Episode #378: The Power of Core Values and Curiosity, with Katrina M. Sanders

Dental school teaches the bare minimum of what's possible. If you want to move dentistry and your practice forward, you need to stay curious! And today, Kirk Behrendt brings back Katrina M. Sanders, known in the dental community as The Dental WINEgenist, to share how core values and curiosity empowered her to move dentistry in her own unique and entertaining way. Don't keep doing the same old thing — explore and elevate your practice! For some of the best advice on developing core values, being a disruptor, and staying curious, listen to Episode 378 of The Best Practices Show!

Main Takeaways:

• Core values always begins with the leader.
• Core values apply at all moments, good and bad.
• Building core values should be a team activity.
• When the team is involved, there is shared responsibility.
• The work around core values never ends.
• Always be curious and continue to explore.

Quotes:

• “Core values isn't the oath that you set on graduation day. That's not for the day when everything is going well, and all the patients are showing up on time, and your scrubs are perfectly pressed, and you packed your lunch today. No, your core values, who you are, your “why,” that message is for the moments when “fit has hit the shan” and you've got a troll who’s messaging on social media.” (11:39—12:07)
• “One of the challenges that I run into, particularly when I'm working with my clients, is although they have these core values — I've got one client in particular who’s got an amazing mission statement. I love it. I'm like, ‘This is amazing.’ And yet, just because we have a placard on the wall that says these are our core values, does that actually mean that those core values show up? And I think the cool thing about core values is the work around a core value never ends.”  (15:18—15:45)
• “I'm a business owner, so I've had to build my own core values and then relay that to my team, ‘These are the core values of The Dental WINEgenist brand. Period. This is how we function. This is how we work. This is how we collaborate. This is how we communicate.’ And yet, when you run into challenges, when you run into a situation in clinical practice with a patient, we have to take a step back and go, ‘Did our core values show up in that moment? Did we practice with integrity? This patient showed up late and it totally disrupted our day. Were we able to adhere to our core values of high-level, world-class dentistry when we had to cut short the appointment?’” (15:47—16:28)
• “The vast majority of us go to dental school, go to dental hygiene school, we become educated in dentistry because we actually do want to help people. And yet, our own core values, our own practice philosophy, oftentimes comes into question, whether that's a patient questioning, ‘Oh, I don't know. The doctor said I need a crown on that tooth. But can't I just get away with a filling over there?’ It’s not even about you're questioning my clinical savvy. It’s, ‘I'm telling you that the doctor is saying you need a full-coverage crown on this tooth because that is what's in the best interest of your tooth. They're not doing this because they need another car payment on their Mercedes.’ It’s when moments like that happen that we have to lean back on our core values.” (17:16—18:03)
• “When we say to our employees, to our team members, ‘These are our core values. This is what we stand for. Let's do activities. Let's talk about this,’ if you're a dentist, if you're a practice owner, it begins with you. It begins with you. It begins with making sure that you are giving your team the tools and the resources to be able to follow through with those core values.” (21:38—22:00)
• “If we’re going to talk about clinical excellence, and let's say that that is a provision of a core value, for example. Or even if we are going to say integrity, literally, the definition of integrity is you would do the same thing or you would perform high-level excellence whether somebody is watching you or not. So, that's another one that, I'll start doing chart audits and I'm looking through, and it’s like, ‘Oh, that's interesting. This wasn’t done. This wasn't done. This wasn't done. Oh, it was a day that the doctor didn't need to come in and do an exam, so that's why none of these things got completed.’ And so, the idea being, at what point do we, in dentistry, stop and correct these things?” (23:42—24:22)
• “The challenge is, for many dentists who are also the business owner, practice owner, of one or multiple practices, do they have the time to be checking in on their team members and saying, ‘Okay, so, remember our core value was integrity. And when you skipped taking X-rays, when you skipped doing perio charting, when you skipped doing all these things for the patient, not only is this a legal issue, because we don't have all the data that we need to safely treat our patients, but that's not what the standard of excellence is here in this practice.’ So, it becomes this balancing act. We have to be able to convey what our expectations are. We have to be able to provide resources so that our team members can step into that. And on the back end, we have to be able to continually remind our team of the ways in which these core values will continue to show up.” (24:22—25:13)
• “If your team is a part of the process — you have a mission statement, but now we need to start building out core values. There's always going to be more responsibility when they're the ones that built it. Period.” (27:59—28:12)
• “You simply cannot write core values in a one-hour meeting. You can scribble out a few of them, but this means the team has to get together and say, ‘What is important for us? What are behaviors that are needed in order to better serve our patients? Where are we going? What's our five-year plan? What's our ten-year plan?” (28:19—28:37)
• “We have this lofty idea, the concept of world-class dentistry. Well, that's a lofty idea. What is world-class dentistry? What is a healthy patient? What is a well-producing practice? We have to be able to define what that is and what that looks like, and we have to be able to come together as a team. Because for one dental hygienist, they may have one idea of what a healthy patient looks like, or what a high-level, high-tech practice looks like.” (29:16—29:44)
• “If a dentist says, ‘I don't know where to begin,’ I think the place that we need to begin is by sitting down with the team and having a dialogue about, ‘Where are we? Where are we going? And what are behaviors that are important for you, as a team member, for collaboration?’ We build out these core values based on what the team says, because when they are part of the building of that process, they take ownership over it.” (30:40—31:08)
• “Patients can read when you're concerned, when you care, and when it matters. And that goes right back to your core values. That goes back to, ‘It’s important to me. I'm not here selling you something you don't need. This is your health. That's why you're in this chair. It is my responsibility to serve you and to get you to, as close as I can, to 100% health.” (35:52—36:13—)
• “Continue to explore. Continue to look beyond what it is that you were taught in dental or dental hygiene school. When I was in hygiene school, I was taught if a patient has a TMJ issue, give them an occlusal guard and send them on their way. Well, we’re just putting a Band-Aid on it. Right? There are now pieces of research out about acupressure, acupuncture, that we should be leaning on our oral myofunctional therapists to aid in TMJ issues or parafunctional habits. We’re taught the bare minimum to not kill somebody and to pass our boards. It really goes into the fact that there is a massive world out there.” (37:14—37:50)
• “People believe you get a good checkup if your dentist says, ‘No cavities.’ Well, what if it was about more than just no cavities? What if it was about, do you have inflammation in your mouth? Because oral inflammation is the second most frequent, modifiable inflammatory condition around the world, second only to obesity. So, do you have inflammation in your mouth? Let's look at your airway. Let's look at your tethered oral tissues. Let's look at your pathology. There are things that we can see in the mouth that could tell us or could color a picture about our patient’s systemic risk. So, we need to move away from this concept of, ‘No cavities. You look good,’ into elevating our clinical practice. And we’re working to rebrand dentistry so that patients expect that from us, as they should. So, stay curious, and continue to explore opportunities to elevate your work for your patients.” (40:17—41:08)
• “Curiosity is the opposite of the age-old, ‘That's how we do things here.’ The concept of, ‘That's how we do things here,’ drives me crazy, because it sounds to me like what you want is for us to stay in neutral and not go anywhere, and we’re going to corroborate, we’re going to make it okay that we’re not moving forward because that's just how we’ve always done things here. And the reality is, that’s not where we’re going. That's not the world that we’re in right now. We have to constantly be moving.” (44:03—44:34)

