and personal goals, emphasizing the need for thorough research and consideration of each program’s offerings.
- Residency emphasizes the collaborative nature of dentistry, highlighting the necessity to consult with specialists and integrate holistic treatment plans for comprehensive patient care.
The following resource is mentioned in this episode for those considering a residency program:
- Connect with Ignite DDS: @ignitedds or at www.ignitedds.com
- Connect with the Residency Guide and Beyond Graduation eBook: www.ignitedds.com/ebooks
If you are encouraged by the engaging dialogue between Dr. Craig and Dr. Sartor, we invite our audience to delve into the full episode of "Beyond Graduation" for valuable insights into the role GPR programs play in shaping confident and preparing dental professionals. Stay tuned for more thought-provoking content as we continue to explore the realm of postgraduate dental education and its far-reaching effects on career development.
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Transcript
Introduction to Dental Careers Post-Graduation
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.
What is a General Practice Residency (GPR)?
00:00:16
Speaker
Hello and welcome back to Beyond Graduation with Dr. Craig and Dr. Sartor. This week we are talking about our experience pursuing GPR programs and how that has impacted our careers thus far. So we'll start with you.
GPR: Confidence Building in Dentistry
00:00:35
Speaker
You've been out of residency far longer than I. I know. If you had to go back in time and do it all over again,
00:00:42
Speaker
Would you do it? I 100% would. Right out of dental school, my confidence level was definitely nowhere near where it needed to be. And because I'm from a rural area, I knew that it was something that I wanted to do when I
00:01:04
Speaker
you know, graduated dental school, I wanted to practice in a rural area. So I wanted the ability to feel confident enough to where if a patient had complex medical history or, you know, complex dentistry that needed to be done, I felt confident enough to do the dentistry, but also confident enough to know when it was out of my scope. And when I should refer
00:01:32
Speaker
How about you would would you
Growth and Self-Awareness in GPR
00:01:34
Speaker
do it again? Oh, yes in a heartbeat? Yeah, I just knew Personally that I needed that I needed that extra year in so many so many ways clinically Personally professionally, it's it was the best thing I ever did And there are still I mean I still I've only been in private practice for a few months But there are so many moments where I'm like
00:02:01
Speaker
I wouldn't have known what to do. And I think the biggest thing for me at this point is knowing my limits. Had I not pushed the envelope for an entire year with backup, I wouldn't
00:02:17
Speaker
I wouldn't be so firm in my nose as I am now. You know, I know what my limits are, I know what my comfort level is, and I can in full confidence say, no, this isn't for me. And I wouldn't have had that coming right out of dental
Patient and Team Management Skills
00:02:32
Speaker
school.
00:02:32
Speaker
It's very interesting, especially how now some states, you have to complete a residency in order to get your license and be able to practice. I'm not sure about your dental school, but my dental school pretty much had just about all of the specialties. Yeah, we did too.
00:02:59
Speaker
I think there are some schools out there that have no specialty programs, and I think they have potential to graduate some dental students that have more of a diverse portfolio in terms of different types of patient cases.
00:03:18
Speaker
I think overall residency for me was just additional boosting confidence that I needed, especially as it pertained to patient management and team management and
00:03:35
Speaker
Yep. All the things, just incorporating everything together and seeing more than two patients a day. Huh,
Safe Learning Environment
00:03:44
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you know? Yeah, and I think it allowed me to explore all of those things in a safety net environment, you know?
00:03:53
Speaker
I couldn't imagine, personally, people do come out of dental school and go into private practice and succeed. But I would be so, so stressed trying to navigate all of the nuances of private practice and working in that system and somebody else's court versus
00:04:20
Speaker
I had that year to figure out myself and my abilities and I think it's so funny to look back. What I thought I would get out of residency was like, oh, I can do all these cool procedures and look, you know, and I can.
00:04:36
Speaker
But more so, it showed me like my limitations and my comfort zone of, you know, we were talking earlier, like if I'm going to refer something out, there is a reason, you know, and I can trust myself and not really be
00:04:55
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I'm more strong on my own feet and in my own backbone to not be pushed against by my colleagues or my patients or my team.
Standing Firm in Values
00:05:05
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We always say, you always tell me standing in your values and let your nose be nose.
00:05:11
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they are now because of that year. It's awesome. I think one of the important things that I learned from residency as well from the program director's work was that, you know, it's the practice of dentistry. And, you know, dentistry is always ever changing. You know,
00:05:34
Speaker
The main things, the main principles that we learn in school for the most part remain the same, but it's evolving in order for us to be the best providers that we could be for our patients and for our communities. We have to evolve to learn. And I think that's one of the things that I took from residency for sure. Yeah, that lifelong learning piece.
