Start Before You’re Ready: Dr. Cohn’s Bold Path in Pediatric Dentistry

I never believed that there was something that I couldn't do or that there was something that was too big. And I've always believed that you start before you're ready and you figure it out as you're going along. And, you know, I've said this to you before, it doesn't mean that you shouldn't be prepared or you shouldn't have the knowledge, but... If you've got that preparation, you've got that knowledge, and you're just not starting because you're nervous, you've got some cold feet, you just need to start. Welcome to the Phil Klein Dental Podcast. Today we have a truly special guest, someone who has never let anything stand in her way when it comes to pursuing her passions in dentistry. Dr. Carla Cohn, a general practitioner with nearly 35 years of experience, has dedicated her career to pediatric dentistry. Along the way, she has faced obstacles, navigated her journey as a woman in a historically male-dominated profession, and most importantly, discovered the power of following her passion without hesitation. In this episode, Dr. Cohn will share her story, how she overcame early challenges, redefined her career on her own terms, and why she believes that when you're passionate about something, you should go after it fearlessly. She tells her colleagues and friends that delaying action will only hold you back from doing what you truly want. Her motto, start before you think you're ready. Before we bring in our guest, I do want to say that if you're enjoying these episodes and want to support the show, please follow us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. You'll be the first to know about our new releases and our entire production team will really appreciate it. Dr. Cohn, it's a pleasure to have you on the show. Well, I thank you for having me. It's a pleasure to be here. Yeah. So you've done so much in dentistry and you've done it differently. And it's, you know, I've talked to you over the years and I've seen how your career has evolved in really entrepreneurial ways. And it's very impressive. And that's why I wanted to do this episode with you. Plus, I love Canadians. And I know that's a whole big, that's a whole nother story. Thank you. We love you too. Yeah. See, I hope so. I hope everybody feels that way. Outside of the political stuff that's going on, we're all good friends and good neighbors. So as a woman entering what has until recently or traditionally been a male-dominated profession, what challenges, if any, did you face in dental school, for instance, and early in your career? And how did you handle them? So I graduated dental school in 1991 to put it into perspective. And at that time, I was absolutely the minority. I think 20% of the class was female or maybe perhaps a little bit less. And I just thought I was one of the guys. I actually didn't think that I was uniquely a woman. And going through what I went through then, if I was going through it now, I'm pretty sure I'd see it through a different lens. But I didn't see myself as any different. Looking back on it, I... I do see, yeah, of course, the instructors spoke to me differently. They responded differently. We had this, you know, like every dental school, I imagine, has this huge clinic with 100 chairs in it or something like that. Felt like 100, maybe it was less. And I'm in there on the other end of the clinic. And there was this, at that time, he was an older dentist and, you know, came up with his little leather bag and he would yell. across the the the clinic to me hey girly what you doing and i thought okay yeah hey that's me he's talking to me i'm pretty sure if he would have said that now yeah but at the time it wouldn't go over so well right um then that it was it was normal it isn't normal i don't know i mean i struggle with that where was that I was at University of Manitoba. Oh, Manitoba. Wow. So that's my hometown. That's still where I live. Yeah. He's long gone. I think things have changed a lot. Well, I think the person that did that, you're saying that was an instructor? Yep. Oh, yeah. And like you said, he was an older man at the time. He was. Yeah. He was. Yeah. Okay. Certainly seemed that way. Yeah. That explains that. He was probably my age. started your career and you started to practice, you were a GP, general dentist. You weren't only treating kids. Did you find at that time any different response? And it's hard for you to measure that because you're a woman and I'm asking you to compare what a typical response would be. for a new patient when their dentist is a man. Now, is there any way for you to measure that by talking to your colleagues or noticing things that people would say or do because they're now, maybe they never had a woman dentist before at that time? Yeah, I don't know that I felt any different as a young dentist. I certainly didn't feel like there was any, in general. any lack of respect or anything like that i was often mistaken as the nurse or as the the assistant like that was typical in my really early days that that they you know if they didn't know who they were coming to which was that was the beginning that's how we started how did you handle that how did you handle that oh i just Corrected them. And I never thought that it was a horrible thing. I just thought this is how it is. This is what people think. This is what they view me as. Yeah. And the thing is, when you talk about this stuff, you have to realize that it's indicative of the times. It's not something where someone is particularly offensive. And I'm not trying to make an excuse for someone's attitude towards a woman. But you have to keep in mind that that person. who is looking at you as most likely the staff member or the nurse or the hygienist, their entire life, that's what they've been exposed to. And they've never had to work with a woman dentist before. And I never took it offensively. You know, if somebody would say that now, would I take it offensively? I don't know. I'm still not sure. Yeah. Whether I would take it constantly, but that's how it was. If they say it now, they're not getting off the hook because of the times. They're just not really aware of what's