In The Media

Care of that okay yeah so how is this going to work, can you just like go through it for me. Because this is all new. Definitely. For sure so this video call is going to be recorded it’s being recorded right now and list can walk you through our plan for today okay. So video is recorded for our members and they will be watching it later on YouTube and pretty much we’re going to have a series of questions for you interview style but we’ve put them into the format of who wants to be a millionaire. I’m not sure if you like that game but it’s just a short slideshow and we’ll present you with the questions and give you an opportunity to elaborate about your experiences as a dentist and outside of dentistry. Okay so would you like to share your screen. Me okay for sure or actually I could do it right yeah you can do it as well. I can hear you more clearly than I can hear Liz yes, it’s because I can’t yeah so basically, I guess I can read the questions to you if you think you can hear me better. You see the screen that I shared? Can you see the screen that we’ve shared with you? It’s this screen. On the computer can you see the who wants to be a millionaire introduction? Okay, okay, I’m having a really hard time hearing, so can you hear me Doctor Kotecha yes oh yes do you see the screen right now that we have on yeah okay awesome so we are going to start we are going to ask you a few minutes of questions and it’s in the format of it who wants to be a millionaire, meaning that as we go along the question is you’ll have more monetary value and they will be more exciting regarding your dental care, awesome, for sure. So, do I have lifelines, yeah, for sure so basically our plan was for me and Liz to read these questions for you but since there is like a trouble in the communication, I will be reading the questions for you thank you oh is that okay Elise if I go for the questions? Yeah, definitely okay so let’s just start so we can start okay, okay, so our first question for 100 dollars is can you tell us where were you born? Okay so I was born in sea Tanzania wow nice that’s exciting so we’re going to talk more about remember your background and the next question. Yes, so can you tell us a bit about what did you study as an undergraduate degree how you came to Canada and then alternatively what it led to your decision to pursue dentistry? Nice that’s you’re taking me way back now undergraduate. So, I graduated in I majored in biochemistry. I graduated in 1997. That’s a long time ago and I went to school in Boston Massachusetts. I was in the states and then I went to dental school as I was in Boston. I went to Harvard full of dental medicine pursued dentistry there and once I graduated, I met my husband to be and that made me you know come to Canada. I’ve been in Canada since 2001. Oh awesome, awesome, so we are going to talk more about those stuff next time so I guess our next question for 300 dollars is about where you where you study dental medicine which you already told us was Harvard school of dental medicine in Boston.  Yeah, that’s awesome. So how was your experience there can you tell us a bit more how was the vibe there?  I’ve heard there they have combined classes with the medical school So? That’s correct so can you tell us a bit more about your experience how was it for you was it difficult like it’s an ivy league school for sure number one did you do any research? Yeah, it it’s definitely a competitive program from what I remember back then and one of the reasons I actually chose to go to Harvard was the combined classes with the medical students. So, the first two years we actually studied more and worked harder than all the medical students. So, we would take all the classes they did in the morning and then in the afternoon we would go to the dental lab where we were with the type of and doing dental classes and doing head and neck focusing on head and neck stuff. So, it does a lot of work and, and, Harvard is definitely noted as research you know heavily focused on research institutions. So, we had to do a research project and a thesis in order to graduate and it’s also very helpful and was very useful at that time because it focuses on problem-based learning. So, we had a lot of cases and we would have to work as a group to solve the case just like a doctor in private practice, you know we have a patient we have to treatment plan and we have to treat the patient. So, we kind of got that learning on problem-based investigates you know what the differentials would be and yeah it was definitely fun. It was a fun time I learned a lot and it was a good experience for sure. That’s really interesting so speaking of having combined classes with medical schools, did you ever like to maybe change your mind meet bay and study another part of the body rather than head and neck or how was it experienced? Never. Yeah, I, I, was I knew that that’s what I wanted to do before because when you asked me earlier when I was an undergraduate, I was considering maybe a pharmacy school or optometry school or and dental so those were the three things I was pursuing more because I, I, wanted to have a nice work-life balance, since then. So, I applied to I took all the entrance examinations and I applied to different schools but when I shadowed a dentist actually three weeks, I figured that that’s really what I wanted to do I shadowed, a female dentist and she had a really good experience watching her how she worked in her private practice and she was a good mentor. So that’s when I decided I’m going to