Faces of AADOM – Vanessa Escobar, DAADOM

From Business to Dentistry: Vanessa’s Journey to Dental Office Management

Join us in the latest episode of the Faces of AADOM podcast, where Heather interviews Vanessa about her journey into dental office management. As a dedicated member of Faces of AADOM, Vanessa shares her insights and experiences that have shaped her career. 

In this episode, Vanessa offers valuable advice to dental office managers, emphasizing the importance of being open to new ideas and evolving practices. “Always be willing to listen to new ideas,” Vanessa advises. “Challenge yourself not to box yourself into ‘this is how we’ve done it’ and embrace new opportunities to improve your practice, team, and office.” 

Vanessa’s path to dental office management was not straightforward. With a background in hospitality and business, she initially had no knowledge of dentistry. However, when her sister and brother-in-law, both dentists, invited her to join their new practice, she took a leap of faith. “We didn’t know how to build a new office, but we learned together,” she recalls. 

Her story highlights the supportive and collaborative nature of the dental industry. She candidly shares her challenges, such as strategizing insurance and navigating the complexities of PPOs.  

Don’t miss this insightful episode of Faces of AADOM, where Vanessa’s experiences and story will inspire dental office managers to embrace change and seek growth in their practices. 

About Faces of AADOM

Meet AADOM members who make up the heartbeat of our community – the diverse and talented individuals who embody the spirit of excellence in dental office management. Every member has a story. “Faces of AADOM” shares members’ unique journeys, the path that led them into dentistry, and the moments that define their passion for dental leadership.  

Subscribe to Faces of AADOM to discover more stories of resilience, growth, and empowerment within the AADOM community. 

Be sure to watch our video now or read the transcript below to learn more about Vanessa’s journey toward becoming a successful dental office manager!

 

Read the Transcript:

Heather: Hello, everybody, and thank you for joining me on the Faces of AADOM series. I’m Heather Colicchio, Founder and President of AADOM.

And today, with me, is Vanessa Escobar. Welcome Vanessa. So nice to have you. Vanessa is a Master of our association and she’s also the office manager of Winter Garden Smiles in Winter Garden, Florida.

Welcome Vanessa.

Vanessa: Hi, everybody!

Heather: So good to see you.

So, what we like to do on Faces of AADOM is really celebrate our members. Because it’s our members that make AADOM who we are and makes us so amazing. And I would love to learn a little bit about where you are now and then tell us how you got there.What was your journey into dentistry?

The Journey Into Dentistry

Vanessa: After college, I moved back home to Orlando and I started working in hospitality. So I went into entry level hospitality. I worked front desk and I also merged into sales. So, I was trying to go into sales, being a sales manager or admin at that point.

When I did that, I was working under a manager who was like the top sales manager of the resort. She was really, really good at it, but her managing skills were not. So, we had a lot—just things that I wasn’t really happy about. I was fine with the duties, but I just wasn’t happy working with her, even though she was great at what she did.

So, I learned stuff through her, but I just wasn’t comfortable. But I was young at that time and I didn’t go to HR. I didn’t really talk to anyone about it. I kind of just like, “I’m going to just work through this. I really want to keep moving up. So we’ll figure it out.”

But, when I would actually go into the parking lot every day, I would get these massive headaches when I would drive to work. And it just ended up consuming me.

So then I was like, “I can’t work here.” Either I need to change departments, which I was looking into, or I need to find a new career. I need to do something different.

So, at that time, my sister and my brother in—they’re both dentists. One’s a general dentist, one’s a pediatric dentist, and they both worked in different corporations. Then they wanted to start a practice.

They knew what I was going through on my side, and then they knew that they needed someone that they can trust and they’re like, “Well, Vanessa, what do you think about joining us with this new project?

And I had no idea. I didn’t know anything about dentistry. I obviously was in hospitality. I studied business. But I didn’t know much about it.

I did shadow my sister when she was in dental school. I would go like during spring break or I would go when a school was out. I would go see her at school or I would go see her at her first dental job.

So I would shadow her because I was looking into dentistry while I was in school. I was like, “You know, let me see if I like it.”

But being in the clinical side, it didn’t really interest me. I wasn’t really interested in it. So, I was like, “No, I’ll finish business.

But, then, when she told me about this, she’s like, “You know, we would do this together. Don’t worry if you don’t know this stuff. We don’t know how to do this either right now, like building up a new office. We’ll learn it together.”

