00:03

Welcome to the authentic dentist podcast join Dr. Allison house and house Dental in Scottsdale and

Shawn Zajas, founde

r of zonna, a company helping dentists to extend their care beyond the chair as

they lead dentists deeper along the journey of authenticity, to reach greater fulfillment in their

professional lives, and to deliver remarkable patient experiences. At the cor

e of the authentic dentist is

a belief that the answer to the current challenges in dentistry is dentists discovering that their greatest

asset and point of differentiation is their personal brand. And that forming that brand out of their

authentic selves

is the best strategy for success in dentistry today.

00:42

So this podcast is brought to you by sauna and sauna makes electric toothbrushes but it's more than

that. They have a program that will grow your practice with their electric toothbrushes.

00:56

Hey, this is Sean with Dr. Allison house on the authentic dentist podcast. And we are here still at Voices

of dentistry in Scottsdale having a ton of fun. And we just met someone really special Dr. miasta us with

a new podcast called new dentist on the blo

ck. We are so happy to have you here. I'm honored to be

here to find out what it is that you're doing in dentistry. Absolutely. So I'm telling you, my SS I started a

new podcast by the name new dentists in the block. It's an opportunity to showcase new den

tists who

have graduated to share their stories, successes, failures and life in between. I'm a dentist that works in

public health. It has been very rewarding. It has been very busy. And I'm also a part time faculty

member at the Woodrow hunt School of De

ntal Medicine in El Paso Texas. Yeah, that's That's me in a

nutshell. Well, tell us your story. How did you decide to become a dentist what inspired you? Um, so I

did a science project in the fifth grade to see what drink stained teeth the most. And I had

opportunity to meet with different dentists in the El Paso Community. They were very supportive of me,

they opened their door, they allowed me to shadow and they were overall happy with what they did.

They love their patients and they love their craft.

And it just stuck with me. So I knew that I wanted to go

into dentistry. And I knew I wanted to give back to community like El Paso had a lot of pockets of

patients that were underserved. We have a lot of patients and a lot of people who live in El Paso wh

go across the border to get medical and dental care because it is very expensive in El Paso and in the

United States. And for me, I knew that had to be different. I knew that that had to change. And you

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know, my mother would always share stories that for

her growing up across the border. Whenever they

went to the dentist, it was not trying to save teeth, it was pulling teeth. That's that's what they did. So I

went to dental school, I got a scholarship with the National Health Service Corps that paid for m

schooling and return to service in an underserved area. And now I work 45 minutes outside of the city.

And that can be it can be really tough. But we're really the only dentists out there. So without us it

would be hard for this patient population to rec

eive care. Wow. Oh, you don't hear that very often.

Yeah, it's a it's a great route, I would encourage new dentists out there who are looking for some loan

repayment. This is a great opportunity for you to take advantage of that. But also provide care and

give

back to the community. Yeah, I understand. You're also part of organized dentistry. That's right. Yeah,

organized dentistry. For me, I started when I was a student I was involved with sai was a national as

the president. And now I'm involved at all th

ree levels. I feel very passionate about organized dentistry.

I think that as a profession, we are only as strong as we are collectively in numbers. And advocacy is

the strongest pillar of what organized Dentistry has to offer. But in my in my opinion, men

torship and

friendship is the best benefit that you get out of organized dentistry. Oh, absolutely, absolutely. I'm so

happy that you share that, you know, duco he will have to get a picture and share that with him. But he

will love that to know that we co

nnected. But it's people like him and yourself who continue to make a

difference for our profession that helps move the profession forward.

04:01

We appreciate that. Thank you. Okay, so I'm still curious, though. So fifth grade? Yes. Was this science

expe

riment? I liked the idea of drinks and stains, but like, what nurtured? Like because fifth grade is

pretty young. Yeah. So So meaning like, was there any any influences in high school, or any family

members or people that you knew, um, you know, I'm the fi

rst to graduate from college first to have a

advanced degree in my family, and I'm a product of their heart. But I had a ton of support, but from

there, I don't know, I just it kind of just stuck, and I shadowed and, you know, they were very well, the

dent

ists were very welcoming to me. And

04:42

I don't know, I just fell in love with it from that young age. And I know that's silly, but it just kind of stuck

with me and I, I wanted to grow that and so everything that I did pretty much from that point

forward

educationally was to try to get into dental school. Well, because it's funny because it triggered a

memory of one of the science experiments that I did, which

05:00

was the burn rate of different fabrics. Oh, whether it was silk or pure cotton, an

d I was studying the

flame, the color of the flame, anything that had like some synthetic smelled horrible because it had like

plastics in it. But I didn't go on to do anything with fire even though I was a pyro as a kid. So that's what