go for dentistry and then while in dental school definitely for they fortified the fact that that’s what I really liked. Wow that’s awesome it’s not really exciting glad to hear that. So, our next question for 400 is about your residency, we’re wondering where did you complete your residency and if you can maybe expand more on it what did you do was the helpful experience for you right after dental school or not and I really appreciated you? Yeah, definitely I think I’m going to end up being rich because I remember this one as well so for 400 Dollars the answer is it was a general practice residency and I highly recommend dental students graduating to do either a GPR or an AEGD I loved it, it, was really like after you graduate first day as a resident you know you’re wearing your white coat and everybody’s in the hospital looking for you to sign off on, on, a patient that presents with anything head and neck. So, from a student next day you graduate and then you are supposedly an expert in that field in the entire hospital. So, we learned a lot seeing trauma patients you know patients who wait for weeks and months before they come back with cellulite abscesses broken teeth and I should call it three in the morning, wow, go figure yeah so that was us you know every third night we were rotating. So it was it’s pretty intense not like private practice  but you once again learned a lot in a group setting because we would present cases to the family residents and other residents with presented pieces and working with the patient treatment planning you have a lot of help mentors are there to guide you and then you rotate in different departments and then you get a lot a question on my behalf if you can hear me respect yes, yes, do you mind asking Doctor Rena I’m curious was it but was it a simple transition from the residency to private practice or did you find many differences or did you find that that experience had actually really strengthened your skills to  work on your own or as an associate? That’s a very good question. So, the answer the transition is helpful very helpful in terms of clinical skills because you graduate from dental school doing very few procedures and you take a long time and then the residency was the first when I started picking up speed and seeing more patients you know from two patients a day to like eight patients a day you know so you drastically improve on the skills. The second, second, point about transition is the whole staff management private practice management insurance management, that’s a whole different ballgame that nobody teaches us or prepares us really. So, that is a work in progress and people you know we are still trying to figure a lot of things but as you start working in a private practice you start building the ropes. Unfortunately, we don’t have so a lot of preparation in dental school. I wish we had more of that sure that’s really good advice awesome. So, our next question for five hundred dollars is what kind of dentistry do you practice on a routine per  basis because as you know dentistry is a very big fault and not all general practitioners do everything. So, we were wondering do you have any favourite procedures or what you do most often compared to other procedures, and we have four options for you but really if there is anything else you cannot. Yes so, the answer is b I’m a general dentist. I love general dentistry and I actually do everything. I all aspects of dentistry and in fact when you go to Harvard it’s known that 90 95 percent of the students go to specialty schools. It’s known for a stepping stone to go to specialty school. I think I was one of the two students who never pursued specialization and you know I think that’s what I wanted to do so that was like my specialty a general dentist. Wow that’s really interesting a story especially nowadays that there is this whole competition that people want to specialize and I think general dentistry is still a very important integral part of the dentistry as people who are at the front tiers of the dental practice and they are the ones who decide whether any specialty treatment isn’t or not so that’s a really important specialty I think on its own as you mentioned. So, our next question for one thousand dollars is how do you use your own experiences to connect with patients who are coming from diverse backgrounds so this can be either from different ethnicities or racial backgrounds or people who have no knowledge about dentistry or people who are so foreign with dentistry and who don’t match to your typical patient population? So how do you use your experience? That’s a fantastic yeah that’s a fantastic question and it’s something that we use still to date.  I think what works for me is that I have to make things very simple for the patients be very patient with them and, and, really listen. You really have to have good listening ears to see what their concern is their complaint is what they want from you what is, is, it you know is it a, aesthetic concern, is it pain on chewing, is it you know do they want to keep their teeth is that do they want to get healthy what is it that they want and you said if you really take the time to listen don’t be surprised people want to keep their teeth you know they want to invest in their health but you have to help them get through their treatment plan. Wow that’s a really good advice. As you were saying listening is one of those big important skulls that clinicians should definitely have yeah. So, our next question we are going up the ladder this is two