Five Ways I’m Giving Back to the Community Through Dentistry

In 2017 I read Start Something That Matters by Blake Mycoskie, who founded TOMS (the shoe company famous for its giving strategy). The book really stuck with me, and it motivated me to start thinking about how I could give back to the community through dentistry.

But it wasn’t until I attended an educational summit on practice growth that I made a commitment to make giving a foundational pillar of my practice. I was inspired by just how many other dentists felt the same way as me, and speaker Jayme Amos opened my eyes to different ways that I could make a difference using my gifts and talents. I left the summit with the reassurance that giving belongs in dentistry.

Today, I’d like to share a bit about my giving journey and highlight the five main ways I’m giving back to the community through dentistry. I hope my story inspires you to find unique ways in which you, too, can make a difference through your profession and find greater fulfillment through giving!

5 Ways I Give Back to the Community Through Dentistry

Since making it my mission to give, I’ve found a myriad of ways to positively impact my community and the world at large, but they all stem from the same basic idea: the need for dental education. 

My calling to practice dentistry came from my own life as a dental patient. After going through a series of misdiagnoses and bad experiences with dental professionals (and one great experience with an endodontist who relieved my pain), I headed to dental school. From that early stage, I was determined to make a difference for my future patients.

While practicing as an associate and later running my own endodontic practice, I realized that the level of impact I could make depended on the other dentists who were practicing around me and referring patients to my clinic. 

So many of them were missing the key knowledge they needed to treat endodontic cases—though through no fault of their own! There was a gap between what they learned in dental school (sometimes very little about endodontics) and what they were expected to perform in private practice. All of this impacted THEIR patients’ experiences, even before I saw them.

Putting all of this together, I saw—and still see—the need for a dental education movement, from the dental students to the patients. This idea became the heart of my mission to give back to the community through my dentistry, and it’s now the common thread running through all of my giving initiatives.

Here are the five main ways I give through dentistry—from teaching dentists to empowering patients!

1. Changing Protocols of Trauma Everywhere

While I was a practicing endodontist, I also became a parent. As my kids grew and headed off to school, I saw that the caregivers around them—from school nurses to other parents to emergency room staff—had little general dental knowledge. 

They didn’t know the tips and tools to handle dental emergencies for children (there were quite a few in our house!), or for themselves. These kids were at the age where they were starting to get their permanent teeth, and nobody—I mean nobody—knew what to do in the case of an avulsed tooth!

Recognizing this gap, I began to speak at my children’s school as a way of giving back to the community through dentistry—not only about dental health, but also about what to do when you have a dental accident on the playground. I created an infographic detailing the steps to follow after trauma and began sharing it with parents at PTA meetings and promoting at local health fairs.

Ultimately, I want to reduce the number of patients that come to me, and to you, with their avulsed tooth in their hand! If people only knew that simply putting the tooth back in right away could save it, we could have an impact on smiles everywhere.

I want every parent, every school nurse, and every emergency room attendant in the world to know exactly what to do if someone knocks out a front tooth. The way I see it, this is just one small way I can give that can make an enormous impact on my community. So, let’s spread the word together! 

2. Guiding Residents to Fill the Gap

Another way I’ve given back to the community through dentistry is by volunteering my time with local dental residents, including offering E-School through residency programs. Although I no longer volunteer, this was something I dedicated my time to for 13 years—right up until the COVID-19 pandemic.

In dental school there’s simply too much to learn in too little time, and endodontics often gets very little coverage. What’s more, a dental residency is a vulnerable stage in a dentist’s career, where they have lots of experience to gain before entering private practice. 

What I loved about working with residents is the pure joy of seeing a light bulb go off in their heads as they begin to fill in the gaps. Their thirst for knowledge consistently blew me away! As they treat more and more cases, they become increasingly motivated to expand their understanding beyond what they learn in their textbooks.

We can ALL mentor someone. If all of us just reached out to one other budding dentist, whether they’re still in dental school or getting started in private practice, it would make our entire industry thrive! 

