After Dental School

It feels strange to be thinking about what our next step after Dental School will be since Robbie is still in his 3rd year. The general consensus we have heard from the faculty at the school is that by summer of your 3rd year you should have a pretty good idea of what your next step will be. I don't think it has to be anything set in stone, but knowing this far in advance will give you the time to complete any requirements before graduation.

For example, if you're wanting to specialize (Ortho, Endo, Oral Surgery, Prosth, etc.), do a GPR (General Practice Residency), or do an AEGD (Advanced Education in General Dentistry), there is an application process just like when you applied to Dental School.

There are dozens of options for directions a Dentist can take his career after school. The American Student Dental Association has an excellent website about Dental career paths. Here's the link. It includes a whole range of information from going into private practice to working for the military to teaching.

Robbie has always leaned towards private practice, especially if we can get back towards the Fort Collins area (where our families live). But opening a practice right out of Dental School is expensive and extremely stressful. A lot of the faculty have recommended what's called a Buy In/Buy Out or Delayed Buy Out. What this involves is finding a Dentist who is towards the later end of his/her career who is looking to retire but not immediately. You work with him/her to transition the practice ownership over time. Typically it starts with the new Dentist working as an associate for a year or two. After that time period, if both parties are still happy working together, the associate then buys a portion of the practice and they become co-owners. After another period of time (typically another 1-2 years), the new Dentist then buys the rest of the practice and the original owner retires.

What Robbie and I find most appealing about this set-up is that the practice owner has a mentor-type relationship to the new Dentist. The long-held patients of the original Dentist are able to get to know the new Dentist and build a trusting relationship prior to the retirement of the original Dentist. This option also saves you from having to start a practice from scratch and enables you to pay off some school debt without the added pressure of an additional $250,000 practice loan right off the bat.

There are, of course, many other paths to getting into private practice, but this is the situation that sounds most ideal for Robbie and I. Networking will be key over the coming months in order to build relationships with Dentists who are looking to retire in the appropriate time frame. We know that this may not be the path at all that God wants us to take so I need to keep praying that He will give us flexible hearts and the patience to wait for Him to show us the right way.

We've experienced a few seasons of crossroads in our marriage where big decisions needed to be made and God came through for us every single time! There are many Proverbs about decision making that I find comforting.

There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the road to death. -Proverbs 14:12

This verse reminds me that just because an opportunity seems ideal, doesn't mean it is. I don't have to stress over what-ifs and "missed opportunities" because God may have just been protecting me from making a really bad decision. He sees the end from the beginning which is a much better vantage point than what I am capable of having. When we were trying to buy a house, we kept putting offers in on places we liked and would immediately be outbid. It was incredibly frustrating and stressful. But looking at this verse, I realize that all those other places seemed right for us at the time, but God had the perfect home for us already picked out.

A man's heart plans his way, but the LORD determines his steps." -Proverbs 16:9

This verse brought me a lot of comfort when Robbie didn't get in the first time he applied to Dental School. In His infinite wisdom and love for us, God knew that waiting another year would be much better. And it was! I see so many benefits we reaped from having to wait another year. We saved money, Robbie got experience in a Dental office, and we were able to participate in a newlywed Bible study that we otherwise would've missed.

Where there is no counsel, the people fall; but in the multitude of counselors there is safety. -Proverbs 11:14

I've written before about a mentor of mine, Jolly, who instilled in me my love for Proverbs. One thing he especially emphasized was getting advice from wise people when facing big decisions. It's important that you don't just surround yourself with people who say what you want to hear. I can name at least 8 people in my life who I know would tell me straight if I was making a bad decision. It might be frustrating and it might even hurt to hear what they have to say, but being able to accept rebuke from wise counsel is a sign of maturity and will help keep you from making really bad decisions.

Before I started working at the Dental School, I was offered a job at the Disney Store. It seemed like the ideal job for me! Part-time, working in a toy store, and, oh yeah, DISNEY!!! The day I was supposed to start there, I received a call from the Dental School offering me a position as a Dental Assistant. It was 40 hours a week, which was not what I really wanted plus I was intimidated about working as an assistant to so many different Dentists. We talked with both Robbie's parents and my parents and unanimously they recommended taking the position at the Dental School.

I cannot tell you how happy I am that I took their advice, even when it wasn't what I wanted to hear. Working at the Dental School was one of the biggest blessings I could imagine while Robbie was going through 2nd and 3rd year. It gave us more time together, strengthening our marriage. It helped Robbie build relationships with some amazing faculty who he might not have gotten to know as well if he wasn't in my clinic as much. It also enabled us to be financially stable enough to buy our house and get pregnant! We would've missed out on all these things had I chosen the Disney Store.

So as you approach times of big decisions, let me encourage you that God knows which decisions are good and which lead to death. He wants to guide you to the right decisions through spending time with Him and seeking wise counsel. I want to finish by saying that even if you do make a bad decision, God is still faithful!

The steps of a man are established by the LORD, and He delights in his way. When he falls, he will not be hurled headlong because the LORD is the one who holds his hand. -Psalm 37:23-24