thousand dollars how many languages do you actually speak and  do you use them in practice with your patients or not is it  what’s your preference about that? Good so I speak. Yeah so, the answer is four that’s awesome we already had that right yes, yes, I speak four but I’ll be honest I kind of use three languages of those more frequently if, if, there is a need because sometimes patients seek me out or would seek dentists out based on their languages they speak. So, if God, becomes a concern and if that helps them get over the barrier or fear, then I will speak in that language but I predominantly use English unless I get prompted that you know it’s going to help if I spoke Hindi or Gujarati and I speak swat tv as well that’s not very popular here but yeah. That’s awesome it’s good to know thank you so much you’re definitely very important impressed by that. So, you have questions about your activities outside of dentistry what do you enjoy doing in your spare time when you’re not a clinician? That’s, that’s, a very good question we have as a mom of two kids and a full-time dentist I have very little spare time for myself but, but, yeah, I enjoy cooking I, I, cook a lot I make fresh meals for my kids, something that I’m proud of.  I like to watch movies listen to music and I’m a nerd if I’m not here I’ll be at the continuing education course which I miss a lot because you know we, we, have been assuming for most of them so yeah for sure yeah and especially right now the covid situation has made everything online and it’s not the same as the real in person interactions as I can imagine. Hands-on yeah, yeah, we missed the hands-on a lot yeah. Yeah, so our next question for eight thousand dollars is how do you maintain your work-life balance because you know this is always the biggest struggle for people who pursue academic careers and feels like dentistry and medicine and also, I mean we are fortunate in dentistry we can achieve that work by balance but do you have any tips and advice for how to have that sort of balance and make sure that we can not only achieve our career goals but also, we can have a very balanced life? Yes, that’s like the million-dollar question right there and especially for, for, women I feel that we wear many hats and I know of men too they have you know we all need to have a work-life balance. My best tip would be don’t let your practice run your life which is what happened in the first 10 years. We have to run the practice. So, putting more control in the practice you know don’t, don’t, sign up to work six days a week you know don’t open seven days a week or if you are open seven days a week have somebody else work for you. Yeah, yeah, that’s really good yeah so, it’s like it’s very important to have a have boundaries and control as to what you would like, like, given my work day, I make sure that I start the time that I like and end at a time for my life no that’s a really and then every quarter you know evaluate. If there’s if I feel that I’ve been really working hard and very busy, I have to make a decision to take the time off or if I want to put in more time because I haven’t been doing other things then it’s my choice. So, I, I, like to be in control over my practice and what I do with my family and my family time and it’s totally achievable but you have to be mindful and make it a priority. For sure and Elise has actually a question right now that she would like to ask. So, I was wondering if you find and related to this question does owning your own practice does that create more of an ability for you to maintain this balance or does it pose more added stresses, but again on the other side as an associate  maybe not being your own boss is what is limiting your work-life balance. So, I’m wondering what the difference between being an associate or your own boss and how that relates to your, your, time and your scheduling? Repeat that for me because I didn’t hear that. For sure so basically the question was about whether working as an associate or as a practice owner would have an effect on you achieving your work-life balance and what’s your recommendation about that because on one hand  that is the idea that as a practice owner you have so much more to deal with but at the same time you are considered your own boss but on the other hand being a, associate gives you possibly more free time. So, there is always a question that which road based on your experience it’s better for achieving your optimum work-life balance. Is that your question please yes exactly? Yes, yes, fantastic question thank you for reading no problem yeah  yeah definitely something that a lot of us contemplate and have to go through these two stages, in my opinion a, it’s a personal choice but my recommendation would be, be, an associate initially to really learn the ropes of the practice staff management the business aspect is what is difficult for most dentists. It’s not the clinical skills it’s the patient management and business management to be different from you’re a mentor a senior doctor in a good busy practice with good protocols in place. For sure at least did you hear the answer? Yes, it did I think the sound is separate. Yeah, yeah, so the sound so basically I’m just going to repeat what you said is the idea that it really depends on your style but for the first few few, years it might be better to practice as an associate to learn the ropes and alternatively at the end you can sort of make your way up to a practice owner where you know how things are going.  