Has anyone been able to shadow at a major corporate office?

[CareerNumTwo]

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I'm talking a Western Dental or somewhere similar.

I'd like to shadow at one to be able to compare the difference, but of the several offices I've called, none have agreed to it. Some have "passed my message along" to the dentist, but the response is usually something along the lines that the dentist is "too busy" or doesn't recommend it.

I understand there is a cultural difference between a private office and a corporate office, but I want to see it first hand.

I'm starting to wonder if this is corporate rules but it's feeling like a lack of transparency...

Just wondering.


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[osker246]

I did not have any issues doing my shadowing at a corporate office. But my wife also works for the company too...

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[ThirdMolarz]

In my case, it was up to the dentist. He said sure and I shadowed for a day -- no corporate involved. I met the dentist through volunteering.

 

[Medin2017]

I have for a few hours. The dentist was absolutely miserable

 

[super frank]

Probably don't want you seeing all the unethical things they do.

 

[Stanelz]

I shadowed a private practice and then shadowed a corporate where I now work and MAN IS IT DIFFERENT. People immediately throw corporate out like its the devil but the dentists I work for love it because they have must less stress than running a practice (even though they had practices of their own for years). They love the fact that they can work just a few hours cranking out procedures to people that are not too picky. They do top notch work but enjoy the fast paced nature of corporate vs the slow and steady of private.

One corporate dentist who mentors me and owned a private office prior told me that in private people are extremely concerned about the way things look and even if you do great work they will usually give you a hard time and it becomes a headache.

Quick tip for aspiring dentists: The way you can tell a patient is going to be difficult is based on how close the mirror is to their face when you hand them one. The closer they look, the harder it will be to please them even if you do your best because they will always find something to gripe about.

 

[SmileItsLife]

In my experience, corporations are harder to shadow since dentists have to respond by whatever the corporate policy is. It's great that you are actively pursuing that just know that you will have to knock on a lot more doors then if you went private... I currently haven't gotten a single corporate dentist to say yes to me.

 

[Ir3nicus]

I worked at a corporation and was told they don't allow shadowing due to liability and confidentiality. I was still able to do it but they wouldn't allow "outsiders".

 

[bigsmilenee]

A corporate office I reached out to took weeks to get back to me and when they did they wanted to schedule a time for me to come in and meet with an HR rep and fill out several forms. Sounded like too much of a hassle so I didn't follow up and stuck to shadowing private/free clinics.

 

[Kouneko]

I did for 25 hours or so since my father is a dentist there (Western Dental) and the head dentist is a good friend of my father's. They worked on one patient after another, almost scared me out of dentistry...

Do keep in mind that they normally don't allow students for shadowing. One of their company policies...

 

[toothdoctor123]

I think that mentorship is a professional obligation, and thus it is truly unprofessional that these companies would have such policies. Even though shadowing is a requirement for anyone interested in becoming a dentist, they refuse to reach a hand out to their future colleagues. Yet another example of corporate offices taking the low road.

 

[Incis0r]

Shadowed at a major corp. Some things I learned/observed:

• Income is decent (I shadowed a dentist making $450/day guaranteed, but with bonuses/production she told me she was around $145K). She had been out of dental school for 10 years.

• She worked out of 3-4 operatories at the same time. Numb one patient, hygiene check on another, do a quick filling on the third. Lots of fast movement.

• Manager was a non-dentist and often wanted her and the other dentists to meet their target production numbers. Dentists felt a lot of pressure in this regard.

• Competition among dentists = unhealthy environment. She told me that one of the dentists jumped on all of the "big cases" since they were paid based on production after the daily guarantee. This led to some workplace politics where assistants would channel cases to their favorite dentist(s).

Overall, she was grateful because it put food on the table and it was a clean, safe job where she got to help people, but it's definitely got its drawbacks.

 

[Alpha Centauri]

Shadowed at a major corp. Some things I learned/observed:

• Income is decent (I shadowed a dentist making $450/day guaranteed, but with bonuses/production she told me she was around $145K). She had been out of dental school for 10 years.

• She worked out of 3-4 operatories at the same time. Numb one patient, hygiene check on another, do a quick filling on the third. Lots of fast movement.

• Manager was a non-dentist and often wanted her and the other dentists to meet their target production numbers. Dentists felt a lot of pressure in this regard.

• Competition among dentists = unhealthy environment. She told me that one of the dentists jumped on all of the "big cases" since they were paid based on production after the daily guarantee. This led to some workplace politics where assistants would channel cases to their favorite dentist(s).

Overall, she was grateful because it put food on the table and it was a clean, safe job where she got to help people, but it's definitely got its drawbacks.

145k and 10 years out of school... kill me. Albeit I am sure she is doing well with the debt from 10 years ago, that won't fly with me nowadays

 

[Stanelz]

My corp I work for is a little different. I work at a Comfort dental which is a bit different from your average corp because the dentists themselves own the practice. They essentially "buy in" to an office and can sell their portion to a new dentist. With this "buy in" they get access to free publicity, high discounts on materials, and comfort has its own lab which we send most crowns and bridges to as well as some dentures and costs much less than normal labs. The only thing not sent to that lab are some some dentures and all implants (custom abutments, etc).

When new patients arrive they are automatically given to the doctor that is currently working and that patient becomes specific to that doctor from then on so it gives a private practice feel. Therefore whenever that patient schedules for work, they can only do so according to the schedule of the doctor that initially saw them and did the original exam/FMX. If they have a TA (toothache) and their doctor is not working they can still come in and be seen by whatever doctor is working for a limited exam/PA/antibiotics as needed but all actual work must be done when their specific doctor is in the office. This is great because the doctor that is present gets paid for the exam and the other doctor that "owns" the patient gets more work for later and since comfort hours are all day, their is a chance for more patients to come in and for more procedures to be scheduled even when the specific doctor is not around.

In this system, due to the patients being specific to the doctors, the comfort specific lab, the free publicity, and low cost of corp assistants you are able to make quite a bit of money and deal with patients that are not overly difficult (as one of my doctors put it). One of my doctors previously owned a practice and was doing well but had to close it do to problems with his partner and now makes similar money (if not more) than previous due to shear volume mixed with all the perks mentioned above.

The hours of comfort dental are 7:30-7:30 and the dentists and assistants work 6 hour shifts unless you work a double which is rare for assistants and dentists. There are three dentists at my office and they work 4-5 shifts a week for only 6 hours. 1-2 saturdays a month.

Lastly, I want to get rid of the notion that corp dental procedures are not top quality. I truly believe that in the vast majority of cases they are because although the dentists are jumping from room to room as mentioned before, they have become so used to it and we as assistants are so used to it that its not that we skip steps, its that we know how to move very quickly.

I can take an FMX in less than 5 minutes. I can set up for a root canal in less than 10 minutes for sure and we can do the entire root canal in less than an hour properly as long as me and the dentist are on the same page and everything is moving smoothly.

Taking a long time to do something is not synonymous with quality. I can assist on an RCT in one room and fillings in another which to most might sound ridiculous but I have just gotten used to doing many things at once and I believe it will aid me as a dentist whether corp or private.

Yes there are moments when the dentists and assistants can get stressed by the shear amount of things going on around us but it makes the time go by and personally I enjoy the fast paced nature of it all.

If you can run private at a corporate speed you will be banking


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