So she really made me feel like I’ll be a part of the growth of it. So I was like, “Okay, let’s take a leap of faith. Let’s do it.” I’m not happy where I’m at now. I was eager to learn and eager to do something.

So, I started with my sister and my brother-in-law. Um, we opened up a startup. It was 2 dental chairs and the 3 of us. And, what I would say, like, after 12 years of—a lot of things happened during those 12 years.

We are currently 5 dental providers, and a team of 30. We went from 2 chairs to 15 operatories. We have an additional suite next to us that we’ll be expanding to. So, we’ll be maxing out at 21 operatories by the time we’re done.

Heather: Wow! Cool. And the practice started what year?

Vanessa: We started in December. So pre-opening was December of 2011.

Heather: So in 12 years, you went from 2 chairs to 21 operatories today.

Vanessa: Well, we are right now we’re 15, but we will be at 21. But I even have patients that when I first opened, when we first opened our doors, they remembered our 2 little chairs.

And we were like, “Why are we in the two chairs?” And I’m like, “Yes.” And it was just me and the pride. And it was just, it was, it’s nice that they get to see that. They see the growth that we’ve gone through and now we have this beautiful building and everything.

Heather: I’m so proud of you. I mean, I shouldn’t be surprised—you’re a rock star. But, my God, there are so many things that could have gone wrong. Dentists who have never owned a practice before and an office manager who has never been an office manager before.

And, I’m sure things do go wrong. And again, it’s just the excitement and the fact you were given ownership of this new venture in a way. And I don’t mean ownership in the usual form, but the success and the practice to be a reflection of your success. And that is just so exciting!

So, college to hospitality to dental. And you studied business. So, I just want to talk about the hospitality for a little bit. I just made a few notes that you would get headaches when going to the building. So, that is very telling, and your body’s always telling you what you need to know.

What, if anything, looking back—and I think this is an important for all the managers listening. Your role as a manager, like your manager in the hospitality, depending where you are.

Your role as a manager impacts your team sometimes at a level you’re not even aware of.

So, learning from that experience and being on the other side of it—someone who reported to the manager, now you’re a manager—Vanessa, what would you have recommended that that manager do differently or maybe that you had done differently? Could you have gone to HR? I mean, how do we make a lesson out of what, fortunately, ended up being a great move?

Now you’re here at AADOM and in dentistry, but what lessons would you give to a dental office manager based on those for him as an employee?

How to Be a Good Dental Office Manager

Vanessa: I feel like as a manager, you have to be a good listener and you have to observe your team. At that point, I was really young, so I wanted a mentor. I wanted to find someone I could look up to.

So, I saw her as someone as a top sales manager. I was like, “I want to learn this.”

But, she just, personality wise, I think she needed to learn how to manage, listen, and be able to see what I was looking for. She never really sat down and talked to me and asked me like, “What do I want my future to look like? What things do I want to learn in my skill?”

There was never these conversations. I think those are really important as a manager to have.

You should be able to sit down with your team and not just focus on the duties that they’re responsible for right now, but look at what their goals are.

There were a lot of things that, when I look at it now—yes, at 24, I didn’t want to be the one complaining, right? I didn’t want to go to HR. I didn’t want to go to my Director of Sales and say, “You know, I don’t like how she speaks to me. I think she yells a lot.”

She used to yell a lot. So, you know, people can only handle so much of it. And the fact that she used to have a high turnover of sales admins—that should be your red flag that something’s going on here.

Especially with some of these that I spoke to—they’re great. They are amazing. They did their job well. It was just how you talk to people, how you ask for things has to be differently.

I feel like now as a manager, I have to put myself in their shoes. I have to make sure that I have these conversations with them, that I’m listening, that I’m observing, and I’m able to have my door open.

And it’s not always just, like in her case, selling. It’s not just about selling. It’s more than that. It’s about your team. It’s about making sure that everyone is able to be successful.

Heather: What I find most interesting about that you were in college. So very, very valuable life experience there. And it’s great you’re able to learn from it and manage differently and manage better in your practice.

So, let’s talk about—and I’m also grateful, Vanessa, you had the chance to shadow your sister to get a taste of clinicals to say clinicals not for me, you know, right before you kind of committed to that path.

So, I’m excited just thinking about you and your sister and brother-in-law. Your excitement level is probably through the roof. What was going through your minds? How did you know where to start?

