Becker's Dental + DSO Review

18 BECKER'S DENTAL + DSO REVIEW // VOL. 2022 NO. 2 SPEAKER SPOTLIGHT technology is going to be at the top of the game, but oftentimes in those set- tings, the culture is at issue. I don't want to generalize across all DSOs or all large group practices, but often the motivations of those entities can be such that the culture of the prac- tice is affected negatively. When you're in a practice, all of us healthcare provid- ers, whether you're a dental hygienist or a dentist, we all got into this to help people. Sometimes when you get into an operation that doesn't have that as their primary mission, and instead has the bottom line driving the operation, that can create some issues with values, culture, et cetera. So I think that's some- thing that certainly impacts the hiring of a dental hygienist. Q: What needs to be done to alleviate the workforce shortages? WS: There needs to be a very active ef- fort put forward by dentistry. It used to be that this would be the effort put forth by organized dentistry. When I say or- ganized dentistry, I'm talking about the American Dental Association [and] state dental societies. In the past, those were the organizations that impacted the pro- fession most because the corporate enti- ties didn't exist. In my eyes, that's one of the biggest benefits of organized den- tistry, is having an association of dentists in place where you can try to impact change, or introduce new things to the practice of dentistry, but in the corporate environment, it doesn't seem that there's as much of that going on necessarily. So in my opinion, the answer is for dental societies to create programs early on. We need to engage young people ear- ly on in their education to promote the benefits of being in the profession of dentistry and the things that can come out of them choosing that profession. It gets to a place where we need to have programs in as early as grammar school, and certainly into the high schools, where the career opportunities that are being presented include these options for dental hygiene, to the point where more young people would make a deci- sion to join that workforce. Q: When do you see the workforce shortages improving? WS: I really don't have the answer on that. I think understanding that answer requires a very deep look into the met- rics of the dental profession as a whole and how it compares to the need, and how that then compares to the number of hygienists that are graduating annu- ally across the country, and then seeing how the dental hygiene program avail- ability meets that need. There's so many factors; [it's] a very complex issue. It might not all be simply that young peo- ple aren't attracted to the profession. It might be that we have an inadequate supply of programs to train the people. So I don't have those answers. If I were to guess, I would think that this is prob- ably going to smooth over in the next year or two. I think a lot of it had to do with the pandemic. Anytime you get yourself in a position where your routine operations are virtually upended, it then opens people's eyes to what the reali- ty of things are and then forces people to think about change and what can be done compared to the routine that was going on previously. It's kind of like mak- ing lemonade out of the lemons, so to speak. Over time, our profession is go- ing to respond to this. It might take a lit- tle while, but I think we'll see an elevated education of young people to be more attracted to dental hygiene, and we'll see more programs developed for them to be educated. I can't put a timeframe on it, but I think we'll see it happen. n What brings this Pacific Dental exec the greatest joy By Riz Hatton Daniel Burke, chief enterprise strategy officer and general counsel at Pacific Dental Services, reflected on what brings him the greatest joy and life and more in an April 10 interview with Becker's. Mr. Burke has been with Pacific Dental for more than 10 years. Before joining Pacific Dental, he was a member of the CDC's medical-dental steering committee, which works toward medi- cal-dental integration in the U.S. healthcare system. Editor's note: Responses have been edited lightly for length and clarity. Question: What brings you the greatest joy in life? Daniel Burke: Time spent laughing with my family … followed by Boston sports teams and raspberry gelato (and not always in that order)! Q: What makes all your hard work worth it? DB: Not to sound "all business," but I really appreciate that we are doing some remarkable things at [Pacific Dental Services] which will have a real positive impact on so many lives. Q: At the end of each day, how do you know you've done a good job? DB: There's "good tired" and "bad tired." At the end of each work day, I seek to be "good tired," having given my best to something larger than myself — and having fun doing it. n

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