Yeah so yeah maybe you think of it as similar suggestions and I think it’s important to have the associate experience so that when you do choose to open your own practice you come in with some additional knowledge. For sure yes, yes, so we will go for the next question.  Can you tell us that what does a typical day look for you as a general dentist in your office? I wish it was each but it’s not I missed lunch today, wow thank you so much for giving us your time do we know how busy you are so. No problem.  I guess the next question for you  you would be  what do you I guess you kind of alluded to that earlier on but what’s the most challenging aspect of your role  as a clinician who also tries to balance other roles in your lives, so what do you find the most challenging? Is the patient management, I guess? Yeah the most challenging part has been so large I insurance and businesses really are if you’re not careful they will limit what you can achieve and you have to remind us those that comprehensive dental care comprehensive treatment plans health of the patient is paramount you know our focus our purpose has to be very clear but sometimes you know whether it’s the college guidelines ipad guidelines CDH or guidelines all the guidelines under the planet,  insurance limitations really sometimes you know forces you to be in a box and we have to you know be mindful of the boundaries but always focus on patient care and wellness but first. For sure that’s, that’s, always the top priority and as you were saying balancing all these guidelines and the requirements in the business aspect having the patient as the top centre of everything is definitely difficult.  So quick question  so I was wondering have you ever taken any sort of business courses or seminars to help you prepare for all these insurance issues and just general management of your own practice or was it more of a learning on the job as you went? A little bit of both. I took a lot of practice management customer service you know skills public speaking like a lot of other soft skills there are lots of courses  through the ODA and you know the spring clinic and other conventions  in other labs and you know organizing or other specialists putting it up so there were evening programs  you know day full day programs and I also did  management training through the MGE training I did a program through them so you know that really helped me actually to handle the different aspects of private practice. Awesome thank you so much. So, our next question is for 64 000 Dollars is as a diverse individual as a person who has come from a different background  did you experience any challenges along your journey being that  for instance you  you immigrated and then you  sort of like you studied in Harvard, did you experience any challenges on your journey to becoming where you are right now and if you did how did you manage it or how did you cope with it? Is I’m left-handed and that believe it or not was the most challenging thing because I lost jobs because of my left handedness? That’s yes, yes, and I remember my very first  when I did the end no, the examinations yes the end it that I had to take when I moved from, from, Harvard and I was waiting for the result but meanwhile I was interviewing and I happened to have a fall and I fractured my left arm and I couldn’t make it to the third interview when we called from the hospital telling them that you know this is what happened I fractured my hand my left hand and they called me back that evening that oh we’re so sorry but our ops are all right-handed they’re not going to be dexterous and we cannot accommodate you and since then on every interview whenever as an associate when I was interviewing I would have to mention it to them, I never thought I’d have to but I had to over the phone even before I went to see them because I didn’t want to waste their time on mine and I was limited and the interesting thing you’re taking me back many, many, years ago now but one of the, the, one first associations actually ended up I went there and I was shocked because the principal dentist actually asked me to work from the right hand side because she did not want to move the curing light the other side. So, imagine I’m like are you serious  yeah I’m not going to move the turning light for the assistance that you’re going to switch I think when there is a patient waiting outside  because the patient already arrived I will see that patient but thank you but no thanks and I left, because you just can’t do that but that was very challenging. Definitely I think that’s a good lesson in in knowing  when something is a good fit for you and when it’s not just being able to make that decision, I think it’s a great lesson. I’m reminded as well I’m left, handed as well so you understand we are special right now at the university of Toronto where I’m in my third year of the studies we do have  the chairs that they can actually rotate. So, we rotate it yeah so it’s like it has  you can either use it as a right hand and moving everything left or moving everything to the  right so yeah but, but, that’s definitely that’s very good yeah, yeah, because I just did my implant residency  last year and we had to do live surgery and we had to go to two hygiene schools. Yeah, all of them were right-handed wow yeah they didn’t have you know ambidextrous or left-handed or hygienist. For sure that was an interesting story so and the next question we do have is about your location of practice so we know that in practice in Mississauga but why did you why are you practicing