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972: When “Ideal Dentistry” Isn't Ideal: The Art of Working in the Gray – Dr. Charlie Ward & Dr. Christopher Mazzola

Sometimes, your “ideal dentistry” isn't ideal. In this episode, Kirk Behrendt brings back Dr. Christopher Mazzola and Dr. Charlie Ward, faculty members at the Pankey Institute, to share what to do when things aren't black-and-white for your treatment plans. To learn the systems that will lead you to success, listen to Episode 972 of The Best Practices Show!

 

Learn More About Dr. Ward & Dr. Mazzola:

Learn More About ACT Dental:

More Helpful Links for a Better Practice & a Better Life:

Episode Resources:

Main Takeaways:

  • Give yourself grace. Don't fall into the trap of looking at what you didn't do “ideally”.
  • What you may not consider “ideal dentistry” may be just as great for your patients.
  • Stop comparing yourself to others. Everyone is at a different point in their journey.
  • Systems make your dentistry excellent. Don't do complex cases without them.
  • Don't skip over planning. All of your hard work is in the planning process.

Quotes:

“One thing that I learned from a mentor a long time ago is that it is your duty to tell the patient the best course of treatment. If your patient has the circumstances, temperaments, and objectives of going to “ideal” — whatever that is, following you down the yellow brick road of surgery, ortho, restorative dentistry — yeah, sure. Then, let's go. If they tell you, ‘No, I'm not willing to do surgery,’ many dentists get paralyzed by the fact that they can't go with what is ideal. Just because it's not ideal doesn't mean that option number two isn't still going to be fantastic for that patient.” (5:30—6:17) -Dr. Mazzola

“Dealing with the patient is the most stressful part of it. The engineering part, the preps — we can systematize all of those things. Where it becomes more gray is, how do I apply that to a human being? I always think about Dr. Pankey's rules of occlusion. They were like, ‘Well, why didn't you write a book?’ He's like, ‘Well, it's one page, and then you have to apply it to a human being.’ That's the problem, is that you have to apply it to a human being. The rules are easy to follow on an articulator.” (10:27—10:59) -Dr. Ward

“You have to give yourself grace. Sometimes, when we get having these conversations, in my mind, I remember having imposter syndrome of like, ‘I've taken all these courses. I know what to do and how to do it. Am I doing it?’ Like, “the knowing is in the doing”, I think, is a very good quote. It's like, are we actually utilizing this information that we're learning? It's that whole edutainment part of things that we talk about. Imposter syndrome in dentistry is real, especially when you're by yourself in a practice. I'm very fortunate. I have three other dentists that are my age that have the same core values, so we continue to push each other in growth, health, and professionalism in our team. Then, I've got the best buddy in the world, Charlie. We share the same core values. We’re driven to continue to find the “better”. But sometimes, you’ve got to give yourself grace so you don't fall into the trap of looking at what you didn't do ideally.” (13:40—14:50) -Dr. Mazzola

“Comparing what someone else is doing with different circumstances and experiences to what I'm doing is not fair to me. There are plenty of people taking really nice photos of really beautiful things out there that I want to do. I don't know what their experience was. I don't know what the patient experience was. I don't know what any of those things are. But it's very easy to feel less than, seeing a lot of the things that are out there on social media, on big screens, lectures, and those types of things. So, the grace piece of it is that every single one of us is along a pathway, we hope, to excellence. The people that we meet at courses at Pankey and everywhere else are there because they want to be better, just like us. Some of them are older than me, and some of them are younger than me. We're all at a certain point along that journey, and we're not at the same point. So, it's very difficult for them to see some of the stuff that I've done after 17 years. Like, that case didn't happen without the 17 years of failure that I've had to that point and working those systems to a point that I feel like I can execute consistently.” (15:28—16:46) -Dr. Ward

“I felt like [my dentistry] was good. But now, it's excellent and predictable because of the system. It's experience and systemization. So, like Chris said, I take the same photos. I look at those photos the same way. I plan starting with the incisal edge position. I do all the stuff that we're supposed to do in a systematic way, and then I execute it in a systematic way. Like, I mock the case up, I prep back from the mock-up. Everything is systematized so that nothing gets missed. And it's all written down because all of the work is in the planning.” (18:21—18:58) -Dr. Ward

