Taking a Seat at the Table: Women's Role in Leadership in Dentistry

Women have historically been central to the field of dentistry, constituting over 95% of dental assistants, hygienists, and office managers. However, when it comes to women in leadership roles within practices, organized dentistry, and the industry, the percentages don't reflect the same level of representation. In this episode, we'll delve into the relevance of this disparity with our guest, Dr. Lauren Rainey. Dr. Rainey owns and operates her own clinical practice and currently teaches direct restorative techniques to dentists in the U.S. and Canada. Dr. Rainey will be joining us in a second, but first, as an endodontist, I can tell you root canal preparation can be stressful, tedious, and exhausting. And part of the problem is that dentists typically use too many endodontic files, and they use them in somewhat of a haphazard sequence. This makes the procedure more complex, longer, and less predictable. That's exactly why Coltene developed the HyFlex EDM file system. With only four endodontic files used in sequence, you can effortlessly clean and prepare the root canal system to working length case after case. Using a simple pecking motion with the opener, glider, shaper, and finisher, you'll quickly see how much faster your endo procedures will go and how efficient you'll become in achieving exceptional canal preparation. So if you're looking to speed up and simplify your root canal procedures consistently without compromise, check out the HyFlex EDM file system from Colteen. To learn more, visit colteen.dental. Dr. Rainey, it's a pleasure to have you on the show. Hi, Phil. Thanks for having me. Yeah, really happy to have you. You've done some great podcasts with us in the past and webinars. So I encourage our audience to look up Rainey, R-A-I-N-E-Y. Just put that into the search bar on VivaLearning.com and you'll find all of her stuff. And as I mentioned in my introduction, we're going to be talking about the women's role in leadership in dentistry, which is certainly a very interesting topic. So, you know, not too long ago, we've talked offline about this, Dr. Rainey. You know, there weren't that many women in dentistry at all and also in medical field, right? I mean, how many women physicians were there out there 20 years ago or 30 years ago? And dentistry is the same situation. So is dentistry a great profession for women? Yeah, I think that I've been very lucky to be able to go to dental school. And I think we'd be remiss if we didn't recognize also that women have been in dentistry a really long time. They just haven't necessarily been the dentist. There was a study done in 2018 that said that 98% of the RDHs are women. 97% of the office managers are women, 93% of RDAs are women, and 50% of our lab techs are women. So women in dentistry is not new, so to speak, but you're right. I mean, women as dentists, I think in 2018, that study said that only about half of dental school grads' tops were women at that point in time. Because sort of being in the profession now, it's definitely been harder to find mentors that are women dentists that are 10 20 30 years sort of my senior to be able to sort of model my behavior sort of off of them but i'm hopeful and was really excited to hear that my class in 2011 at pacific was the first class there to be 51 female and 49 male so that was pretty great yeah and that's the same thing that's going on at Penn, my alum, they're talking 52% women in the class of, I guess, 2024, 25, something like that. A couple of years from now, two or three years from now, the class will be 52% women and they expect more. So what's driving that, do you think? I think that dentistry is an amazing profession that marries, you know, the science and art and caregiving kind of all together. And I know that's what really drew me into the profession. That and that I was told at the time that dentistry was a great profession where I could have it all if I wanted it, meaning I could have a career, I could have a small business, I could have a family, I would have latitude to be able to sort of make my own decisions sort of in all of those realms at the same time. Now, I mean, I don't know who is spreading that rumor because you certainly can have it. You just can't have it all at the same time. And I don't remember who I can credit that quote to, but that is 100% true. Yeah, you can have it all. It doesn't mean you're enjoying every moment of it or. Correct. Yeah, right. Or benefiting from each of those categories that you mentioned. Correct. Right. Yeah. Something has to give. And you went through that with your practice that you. owned for almost seven years and um depending on when you listen to this podcast show. You may have listened to it or may not have come out yet, but Dr. Rainey did a great podcast with me and that was titled Buying and Selling a Practice, Building Trust Along the Way. Again, you'll see it under Rainey, under Viva Learning, or you can search it on your favorite podcast platform. It talks about her experiences as a practice owner, buying, transitioning without a doctor who actually owned it and selling it. So it has a lot of good information. And this is all as a woman, not as a man. So women in leadership, when you talk about those numbers that you just mentioned, you know, lots of assistants, lots of hygienists and so forth. Why is it a big deal for women to be in leadership? Why is that a big deal? I think across the board, and this is not specific to dentistry, that women are held to a pretty high standard in the professional world, right? We're supposed to be strong, but not bossy, compassionate, but not. soft and that's a really narrow line to walk on and it's hard as a professional woman again to kind of look to like mentors in your field when you're like okay well i've been told that