going on. We'll be getting right back to our guest in a second. But first, we all know that to achieve healthy, beautiful smiles, we sometimes need to align the teeth. And to do so, aligner therapy is a great option. So why not set your practice apart with 3M Clarity Aligners Flex from Solventum, formerly 3M Healthcare. Designed for comfort, Clarity Aligners Flex feature a thin, flexible design, yet they deliver excellent force persistence over a two-week period. Plus, they resist scratching and stains, and they're backed by a dedicated clinician team providing support every step of the way. With a variety of affordable case-type options, single or dual-arch, Clarity Aligners Flex offer a great value to your patients and practice. To learn more, visit 3M.com slash Clarity. dash aligners, dash flex. Your path to pediatric dentistry, I think that's a very inspiring story. How did your experiences shape your approach to treating young patients? And when I say young patients, mostly kids, and now you're almost, I'd say you're 100% pedo. You're even working in a surgery center, which is amazing, where you have built an entirely different practice by going to a surgery center and doing sleep dentistry on these kids. Yeah. Yeah. So what was the beginning of the question? Yeah. So I tend to do that. Yeah. I asked the question first and then I talked for a minute and the guest has no idea where we're going. So what inspired you? And even though we've done a lot of episodes together, you still don't know my style yet. I do. I just lost my train of thought there. Okay. I got you. I got the question. What inspired me? to do what I'm doing now. So it was a fourth year dental school and we had a pediatric internship at the time that would be after. So like a GPR is what they call them now, right? Only it was pediatrics. And so the dentist who ran that pediatric internship approached me and he said, I think that you should apply for the pediatric internship. And I thought, I think that's a great idea. You're asking me to apply. And so I'm going to apply. That was that was it. That was that was my path. You know, the you get to the fork in the road. I could have gone into private practice at that point or I could have gone and done the. internship and he presented me with the opportunity and i almost never say no to an opportunity and um and that and that was that was the beginning of it i got there had no idea what what i was doing um just the experience from pediatric dentistry and dental school which was not a lot and and i i basically I watched him and he mentored me and I did everything that he did. And so as an aside, not to digress too much, but my assistant then. you got to appreciate this was 34 years ago my assistant then at that internship is now my assistant in private practice so 34 years later she's you know retired from the the hospital and she's been with me now for a few years in my in my practice so that that's uh for me, a heartwarming story. I love that. She was that important to me and my staff is that important to me. I do whatever I need to do to make it work for everybody. Yeah. I mean, if you ask a lot of people in any profession, not just dentistry, it could be medicine, politics, just anything. There's always an instance in their life where they meet someone or talk to someone who they respect and they get offered an opportunity and they decide to take it. And that changes the course of their life. And you just have to know when to say, yeah, I'm going to try that. I'm going to do that. If you don't get out there, you're not going to find that path that makes you really satisfied. You have to get out there. And it doesn't always work the first time. Yeah, it doesn't always work. That's right. That's right. But you never let being a woman deter you. Everything that you did as far as your career, you didn't even think about it. I didn't even think about it. I did not think that there was barrier. I didn't believe that I was any different than a man doing this. I was just me. That's all. That's all there was to it. And the opportunity comes up and I'm like, yeah. So you owned your own practice for a long time, a standard general practice. Did you not? No, I was an associate. I was an associate for my entire career up until four years ago. Okay. You were an associate. Okay. I thought it was your practice. No, no, I was an associate. So, you know, throughout. to make it into a little Reader's Digest version. But I have three children. I have three sons. And throughout my lifetime and their birth and childhood and years that I needed to do what I needed to do, I had gone through a couple of different associateships, more than a couple. But I always had that ability. And I don't think that it was necessary. necessarily as a woman, but as a dentist in this profession, you have an ability to work as much or as little as you need to, depending upon the situation. So I always had that opportunity to do that. And it was phenomenal to be able to go through all of the stages of life and to be where I needed to be at that time. But my own practice, owning my own practice, didn't happen until 2021, January of 2021. So I've only been doing this for four years. And the reason for that, I assume you wanted more flexibility so that you could spend more time with your family and your kids. Well, I wanted to have the flexibility to be my family. I thought that if I was an associate and I didn't need to stress about all of the other things as an owner, that it would be good. And I don't regret any of those years. I think that I was probably wrong in assuming that that was the way I should go. And then the move to what I'm doing now was a combination of several factors and the timing and what was happening in the world and the fact that my kids were now basically grown up and out of the house. So it all came together at the right time. Yeah. And tell us what you did four years ago. Real quick, before we get into it, because we've covered that on a different episode, but people may not have heard that episode. Tell us, four years ago, things changed completely for you and sum that up for us. Yeah. So, so yeah, the, my, my whole world changed four years