I was like, well, t

hat's somehow I don't think it influenced the trajectory of my career, but I'm really glad

it did yours. I'm glad you didn't go the permanent Pyro routes. But yes, it it had an influence. And I'm

glad that I was able to see that kind of full circle. So you

r mission? Sorry. Oh, I was just gonna ask is, is

there a specific patient story that inspired you? Did you have a patient that really warmed your heart

and made you want to do this, um,

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I think that the the patients that I see, we do a lot of dentu

res, and you shared with me earlier that you

see a lot of an older population, and we do as well, too. And so, we do a lot of dentures, and I've gotten

fairly good at them as good as you can get with dentures. And I think that those stories that I get from

those patients who haven't been able, you know, to function and to eat, I think those are the ones that

kind of influenced me, influenced me most. And, of course, you know, the the various stories that I got

from friends and families who family members wh

o couldn't see a dentist, you know, growing up or

can't see a dentist in the El Paso area, because of what the cost is. And we have great dentists, you

know, you just have to seek them out. But oftentimes, there are still barriers to care, inhibiting patie

nts

from seeing from getting that care. Allison, did you tell her how we met? I didn't. Do you want to? Yeah,

please tell me we met at the Mission of Mercy. Oh, I love it. That's wonderful mission and mercy. And

Arizona happens every December, okay. At the

veteran Coliseum. Okay. And that particular year, I was

the president of the Arizona Dental Association, and Sean came in. And so I was touring him around

showing him everything, and we just connected over this. Yeah, wanting to help people. Oh, that's,

hat's awesome. I think that that really is the core of what dentistry is, is the ability to help others. Well,

so I am not a dentist, so I wasn't able to help in that capacity. So I was like, Hey, guys, how do you

need me? And they're like, well, could you

actually just,

07:17

you know, kind of like, oversee the line because there's a huge line outside and just kind of engage with

people and just sentiment, see how they're doing. So I it was actually more for security reasons. But I'm

not a security guy. S

o I just want to talk to people. I love people. And obviously, it wasn't a lot of people

that I could directly relate to. So I just broke down any kind of barrier and just started like asking

questions. There are people that had been waiting there for like

48 hours spending the night because

they needed these services. And I remember I spoke to one woman. And she's like, Look, I've had a

tough life. I've been shot twice. I broke my femur. I've had kids. And this tooth abscess hurts more than

any of that. An

d I was just like, I had no idea, getting to hear these people's stories. And they didn't

have access to dental care, which is why they were waiting in line. This was like for some of them. You

know, one guy got a brand new smile. He got some sort of dentu

re because he didn't have teeth. My

buddy molars in he was a different person. The second that was there, just the confidence his whole it's

like his whole life change. Just from that. There's some dignity, you're giving some a some dignity when

they're ab

le to smile again, they can connect with people. I mean, that's just it's really insightful. Yeah,

yeah, I couldn't agree more. And we see we see a lot of that, in, in public health, where we have a lot of

patients who have never been to the dentist for th

e same reason. And to be able to restore their smile

in some way, I think is huge and very, very rewarding. It really Yeah. So tell us about your podcast.

How did you get involved in this? Yeah. So for a few years, I've wanted to start a podcast and

09:00

you know, very clinical Dental, Elon, me listening to everything that he kind of he did, and his podcasts

kind of influenced me. And I knew that I wanted to start somewhere, I didn't know what I wanted to do

and what the focus would be. But through my inv

olvement in as I had a lot of opportunities to connect

with students who are now practicing dentists who are practicing in a lot of different realms who have

wonderful stories to share. And I just think that these stories need to be publicized in some way.

And so

I would like to use this as an avenue to, you know, connect with them again, but to also share their

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stories and encourage others who are interested maybe in an alternative route of practice, or need

guidance in maybe going into a private practice

to hopefully get pearls from these stories.

09:43

And real stories matter. You know, I remember those first five years, I felt so alone, and I felt like I was

the only one who was floundering because everyone else was saying, Oh, I'm killing it. Now, I ca

n tell

you none of them. You're killing it. Yeah, we were all struggling because it's just really hard right? I

10:00

I think in dentistry in general, it can be very, very isolating. And in your first few years of practice, it's,

you know, very formative

and you need a lot of guidance, and you truly don't know what you don't

know. And so to get any kind of guidance, I think can be helpful. And it's great to see, you know,

seasoned dentists like yourself who are killing it and doing great and listening to t

hose stories as well to

just to see what the trajectory of a future practice for an individual can look like. Okay, I have a secret.

10:28

No one is really killing it. We're all growing, you know, that doesn't mean that economically, I'm doing

very well,

I hit my number. But every day is still a journey. And there's still challenges that come up that

I don't know how to handle and I've got to ask questions. So don't know if you ever get to a point where

everything is perfect. So don't think that's going to

happen. And if you do, you should retire. Dentistry is

hard. Industry is hard. In a lot of ways. It's hard. Technically, it's hard to emotionally physically, physical.

I guess pain that can come with practicing dentistry can be a lot.