Learning the Ropes of Office Management

Vanessa: So, it was interesting because literally, my sister’s way of starting me was opening up a dental textbook and be like, “You need to learn your chart, the teeth numbers,” and all this stuff.

So, we literally would sit there and go through dental terminology. But, that’s not really where I needed to start. I needed to start on other stuff, but it was fine. We went through it.

But what I realized was there was so much I needed to learn. And, at that time, I didn’t know of, or there wasn’t enough resources for me to learn.

It wasn’t like I had someone training me to do this. It was like, “I need to learn this on my own.”

I watched some very boring dental software videos where I learned how to do insurance and I was like, “It makes sense.” I couldn’t ask a question to anybody, but I was like, “This is going to be a challenge.”

But I think the reason why it worked for me was because I grew with the practice. I didn’t jump into an office that was running the chairs that I’m running now. I think in this situation, it would be very difficult. Back then, we are running like, literally, we had our first month, I don’t even remember how much we made, but we had like 4 patients a day.

I felt like I was learning through it and all the little hiccups that I had—I had the time to go through it with them. So, I was nice. I think that was the nice part.

But, you know what I found about dentistry is that people are really nice in dentistry. I feel like I met some really—like in the beginning of my career, even now—very approachable, very welcoming.

I used to have specialists who would let me come to their offices and shadow their OMs and marketing coordinators. My sister’s friends that had their own practices would let me come in. I would meet their OMs.

So, I did shadow. I did have the opportunity to go shadow them. I had an OM that my brother-in-law worked with come to our office and showed me my first breakdown sheet.

So I feel like it’s different than a corporate and like, hospitality and certain things might feel more like corporate in an aspect that everyone’s trying to be the best of the best and kind of move people to the side.

But I feel like in dentistry, even though we work in different offices, we really are welcoming and trying to help others and mentor them and see like, you know, “What do you need help with?”

And I think that’s an amazing thing about our industry, is that we have so many people willing to do that.

Heather: I completely agree. It is such a supportive industry. It’s not that corporate backbiting, you know, I’m going to step on your head while I climb the ladder. It really is, “How can I help?”

So, that really comes through at AADOM. But dentistry, as a whole, is just very much a community feel, for the most part.

So, you’re starting this practice, and it is really good that you didn’t have to drink through a fire hose, as they say. You were able to kind of find your rhythm and grow with the practice.

We have so many questions because so many of our best members, like you, Vanessa, have really created this position in their practice. They didn’t take over for someone. They didn’t respond to a job posting, but they created the OM position within their practice.

So, thinking back to early days, you know, 12 years ago—if you can talk to the listeners, what would you say was your first big win where you have your first big like, “Oh, I did it?”

Learn About AADOM’s eCampus Now

Celebrating the Wins

Vanessa: I feel like my first big—I think that the patients really like when I would sit in the front, I’d get to know them, I would sit down and have conversations with them. I think that was my win on a regular basis since I came with hospitality, I was used to it.

I did observe the front desk. I learned a lot. It’s an entry level position, but you learn a lot about it working at a hotel, especially looking at the different conventions that would come in, my managers. Just be having that really good customer service presence.

So, I like when I came here, I feel like patients really like that about our office because I was able to provide that service to them. And they like seeing me when I would come in.

So I feel like those were big wins for me and the practice because it became like, “Oh, I’m good to see Vanessa.” And I was the only person in the front.

But then I did I did have a hard time being the billing person because I was nice and I was trying to please everybody. So I did have some billing hiccups happen throughout the years, but I learned through it.

I feel like those were wins for me and then later on in my career things like, I mean, any time I add a team member, I implement a new project, our department just flourishes, our big building—those are huge wins.

Even, recently, we had an annual planning meeting. I like to share the wins of the team to everybody. And then part of the wins was like me doing my MAADOM. And then one of my fellow team members did her FAADOM. I share all these things with my team. So I feel like those are nice times.

Heather: That’s awesome. And I can hear the pride in your voice when you talk about your practice, you talk about the building. It’s real. It’s a real thing. And again, the fact that you were able to help create that growth is amazing.

I have a question. When you started, how did you go about vendor selection for anything, whether it was software or just disposable water, and anything you needed in the practice being that you had no dental experience? What was your vendor selection process?

The Vendor Selection Process

Vanessa: We did a lot through conferences. So, my sister and brother-in-law—they’re big on going to conventions and conferences and everything. So, I went to my first ADA Conference. I went to the Florida dental conference.

