Dr. James A. Englander
Mentoring - The Wisconsin Experience
During my tenure as President, I hope to expand the concept of mentorship to our Fellows globally. I feel that where there are dental education institutions and dental practitioners, the potential for mentorship exists.
As Lani Becker, Wisconsin Dental Association Director of Member Services, puts it, "a mentor program means many things to many people, but when it comes right down to it, it is a way to share and prepare for the future." When a mentor relationship can be established, it is a two-way street between the mentor and the protégé. The mentor shares his or her experiences with someone new to the dental community and helps them prepare their future in dentistry after dental school. Mentors will not always have an answer, but they do provide a student with another resource. As we recall, working at the dental school clinic is quite different than practicing in our offices where we must deal with more than just dental procedures, such as staffing, calculating overhead, determining fees, scheduling, as well as developing filing systems, ordering of supplies, and other things that we must take care of or delegate on a regular basis.
The Wisconsin program is designed to provide dental students with an opportunity to learn more about their chosen profession from experienced dentists while they are in school. At the same time, it provides the volunteer dentist the chance to share his or her experiences with a future member of the dental profession. Each mentor is paired with one or more freshman and junior students. The dentist makes a two-year commitment to the program, and interacts with the students on both the social and professional level, the goal being to help mold students into professionals. The students are our future and essentially are what our profession will become.
We, in Wisconsin, are very fortunate to have a fine dental school with a faculty willing to help sponsor the undertaking. In addition, WDA's Young Dentists Committee members are hard working and very open to new ideas. Becoming a mentor is a serious undertaking and not a responsibility to be taken lightly. As stated by one mentorship program spokesman, "A good mentor must actively interact with his or her student...an uncommitted volunteer is more detrimental to the program than no volunteer." It is essential to select mentors who are ethical, honest, friendly, professional, knowledgeable, and respected by the community and by the profession. They must be congenial and have a positive attitude toward dentistry and a willingness to spend time with the protégé. Mentors should not attempt to be legal advisors and should not feel responsible for helping the student establish a practice.
Mentorship means to counsel, to advise, to help, to support, to aid, and to be a friend. The mentor should introduce the student to the profession, to the community, to the dental organization, to suppliers, and to financial organizations. A mentor needs to inform his protégé about local customs in ethics and advertising and about third-party coverage and to assist whenever possible.
Young dentists are the key to the future of organized dentistry. As stated by past ADA President Eugene Truono, "As I see it, mentors are an integral part of the professional continuum. They represent the passing of the baton, and acting as a cheerleader now and then. But above all, it means being a friend."
I ask any Section Chair or Trustee who would like some background information on the Wisconsin Mentorship Program to contact me and I will be pleased to share it with you.
President