there why did you choose that area is there any specific reason or was it just you like the area? And I was looking for  associations close by and then my first practice and the second one both happened to be yeah for sure but that’s all I know that that’s really interesting for sure yeah. So,  how do you  I guess our 250 000 Dollar question is about your involvement in the community  rather than being a clinician so do you participate in any oral health events do you  give lectures if you can expand a bit more on that  we would appreciate it yeah. Thank you thank you this is my favourite question. Yeah, it’s good you can continue yeah sorry the voice was cut off suddenly yeah do you hear us you can you can just speak. Okay yeah, yeah, yeah, I’ll be here okay yes I did I’ve done gone to different schools and I’ve, you know  worked with children for preventive  oral hygiene projects lots of them lots of different schools I’ve, done senior centres, and I’ve spoken to seniors and create health awareness that way I’ve done bridal shows I have done other local community events  even during the coldest time we actually went to the trillium  hospital and donated to the nurses there and you know we wanted to be there frontline so if they had anybody in the hospital had a dental emergency they could contact us because they wouldn’t know where to go  so we have constantly been and we support a lot of different causes these you know we donate we just donated 65 face shields to a local church for their choir group  you know we, we, support the period first which is for like menstrual equity for women in Toronto I think donating backpacks next month to children like I’m doing all sorts of things and I love it . No for sure that can be really satisfying to be able to give back to the community that’s a very important thing and I feel like that’s what  people who are in a position to donate should always consider because it’s just more than the monetary aspect it leaves a really good feeling for the people and make sure that people are taking care of a different parts of the society, not just the dental field but also others as you were saying, yes, so our next question is about the COVID 19 which is the number one topic in news but how do you think that has impacted the work of a dentist you know there are different ideas some people say  there are many Portugal’s and their country,  contradicting with each other some people say it’s actually like they are not enough there should be more guidelines. So, what’s your view on that how do you see COVID 19 impacting the dental field and specifically your job as a dentist? I feel that many protocols definitely lots of it it’s different now. We have lots of extra steps we have active screening we have you know fallow times between patient’s  you know we are encouraging use of hand sanitizers. We have made changes  Plexiglas installations you know test through the Plexiglas we have hand sanitizer stations throughout the office.  We have air purifiers which are you know expensive equipment that we have invested in. There has, been guidelines by the college but definitely confusing guidelines  the hygiene college has their own sets we have our own set and there’s constant you know discussions and debates as to how we can best manoeuvre through these challenging times,  but we’re, we’re, actually busier than ever. We have a lot of backlogs we’re working very hard and just trying to make sure that you know we catch up on all the things that we the patients you know were left neglected for, for, a long time. So, we’re just trying to get everybody’s health back on track. For sure so Liz has a question  yeah, yeah, these go ahead yeah so, I was just wondering if your practice closed down because of covid or if you’re open for a few emergency cases and how if you were able  to keep in touch with  your patients maybe and give them some tips on oral hygiene in the meantime if you weren’t able to see them. That’s a very good question too Liz for the first five six weeks, I think we were all paralyzed and what was going on the three weeks we came into three months and you know things were very periodic. So we were busy at that time getting our PPE and getting things in order. The office we were always open.  We had three staff members working from home so we were in constant touch over the phone. We established text system so we were sending videos, youtube, links  texts to keep in touch with patients  to let them know that we were available for emergency. So, for six weeks I wasn’t able to provide emergency services but starting April we have been open. I was providing emergency dental services and listed with the college to be able to provide and one thing that we did very different was we actually invested in zoom the tele dentistry so the virtual console so we had a HIPPA compliant virtual  tele-dentistry established to our website company and so the one thing I was doing a lot was, was, this talking to the patient this is different to not to be able to examine them but some of them had cameras in shower cameras that would zoom in and about 60 70 percent of the calls was just reassuring them because people were panicking and as you as you mentioned most of the offices were closed they did not know what to do or where to go should there be an emergency. So, I know I mean we had I was doing free consults actually we published an article and we were advertising free virtual consoles for anybody in the community who needed help and then whoever had it before we triaged them and then