What Has Fulfilled Me As a Dentist
WHAT BROUGHT ME TO THE ACADEMY OF GENERAL DENTISTRY

Despite it still feeling odd to be writing 2025 on dates still, we are already well into the year. When I turn on the television, I see discontent with the political scene.

When I power down the television and instead try to escape that and kill time on social media instead (I spend a lot of time on the dentistry subreddits, Dentaltown and numerous Facebook groups), I see the same discontent
amongst our profession.

Despite my hair long being absent, I still feel young enough to not know if this has always been the way it is. I do know that in terms of advocacy, we at CAGD are working a lot on growing our influence at the state level and upcoming issues on the GP News we will be sharing more on this topic.

I touched base on this in our last issue to some degree and we are blessed to have a profession where we do have more control than many others do and the private practice model still thrives despite less taking up ownership than in previous generations.

This issue I want to focus on what has fulfilled me as a dentist and while I’m passionate about advocacy, continuing education is what brought me to the Academy of General Dentistry.

I am a proud USC Trojan! One reason I felt the school was a great fit for me was the problem-based learning pedagogy in place at the time. Every person has a way of learning that fits them better. I’m sure countless reading this have struggled at times reaching some patients on oral hygiene instruction when others just seem to get it. For me, small group learning forced me to be involved in my education and it just worked better for me versus sitting in a lecture hall with 130 other students.

As dentists, and especially as the lifelong learners that AGD members are known to be, education never stops. Neither do the formats we can take things in.

While large lectures have their place, as do pre-recorded webinars, those of us who have invested our time in study clubs would attest to the accountability of small group learning. I spend half of my Wednesday evenings either with my local Spear Study Club (the D-Cubed Study Club) or my local Seattle Study Club (Delta Study Club) and both are incredible resources for didactic learning as well as professional networking.

By far the most valuable investment I made in my career was joining the California AGD’s Mastertrack program.

I am a competitive fellow to say the least. I joined the AGD when my friend from dental school mentioned that he joined and with the various Army residencies he was taking and educational opportunities offered him with his career path, he would be on track to getting his Masters of the Academy of General Dentistry within ten years of graduation. I didn’t want to be left behind and I signed
up that day to join the AGD.

I am sure it was in one of those 2010-2012 prints of the GP News that I first learned about the Mastertrack program. I hadn’t yet earned the 500 hours of CE, nor had I buckled down yet to study and take the exam, but I got on the waiting list for MT4. A spot didn’t open until a year into the program, but with life circumstances as they were at the time, I wasn’t able to join that group, but was ready to roll when the next class known as MT5 was starting.

Though we ended our official run a few years back now, our group is still going strong on WhatsApp discussing cases and seeking (and receiving) some advice.

The Mastertrack continuum covers all participation hours needed to meet the requirements of the MAGD designation. In four years, it is over 400 hours of quality continuing education covering almost every facet of dentistry. It’s incredibly well-rounded.

The education takes third in value to the camaraderie and accountability however. If you are far enough into your career where you have renewed your license a few times, I would be shocked if you haven’t come back from a weekend away with sky high ambitions and an implementation plan that never gets off the ground. The protocol presentation and format of the Mastertrack does not allow that to happen. Not only are you going to work on homework, but you are going to present that to a group of other accomplished dentists. It becomes second nature quickly to see your work on the screen and to go over your protocols, reasoning and outcomes.

The confidence you gain is invaluable. Cases don’t always go as we hope, but gaining confidence from sharing our failures can happen. It’s incredible. I’m an introvert by nature, the vulnerability I felt with those first few presentations (which were on simple topics like photography and simple direct restorative cases) was daunting. The growth I’ve had presenting to colleagues has carried over to treatment plan presentations with patients without doubt.

In my last address to everyone here, I asked for everyone to invest in themselves this year, to be active in the change they want to see on the grand scale and not hesitate to grow on the smallest scale. For me, my two biggest ROI career changing events were starting my practice from scratch and driving down to Southern California twice a year for Mastertrack. They are so intertwined that it’s impossible to distinguish the value of each.

There is another session starting up soon and regardless of career stage, I think an easy opportunity for growth is in front of you. The incredible mix of pre and post Fellows, early career CE gunners, end of career dentists wanting to top off their knowledge and accomplishments and everyone in between makes an incredible group of friends and resources. ◆