Snippets:

• 0:00 Introduction.
• 2:04 Katrina’s background.
• 7:14 Katrina’s cause.
• 11:01 Core values apply at all times.
• 12:08 How to respond to trolls with eloquence.
• 14:37 All roads lead to core values.
• 18:38 It starts from the top.
• 22:08 The balancing act for practice owners.
• 27:18 Where to start with core values.
• 32:12 Patients can read when you're concerned.
• 36:24 Stay curious.
• 39:15 A brief history of dentistry.
• 42:29 Dentistry needs to move forward.
• 46:07 The paradigm shift with instrumentation.
• 51:10 Katrina’s contact information.

Reach Out to Katrina:

Katrina’s email: [email protected] 

Katrina’s website: https://katrinasanders.com/

Katrina’s social media: @thedentalwinegenist

Katrina’s Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/katrina.sanders.948

Tooth or Dare social media: @toothordare.podcast

Resources:

Beat the Heart Attack Gene by Bradley Bale: https://bookshop.org/books/beat-the-heart-attack-gene-the-revolutionary-plan-to-prevent-heart-disease-stroke-and-diabetes-9798200045730/9781681620220

Katrina M. Sanders RDH, BSDH, M.Ed, RF Bio:

In the ever-changing world of dental science where research, technology, and techniques for patient care are constantly evolving, dental professionals look to continuing education to provide insight, deliver actionable steps, empower, and create a dramatic impact within their clinical practice.

With wit, charm, and a dash of humor, Katrina Sanders enchants dental professionals with her course deliverables, insightful content, and delightful inspiration. Her message of empowerment rings mighty throughout her lectures and stirs a deep sense of motivation amongst course participants.

Katrina is the Clinical Liaison for AZPerio, the country's largest periodontal practice. She performs clinically, working alongside Diplomates to the American Board of Periodontology in the surgical operatory. Katrina perfected techniques during L.A.N.A.P. surgery, suture placement, IV therapy, and blood draws. She instructs on collaborative professionalism and standard of care protocols while delivering education through hygiene boot camps and study clubs.