woman is abrasive like do i want to go and sort of mirror what she's doing and like i haven't found women to be abrasive but that's sort of a term that i hear a lot on how people describe women's leadership style You know, I really don't follow how many people think about men that lead and whether they're bossy or abrasive or strong. But I've been really lucky to be in the company of some really high -powered women from a pretty early age. I was accepted to Wellesley College, which is a women's college just outside of Boston for my undergraduate degree. and it was there that i saw firsthand that women were in leadership across the board like women were the ones running the organizations setting the budgets handing out the funds and they weren't all bossy or soft or shrill or aggressive. They were just people getting things done. And I think when many of us graduate from college, we get out into the real world, which is not what we actually experienced in college. And it became harder to kind of find those same places where I could really see women in leadership roles across the board. It was actually pretty rare. So I think representation matters. And I have actively sought out opportunities where there are women in leadership in organizations that I want to be a part of. And a couple of great examples of that would be Dr. Grace Yum is a pediatric dentist who had some practices in Chicago and recently relocated to California. And she has built up this network called Mommy Dentists in Business, which is primarily a Facebook group, but also a mentorship opportunity. that has some smaller subgroups for sort of regional and then paid members. And in that group, all of the people that are part of it are women dentists who are practicing to some capacity and have an experience that they're willing to share. And like being a part of a community like that, where it's a safe space to ask questions about pretty much anything across the board, but also about ownership and being a dentist and being a mom and managing it all, all at the same time. That sounds like a phenomenal group. Could you repeat the name for our audience just to make sure they got that clearly? Yeah, absolutely. So it is called Mommy Dentists in Business, and you can find it on Facebook. And in order to be part of the group, you need to be a mom and a dentist. Are there any costs to join the group? And what are some of the topics that are typically discussed? It's just like an affinity group. And there are... You can join their paid membership, which unlocks continuing education, some smaller groups for fitness and wellness. There are opportunities to purchase equipment sort of as a bigger organization, sort of like a DSO. So it is structured as a support network, but also has a huge impact on just being a... community that you can kind of tap into as much or as little as you want to get sort of as much out of it as you're looking for. Is this mostly focused on practice management or being, this is not necessarily for women that own practices, right? Not necessarily. Nope. There are a number of women on there that are associates, a number of women that are retired who have left clinical practice and are doing great things outside of dentistry. So if you've got a dental degree and you're a mom. You're good to go. Right. So it opens up opportunities for finding various ways of utilizing the dental education that a woman has. And it doesn't necessarily mean you're going to be spending your time in a dental chair, drilling and filling and doing all this other stuff. But there's a combination of things. And we talked about your career where you owned a practice, but now you're looking to do a combination of clinical dentistry plus teaching. That's what you're looking to do. So did you get some of this mentorship from this group? I did. Actually, one of the people that I met is Dr. Susan McMahon, who I know that you are familiar with. And she is an amazing educator, a fantastic clinician, and has been really willing to just share her knowledge. But part of what has been really amazing for me is that she was willing to take me under her wing and say, Hey, I've done a lot of education. Let's talk about it. Let's see what you like doing. What are you good at? And has made a couple of introductions for me, which have really opened up a lot of doors. And so I'm super appreciative for her mentorship and support. Yeah, she's a great speaker. I had her on a podcast and Dr. McMahon is going to be doing more with us. Very, very good speaker. Very bright woman. So this group is great because it's kind of a networking group. It is. Yeah, and that's so important. Networks. And these kinds of community groups where like-minded people get together that are looking to find out what other people are doing, other opportunities, is not only supportive just emotionally to know that other people are going through various quandaries in their head. They're thinking about whether they should be going this way or that way or whatever. It opens up opportunities for everybody to really learn what's available. And what they can do to succeed and learn from other people's mistakes, obviously, certainly doesn't hurt. We'll be right back with Dr. Rainey in a second. But first, thanks to GC America, we're now able to incorporate all the advantages of glass ionomer into a beautifully aesthetic, strong, long-lasting restoration. That's a great reason to try GC Fuji Automix LC. You'll love the convenient automix delivery system and ergonomic dispenser. which allows precise placement into the preparation. And GC Fuji Automix LC is bioactive, allowing for a high rechargeable fluoride release, which is ideal for high caries risk patients. And because it forms a chemical bond to tooth structure, even in the presence of saliva, there's no need for etchant and adhesive bonding. This