Heartland Implements the Doctor Mastery Program

Heartland Dental recently announced the rollout of the Doctor Mastery Program, an initiative designed to help supported dentists achieve personal and professional expertise.

The Doctor Mastery Program will assist dentists of all experience levels become dental leaders of their respective marketplaces. The five-year program is open to all Heartland Dental supported dentists and consists of clinical training conducted by leading clinicians, beginning with foundational skills and advancing toward mastery of complex dental care. Over the five-year timeframe, the program will help participating dentists achieve the highly coveted Fellowship with the Academy of General Dentistry, increase access to care, mentor other clinicians and grow their offices by the end of the program. In addition, participants who complete all program requirements will receive a “mastery bonus” up to $250,000 which can totally or greatly eliminate student loan debt.

This program addresses a vital component of the dental industry – continuing education. As the dental industry continues to evolve, along with evolving patients and technology, advanced education is essential now more than ever. The program also offers an ideal solution to one of the biggest challenges facing young dentists – student loan debt. In today’s industry, the importance of this cannot be overstated. According to the ADA, only 50 percent of new dental graduates currently enter private practice once graduating and many new grads come out of school with upwards of $300,000 in debt, making it extremely difficult to open and grow a solo practice.

The program will start with clinical fundamentals and then will move into more specialized and advanced areas such as IV sedation, oral surgery, implants, occlusion, orthodontics and orthopedics.  The DMP program goes beyond clinical training with focus on personal goals, such as managing personal finances, setting goals, and understanding good debt vs. bad debt.  The program goes on to educate the supported dentists in management skills.  These managerial skills include understanding the business side of how an office operates, comparing office results with other Heartland supported offices, uncover opportunities for their offices to grow and better serve the patient base, and understanding how to leverage and work with the Heartland support team.  Furthermore there are mentorship opportunities with the program that benefit both the mentor and mentee.

“It is our job to ensure supported dentists not only receive world-class, non-clinical support, but every possible opportunity to comprehensively further themselves as clinicians and leaders,” added Dr. Rick Workman. “The Doctor Mastery Program will allow Heartland Dental to accomplish this mission like never before. We have always emphasized continuing education, but the magnitude of this program, in terms of what is being offered and what can be achieved as a result, is on a whole new level.”

Sources: Heartland Dental, Academy of General Dentistry, Smiling Magazine