Hey there, dental professionals and industry enthusiasts.
Picture this. It's October, and you're in the
middle of one of the most transformative
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fall future of dentistry roundtable in the vibrant
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attendees and learned from more than 80 speakers
who are at the forefront of dental innovation.
You sat in on educational sessions exploring topics
that elevate dental care as a critical element
of whole person health. You've witnessed firsthand how
digital technology is revolutionizing
patient outcomes
and how both large DSOs and independent practices
are flourishing.
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fall future of dentistry roundtable is from October
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Hello. This is Arianna Portallatin with the Becker's
Dental and DSO Review podcast. I'm thrilled to
be joined today by Nina McCormack, the OSHA
and infection control coordinator at Singing River Dental
Partners. Nina, thank you so much for being
here today.
Thank you for having me. Yeah. To start
off, can you just introduce yourself and tell
us a little bit about your background?
As you said, my name is Nina McCormick,
and I'm the ocean infection control
director at Singing River Dentistry in Tuscumbia,
Alabama. I'm also,
a registered nurse.
I started with Singing River,
about 13 years ago,
and it was a one office dental practice.
And we are now
in offices with,
17 to 18 doctors at all times.
Great. Thank you for that.
And what are some of the biggest issues
that you're following right now in the dental
industry?
I think right now in the dental industry,
one of the biggest issues is the rapid
growth that we're having.
We're it has grown by leaps and bounds.
Of course, it's changed a lot since I
entered the dental
field
years ago, but it has, in the last
couple, I think,
really started having,
tons of growth.
And the one of the main issues with
that, in my opinion, is to stay,
having a personal touch while being such a
large group.
When we first started, it was easy for
me to reach out and touch all the
employees and and be in contact with all
the patients. And now it's more of a
task to be able to,
interact with all the offices we have. We're,
you know, within an hour radius
of all of our offices, but it's still
a big task to be able to be
personal and,
interactive with everyone who's in our association. So
I think the rapid growth is a great
thing, but I think it's also,
one of those things that could easily let
us lose the personal touch if we're not
very aware of that.
Yeah. That makes a lot of sense. And
I know that there's so many organizations who
are in the same position as you, who
have grown from one practice to several,
and we have some organizations that, you know,
have hundreds of practices as well. What are
some methods that you keep in mind to,
really retain that personal touch with patients?
With our patients, we try to,
let them have
some say so into, like, if they have
a personal
hygienist that they like and they've built a
rapport with that, we don't mess with that
relationship. We allow that. We keep things as
familiar to them as we can while also
offering them the most,
innovative products and,
procedures that we can. We also like to
keep them involved in
things that might not necessarily be something that
they're going to
take advantage of, like, you know, our same
day crowns or,
you know, having all the new digital
technology. We like to keep our patients
informed of that, and they love to hear
about it whether it's,
a a procedure
or,
you know, a product that is actually going
to be used on them. Our doctors strive
to keep them abreast on what we're doing.
So if you involve them, they kind
of feel like they've, you know, watched that
practice grow and have been a part of
it. So I think keeping them well informed
makes a big difference.
Yeah. Definitely. That makes a lot of sense.
And I'm curious. What are you most excited
about when it comes to dentistry right now,
and is there anything that makes you nervous?
The
like we said about the growth and stuff,
I'm so excited to see where dentistry is
going to go. And looking back and see
where we we have come from to where
we are now, I cannot imagine
where
dental practices are going to go in the
next 10 years. The quality of dental care
has grown by leaps.
It now is so much more than just
teeth. We're now caring for the total person
taking into consideration,
you know, their past experiences and also their
their full medical history.
As a nurse, it's so rewarding to me
to be able to piece together those metal
medical and dental
health and education
educate others on how those two things are
intricately woven together. That's one of the things
we're striving to do.
There are areas that not that don't necessarily
make me nervous, but it's things that I
know,
you know, that I have to keep on
the forefront of my mind. I don't wanna
get so wrapped up and new and improved
that I forget about the tried and true
things.
The being kind to just in general to
everyone, to the patients and our fellow teammates
and developing
relationships, personal relationships
with our patients and and fellow,
team members and looking out for each other
as we move forward into what's going to
be so exciting.
Great.
And in your opinion, what will the most
effective health care leaders need to be successful
in the next 2 to 3 years?
I feel like that kind of kind of
tags along on the things that we've just
been talking about. Mhmm. I feel like we
need to be knowledgeable of the ever changing
things in our practices.
We need to stay on the cutting edge.
We need to know what's out there
and what's coming down the line, and we
need to be able to get those things
into our practice
and utilize them and see if it's something
that's going to be doable or if it's,
you know, a lot of things that look
new and improved are not necessarily new and
improved. So I I hope that we can
be open minded and open to new products
and procedures,
and that we'll all be willing to put
them to test and,
you know, change them as indicated,
move forward into things.
I feel like we have to, as providers
of dentistry, we must also still, like I
said, build personal relationships.
In a world where AI is quickly becoming
so prevalent, I feel like we have to
remind ourselves that we are still dealing with
people
and that people may forget some things that
you did for them or how you treated
them, but they'll never forget how you made
them feel.
So, you know, we still have to put
that at the forefront of things,
and integrate that with all the new things
that's going to be coming down.
Great. Thank you so much for that. Those
are all my questions. So thank you for
joining us today, Nina. It's been a pleasure
speaking with you, and I look forward to
connecting with you again in the future.
Thank you so much for having me. It
looked I look forward to it also.