Minnesota Edition

Champlin Family Dental Keeps It All FemaleChamplin Family Dental Keeps It All Female

coverstory

Mentors made all the difference in steering both Kathleen Hubert, D.D.S., and Krista Bauer, D.D.S., into the dental profession. Today, they are partners and owners of Champlin Family Dental (www.champlinfamilydental.com), a thriving practice in Champlin, MN, and are eager to offer a guiding hand to the next generation of female dentists.

“Applying to dental school didn’t occur to me until I was given a lot of encouragement,” said Dr. Hubert, a 1984 graduate from the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry. The energetic doctor began as a dental assistant after attending the University of Minnesota on a track scholarship. “I had one dental assisting instructor, Maria Pintato, who is still at the University of Minnesota in the research department. She said to me, ‘Kathy, you need to go to dental school.’ I said, oh, Miss Pintato, I don’t know.’ And she said, ‘Yes, you do!’ and she encouraged me and that was it,” said Dr. Hubert.

Dr. Bauer made the decision to apply to dental school after a col-lege professor at St. Cloud State University planted the initial idea. “I started out as a business major and really had no direction. To attain your undergraduate degree you had to take some science classes, which I found I truly loved. They were very small classes and my professor, Dr. Mork, who later became my mentor, said I really needed to go

into the sciences. I got a biomedical science degree, which would have allowed me to apply to either medical or dental school, and I chose dental school. Dr. Mork also encouraged me to stay focused on gradu-ate school before starting a family. He said I would want a career to support me. So, I took care of me first,” said Dr. Bauer, who is now married and has three children.

Almost 10 years ago, Drs. Hubert and Bauer met Erika Wetzel while she was a high school senior exploring careers in dentistry. “I worked at the dental office a few afternoons as a receptionist. I knew I wanted to go into dentistry. I was just lucky enough to have these two as mentors and it all fell into place for me. It was perfect,” said Wetzel, who is now in her fourth year at the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry and has agreed to join Champlin Family Dental after graduation.

HIstory oF WoMEn In DEntIstryHistorical facts confirm that women entered dentistry much

slower than medicine. The first U.S. woman physician, Elizabeth Blackwell, earned her medical degree in 1849 from Geneva College in New York. It was nearly 20 years later when Dr. Lucy Hobbs in 1866 became the first American woman dentist. The

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Champlin Family Dental Keeps It All FemaleBy Carolyn Will

Kathleen Hubert, D.D.s. Krista Bauer, D.D.s. Erika Wetzel, 2010 dental graduate

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University of Minnesota School of Dentistry opened in 1888 and in their first class was a woman, Edith White, who went on to practice dentistry in Chicago and the Yukon region of Alaska, where she also mined for gold. However, Dr. White was the exception and women continued to shy away from dentistry more so than from medicine.

“From the 1870s to the 1970s — more than a century — the situ-ation for women dentists in the United States was bleak: less than 2% of the individuals entering dental school were women,” wrote Patricia Blanton, D.D.S., Ph.D., in the Journal of Dental Education, Vol. 38-40, 2006. Dr. Blanton entered Baylor College of Dentistry in 1970 and stood out as the only woman in her class of 140.

Both nationally and in Minnesota, the climate began to change by the mid-1980s, when nearly 20% of entering dental students were women. Today, dental schools report nearly equal numbers of male and female students, according to statistics tracked by the Association of American Medical Colleges. The incoming class at the University of Minnesota (U of M) School of Dentistry for the 2009-10 academic year is 40% female, although at the start of this decade, women’s enrollment at the U of M School of Dentistry had spiked noticeably higher: 2001-2002 (36% female), 2003-2004 (45% female), 2005-2006 (49% female) and since 2006 the number of women entering dental school at the U of M has held steady at 40%. It will take some time before more balanced numbers are reflected in the number of practicing dentists in the state. According to the Minnesota Board of Dentistry, 3,953

dentists are licensed in the state; of those, 1,016 are women, nearly a 3:1 ratio.

The lack of female dentists in the early years may be related to the dental school experience for some women. Dr. Hubert remembers her experience in dental school as a difficult period of her life. “In my class of 150, there were 23 females, and my dental school experience was far from pleasant. I think a majority of my classmates would say the same; the professors seemed to want to knock you down. I think because I was an assistant, some of my professors didn’t think I should be a dentist. Some of them had an attitude and it wasn’t a good time,” said Dr. Hubert.

Dr. Bauer had a similar experience when she started dental school in 1993. “It was a grueling process to get accepted to dental school. It was like a boot camp for the first two years and I really questioned myself as to why I was there. In the end, it all made sense, but it was hard,” said Dr. Bauer.