And just getting to meet my vendors. We did go to different ones and try to meet the reps. It was important to us, yes, the pricing is important. But it was more important getting to know the people we’re going to be working with. I think that is the most important thing.

So, just getting to know them. Is this someone that we can build a relationship with? I think that’s how we selected ours and also referrals from their friends that worked with certain people, we would have to meet with them.

For me now, I usually like to work with people that like to talk with me too. I have had that trouble sometimes, where they want to schedule the meeting with the doctor or the owners. And, it becomes an obstacle I have to face where I have to get the vendors to be like, “Hey, you know, I make decisions too. I can help. The doctors are kind of in the back with patients—I help with this part.”

So, I’ve actually had my doctors tell them that, when they get to that point. But usually I like to have the vendors that work with me, work with them, understand that we work together.

Heather: A thousand percent. And I feel like during my course at AADOM, when I started, vendors, reps would only want to speak to the doctors. And that has changed over the years. I do see where now they get it more, like the manager does have a lot of direct purchase power or does have a lot of recommendation power in the practice.

But, while we’re on the topic of reps—we get asked this all the time. If a rep wanted to come to your office new, what’s the best way for them to reach you as the manager, would you say?

Vanessa: I like when they call and make an appointment? I know sometimes they’ll come in, but sometimes—I feel like with us is, there’s always something we’re doing, and I feel like it’s hard for me to stop and go attend to that. So, usually, I’ll tell the team if they can email me or call me and we’ll make an appointment for them to come in. That’s usually great.

Obviously, a rep that I already know, I’m happy to come out because,you know, we have a relationship, so I’m like, “Oh, you’re here. I’m so excited.”

So, I think at that point, I don’t need that. But, when they’re new, I would like something or even a book link or something, like Book Me, and I’ll put it in. I think that’s great and just get to schedule something.

But we get called all the time. And I don’t know if they realize, but I am constantly getting reps calling the office. Coming in or calling the office. So, it does become overwhelming sometimes.

I think the conferences help the best because even when I go to the conferences, especially the AADOM Conference, everybody that I do business with is there. So that’s really nice time that I get to spend talking to them.

Heather: So, Vanessa, I just want to ask you about, I want to go back a little bit, you said what you love at your practice is the patients, and the patients love you. I can see obviously why. However, that presented a challenge when you then had to collect on those patients.

So, talk to our listeners about what the challenge was and at what point did you realize, “Okay, I need a billing coordinator to do this thing?”

Managing Collections

Vanessa: I knew I wasn’t the best collector. I have a hard time with it. It was one of those things—I knew that they had to pay, but it was very challenging.

It was more challenging after insurance. So, after insurance, I had a hard time collecting. I just didn’t know how to do it.

So, I knew that that wasn’t going to be like my top thing for me. It was going to be hard for me to collect with some of my patients that I have a relationship with.

But I didn’t get a billing coordinator for a long time. It was more until we really blossomed into like, when we filled up the 6 chairs, then I asked for a second admin. I also asked for—oh, I cross trained all my dental assistants.

And I didn’t even have—I hired dental assistants, but I had interns that I would have come to the office, and then I would have them work, and if I liked how they would work, then we would hire them on. And then I would cross train the DA’s.

So, somehow in this, I did find people that were better at collecting than me, so they did some of that for me. They did have those harder conversations.

I told myself, I was like, “We’re not writing anything off. I’m gonna collect. I don’t care what it is.”

I mean, that was beginning me. Now, I’m like—I’m completely different. I can have a conversation about money, but back then I just felt like, “Oh, they’re going to hate me.”

Heather: You know they have to pay, but they also know they have to pay. And that’s why I don’t know.

But, you know, at AADOM, we do try and teach our members conversations around finance and around collections. So I do feel like all managers should have some degree of proficiency in that.

But I like what you did, Vanessa. You cross-trained your assistants, which is, I mean, what a game changer, right? When it’s not all on you and you can cross train, you did cross train clinical to help with that.

But I think as a manager, the more important thing is realizing like, “I’m good at a lot of things, but I’m not good at this. And someone else is better at it than me.” And being able to delegate it.

A lot of managers have a hard time delegating because as managers, we want to do all the things—you wear all the hats—and it’s hard to give up control. So just the fact that you realize, “I can’t do this or might not be the best person, let me get someone better than me,” says a lot.

I think that’s a great lesson for a lot.

Vanessa: I think it’s very—like I learned, I was always big on delegation and I think I owe college all a little bit to that because college did help me with delegating, because I was a part of different organizations of college and we were used to delegating a lot of the things.

