Story by Kevin Henry, Editor; Photos by Steve Jones of Steve Jones Photography, Memphis, Tenn.
Dr. Carl Schulter has a simple philosophy at his prosthodontic practice in Memphis — focus on the patient, and work with commitment and excellence. His staff says the office has another philosophy as well — treat everyone the way you would want to be treated. Those two philosophies have meshed together to not only create a prosperous practice, but also a great place to work.
Three of Dr. Schulter's staff members have worked with him for nine years or more — dental assistants Jennifer McCollum (nine years), Vanessa Danley (10 years), and office manager JoAnn Emmons (21 years). According to McCollum, that commitment to the practice is a reflection of the working environment.
"For someone to keep a staff together that long is amazing," McCollum said. "This is our lives. This is really our practice. We all work for each other. All of our patients are family, and all of our staff members are family.
null
"My father died when I was 5 and my stepfather lives in Arizona, so Dr. Schulter is like a father figure to me," she continued. "He's a caring Christian man who has ethics. Dentistry is not a money game for him. Our patients know that when they come to our office, they are going to get a doctor who is creative, knowledgeable, and a great prosthodontist."
"This is a great place to work. I only wish I would have found Dr. Schulter when I first came out of assisting school," Danley added. "Dr. Schulter is concerned about his patients and his staff members. I have three kids. If one of them gets sick and I need to leave, he doesn't have a problem with that and we work around it. He cares for me and my family. I've never had anyone I work for treat me like this. I hope I'm able to work here until Dr. Schulter retires."
So what is Dr. Schulter's secret to success?
"The interview process is very important," said Dr. Schulter, a past president of the American College of Prosthodontists. "I will spend a lot of time interviewing a potential employee. I want to get to know her, and I want to see how she would react when I present her with various scenarios. I think you can learn a lot from someone when you hear how they think they would react in certain situations."
Dr. Schulter believes taking extra time during the interview process will pay dividends later.
"I want people who work here to be comfortable. I want the patients to be comfortable here, and I want the office environment to be comfortable for everyone — the patients, the staff, and me," he said. "Prosthodontics is a business of referrals, and people can feel when an office environment isn't right. It's important to have camaraderie, and we have that in this office. I've been very fortunate to have so many staff members with me for so long."
Dr. Schulter believes part of that camaraderie is giving his staff members freedom to learn and grow in their jobs.
"Part of living is teaching," Dr. Schulter explained. "If you can't share your experiences and enlighten your staff, it's hard for your staff members to grow. When others learn, they will share their joy with the others around them.
"I have a lot of confidence in my staff. Communication is very important, and we all take the time to talk about the day before, the current day, and the next day when we get together for our morning meetings."
"I've learned so much from working here that I never would have learned in school," McCollum added. "I've done a lot of pre-fab work for the laboratory. I've been able to coordinate lab procedures and implant schedules. I've been trained on the Procera scanner. Dr. Schulter and I flew to Detroit to learn about the system, then some of their reps came to our office to teach us the second phase of the system. Right now, we have the only Procera scanning system in Tennessee, so that's been a selling point for us."
The Procera and other high-tech equipment (such as computers and digital radiography), as well as the friendliness of the staff, has drawn patients from all corners of the country as well as Canada and Germany. Dr..Schulter's practice is located just a few miles from Memphis International Airport. With Memphis as a main hub for Northwest Airlines, getting to Dr..Schulter's office is a breeze for most patients — whether they live in Memphis or far away.
"We have people coming in from all over the country and other countries as well," Dr. Schulter said. "We have people who are retired and driving RVs who make this a stop in their schedule if they need work done on their mouths. Our office is close enough to the interstate system that it's easy to get to, but it's not on the main thoroughfare. That helps some of our elderly patients who don't want to deal with a lot of traffic."
For Danley and McCollum, working in an office which benefits a patient's style of living is very rewarding.
"We recently had a 35-year-old lady come into our office who had lost all of her teeth. She looked like she was closer to 60 years old than 35," McCollum remembered. "She had lost her teeth because of another dentist's work on her mouth. As she was telling the story, she was crying. It wasn't long until Dr. Schulter and I were crying with her. We were able to give her back her life. She was able to eat again and smile again."
"When you see someone come in who can't eat an apple or (an ear of) corn, it's heartbreaking," Danley added. "Once we've been able to help them, you can see they don't worry about things as much. They are able to gain back the weight they lost, and they truly turn into happy people. Seeing something like that and knowing you had a hand in it makes the job very worthwhile."
Dr..Schulter agrees.
"I think all of us in this office gain a tremendous amount of satisfaction when we can take a patient who can't eat or go out in public and we restore them to the life they once knew," he said. "That person then becomes an outreach for the practice. They will give us a hug as they leave, then they will go out and tell other people about our practice. My patients and my staff are my greatest assets."
For more information, check out the office's Web site — www.restoringsmiles.com — or call (901) 682-5001