“I used to tell this story about my dad. He was a contractor for many years, and he'd hire these high school guys to come work for him in the summertime when they were off of school. They'd always give him a hard time because he'd get there early. They're all together, he gets there early, and he spends the first two hours setting up the job site. He was a roofer. So, he's taking these kids, and they're ripping shingles off, and they're putting new roofs on houses and stuff. So, he'd set up all the tarps, and he'd carry everything up that he needed, and make sure he had everything on the roof. He's like, ‘By the time I'm on the roof, I don't want to come down to get stuff from the truck.’ And they're like, ‘Mr. Ward, are we going to rip this roof off or what?’ And he's like, ‘Guys, all of the work that we're doing becomes efficient when everything is set up the way it needs to be set up.’ That's really what Chris and I do in dentistry. It's all that upfront planning that people want to skip over because they want to get to the veneers. But the veneers are really easy if you've planned it appropriately. That's where the systems provide the success. If we have a tagline, it's the systems provide the success. That's really the whole thing.” (19:07—20:17) -Dr. Ward

“Four years ago, post-COVID-19, we were having a little bit of a culture struggle from a systemization standpoint of our expectations of our employees. I mean, the last time that we had an employee handbook out was, I don't know, the first day I got there, 12 years ago. So, it was like, ‘All right, we need to work through this.’ That's where [ACT] came in and really helped the systemization of the business side of our office, and developing a meeting rhythm, and getting together for two hours every single week with the leadership team and also from the entire office, which is 30 of us. People look at that time as, ‘Oh my gosh, how much does that cost you?’ And I will tell you it's, what are you losing by not doing it? So, I think the systemization of that has been imperative, and then seeing how that has transformed my team and my practice.” (21:14—22:09) -Dr. Mazzola

“Where to learn? I would say depending on where you are in your CE journey, you've got to start with some group somewhere, whether it's Kois, Spear, Pankey, Dawson — someone that carries some validity, some weight, something that's been tried and true and tested for decades, and decades, and decades. Then, after you've done that, stay curious and see like, how can I use this to help my patients have better overall health?” (26:42—27:16) -Dr. Mazzola

“Everyone is like, ‘How do I do full-mouth rehabilitations?’ That's a dangerous road to go down if you don't have great systems to execute those cases. It's going to be super stressful for you. It's going to be possibly disappointing for the patient. You're going to get to the end, and nobody is going to be happy. So, develop systems for doing two veneers, or four veneers, or two crowns, or four crowns. Like Chris said, what data are you collecting? What's your new patient experience? All those things that Kirk and ACT work on with practices, how are you going to collect data? How are you going to treatment plan? Start thinking about those things.” (28:40—29:24) -Dr. Ward

Snippets:

0:00 Introduction.

1:46 It’s not so black-and-white.

4:56 “Ideal” isn't the only path.

8:36 The patient is the difficult part of dentistry.

11:38 Give yourself grace.

17:16 The importance of systems.

23:53 How an AI recorder will change your life.

26:15 Final thoughts, about CASE, and how to get in touch.

Dr. Charlie Ward Bio:

After graduating from the University of Maryland with a Bachelor of Science degree in 2004, Dr. Charlie Ward went straight into the University of Maryland School of Dentistry. He earned his DDS degree in 2008, and since then he has completed the Essentials courses and many others at the esteemed Pankey Institute, where he now serves as visiting faculty. He is currently a member of the Maryland State Dental Association and the Academy of General Dentistry.

When Dr. Ward isn’t spending time with Dr. Melody Ward and their two young boys, Cyrus and Lucas, he can often be found golfing or fishing. He also enjoys playing the guitar. While in dental school, he was actually in an all-dentist band called Incisal Edge! He even has his own guitar collection and has turned his basement into a music room.

Dr. Christopher Mazzola Bio:

Dr. Christopher Mazzola was born and raised in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He attended the University of Michigan for his undergraduate studies where he graduated with honors with a Chemical Engineering Degree. During his undergraduate studies, he conducted research with dental school faculty on materials to aid in patients’ healing after dental surgery. He then continued his education at Michigan where he completed his Doctor of Dental Surgery Degree. While in dental school, he was awarded the University of Michigan American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry Award for his research in the clinical application of CAD/CAM technology in dentistry.

Prior to joining Traverse Dental Associates, Dr. Mazzola owned a practice in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he was named one of the area’s 2013 TopDentists™. He continued with education focusing on communication and technology in private practice. He has also served as an instructor and mentor for new graduates focusing on patient interactions and CEREC CAD/CAM Technology.

In his spare time, Dr. Mazzola enjoys spending time with his wife, Christina, his children, Baylor and Eliana, and his three dogs, Isabelle, Lola, and Aspen. He tries to stay active through competitive CrossFit, golfing, running, and skiing. He is looking forward to watching his family grow in the amazing community that is Traverse City!
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