So when I came into this role, my goal of this role was to learn everything I can. But when I knew that I got to the point I couldn’t do, I can’t do all this by myself, I had to delegate.

So, I had to find out, “What are people really good at? What do they want to learn?” and I’m going to delegate that to them.

And then that’s really what I did for many years. So, even now, like my original intern that started with us, she is now my clinical manager—and, I mean, I cross-trained her. She learned every position.

And the thing is you can learn every position in your practice. Like, I can be in every spot, but there’s spots where you feel really good at, and you can see there’s certain team members that do really good at this. And that’s where I want you.

Obviously, I want you to learn everything, but I could see where people flourish. So, billing is not my flourishing spot. I will do it if I have to, but…

Heather: Yeah, I mean, the bigger picture, that’s just such an important lesson.

So, looking back—you talked about a little bit of the things, the wins with the patience and the growth. Being that you, even knowing nothing, if you could just share with everyone, what would be one of your biggest mistakes or your, “Oh my God, I can’t believe that happened?”

Just because we all make mistakes and that’s how we learn. So, anything you could think of where you’re just like, “I really messed this up.”

Learning from Your Mistakes

Vanessa: We took too many insurances. When we first started, we didn’t know anything about what insurances is to take and we did hire a company to help us credential with insurance. But I really think that they just checked everything.

So, I was like, “Oh my God,” because when I started getting the checks in, we weren’t making money with some of these insurances. It was sad. And so, when I started seeing the checks, I was like, “We can’t take some of these plans.”

So, I started eliminating immediately. But I only did certain plans, like I did the HMOs, the DHMOs. I removed those within a month or two. I was like, “This is out.”

But the PPOs I stuck along with a little longer than I should have. We were at a certain point—we were way too full. We were overbooked. We were six chairs. We didn’t have any openings. And I think that should have been my red flag that I needed to remove some PPOs. I needed to re-strategize insurance.

But it wasn’t until I attended a conference in 2018 that I learned that. So, it took me a while for that one. So, I wish I would have known more about strategizing insurance versus thinking every PPO is great or every PPO—this is going to work, because it doesn’t. And I was scared to remove insurances because I was scared to lose patients.

But I have a lot of patients. So, I was okay with doing it. And now that I look at it, I’m like, “I should have done this years ago. But, why did it wait so long?”

So I think that was the biggest one. But I think that’s one of those lessons that you learn. It was like, I had to learn. I had to learn and go through the process.

Heather: Yeah. And that was a scary predicament. And just restructuring insurance, I mean, that’s a massive project and it’s scary.

Based on what you learned and what you went through personally, what would you tell listeners? What advice would you give as far as a simple tip for restructuring insurance?

How to Properly Restructure Insurance

Vanessa: I’d say, there’s a lot of things to it. But, I would tell them—you know, I hired a third party to help me through this process because it was a lot. I’m embarrassed, but I was about 26 PPO insurances that I had on my belt, okay?

I had to find a company that will not just do the work, but would show me what’s going on. And that’s important to me.

So, I interviewed different companies to help me with this project. I don’t want to just give you the list and just have you do it. I really learned through every step of the way. So I can explain to you why we’re removing this insurance and what the decision is to remove the insurance and how they got the numbers.

So, I feel like I did the legwork with them. So it was nice because now I had the knowledge of it. An I think that’s one thing I would say is that—I started hiring third parties to help me, but I wasn’t just like, “Oh, that’s it.”

No, I’m doing it too. Like, I need to learn this. This is important. And now I’m a better office manager.

Heather: Well, that’s awesome, Vanessa. That’s awesome! And it would have been so easy to just say, “Here, do this.”

You said, “No, teach me this.” And that makes all the difference.

So, I have to ask. If it’s not my business, tell me, but you’re in a practice with your sister and your brother-in-law. And, I’m asking because we have a lot of members who work in practices with family. Any tips on working with family?

Working in the Office with Family Members

Vanessa: I think it’s nice when we have set aside meetings, so it doesn’t become—cause what ends up happening is you get into the flow of your duties, their duties, and you have to sit down and have these meetings so that everyone knows exactly what’s going on.

Because, let’s say in the beginning, I honestly, I talked more with my sister because we have a really close relationship. And sometimes I would have conversations, like, let’s say, in the car, or we’re going to lunch, or something like that.