whoever I had to see to treat I saw them and they treated them. And I think patients really appreciate the fact that you were offering them consultations  even a free basis because when the dental pain hits it can be really challenging for patients and it can be really devastating, so knowing that there is someone to answer them that was a really  big thing so thanks you for doing that I think your patients should really appreciate it. Thank you for appreciating. So, the next question which is our final million dollar question well maybe not the million dollar but any fun or exciting stories that you would like to share with us either in in your field as a dentist or outside of the industry, that you think for our audience would be interesting? Wow and I’m doing so well I don’t want to lose the money an interesting case  or patient maybe like from your dental school years do you have any interesting stories anything  that happened that you remember from the years you were a student and seeing your patients for the first time? Oh my gosh yeah, you’re taking me long time back. I am old I think  I don’t I don’t remember no it’s totally fine exciting stories. I think I told you about my left hand yeah that was pretty exciting for sure that was very different, yeah,  but I guess that would be enough if you don’t remember anything. Let me know so if I meet you, I mean in my opinion I think that at Harvard  is very exciting. So is there anything you could  touch on about the experience of being on that campus  which is world renowned and just  being able to collaborate. Thank you thank you for reminding me because that’s one thing I actually wanted to say when I was first talking about it that you know yeah thank you Liz you read my mind. One thing for sure the Harvard is known for is you know the student to teacher ratio is the other way around you have more teachers than students it’s one of the smallest dental schools there’s, 32 students they were back then and there were hundreds of teachers because you have the school of the medical school the school of public health and all the research institutions around all the hospitals mass general Brigham you know it is so much resource you learn so much from, from, all the people you meet. The faculty is very interesting. They you know they’re very knowledgeable and you really have to you know up your game and you have to have it together to be with you know to be on par with the rest of the crew and I had wonderful friends I’m still in touch with them on Facebook yeah not Instagram  that tells you how, how, young or how younger. I am  but  it was definitely a lot of resource a lot of  you know there’s the Joslin diabetes centre children’s hospital Brigham so the rotations we had at different  institutions, helped enrich the program you know being on the him, him, oncology ward you know you learn so much you know very different than just routine private practice you know going walking around with  you know  your instruments in your pocket almost you’re, your, autoclave instruments when patients are  hospitalized and they have a surgery but they need a dental clearance because they have fever of unknown origin and you have to do bedside treat patients bedside you know order portable x-rays work with whatever you have to get that inspection out and they need your signature your clearance before they can have a heart or valvular replacement I mean that was very interesting yeah so that makes up for an interesting story I learned yeah a lot so don’t you guys I’ve heard in Harvard people are divided into groups based on the names of famous physicians and  dentists I guess so do you remember which group you were part of and how that experience do you remember anything like was it based on the lectures you were taking or the instructors you had how did the grouping feel that was you know that gives you that camaraderie that you’re not like as a private practice you’re working alone you know when you’re in smaller groups you really bounce ideas off of each other and when we have a treatment plan that that was the most beneficial thing that you know we could treatment plan the same patient in so many different ways and, and, learning that what works what doesn’t work and your mentor guiding you and we had me weekly meetings and we would do chart reviews and even follow-ups like you know if you do a procedure what went well what didn’t go well what could you have done different. So that was very, very,  beneficial. For sure and I feel like  Harvard is like among those it was the first school of dentistry which was affiliated with the university for the first time and I feel like that’s a very special place because there is more emphasis on the medical aspect of dentistry than just the technical aspect which is that’s a big thing and I feel like even though these days they say that all the dental education is the same but I still think in those universities there is more focus on the medical aspect than let’s say at other universities that they are they have separate dental schools and everything is separate so thank you thank you so much and we learned a lot and thank you so much for giving us your time and  thanks for making it through these difficulties I mean it was very difficult experience but thanks again and we know how busy you were thank you Liz I am so excited  thank you for having me and I’m excited to meet you soon mentorship and you know I’m here any time just an email away for sure thank you so much you will be in touch thank you have a good night bye.