saves steps and is ideal for challenging patients where access and isolation are difficult. And the small filler particles in the material allow for superb polishability and excellent aesthetics. So when you're thinking glass ionomer for your clinical cases, think GC America, a world leader in dental materials. To learn more, visit GC.dental. There's another group that I just wanted to... up, if we can kind of stay on that topic for a moment, Glidewell has a program called Guiding Leaders. And Stephanie Goddard is now the CEO of Glidewell Labs, which is, you know, a huge dental lab here in North America. Since she took the helm, she has made it sort of one of her projects is this Guiding Leaders program, which is a program for 25 women annually. And this is the third year that they've done it, where they bring to their lab facility. And it's a six-month intensive mentorship and growth program. And it's not just about clinical dentistry. It's about financial well-being. It's about... approach. It's about understanding your core values. Actually, Dr. McMahon was one of the people that encouraged me to apply. I was lucky enough to be part of that cohort this year. We're coming up on our sixth of six in-person meetings in a couple of weeks down in Southern California. It has been basically a mastermind where I now have my cohort of 25 women and will be open to the other two cohorts before me to be able to ask pretty much anything of anyone in these three groups about any facet of dentistry, of being a woman in the profession, about professionalism, about leadership, about staffing, payroll, you name it. I know that I've got, again, this mastermind of individuals that I'll be able to lean on. Oh, phenomenal. That's just a phenomenal thing. Did you join this Glidewell group after you sold your practice? Or before? I did. So I didn't hear about the Glidewell program until last spring, which was after I had sold my practice. Do you wish you knew about it before, while you were practicing? I do. I think that would have been really helpful. It would have been a big commitment. There are some, so there's 25 of us this year that come from, you know, all corners of the United States and we meet in Southern California. There's a woman up in Maine that makes the commute. You know, that's a pretty far commute and a handful from Florida. And we're at all facets or kind of at all timelines in our dental career. Some people are. you know, associates looking to buy, other people have sold, other people have multiple offices and are kind of toward the retirement age. So it would have been really helpful to have this perspective kind of as I was a new practice owner trying to get my feet wet and figure out how to run payroll HR compliance and take CE and like understand how to get from point A to point B. But it would have been a big time commitment to leave a practice as a solo provider to do that. So my hats off to all the solo providers that have made it happen. So you have experience in being in these programs, networking, you own your own practice. You've been practicing clinical dentistry for about a decade. What would you say to a young woman who's out of dental school? Let's say they work for maybe two or three years for another dentist, maybe in a DSO, maybe. just as an associate in a private practice, and they're thinking about starting their own thing, they want to have their own practice, what would you say to that doctor, a woman? I would encourage them to really understand their core values. And again, I brought this up earlier. I was in one of these seminars actually sponsored by Glidewell that brought the group and dentist advisors who had us really sit down and think critically about what our core values were. And again, that was a financial seminar kind of based. understanding what makes me tick and like what helps me make a decision is going to be really critical if you're thinking about do you want to own do you want to partner do you want to go solo are you doing a build out like how much emotional bandwidth do you have to be successful at all of those things? How much financial bandwidth do you have to be successful at all those things? And I would say that regardless if it was a woman or not, I think that's something as a new owner, you need to really decide and understand yourself so that you can make that vision possible. But for specifically for young women, I would say this, that you need to know yourself and your strengths. And also know your weaknesses. But don't be afraid to take a seat at the table. You've got to be your own advocate for yourself. When I bought my practice, I can't tell you how many conversations I had with bankers and accountants that said, can I speak to your husband? Assuming that he was the one that was the dentist. I wish it weren't the case. This was in the year 2010, 2011, 2012. This is not that long ago. I was going into an interview to be an associate and was asked, what i was going to do about my quote-unquote situation at home referring to my one-year-old baby um these are still conversations that are happening they're still like very apparent and this is san francisco this is not you know it's a pretty liberal area where families look like You know, there's a whole different breadth of what families can look like and child rearing and whose responsibility that is. I was very lucky. But, you know, be prepared for those kinds of questions. But if you're not comfortable in your own skin, it's really easy to wilt in those kinds of conversations. And rightly so. They're very sort of passive aggressive ways of diminishing a woman's role and a woman's right to be a professional. In those interviews and in those interactions that you have with bankers and other people that are somebody you're trying to lease the property from or buy the property or whatever, lawyers, once