We have to have these meetings where all of us are present so that we’re all discussing together. I think that is very important. So, you have to set time aside to do this because then everyone gets their voice heard.

Heather: Do you meet as a full team or more executive team? How do you, how do you manage?

Vanessa: I do different ones. So, I’ll do an owner and myself meeting, so the three of us meet. But I do also do department meetings every other month. So I have a doctor meeting, a hygiene meeting, a DA, and a business team meeting.

And then either I focus on something like—something that we need to just learn more about or a new protocol or something like that.

I also have a team lead. So we’ve grown to a point where I can have certain team members in different departments that I get together with and I give them small projects and I meet with them too.

So, it’s really helped me implement more things because obviously I can’t do everything on my own. This is a big building. It’s a big project. It’s like, I have to have people help me.

Heather: I want to see your building. I’m going to have to Google it afterwards. Or I might have to take a trip down to Winter Garden because it’s a beautiful city you’re in.

So yeah, setting meeting times ahead of time, not waiting until there’s an emergency. You’re not waiting until—but having them, so they can get on board regularly and keep everyone on track.

Now, with a practice that large, are you able to do morning huddles?

Starting the Day with Morning Huddles

Vanessa: We do morning huddles. But, morning huddles, I feel like I never present new information at morning huddles. It’s just like, we go through the day, but we don’t bring the new protocols or anything like that. I leave those for the team meetings or the staff meetings where I have everyone together.

I did like to split up the meetings because I realized when I have group meetings and I’ll talk about a certain department, not everyone’s listening. So that’s why I kind of do them in sections. So if it pertained to this group, this is what I’m going to talk to you about.

And then during the morning huddle, we do them every day, but it’s mainly like the schedule, like what’s going on for that day.

Heather: Right. And just save new business for a more targeted time. And, I’m guessing doing that too might make family time more valuable because you can actually have family time where you’re not talking about work. There’s no spillover.

Vanessa: Yes. Well, it did a lot of spilling over in the beginning, but we didn’t have these meetings. And so now I feel like it’s more organized and we know where we’re going because we get to have more goal-setting meetings and talk about what we want for the future of our practice.

It’s Important That Dentists Share with Their Office Managers

Heather: That is so great. And the fact that you’re part of those meetings. And for dentists listening, make your managers part of those meetings—the annual meetings, the strategy meetings—because you want to know what their goals are, right? I mean, you want to know so you can plan for growth.

I think too many times dentists don’t share that with their office managers and, in my opinion, that’s a mistake.

Vanessa: Now I think sharing and just knowing what the vision is—I think an impactful, what I always have and  the doctors do now in any of our annual meetings is I like them discussing the vision that they have because the vision could change.

So, I want them to go over the history and the vision of our practice because I want the team to hear it, and I think it makes a difference.

So, that’s why I like the team to know the numbers, not just the office manager. I like the team to know the numbers. I need to know why things are the certain way. Yes, we produce a lot, but there’s a lot of expenses. So they need to know that.

And I think this year I had a few newer team members that I don’t think they knew a lot of the behind the scenes about dentistry. So I saw their faces because they were like, “Oh wow.”

I don’t think they’ve heard, you know, “These are expenses. This is how much we need for salaries.”

We went through it and I feel like they appreciate knowing because there’s a lot to dentistry. So, there’s a lot to learn and there’s a lot to it.

Heather: Yeah. There’s a lot to the business side that, you know, as from the clinical side, I can see where they’re like, “Oh, I didn’t, didn’t know that. I didn’t realize that.”

And I think it’s wonderful and cool that you’re so transparent. Because, to your point earlier, you were so busy and all your chairs were full, but you weren’t making money.

So, to really be able to look at that and say, “Okay, what has to change?” And to have the whole team on board with you, because they understand it is very impactful.

So, Vanessa, if we could just switch gears for a minute and talk about AADOM. I would love to know how you found AADOM, when you found AADOM, and kind of how you got involved initially with AADOM.

The Road to Success with AADOM

Vanessa: I was introduced to AADOM by my Patterson rep. So, she came into the office and she asked me—oh, I had mentioned a conference I had went to recently. I was like, “Oh, I went to this conference, it was great. I learned all this stuff.”

And she’s like, “Vanessa, there’s another one coming. You should really go to this. I think you’ll really enjoy it.”

I was like, “Okay.”

It was in Florida. I could drive there. I was like, “Okay. Yeah, sure.”