ago. I decided that I needed to limit my practice only to the operating room part of my practice. So the kids that need to be seen asleep under general anesthesia. And so I left the traditional kids practice that I was at at the time where I was, I was doing both. I had my, you know, awake kids that I saw three, three days a week. And then I did my OR the other days. And, and I'm like, I'm, I'm, I'm out. on my own and I left and my practice, which referral based for the operating room part anyway, just kind of continued on. Now I have a 100% referral based operating room practice for kids that need treatment under general anesthesia. No bricks and mortar. I go into a surgery center, rent space, do my thing. Everybody, my staff works virtually, except for when we're chair side or bedside, as the case may be, very obviously. And it has been phenomenal. It's been a great jump off of that mountaintop, or I guess it's not off of the mountaintop or onto the mountaintop. How's that? Great jump up onto the mountaintop. It's not a dental surgery center, though, necessarily, right? No. But you need x-ray equipment. Do you have a standard digital radiograph capabilities there? Plus, what about CBCT? Yeah. No, no CBCT. So we do have the unit. We have four operating rooms that we run. Sometimes it's four dentals that's running. Sometimes there's cataracts in the other room, plastic surgery. A whole bunch of things happen in the other rooms, depending on who's booking what. And so our unit for our radiograph machine goes from room to room. We have a little pod that we do our radiographs on. It's all digital and dental units in each room, mobile dental units in each room, carts. And it's a great way to work. Yeah. You really found your calling. I mean, you really enjoy what you're doing at this part of your career. I do. I love it. You're in your fourth decade of doing this, right? Oh, wow. I know, scary. Yeah, don't say that. Join the club. Listen, you know, it's super inspiring to hear a dentist who's been practicing for, you got out in 1991. I did. Yeah. So you've been practicing a while, but you're not in a rut. You're not using the same techniques. Sticking to the same way of doing things you've embraced all these different new technologies which are out there But on the other hand you don't buy everything the salesman tries to sell you you're very discerning You're very discerning on what you actually need You've used technology to completely transform the way you practice in a very efficient and productive way. You do a lot of things online, even your consultations with your patients we talked about. And then you utilize all this really cool software that interacts with each other where all these phone calls are recorded and you can dictate your notes and it all goes up to your patient records. And, you know, how often do you spend in the surgery center doing the actual work, the clinical work? How many days a week? We'll be getting back to Dr. Cohn in a moment, but first, when it comes to the final step in indirect restorations, cementation is crucial. That's why thousands of top clinicians rely on TheraseM by Bisco. This dual-cured calcium and fluoride-releasing self-adhesive resin cement is ideal for looting crowns, bridges, inlays, and onlays, with no need for a primer. TheraseM forms a strong bond directly to zirconia in most dental substrates. Its easy cleanup, convenient delivery system, high radio opacity, and continuous calcium and fluoride release make TheraseM a top choice among dental cements. For cases where you choose to apply an adhesive separately, Duolink Universal Adhesive Resin Cement is the perfect solution. Compatible with all dental materials, it works seamlessly with Bisco adhesives, such as Z' Plus and porcelain primer, ensuring optimal strength and adhesion. It's time to get the most out of your indirect restorations with Bisco's Advanced Dental Cements. To learn more, visit bisco.com. So I'm there about... I have about 40% of the week is surgery center time, but I have associates that work with me as well. So me personally in the surgery center, not as much as I used to be, that's for sure. So when you say associates, these are other doctors in your practice? Yeah. Oh, okay. So you have associates. I do, yes. Very cool. So tell us about... Lit Smile Academy. Now you also teach a lot and that's a big part of your career satisfaction. You like sharing your experience with others, which is, and you're a mentor. There's no question about it. So tell us about your academy and tell us about what it's like to be a mentor and what you're getting out of it and what you're giving back to the dental community. Yeah. So I've been teaching for about 15 years. So about 15 years, somebody put a microphone in front of me and told me that I had an opportunity to give a lecture. I had no idea at that point. I didn't own a camera, no slides, nothing. I didn't realize how much was involved in all of this. And since then, I get invited places. I go to AGD. I'll go to a conventional. I've been to Chicago midwinter. And then I wanted to be able to create something myself that was my own. And so that's when I started Lit Smile Academy. And so basically I'm going out and I'm teaching what I teach. Pediatric dentistry for the general practitioner is what I teach. I want Lit Smile Academy to become more than just me. Right now it's me and I want it to be everything. I want to be able to have speakers come in and to empower people. Right now, I've got workshops that I've got set up. I've got one coming up in the summer. And then I've got a continuing education event in November coming up, which is going to be a week. So it's going to be myself. I've got an endodontist coming that's going to speak. We're going to have somebody speaking on ergonomics. So it's going to be a week of continuing education and practical stuff that you can take back to your practice. I wanted to have an environment where people didn't feel. embarrassed that they couldn't ask a question or be participate in it so are these mostly young young dentists or what age what's the demographic look like it's it's everything i would say probably um it's bordering more than 50% on