you establish yourself as I'm the one that's going to be doing this, those questions shouldn't come up anymore, right? Or do they? In theory. In theory, they shouldn't come up anymore. But the number of times I had to remind some of those professionals that it is my name on the door. awkward. Right? Because how do you say that in a way that doesn't make you look rude, but also assert yourself? And that's, again, this fine line that I'm talking about. How can you be the boss and not bossy? How can you be, you know, affirmative, but not scary? It really is challenging. And you've got to find your people, you've got to find your mentors. So to the young woman out there, I would say, find your mentors. figure out what makes you tick and like find that person that's, you know, five, 10 years, a little bit ahead of you down the line and like reach out to them for help. Because I think as dentists, many of us want to be helpers. Like by our nature, we are helping people. And you'd be surprised if you ask someone for their advice, especially a dentist, they will most likely give it to you. Yeah, no, for sure. But I think, and correct me if I'm wrong, One of the driving forces for a man or a woman or person to own their own practice is for independence and to be able to treat patients and do things in their office the way they want to do it. And they don't want to be influenced by another person who owns the practice and they happen to be using the chair in their practice and the doctor doesn't want to replace the handpiece or they're using material that is really not ideal or they're... promoting a system of direct restoratives that you know is not ideal and it's not the best way to achieve this goal, but that's what this practice is using and they're buying and for whatever reason. Is that not the driving force to purchase a practice? What do you think as a man or a woman, but especially in your case, you being a woman, you did this, what was your driving force to go on your own and purchase? I think it was for the independents to be able to make the decisions not only about the materials and how I wanted to do things, but how much time I wanted to take to do that, how I wanted to treat the patients, what kind of experience I wanted them to have. But also, if my kids had drama practice on Tuesdays at 2, that I could leave at 1.30 to be at, you know, whatever it was. So I think it's a combination of all those things. I think that's what dentistry as a profession really allows many of us is a lot of choice. And I think regardless of when you graduated or whether you identify as male or female or non -binary, I think that there are, you know, our profession does allow us a lot of choice. And that was one of the reasons that I think I went down this path. Yeah. And I think once a woman buys a practice and runs it herself with her team, Things that you would expect to happen sometimes don't happen and the trajectory of the office changes. So it goes in a direction where it may get too busy and the demand is too high and you're working too many hours. You know, there's a lot of different paths that that office could take and you could be a victim of your own success in some ways. Yes. So these are the kind of things that I think these support groups or this networking. group that you talked about and others could be very valuable to women. Do you agree? Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. And whether it's just like, how do you navigate the ins and outs of practice ownership? Like as a woman, and I have a pretty small frame, about five, three on a good day. There was another hygienist on my team that was also a small frame. With COVID pandemic hit, we couldn't find N95s that were small enough to fit our faces because most of the N95s are made for average male. you know six foot tall 180 pounds like we are a far cry from that when You know, I went to go find some ergonomic chairs for us to sit on those saddle stools. There was only one company that made a saddle stool in a smaller size, like that didn't make you feel like you were sitting like a cowboy because most of the products in dentistry are made for average size human being, which is like not my size or shape. That's going to change though, because as women. It has to. Well, yeah, it has to. I mean, they're coming out with hand pieces. Handpieces now are more ergonomic and smaller, lighter. NSK makes some really small ones, which I know a lot of women providers love because they just have a much smaller head and they just don't, you know, cause that. Which company? NSK. Yes, yes, they do. Yeah, NSK is a great company. I didn't hear which one you mentioned. Yeah, they have a smaller handpiece and they're always working on handpieces that actually are vying the torque and power of an electric. Air-driven handpieces are really competing with the power of an electric hand. I know electric handpieces, when you talk about size, and they're somewhat unwieldy. Can be, yeah. And they could be heavy for a woman to hold for. For anybody. for a whole eight hour day yeah yeah you're you're correct i mean the impression guns and impression material like luckily i was able to find um aquasil for a short period of time before i think they went out of business or stopped making them i could use a hand piece with the rheostat that would make the impression material come out of these little inserts as opposed to you know squeezing an entire tube out with my hand like I just have a small frame and I have a small hand it doesn't mean I'm not a bad dentist it just means I have a hard time using some of the materials that are out there so I think you know you asked me about women in leadership before having women that are leaders at these dental product companies having women at the table that are dentists that use these products having women that are out there you know sitting on the saddle chairs and trying to use the n95s if we don't have those people's voices at the table where the decisions are made then Nobody knows that these are actual issues. And this is just kind of a handful of fluff stuff I'm talking about as far as... Well, actually, it's very, very important. Yeah, well, it's the truth, though. I mean... It is the truth. Yeah, the manufacturers that make dental products and equipment for dental operatories, the materials and products and equipment are geared towards... They're not geared towards 5'3 women that weigh... 118 pounds you know right they're just not so um but you know it's a business and i'm six foot four and when i go to buy pants you know i'll never find a waist i'm a 33 waist and 36 inseam i'll never find that on a rack never right Because I'll go to Nordstrom's and I have to order it and they'll say, yeah, we could order this and then you have to bring it to a tailor and the inseam will be 38 and you can take it down. But I can't go to a regular store and find pants on a rack. So very much the same thing, right? I can't go into a PPE supply house and take everything off the shelf. Right. But from the standpoint of women, there's no question that the stats... are showing that in 10 years from now, there'll be a whole ton more women working as dentists versus what's currently going on. And then they'll adjust. The manufacturers will say, hey, more than half of our customer base are women. So we're going to be making sure that we could produce this material and products and equipment that fit that. With me, nobody's going to say that in 10 years. everybody's going to be six foot four and a hundred. So I'm not going to, I'll never gain any benefit from that, but women will hopefully on the dental side. So, but you're right. Leadership in, on the manufacturing side is an opportunity. And I'm sure that this conversation that we're having now is certainly discussed in those leadership meetings in the groups that you talked about for those that want to extend their professional career into the industry part of dentistry versus the profession. Yeah. Which is absolutely something that's very respectable and needed. I think you'll end up, Dr. Rainey, being a top speaker. You're already on your trajectory to do that. Oh, thank you. Yeah, you're a great speaker. I asked you to be on this show for multiple podcasts because I enjoy talking with you. You stay clinical, keep your hands in it because that's really important. And then you'll have very high value to the manufacturer because you understand the demographic of the whole thing. And I assume these groups have helped you do that. But I think the days of women not... a leadership role in dentistry are coming to an end. And I think for women, not only in dentistry, but many women are CEOs of major companies now. And I just think the differentiation between male and female regarding leadership positions is diminishing. And I think that we'll see some sort of trickle down there, which is great because I think our profession is going to change if, you know, 60% of the people coming out of school may need to take either maternity leave or parental leave, or let's face it, taking care of other family members, whether that be parents or kids. I think a lot of that still falls as the second shift for women. So I think that... you know, as our industry changes and maybe there's more of a sort of DSO presence, like that could actually be really helpful in alleviating in our profession when a doctor needs to take medical leave or family leave for some reason. And I think solo practices have a really hard time doing things like that. And I know for me, my first year of practice, I was on maternity leave and that was, you know, not part of the plan at the time. And you didn't bring anybody else in? Industry changes. Go ahead. You didn't bring an associate in to help you out at your practice? I did. I did. But it was a very new practice. Again, there was no real transition between the previous doctor and myself. I found out I was pregnant the week before I signed on the practice. And, you know, nine months later, I went out for... four months and left the new practice, you know, in the hands of an associate that I didn't actually even get to meet because my daughter was born sooner than he was going to start. So, you know, those are just, you know, some stories that if I can put those out there and sort of normalize that that's what happens, it doesn't mean that when I went to dental school that I was taking the position of a man that was going to work. you know, X number of years longer than I was in clinical practice. It just meant that I went on family leave for four months and I came back. You know, it wasn't devastating for the patients and it certainly wasn't devastating for me. So I think having women in leadership and talking about stuff like this will help sort of normalize kind of where the profession might be headed. Yeah, for sure. Thanks for talking about those leadership groups, those mentorship groups, and finding a good mentor and talking to people like you who have been through quite a bit in a positive way. We have so much to learn from you. People like Dr. Susan McMahon and others, we are very happy that they're all very interested in sharing the wealth of information that they have to help others. That's what it's all about. Absolutely. Absolutely. If I can, you know, bring one other woman to the table with me or highlight one other woman's clinical expertise in a presentation, you know, I got here because another woman helped me. So I'm happy to turn around and pay it forward. Amen to that. Thank you very much, Dr. Rainey. We appreciate all your help and have a very great weekend. Thanks, Phil. All right, you too. Take care. 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