00:06:04
Speaker
was really emphasized. Yeah, the more residency for me was like personal growth, even beyond just like clinical skills. Like I definitely got, I'm not scared of extraction, like I was coming out of dental school for sure, but the personal growth was just unbelievable. And just the confidence when I walk into a room that
00:06:33
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I can do this and I know what I know.
Coordination with Specialists
00:06:36
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Especially another thing too was coordinating and communicating with other specialists but also primary care providers and cardiologists and all that sort of thing and not being afraid to reach out and get a consultation in terms of whether
00:07:01
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patient is able to hold their medications if they are on anti-coagulants and to pick up the phone and ask those questions if you have a question about you know, okay, what are my limitations if I have to take teeth out on this patient, but you know, they have cardiovascular issues, you know, and
00:07:26
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that confidence that you're a member of the healthcare team, in addition to all of these other providers, I think was really emphasized to us. I think what I liked more than anything, our residency program had a certain day out of the week for treatment planning, where it's almost like
00:07:48
Speaker
a round table and just looking at cases and hearing how other people would treatment plan a case and why they would, I feel was super important to me because it gave me different ways of treatment planning the same case. Yeah.
00:08:08
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And it is always that one option is better than the other. Sometimes you just need to back up for if option A is not a possibility. Or more long-term treatment planning of, okay, if and when this fails, can we use this for something else?
00:08:29
Speaker
Yeah, I think in dental school, we learned a lot about, you know, single tooth dentistry. Yes. And, you know, towards the end of dental school, you know, they try to say, okay, you know, look at the whole picture, you know, that's that one tooth, but what about the rest of the mouth? But I think residency for me really did tie in, you know, how to look at the whole picture instead of just focusing on one specific thing. Yeah.
00:08:59
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And I think there were so many aha moments and resonances like, oh my gosh, this is what they were trying to tell me, you know, in occlusion semester two of D1 year. And I had no background experience to like understand those concepts. Like, you know, they have to teach you everything, but sometimes it doesn't make sense until you've seen it enough times in real life.
Importance of Continuous Education
00:09:24
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for sure. I think that goes back to the lifelong learning piece that we talked about, too, because, you know, it's some stuff now in my CE courses that I take that it'll come up. And I think back on cases that I did, you know, in my earlier years as a young dentist, and I'm like, Okay, I see why that did not work. Yeah.
00:09:46
Speaker
And now I know how to not make those mistakes in the future or how to see it as being a potential problem before doing anything and making a patient aware of it and planning accordingly.
00:10:02
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Yeah. And I think that was the really cool part about residency is like, not only did you have, you know, my experience, my co-residence experience, our faculty had been there for, you know, been in their careers for so long, but had also been
00:10:20
Speaker
supervising residents for so long that you also had like the experience of 20 years of residents, you know, for them to be like, these are the things we have seen go sideways. This is how we deal with it. And, you know, whether you had, you know, the implant fail or the screw break off in the tooth or not, you at least learned how you could handle it when it happened to you because
00:10:44
Speaker
somebody else has had it happen. What advice would you have for a young dentist who is in dental school right now and is trying to determine whether they should go right out into the workforce and start
00:11:01
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trying to make money to pay off their student loans or they should invest in themselves. It'll take that one year to do a residency or two years or more depending on if they decide to specialize.
How to Choose a Residency Program?
00:11:15
Speaker
What advice do you have? I think there's so many factors.
00:11:22
Speaker
I think there are people for whom, for so many reasons, residency isn't the right choice. Some people are like, I just can't do any more school, I can't. So I think you need to really do some self-reflection about what you want out of residency and if you have the capacity to
00:11:45
Speaker
really dig in and get the most out of it for that year because I've seen friends and colleagues who felt like they should do a residency and got in there and you're always going to what if some of the other experiences and the money is a big part. So I think if you're not 100% open to the learning experience, I don't know that it's necessarily for you.
00:12:11
Speaker
And that just takes self reflection. I also think not every residency program is created equal. And so just doing a residency to say you did a residency for me wasn't wasn't an option. You know, I wanted specific things from a program and I
00:12:28
Speaker
if I wasn't going to get into a program that gave me that, then I was going to consider another way to get there. So I think, you know, I made lists of like, these are the things that I definitely need in a program, or I'm going to try to find an associateship that provides me that mentorship. And I also think mentorship is a buzzword. And so what is that actually, you know, if you're if you've got an associateship with mentorship, quote unquote, in one hand versus
00:12:57
Speaker
a dedicated year with faculty that are being paid to mentor you, trying to understand if that association actually has what you're looking for and what you need from it.