younger dentists. But I have people that have been practicing for longer than I have and will attend my courses and give me all of this lovely feedback on what they thought of the course and be happy that they attended. So it's everybody. And I just want to be able to impact. I want to be able to impact people and to be able to have them do the right procedure for the right kid at the right time. Do you think there's a shortage of education in the area of pediatric dentistry, especially for GPs? I do. I do think there's a shortage of education for pediatric dentistry. I don't think there's a lot of people out there that are doing it and talking it. I look at what I'm doing and I look at what's out there and I think there's a need. Now, do you incorporate sleep? Dentistry with that because you're doing almost all you're doing all your work in a surgery center But you're teaching pediatric dentistry to gps that are not going to be using a medical anesthesiologist Right. And so that's something that we talk about or I talk about in my courses a lot because right now for the last four years, yeah, this is all I'm doing. But for the previous 30, I was doing all of these procedures on all of the awake kids too. So there's no reason why they can't incorporate the procedures and techniques and materials that I'm talking about and teaching into their traditional practice. And I don't have yet, I don't have yet a specific sleep dentistry. But every course that I go and teach, whether it's mine from Lit Smile Academy or whether I'm invited somewhere, there are always people in the audience that say, I treat kids under sedation as much more common in the States too, just like an oral sedation than it is in Canada. But I always have people come up and say, hey, I'm treating, I'm doing this in the operating room. I'm doing this under sedation. Can we talk about this? So I think maybe that's something that'll come in the future. Right now, no. But we'll see. Yeah. So looking back on your journey, what advice would you give to young dentists, especially women who aspire to build a successful career and they want to make a lasting impact in the field? What kind of advice could you give them? I never believed that there was something that I couldn't do or that there was something that was too big. And I've always believed that you start. before you're ready and you figure it out as you're going along and you know i've said this to you before it doesn't mean that you shouldn't be prepared or you shouldn't have the knowledge but if you've got that preparation you've got that knowledge and you're just not starting because you're nervous you've got some cold feet You just need to start. And, you know, remember, I say in my courses, right, you're never too old and you're never too late because I did start this late in life. And I want to empower people to start now. I don't wait until you're 50 something years old to jump and do what it is that you want to do. Do it now. And, you know, then let's talk in a year and see how that's been going. Yeah. So it's no great advice. It's kind of like, and I don't mean to say this in a way that may sound disparaging to people is fake it until you make it. Absolutely. Yeah. Fake it until you make it is something that, you know, there's a lot of substance to that phrase. And it's not a negative thing because you need to take the plunge and do something for a while that you're not fully confident in. And most of the things that people don't do are a result of self-imposed limitations. There's no question about it. I always believe that. No question. No question. You want to not do something, you'll find a reason why you shouldn't do it. Absolutely. And those reasons are self-imposed. Yeah. Our personality as dentists, as being so... So detail-oriented and specific and organized, I think that that limits us in a lot of ways. You have to break out of that box. Yeah. I mean, I talked to dentists that are doing implants now. They're not anything other than a general dentist who has gone out and seek the highest level of continuing education and professional development courses. They've taken it all and they have... learned from mentors they watched and learned and asked questions and that's what they for someone who wants to get into more expand their practice into treating kids you're the one that they should be talking to through this program and you know absolutely because you have done this for so many years in so many different capacities and It's great that you're giving back. I mean, it's, you know, education is not a big moneymaker for anybody. It's not. Yeah, it's not. So if people think the incentive for someone to start an academy or see academy is to get rich, there's other ways to get rich. Yeah, you can practice and buy precious metals or invest in real estate. Yeah. Yeah. Or just do dentistry. Yeah, that's right. Right. But there comes to a point in a dentist career where they, you know, a lot of us. want to expand our horizons and they just don't want to sit there and pump out more dentistry until they're 67 years old and they quit. Um, so, uh, there's so much opportunity and there's a lot of opportunity for women and there's a lot of women mentors out there that I know, uh, Susan McMahon, she's one that has a program. Dr. McMahon, she's, she's always talking about things and so forth. Yeah. And Dr. Lori Rainey is someone who's very inspiring. Um, all these individuals. I've talked to all of them on, or not all of them, but many of them on this podcast. They do webinars with us. It's really great stuff. So have a great evening. Thank you so much. Thank you. Hopefully I'll see you at a show in Chicago or New York. Absolutely. And maybe it'll be getting warmer soon in Canada and you'll be able to get outside a little bit. Maybe. We can always hope. It's my pleasure to be here. Every three or four months we talk about Canadian weather because I'm so impressed with people that survive through that cold. To me, it's like you've got to really love where you are because those are tough winters. It's just a way of life. It's all good. All right. Thank you very much, Dr. Cohn. You take care. Thank you for having me. You too.