11:03

Well, I know,

it dawned on me one day, because my whole journey was just learning business, you

know, I was working with my dad. And then gradually, just teaching myself every aspect of what a

business owner has to know. And then it dawned on me, my dental friends have

to do this, on top of

everything they're responsible for clinically, like, it's not just the knowledge of a medical professional,

like a doctor. It's also the surgical ability, like their surgeons, and I was just like, I was blown away, I

was like, you ha

ve to know everything that an MD knows. But you also have to be a practitioner, where

you're an actual surgeon, and you're a business owner. How do you do this? So it's hard. It's not even

just being the business owner, it's being the leader. You know, I d

on't think that we're taught how to

truly be a doctor in that, that way, where we're connecting with people, and leading our team. And it

doesn't matter if you own the practice or not, if you're the doctor, in the practice, you are a leader, right,

your te

am looks to you for guidance, and it's up to you to resolve, you know, conflict as well, too. And I

think that can be difficult for a lot of people, it can be difficult for me, I'm conflict avoidance, I don't really

like conflict. And so like it can be har

d to manage them. I guess bickering that can occur in the dental

office. But you're right for us, when we started seeing patients in dental school, there was no course on

how to speak to a patient, it was you're going to start speaking to your patients, an

d you know, good

luck, we'll help you along the way. But if you are somebody who is more reserved, that can be difficult,

that can be challenging.

12:38

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And our our education was such that I'm very good at taking tests. I'm very good at memorizing

informa

tion and spitting it back out. But it's different to connect with somebody, and especially

somebody who's not the same as I am, right and give them dignity and respect. And those are all things

that you have to do as a doctor, right? And I don't know if we

're taught that I don't think we are Yeah,

those communication skills are crucial. And we're not taught that. And I don't really know, if there's the

best way to do that. I think that that's hard. But that's like the collision between the science of dentis

try

and the art of business, right? Because markets change all the time.

13:14

It's just very different like, like, the control you have over a textbook over figuring out mastering some

information, becoming great at it in this space where there's not

another human. And then all of a

sudden take that novice and you're thrown into having to emotionally read someone you don't know

what their day was like, they're typically not maybe they're not happy coming into your practice. Maybe

they're frustrated, ma

ybe they don't have a lot of money. They're worried about what it's gonna cost.

And you have to lead your team address it the right way. Oh my gosh, like that's a recipe for a disaster.

If you're especially like you're young to practice and you haven't bee

n given some sort of blueprint, you

haven't been equipped with tools on how to do that. Thank God for like Mark Costas and what he does

to dental Success Institute, because this training needs to happen and you're not getting it in school.

Right? Now. You'

re just kind of thrown to the wolves you graduate. It's funny, because you graduate,

you're like, Oh, I'm a doctor, I write my goal. Well, and then you realize, oh, yeah, there's still a lot to

learn. So, so much in a lot of avenues, there's so much to lea

rn clinically, as well, too. I feel like you

graduate at a dental school, knowing the basics and you know, enough not to like injure a patient, but

there's so much more in dentistry to learn. And that can be very expensive as well to, you know,

continue ed

ucation courses, which are very, very valuable, but they're expensive, and they do take

time. So when you're trying to build yourself as a practitioner, you still want to make time to invest in

yourself. And I would argue that that investment in yourself i

s the best investment. Absolutely. So what

are some of the themes you're hearing from the stories from these young dentists?

14:46

That dentistry is heart that coming out of of dental school and those first few years of practice? Those

can be difficult

because many of my colleagues are going into DSLR

15:00

verses and oftentimes, it's not what they expect, or it is very production heavy, and they are pushing

them for numbers and production. And it is hard for them to be true to what they they value and

due to

their core beliefs on what dentistry should be. And so it's hard. You know, the the the debt that students

are coming up with now is astronomical, and it is very hard to manage that. And when DSOs are

offering high value and a high salary, that can

be an easy way for students to pick up jobs like this, as

opposed to you know, going back home and going to your mom and pop dental office, that would be a

great place for you to grow, but financially may not be the best decision.

15:41

It's interesting,

because in medicine, we don't do this to people. We put them in a residency so that

they're nurtured for another four years. Yes. Now we don't pay them very well. That's the problem, too.

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But at least they have some nurturing, right? Right? Dentists, we ju

st kind of throw them out, right, I

would recommend recommend a, a residency a PGY, one to any dentists that's graduating, I think that

there's value in it, even the bad ones can be good, you will get some kind of experience out of that and

more guidance a

long the way. And it gives you time to figure out what you want to do what you don't

want it to gives you an extra year, maybe two, to start looking at different practices and different

16:17

you know, dental practices that might be available to you that

you'd like to connect with different

dentists with. So I think that there's a lot of benefits in doing an extra year, an extra residency year, I

didn't add and I learned a lot during that year. And, you know, I continue to have fun for one more year

before

, you know, life settings. So that was kind of nice, too. So for people that want to see what you're

doing and to join this kind of journey with you, is their social profiles. You want them to know about your

website. Yeah. If you're new dentists out there

and you'd like to share your story. Please feel free to DM

me you can follow me on Instagram. The podcasts Instagram is new dentists on the block. My personal

Instagram is T s myositis dot DDS. And the new dentists on the block podcast is also on YouTube.

So if

you are more of a visual watcher, you can watch those conversations on YouTube.

17:04

All right. Well, thank you so much for talking with us today. And please check her out. Thanks so much

for having me. Thank you for listening to the authentic den

tist podcast to join Allison and Shawn on this

journey. Hit the subscribe button to never miss an episode. Here's to your success. Express yourself

fully. Live authentic.