And then when I looked at her flyer—she had a flyer—I was like, “This is for me?” I was in shock because when we first started, we would go to a lot of conferences. We still go to a lot of conferences.

Heather: When you say conferences, I’m assuming you mean dental airports, dental conferences.

Vanessa: Dental conferences, so like FDA, Greater New York, FDA. So, we go to all these different ones that we find.

But I would go to these and there were not many geared towards me. It would be like one or two lectures, but most of it was clinical. And some of the clinical classes sounded like they would be business classes, but they were clinical.

So I would sit through it, and I’m like, “Okay, they had a couple slides on my stuff, but the presentation was mainly clinical.

So, when she told me about it, I was like, “Yeah, I’ll do it.”

I didn’t stay at the hotel. I literally just drove there. And, when I went, I remember walking into the ballroom for the beginning, the welcoming, and said, “These are all office managers? What’s going on?”

I was like, it was like, I was in shock. Okay?

And I see, you came up and it was like everybody’s talking.

I was looking at everybody like, “I have never been to a conference like this before.” It’s usually catered towards the dentist and everyone wants to talk to the dentist and this is very different.

So, that’s how I got introduced to AADOM. I love everything about it!

Heather: That’s great. And just going back to what you’re saying about the reps, them having conversations with you and being a resource to you and kind of how this Patterson rep was able to anticipate your need and have information ready. I think that is very cool.

Vanessa: Yeah. And now she’s like my chapter’s founding sponsor. So, we kept our relationship, but I’m like, “Yeah, you’re the one who introduced me to this.”

So, it’s been great.

Heather: It is strange for attendees the first time, they are like, “Wait, these are all office managers?” That’s funny for you, you know.

But I think that’s what makes it so special is that as an office manager, you’re alone in your practice in that you don’t have another office manager who is your equal to turn to and say, “What do we do?”

And now here’s a thousand managers to just kind of, you know, be your tribe, really.

Vanessa: It was a game changer for me when I attended my first AADOM conference.

I think my favorite part of that conference was the round table talk because I got to share my ideas and I got to hear other ideas from other office managers. And, I think that at that moment I was like, “This is something, you know, it’s great This is gonna help my career. This is gonna help my, you know, grow my network.”

It was just a really great experience.

Heather: Yeah, and to your point, you know, we bring in for sure some of the greatest speakers in dentistry and in practice management.

And, yet, I feel like so many of our members, a lot of the value is just in being able to talk to other managers, like at the round tables, because that when you learn the real day to day. Kind of, yeah, you do what I do all day. And that’s how you really learn, by sharing best practices.

So, I think, from the members perspective, you get out what you put in and you have put in a lot. I mean, you’ve been a member for many years, you’ve attended many conferences. You have your Mastership, right?

And I think you’re going for your Diplomat this year, right? Congratulations in advance. I’m very excited to see you on stage.

And you’ve been very involved with your local chapter, which is now a DPLN.

So, if you could just talk to everyone, I don’t know, I guess about your AADOM experience, you talked about the conference a little bit, but maybe the designation program. What got you involved with getting your designation?

Was that something you wanted to do for yourself or the practice? Getting your fellowship?

Getting Involved in the Distinctions Program

Vanessa: When I attended my first conference, I saw the induction ceremony and I was really impressed by what it was. I was like, “Wow, this is wonderful. We’re celebrating all these office managers and their skill and they got to learn so much in these different distinctions.”

And I was like, “I want to do that.”

So, when I attended the first one, that’s when I was like, “Well, I can do this. I want to learn what they’re learning.”

So it really became that, as I wanted to also be a part of this elite group of office managers. So, I think that ceremony is beautiful that you have it for everyone to see. It’s not just something that certain people attend, but everyone sees it. I think that’s a great part of the conference.

It really made me look at my career as something else to look forward to, because we get to a certain point in this career where you feel like you’ve mastered certain things and your offices are running well, but then you’re like, “Okay, what else can I be doing?”

And this is something nice to also do. So I did my FAADOM and then last year I did my MAADOM. I was scared about the articles, but I got through it. And then now I’m like, “You know what? I could do the next step.”

I was like, “I’m already here. So let’s make it work.”

Heather: So when you get your Diplomat this year, you will be like the top of the top. There’s nowhere else to go right now. So, congratulations to you.

And I want to touch a little on what you said about the writing. So, this has come up before where a lot of members going for their Diplomat status get a little freaked out because one of the requirements is you have to publish an article in a dental publication. And that’s daunting if you’ve never written before.