Their current mentee, Wetzel, said her experience has been much better. Her class has a nearly equal number of women and men. And faculty at the dental school is also more balanced and may play a role in the changed dynamics for women in dental school. According to the U of M School of Dentistry, 25% of full-time and part-time faculty are women and several are in positions of leadership, including the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, the Assistant Dean of Admissions and Diversity, and the Department Chair of the Department of Primary Dental Care are all held by female faculty.

Dr. Hubert explaining the benefit of an implant in an edentulous molar space.

Dr. Blanton believes women in dentistry need to step up to leader-ship positions before they will have a strong voice in their profession. “The American Dental Education Association has impressive ongoing efforts to support women in dental education,” writes Dr. Blanton. “But, if women are to influence the health care system, greater num-bers will need to advance to top leadership positions. A support system similar to ADEA’s is sorely needed for women practitioners and those women participating in organized dentistry.”

CHAMplIn FAMIly DEntAl’s All-FEMAlE stAFF sEts A FrIEnDly tonE

Dr. Hubert opened Champlin Family Dental in 1991 with her cur-rent office manager, Teri, as her only dental assistant and her mom as

a receptionist. When she moved to a more visible location eight years later on Champlin Drive, Dr. Hubert said her business exploded. “Within four months in this location, I was looking for an associate. We clicked right away [referring to her initial meeting with Dr. Bauer] and we are now partners,” said Dr. Hubert. Although she had not intentionally set out to grow an all-female practice, Dr. Hubert believes it does set a decidedly different tone with their leadership qualities. “I have been in the dental field since 1976, starting as an assistant and I worked my way up. There isn’t anything in this dental office I haven’t done,” said Dr. Hubert. “My philosophy is that we are a team. I can’t do my job without our awesome staff and I think they pick up on that. I truly believe we just have different leadership qualities as women. We treat staff and our patients just [as] we would like to be treated. We follow the golden rule.”

Champlin Family Dental averages 60 patients per day in an office with seven exam areas and 13 supporting staff mem-bers. While many dental offices have felt the pinch of the economic downturn, the Champlin Family Dental practice has been left untouched. “We are so well established we aren’t feeling the effects right now. We do accept insurance. I’ve always been a Delta provider and yes, we take a cut on that, but yet we still float. We also have fee for service. We have systems in place that make it all work out,” said Dr. Hubert.

The family dental practice provides the full list of services that enables them to be a true family practice caring for the very young to the very old. “I have had patients follow me from dental school, so now we are taking care of some fourth generation, which

is really, really fun and allows us to practice all phases of dentistry,” said Dr. Hubert.

Champlin Family Dental has always invested in the most advanced equipment, including digital X-rays and electronic patient records, and provides many services that are not always available at other general dentist offices. They excel at porcelain veneers, crowns and bridges, and also have extensive experience with dentures and implants. Their knowledge and experience allow them to provide most of their patients’ dental needs in house, saving them the cost and expense of making several visits to dental specialists.

Before each day’s full patient schedule begins, they hold a staff meeting standing around a white board. “We have a huddle every morning and a lot of it is going over how staff will handle a particular

All patients are given thorough head and neck exams at the maintenance appointment.

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Erika is full of questions. Dr. Hubert is showing her a standard implant retained overdenture for mandibular edentulous patients.

All procedures are supported with an awesome staff and trusting patients.

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reprinted from minnesota DoCtor oF DEntIstry

patient. For example, one patient comes early to read the paper and doesn’t want to come back early and another one doesn’t like the patient video monitor on, so we turn it off before she is seated,” said Dr. Bauer. The staff keeps notes on patients’ particular needs, likes and dislikes, as well as their hobbies. Headphones and movies for the younger patients, warm blankets and neck pillows for elderly patients are all part of the nurturing touches in this family practice. “I believe that is what makes our practice special. We really do customize our service to the patient,” said Dr. Hubert.

Relationship building is another strong focus of the practice, which may sound time consuming, but Dr. Bauer believes the effort upfront saves time in the end. “Spending an hour with a patient in the begin-ning will make the system work more efficiently later on when we’re reviewing treatment plans because a trusting relationship has been

established,” said Dr. Bauer. “We have patients, men and women, who say they come to our

office because it is all female. They like that we are gentler and more nurturing, and they tell us it’s easier to bring their kids to us. It’s a big attraction,” added Dr. Bauer.

looKIng to tHE FuturEThe greener pastures of the golf links are beckoning

Dr. Hubert with ever-stronger pull as she looks forward to retir-ing in a few years. