Finding Confidence to Succeed through an Endodontic Mini-Residency

No matter how long you’ve been practicing, there’s no limit to the benefit you can gain from learning, developing yourself, and increasing confidence in your endodontic skills. When you focus on your continuing education and take a course that is like an endodontic mini-residency, you can make huge progress in a short amount of time.

You and I both know that what you learn in dental school simply isn’t enough. You might take a few courses in endodontics, but the average dentist completed only four root canals before graduating. That lack of confidence really shows once you’re in the clinic and a patient comes in with a tricky case that you weren’t prepared for. You feel like a deer in headlights.

You might kick yourself for not knowing more. Or get frustrated at your curriculum for not giving you more time to learn the subject. Some people, like Dr. Briana Brazile, take it as an opportunity to dive into the topic with enthusiasm.

Dr. Brazile is an alumni of E-School, my online CE course for dentists, and this is her story about this endodontic mini-residency and its impact on her career, in her own words.

Dr. Brazile’s Journey Into E-School

“Prior to meeting Dr. Chopra, [endodontics] was quite a bit of a mystery… It was too complex or hard to grasp, especially if we didn’t have many clinical experiences.”

Dr. Brazile first found me through my blogs and social media channels while she was still in dental school. She continued to follow me and did everything she could to absorb wisdom from veteran dentists.

And she has always been a competent, talented dentist! But she also realized that she could read and study all she wanted, but unless she committed to a deep-dive and got her hands on some teeth, she wouldn’t fully internalize or be able to apply what she was learning.

And Dr. Brazile wanted—needed—to be the best she could be. Why?

“I have a passion for saving teeth,” Dr. Brazile said, “and I want to be able to provide that as a service in my current dental practice.”

I love to hear it. Saving teeth is my number one passion, too, and I felt an immediate alignment with Dr. Brazile when I learned this about her. Just like for me, it’s about saving teeth, always.

This is why I enjoyed having Dr. Brazile as a student in my E-School endodontic mini-residency course. It took no time after she enrolled in E-School with Coaching for me to realize she was the real deal: talent, attitude, and purpose-driven.

Before E-School with Coaching, she was anxious about performing root canals on certain teeth, especially upper molars. But she joined the course with the desire to develop more confidence in her diagnosis, as well as build efficiency in her endo. 

After becoming an alumni, she felt a lot more comfortable and confident all around, including feeling less intimidated of those upper molars.

Going to E-School LIVE: Endodontic Training for the Whole Team

“It’s a mindset shift. It’s learning how to pivot in the procedure. It was really difficult to break my old habits, and she was really patient with us, trying to help us understand diagnosis and sequencing.”

But Dr. Brazile didn’t stop at E-School with Coaching. I’m honored that she believed in what she’d learned so much from the course that she took it to the next level. Next time I saw her, it was in E-School LIVE, which she said “brought everything together” for her.

It also allowed her to bring her dental assistant and learn alongside someone from her team. That way, she didn’t feel like she was transforming on an island, alone. Together, they could go back to their practice after our mini endodontic residency and become an endodontic dream team.

“I would recommend E-School no matter where you are in your journey, because there’s always room for growth..It feels like there’s nothing she hasn’t seen or tackled in the world of endo, so even if you’ve never done a root canal, she’ll cater your E-School experience to that.”

I want E-School to give the maximum value to everyone who enrolls. That’s not just for your benefit—it’s for your patients’ benefit, too!

It’s my responsibility to give my all as a teacher and 15-year expert. That way, my fellow dentists can be empowered to save more teeth… even those pesky upper first molars!

At the end of the day, it’s about giving teeth a chance. Dr. Brazile gets that, and that’s why I have no doubt she’ll continue to flourish in her practice. Every day is a chance to raise others up, and I’m so glad our paths crossed.

What feels challenging to you about endodontics? What is holding you back from tackling it head-on? I invite you to enroll in E-School today, where you can boost your endodontic confidence and knowledge.

– Sonia