Assessing Residency Fit
00:13:08
Speaker
What about you? I think you brought up some very, very great points. I do believe that if you are considering a residency program and it's with
00:13:20
Speaker
thing your means to take a visit to that residency. It's extremely important because there were some residency programs that were on my list that once I went to visit, I realized that it wasn't what I thought it was going to be. Even
00:13:38
Speaker
you know, I even had some on my list that when I went, the current residents were telling me not to come to their program. And so, you know, if that's, you know, all of the residents there are telling you that then something potentially is not right. And, you know, it's better to try to find the program that speaks to who you are and who you want to be as a dentist.
00:14:06
Speaker
Yep. Um, but like you said, if residency, is
Alternatives to Residency
00:14:10
Speaker
it your thing? I know lots of people who ride out of school, they say, you know, and I'm not going to do a residency, but I'm going to, you know, spend my money on continuing education with, you know, pinky spear, poise, Dawson, or I'm going to go and take, you know, a maxi course and learn how to place implants or
00:14:34
Speaker
you know those are all great things too because in those major continuing education programs and curriculums you find mentorship from the teachers as well as you know the people that you're in those classes with as well yeah i think the biggest thing is just as much as it absolutely stinks to hear learning does not end the day you graduate dental school like there's
00:14:58
Speaker
just so much more to learn and it's like frustrating because you're like i just paid so much money and i to get this degree but it's interesting i'm currently doing the dawson dawson mini residency curriculum and i'm learning so much stuff now that you know it's not a class or course that doesn't go by that and i don't think to myself man if i
00:15:27
Speaker
had learned this in dental school i would be like so much further along but part of it is in dental school most of us went with like bare understanding yeah and so when you start talking about advanced concepts like while in theory that does
00:15:47
Speaker
it would have been great to learn some of what I'm learning now back then. I don't know if my poor brain would have been able to grasp it, you know, because, you know, we had tests like almost every day and then you're trying to learn how to do dentistry and use your hands in a way that you've never used them before. So I think, you know, it's, as a person, you'll know when, you know, you have to challenge yourself more.
00:16:15
Speaker
And when you feel that, definitely listen to it and find it's so much continuing education out there. You just have to find what speaks to you and what you think you need at this time and what can, you know, benefit your patients.
Preparing for Private Practice
00:16:34
Speaker
Yeah, I think that makes me think of another interesting thing for me in residency was like, that was the first time in my life that I was learning for the sake of learning, you know, without tests, without, you know, curriculum, you know, there were some structured lectures and things like that in residency, but
00:16:54
Speaker
you know, I would have conversations with the program director about like, you know, tell me how I'm doing, like, gives me, did I get, you know, an A in placing a class to composite? And it's like, at this point, you are your own internal, you know, achievement barometer. And like, I needed that year of, like, still having an occasional, like, pat on the back and, you know, you're doing, you're progressing, you're doing good things, because now in private practice,
00:17:23
Speaker
For better or for worse, nobody's checking my work. You know what I mean? And I needed that year of learning for the sake of learning and for the benefit of myself and my patients without. Understood. Yeah.
00:17:37
Speaker
In retrospect, I would do it again, a hundred times over. So, you know, we always talk to you guys about listening to your heart and listening to your mind and what you think is best for you and where you are at this point.
Resources for Finding Residency Programs
00:17:54
Speaker
Ignite DDS definitely has resources that can help you in your process of figuring out what residency programs are out there.
00:18:06
Speaker
I'm going to let Savannah tell you guys a little bit more about the residency guide and how you guys can find it. Yeah. So finding a residency, you know, they change all the time and it can be hard to know how to compare what's even offered in different programs. So at Ignite we've created a PDF, a residency guide. We update it as often as we can. So Ignite DDS.
00:18:35
Speaker
Go to the e-book references and you can download the e-book for free. It's got some tips, tricks, articles, and lists of many, many programs throughout the U.S. So take a look through and find the program that's right for you. And we will see you all back here next week.
00:18:55
Speaker
Thank you for joining us for this episode of Beyond Graduation.
Connecting with Hosts on Social Media
00:18:59
Speaker
If you enjoyed this week's episode, be sure to share it with a friend. Connect with us on social media at Savannah Craig DDS and at Dr. Underscore Sartor. And remember, you are not alone on this journey.