No doubt, but I’m glad we have that as a requirement because it really kind of forces you to become a teacher in a lot of ways. You know how to do things and you know how to talk about them, but when you have to write about them, you’re really teaching it and you’re really helping somebody learn it.

So, what was that process like for you? Do you remember what you wrote about?

Vanessa: I was like, “What can I write about?” And then I just started brainstorming different things. And then once I started writing, it just kept going.

I think I was more scared because I’m not an English major. I used to write essays, but it wasn’t like—I wasn’t really passionate about art, like writing and stuff. It was just something I had to do.

So then that’s why when I was like, “Well, let me see if I can share my knowledge about what I’ve learned.” So that’s what I did.

Once I started, you see, like, we were in some Facebook group for MAADOM, and people were like, “We’re starting our articles, like, “Oh, I need to start my articles.” And then it was cutting me, like, “Okay, let’s get this going.”

It wasn’t as hard as I thought. It really is just writing down everything that you already know and sharing it with other office managers.

Heather: I totally agree. It’s scary if you’ve never done it, but once you start doing it, it all comes out. You know it all. It’s in you. And then, I think to write about, it just really reinforces like, “I want this. I know what we’re doing.” So, good for you.

And, talk to us a little bit, Vanessa, about your chapter experience in Florida, now at DPLN, a Dental Professional Learning Network. What got you interested in working with a local AADOM chapter? And what’s that whole experience about?

Working Along with a Local DPLN

Vanessa: When I attended my first conference is also when I learned about local chapters. And at that point, I did, I signed up. I was like, “I want to do this,” but I had just had my first track. So, I was like, “Maybe it’s not the time for me to do this.”

So then I went to—after COVID—and then I went to another conference, then I was like, “I think I want to do this. There’s no local chapter in my area. There is a need for it.”

And what I looked at was a lot of offices don’t spend money on investing in their team to go to conferences, especially conferences that are not local. Then I was like, “This makes sense. Have something locally with top speakers, bring the education to the area.”

These doctors—I mean, invite your whole team to this. It’s very affordable. If it’s local, it’s affordable. You can do it. And I was like, “Just see what it’s about.”

I think that’s what encouraged me. My thing was more like the education part of it. I’m like, “What can I bring? Like, for an office? Like, yes, I have consultants. I have people come to our office here and there.

But if I can bring some of these into the community, teach my team, teach other offices—I think that’s amazing!

Heather: It’s amazing that you do that and thank you. I think it’s amazing that you invite the whole team—not all the DPLNs do that. So that’s great that you say, “Bring your whole team. It’s affordable.”

And when you learn together, it’s easier to implement together a lot of times. Some topics are just for managers, but when you can have your whole team there, that frees up the limitation.

Vanessa: For my office, I put the flyer and I put a sign-up sheet. And then I just have my team sign up, but I encourage all of them. I’m like, “You know, this is for everybody. This is our office. You have to learn this stuff too.”

And some of the stuff that’s office manager stuff, but I have everybody come. I have my clinical team members come. They don’t care. They’ll know too.

Heather: You’ll have your assistant’ doing billing. So you throw on something.

So, this was great. Thank you so much, Vanessa. Thank you for everything you do for AADOM and all the managers who are learning from you. And if you just could leave us with one piece of advice today for your AADOM tribe, your managers who are maybe listening to this on their way to work, maybe—what would you share with them?

Final Advice for Dental Office Managers

Vanessa: I think my one piece of advice for an office manager would be to always be willing to listen to new ideas. I always like to challenge people not to box themselves up into, “This is how we’ve done it. This is how—we’re not going to change.” And really evolve to new things.

So, I’m big on: “What things can I do to improve my practice? What things can I do—like evolve yourself, your team, your office. There’s things—you have to be constantly changing for you to be better.

And I think that’s sometimes hard, especially like for me, like with the insurance. I was scared to remove insurance, like I was scared to remove PPOs.

Sometimes this stuff is scary, but you have to do it if you want your practice to be successful.

Heather: I love that. Thank you so much, Vanessa. Thank you. And I can’t wait to induct you at the annual conference.

Vanessa: Now I have to get started with my articles.

Heather: Yes, ma’am. Yes.

Vanessa: Thank you.

Heather: Thank you.

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Be sure to watch our video now to enjoy Heather and Vanessa discussing how AADOM can help you thrive in your career as a dental office manager!