Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Brian Rich. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Brian, so great to have you with us and we want to jump right into a really important question. In recent years, it’s become so clear that we’re living through a time where so many folks are lacking self-confidence and self-esteem. So, we’d love to hear about your journey and how you developed your self-confidence and self-esteem.
Patients demand confidence. Confidence requires self-esteem. Self-esteem comes from successful repetitions. Successful repetitions bring more patients.
The more dentistry I do, the more comfortable I have become. Everything I stated above sounds great, but you have to start somewhere. This is where the US Army helped jump start my confidence and clinical abilities. When you graduate any professional school you know enough of your craft to be dangerous. The Army provided both a place of mentorship and clinical repetitions so that I was confident enough to purchase my own location and practice dentistry on my own. They call it the “practice of dentistry” because we improve our skill set every day by using it. Eventually the dentistry became easy and I started sharing my cases on Instagram, Facebook, and my website. We love to show our patients the work we do because we are confident it is high quality dentistry!
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I love the art and practice of dentistry. No two teeth are ever the same which means my work always provides me a new experience to enjoy. I have the added pleasure of demystifying my craft to patients because of modern innovations in intra-oral photography and digital dentistry. Historically you only knew if your dentist hurt you or you liked them, but now I get to show you the hard work I put into your tooth and why our product is worth coming back for. Designing a custom crown on my Cerec CAD/CAM machine for someone who is used to the analogue approach never gets old. Typically the response is the same, “Wow, dentistry has changed a lot since I’ve had my other work done.”
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Love of my craft, desire to improve, and a hunger for utilizing the newest technologies have had the greatest impact on my clinical practice. Dentistry can be very challenging at times. Your love of the craft carries you through the difficult cases and patients. Without a desire to improve the dentistry would never get easier or more productive. Dental school teaches some techniques that can be outdated; it is up to the provider to seek the newer more innovative ways of restoring teeth. Finally, new technologies can be intimidating, but they can make work so much easier when the technology is mastered. Do not be intimidated by something you don’t know how to do, but instead seek to learn why it may be better and how you could apply it to your practice.
We’ve all got limited resources, time, energy, focus etc – so if you had to choose between going all in on your strengths or working on areas where you aren’t as strong, what would you choose?
There are only 24 hours in a day no matter who you are. I prioritize procedures and activities that I am passionate about and enjoy doing. I feel this makes me more productive and efficient by going all in on my strengths. I have a wonderful network of specialists I can refer other procedures to if they are not in my wheelhouse. My success at my practice has largely come by focusing on my strengths and recognizing weaknesses to avoid. I take a lot of continuing education and have chosen to specialize in those procedures that I enjoy the most.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://BrianRichDMD.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brianrichdmd/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BrianRichDMD/
Image Credits
Brian Rich DMD
