I started telling people I was going to be a dentist like my daddy when I was in third grade. The summer before I started eighth grade, I began working in the office. My first "job description" included emptying the trash, scrubbing metal alginate trays, and developing radiographs (in the old dip tanks, of course). I stuck with it and graduated to assisting and front-office work through high school and college.
Now, I am in my seventh year of practice with my father, Charles D. Johnson, DDS. We have a general dentistry practice in Booneville, Miss. In the northeast corner of the state, ours is a rural community. Our biggest claim to fame is that Elvis was born in Tupelo, just 40 miles away. I love my hometown, but I wouldn't say that I always anticipated returning here to practice.
If anything, my father tried to talk me out of dentistry as a career — not because he didn't enjoy it himself or because he thought I would be unhappy in it, but because he didn't want me to pursue a dental career just to follow in his footsteps. Going into dental school, I had the idea that I wanted to come home, but wasn't totally sure. However, when we started seeing patients in our third year, I really began to understand the unique opportunity I have.
This marks the 40th year my father has been practicing in Booneville. When I was just a high school kid assisting and answering the phone, I didn't really appreciate the fact that a lot of our patients had been coming to the practice for 20 years or more. Today, we have many third-generation patient families — children, parents, and grandparents who have all put their trust in us. We even have a few fourth-generation patients. I have built my own reputation on my skills and personality, but it is gratifying to have patients who trust me for no other reason than they would expect nothing less than first-rate from my family.
My father and I share an office building with my uncle, a medical doctor. Among the three of us, we have 75 years of experience in meeting the health-care needs of this community. Beyond the fact that I enjoy dentistry — the technical aspects as well as patient interaction — it is satisfying to be contributing daily as a family to the improved health of our friends and neighbors. When I stop at the grocery store on my way home from work, I usually run into a patient, often several. I love it when little kids run up to me at the city park during Little League season to hug me and tell people that I'm their dentist. I will also never forget attending the funeral for a 90-year-old patient for whom I had made a trip to the nursing home to deliver two anterior crowns just weeks before her death. I was concerned that the family would be displeased about the expense, given the fact that her health declined so rapidly about the same time. But her grandson told me that she was pleased to have those "pretty teeth," and they were glad she had this small thing to make her happy. Situations like these remind me that I'm not just a dentist here, but a part of the community.
Going directly into practice with my father gave me some advantages that I don't believe all new dentists have. I never felt self-conscious about saying, "Hey, I've never done this before. Can you help me? Does this look right?"
Conversely, my dad seems to like having a sounding board in the office. We often bounce treatment plan options off each other, and it's common for us to consult on patients with complex needs.
Dad also encouraged me to expand my horizons early on. As a dental school graduation gift, he sent me to the L.D. Pankey Institute for Continuum 1. He became interested in straight-wire orthodontics about 10 years ago and encouraged me to do the same. Since he does implants, he asked me to complete a conscious (IV) sedation mini-residency so that we could offer that service in our office.
All of these are opportunities I might have missed without my dad's encouragement and support. Since I have a practice that is about 70 percent pediatrics, being able to provide orthodontic treatment as part of my spectrum of total care allows me to be even more hands-on with "my kids." I have also blended some of the Pankey philosophy regarding commitment to total patient care and focus on occlusion with my pediatric treatment.
Some of the best things I have learned from practicing with my dad are not things he has told me or courses he has encouraged me to attend. I have learned a lot just by watching the way he practices and lives.
Daddy is 66 and is as interested and committed to learning about and bringing new technology into our practice as I am. We had one of the first Biolase water lasers in north Mississippi, and it wasn't me who thought we needed it. Daddy had read about the different types of lasers and followed the growth of the industry. When he thought it was useful, he approached me about bringing this technology into our practice. In the seven years I've been here, we've added digital radiography, air abrasion, and the DIAGNOdent as well. Recently, Daddy has gotten interested in the Eclipse denture system. I see so many dentists, both young and old, who are afraid of anything new. If not afraid of the technology itself, they are often afraid of the expense involved and the learning curve necessary to use it.
I graduated from University of Tennessee College of Dentistry when amalgam restorations and gold crowns were still very much the norm. Esthetic dentistry? What was that? By following my dad's example, I armed myself with the knowledge and the equipment to provide the kind of esthetic care that my patients demand. I'm not sure I would have been as confident straying from G.V. Black's classifications and ideal Class II preps without my father as a role model.
My dad has never viewed continuing education as merely a requirement of so many hours in order to maintain his license. I don't think I've ever seen him choose a CE course based on the nearby golf courses or tourist options. He has always looked for courses in subject areas that interest him and that could increase his skill levels. Before I ever started dental school, I assumed that to be a good dentist I would have to be committed to a lifetime of learning.
Papaw takes a break in the lunch room with granddaughter, Leslie Kate.
Early in my career, I had a lot of trouble dealing with negative feedback — the unhappy patient, the failed root canal. I would agonize over what I could have or should have done differently. My dad never sat me down and had a father/daughter chat or anything like that, but he helped me realize that I cannot control every detail of every procedure or every patient encounter. And not only that I can't, but that I shouldn't. He has always encouraged me and expected me to do the very best I can and to be honest and ethical in dealing with people. He has led by example. One of the primary reasons I know now that this is the career and life I want is because I have watched him live it and reap the benefits for most of my life.
I wouldn't want to give the impression that everything is easy and perfect in our little microcosm. It was hard at first for Dad to get beyond his protective father role. If a patient expressed displeasure with me, he took it more personally than I did. More serious and more difficult for us was the blending of family roles with the roles of employer/employee and then partners. We did not make these divisions very clear in the beginning, and misunderstandings that came up based on business problems easily bled over into our personal lives.
Overall though, we have a relationship and a practice that not only works, but serves our needs and our patients' needs well. By combining the new with the not-so-new, we are achieving state-of-the-art care for a continuum of patients from birth to old age.
These days, when my 7-year-old comes running down the hall at the office, sometime between when I yell at her, "Don't run, we have patients who are paying to be here!" and when she jumps up in Papaw's lap, I smile. Because she's already started telling anybody who will listen that when she grows up, she's going to be a dentist and work with her mommy and her papaw.
Catherine Johnson Mincy, DDS
Dr. Mincy has practiced general dentistry in Booneville, Miss., since 1997 with her father, Charles D. Johnson, DDS. She is a member of the American Orthodontic Society, L.D. Pankey Institute, and the Academy of General Dentistry. Contact her at [email protected].