What's wrong with the country?

We’re advertising for a dentist or an OHT, we’re flexible.

I’ve spent all of my working life in a regional setting

First in Maldon in Essex, where and where they did studies on fluoridation in the UK as naturally high fluoride levels.

In fact the reason I went for the interview was to go to Maldon as I had read about it at dental school.

I then moved to Wagga Wagga in Australia, it was closer to the snow.

In my previous role as clinical leader at a corporate clinic for more than twenty years I was tasked with recruiting dentists.

It was always a battle.

I’ve imported dentists from the UK in the past. We recruited new grads and at one point ran a post graduate year along the lines of the UK Vocational Training Scheme where they were formally mentored and supported. Oh and we threw in free accomodation for the time they were with us 👍🏠

Connections and ties to the city are strong and often the dentists would return to the city at the weekends; never really fully experieincing the country lifestyle.

They all reported that the range of services they provided and the clincial experience they got in the rural setting was far better than at the Sydney clinics.

And the patients were nicer. The sense of team stronger.

But only two from that programme have stayed in Wagga for the long term.

The advent of a dental school at CSU was supposed to help. But it has not solved the issue.

It’s easier to recruit OHTs from CSU. But often the dentists return to the city Maybe they like the course as it’s undergraduate entry so not so much about being in the country, so much as getting qualified quicker.

So here we are. As dentists our instinct is to recruit another dentist, from a clinical scope, familiarity and business point of view. Its not that OHT are second choice its the paradigm we exist in.

Recruiting another OHT (we have three already) ideally with adult scope (one already) will require a mindset change in the way we organise the delivery of care in the practice. Changing the service mix of the dentists in the practice more radically than we have done previously. Reconditioning the whole team, from OHT, reception, DA’s and the dentists to a bigger shift towards all routine restorative work not being in the dentists book. Restructuring the books and optimising the contribution the OHT can make.

Maybe this is the way forward especially in hard to recruit areas. We need to be more creative and disciplined in our thinking. It’s not a case of having an OHT to do the kids and cleans. That does not reflect what they can offer.

The challenge for a more delegated team is that the dentist needs to be on top of their leadership skills. They need to set up systems to ensure quality and consistency across the delegated positions, thus ensuring consistency.

Practice principals also need to create time in their schedule for ongoing case discussions and development/ mentoring. We don’t like doing that as we feel like we need to be working. We need to let go and not rely on ourselves; in large practices at least.

As dentists we can shy away from these parts of the job.

As a business owner, we can tend to treat dentistry as a job and the team helps, rather than being a CEO of a healthcare business, no matter how small.

If dentistry is your job, then you don’t have a business to sell at the end of your career.

Disappearing into our rooms and focusing on our clinical work is a big temptation, especially when we love having a positive impact on our community.

But we need to step outside this comfort zone and either lead and support our team or move over so someone else can help us.

It’s only when we properly integrate other dental professionals into our teams that we will be able to serve our patients to the best of our abilities.

Have a great week. Share with a friend.

And if you know a dentist or OHT who wants to have a great career then send them my way!

Rosie