It was a Monday morning and I was seeing a dear friend of mine for a check up and cleaning when I heard an unfamiliar voice from the hall say, “Hello?” Before peaking out I knew it had to be a salesman and I was right. He introduced himself as Mike from Dentsply. He said he’d come back in an hour when I was finished.
An hour or so had passed and as I sat at the front desk being “productive” the cherry-cheeked, chipper man walked back in the door. He re-introduced himself and handed me a bunch of pamphlets. “So doc, are you doing endo?”
“No,” I was quick to respond.
I get asked this question quite frequently and I am always met with the same retort leading to the same old conclusion-that I am throwing money away. I’ve gone back and forth on this issue in my short five and a half year career practicing dentistry. I heard Howard Farran speak and can remember him saying with crystal clarity, “If you have any type of student loan you don’t have the luxury of cherry-picking your procedures. You learn what you need to learn and then go do it!” While this statement resonates logically, I just could never get over my aversion to root canals. How much money could I be “throwing away?” I could yank the tooth, drop an implant much quicker and easier than straining my eyes to find a canal or two and make more money…
But Mike did not come back with a witty remark about money or how getting people out of immediate pain is a great internal practice builder. No, he simply said, “Ok, do you want to see the product?” Sure! It was better than hammering through the AR report.
So he came behind the desk and showed me his new endo system. In dental school we learned using hand files and all the tools that seem antiquated at this point, and the last time I did a root canal as an associate was using the same old system. I had no experience with anything new because I had zero interest in even seeing it or hearing about it. He walked me through the demo and truth be told, it peaked my interest and I found it slightly exciting.
When we finished he looked at me and said, “So you place implants and have a cone beam? That’s a great service to offer! Do you find placing implants difficult?”
“When I pick the right cases and patients, not really.”
“I also saw you’ll be offering I.V. sedation soon. Another great service!” He said smiling.
I could see where this was going. He was going to tell me what a great service root canals were and how it would be profitable and make me more well rounded and yadda yadda yadda. But he simply asked, “Tell me about your endo experience?”
My experience dates back to D-school. An eager third year who presented my patient- who had the strongest Boston accent- to an endo resident. She needed a root canal on #30. This was my first root canal on a live patient yet the resident cleared me for the case anyway. The day comes and all excitement comes to an end. The chair I was given was dysfunctional and I had issue after issue with this #30. I had trouble finding the canals and working them to length (one canal was slightly calcified). And I did what I thought I should be doing, asking for help when I got stuck. However, the irritated look on the attending residents face indicated I was asking for too much help. After about four and a half hours I was finally finished and my poor patient could barely shut her mouth.
Fast forward to a week later where the resident and head of undergrad endo met with one another and my clinic director to discuss my incompetence. I learned of this meeting because I had a friend who worked in the department who had let that info “slip.” I was told I never should have done that tooth and to practice on more extracted teeth before seeing another human being.
Fast forward again to year one out of school. I was seeing an older gentleman needing #28 RCT. I went into that happy and confident. I rubber damned, accessed, and got my working length. Asked the assistant to take the X-rays and the file was completely out of the tooth- not even in the canal. I extracted the tooth and added #29 to his partial. I felt horrible but the guy didn’t even care! No more endo for me!
“You can remove wisdom teeth, run fluids through people’s veins, and drop implants. You most certainly can perform a root canal. It’s all a mindset. Are you really going to let what a professor said to you dictate the here and now? Rid your mind of dental school demons. Be the success they couldn’t be. Think about it. You’ve got my card, call me when you’re ready.”
Damn, had I really been carrying the subconscious garbage from dental school? And of all people, a SALESMAN brought it to my attention! He did not mention money once. He did not tell me it would make me stand out from the competition. He did not even say it would be a good service to add. He simply told me that I could do it, and as cheesy and corny as it may sound, he spoke to something inside of me that no one else has been able to. All of the books and studies indicating that money is not a motivator turned out to be true. Telling me I was giving up money never phased me because I could just do more of other procedures.
I’ve always had mentors in my corner telling me I could do implants. I’ve always had teachers telling me great job on the extractions. I have a team of sedation docs constantly rooting for my success. Up until now I guess I had overlooked the power of a support system and how it can truly impact your career.
No one has ever told me that I would be good a doing root canals so I never believed it myself. I never had the pep talk with myself saying that I could do it. I made every excuse not to pursue them.
Kudos to Mike, he should teach a sales class. I called him up three days later and purchased all that I needed to get started on root canals. He even gave me extra tool-age to practice on all the extracted teeth that I had saved over the past five years. And practiced I did. I spent about two weeks root canaling close to 100 extracted teeth and brushing up on my endo knowledge. A fire was lit under me.
The first patient I scheduled for a root canal had been one of the first patients to come to my new office. He agreed to be my first root canal patient in four years, with Mike at the ready. This new system was easy and painless, though it did not take away the nervousness I felt. The procedure took about an hour and fifteen minutes. I took the final radiograph and it was good. Mike was happy, the patient was happy to keep his tooth, and I was able to finally lay those demons to rest. Guess what tooth it was? It was #30.