If you’re a new or recent dental graduate, take these words of advice and tips from our team at the Verber Dental Group.
Our team of dentists shared some of the same hopes, dreams, fears, and worries that you might have. Finishing dental school and finding the perfect first job can be stressful as there are so many unknowns and questions you might need answers to. Here’s some words of advice:
Dr. Michael Verber, DMD, FICOI, CEO of Verber Dental Group says:
“The first thing I’d say to any new dentist is congratulations! I think you are on your way to a very very fulfilling career. I mean I just love dentistry. I think one thing that they need to keep in mind is that their first job is kind of like their childhood, I mean that’s where your career, or at least my career, was formed the most. It wasn’t in dental school it was those first couple years of practice. So think about going to a place where you’re going to be able to learn, where you’re going to be able to do dentistry or learn to do dentistry the way you’d really like to. That’s even more important than the money, although there’s plenty of places where you can do both. The other thing that I would tell young dentists is sometimes you get that degree and you just get out of dental school and you don’t know what you don’t know and to be very very coachable looking for mentors, looking for continuing education, looking to find new ways to do things, and to relate to patient and to manage your practice. Then the final thing is just to empower the people around you, empower your teammates because really you’re only as good as the people that are working with you.”
Dr. Kim Ngo, DMD, Fox Dental–
“For young dentists who are just graduating from school, I think it’s important to look for a group or practice who’s always learning. So a group of people who want to keep continuing their education because with dentistry things are always changing and especially now as things become more digital you want to find a group who’s willing to keep up with all of that.”
Dr. Kimberly Alfano, DMD, Verber Family Dentistry–
“There are many differences I’d say from textbook dentistry to real-world dentistry but the one piece of advice that I would definitely give to new grads is throughout any interviews, go on multiple interviews for comparison because there are so many variations and types of practices. Many different types of practice can be successful, by all means, but you have to have that trust in who you’re working with. It’s a little bit different if you’re starting up your own practice but I think that’s kind of a challenge on its own. Starting out as a new grad and starting a whole new practice from scratch. But if you’re taking over a practice or you’re joining a group practice, those other doctors and/or partners (maybe in the future) you have to absolutely have trust and open communication because otherwise, it’s not going to be a good situation you may end up leaving and kind of jumping around to different jobs. So that’s a huge thing right off the bat, is being comfortable and trusting who you’re working with.”
Dr. Katelyn Hanner, DMD, Verber Family Dentistry–
“You never know who’s going to know who or who will know what. I mean so many of our doctors that we have in this larger group that I’m a part of (Verber Dental Group), we kind of know through each other. There’s a number of us that went to school together or for example, a patient here has a nephew that is as a dentist so having relationships with people whether they’re family members or just the community. By staying involved with the community, you don’t know where it’s going to lead you at some point, so being able to keep that support system is important for not only getting your job opportunity but also eventually for the community that you are serving as a dentist too.”
Here at Verber Dental, we are proud to have a team of friendly, energetic and hard-working professionals. Our team is built on a solid foundation of respect, friendship, and cooperation among our staff members as well as with our patients.