3. Giving to General Dentists to Expand Their Knowledge

While my efforts to bring more endo knowledge to dental residents as a way of giving back to my community through dentistry has certainly made a difference, the knowledge gaps continue to persist even as residents move on to the next stage of their career. Unfortunately, this lack of comfort with endodontics ends up affecting not only their own practice’s growth, but also their patients’ experience.

Of course it’s great when a dentist refers endo cases to a specialist like me—I realize that I wouldn’t be in business without those referrals! 

However, the answer is not for general dentists to refer out all root canals. That would cause a public health crisis. There are simply not enough endodontists to treat all the endo cases! Besides, not all dentists have the option of referring out their endo cases in the first place. 

We endodontists have to help dentists gain the skills they need to not only perform endo treatments, but also recognize the difference between the cases they can handle—and the ones they should refer out.

That’s why in addition to volunteering with residents, I started giving local seminars for general dentists as another way of giving back to the community. These seminars focused on endodontic cases, technology, and patient case studies to help dental professionals become better equipped to serve their patients through the root canals they perform.

After some time, I took these local seminars and expanded them into E-School, my comprehensive, online endo CE course. Since then, the program has expanded to include multiple iterations, allowing general dentists anywhere in the world to deepen their knowledge of endo on their own time. 

As of today, hundreds of dentists have graduated from my program, increasing the number of general dentists who feel not only comfortable, but confident in performing root canals. It’s amazing the impact we can make by giving just a fraction of our time to others!

4. Improving the Patient Experience and Public Face of Our Dental Profession

Because I’ve had years of experience as a dental patient and as an endodontist, I know the importance of understanding what’s happening in my mouth and the treatments that would help me feel better.

As a result, I’ve made it a cornerstone of my dental practice to give back to the community by helping patients understand the why of their tooth and treatment—and that takes communication, listening, transparency, and patience.

I don’t want my patients to expect that their pain is going to shut off like a light switch just because they got treatment. They should understand the next steps so they’re prepared for future treatments if necessary. And that means we have to help them know what to expect.

One way I’ve done this is by writing my digital book, Tooth Wisdom: The Empowered Patient’s Guide To Saving Your Smile. (You can download the first chapter of the eBook for free!) In the eBook, I give patients all the information they need to know to save time, money, and their teeth.

In addition, I’ve been developing a comprehensive online course that expands on the eBook with video lessons and downloadable resources designed to further empower patients to take an active role in maintaining their oral health.

By directing your patients to these resources, we can work together to raise awareness of the power of root canals and turn “I hate going to the dentist” into a thing of the past!

5. Giving Time and Skills to Communities in Need, in the US and Beyond

When I first started E-School, I had a pie-in-the-sky dream with a dual purpose. As a way of giving back to the community through my dentistry, I wanted to provide low-cost dental work to those in need while educating dentists to incorporate endodontics into their practice.

Well, in 2020, I made that happen.

E-School with Coaching graduates are now invited to attend E-School LIVE. It’s a 4-day, hands-on experience where they provide root canals for up to 4 patients in the Charlotte community, and I’m right there with them to support and guide them every step of the way.

The patients who participate in the program pay just $100 per root canal treatment, making much-needed dental care accessible to those who would have otherwise gotten their teeth extracted. In the end, that totals to around $200,000 annually in FREE dental work for the Charlotte community!

Training dentists while offering low-cost, affordable care to those who need it most is truly the best of both worlds and has become the most fulfilling way that I give back through dentistry.

Join Me in Giving Back to the Community Through Dentistry

There are so many ways we can give back to the community through dentistry, and when we make it a part of our daily lives, we are the ones who really benefit. Giving brings us fulfillment, joy, and a true purpose.
I invite you to join me on this mission to grow dentistry into something bigger by enrolling in E-School, sharing my resources with your patients, and considering different ways in which you, too, can give back to your community! Let’s better the world together, one tooth at a time.

– Sonia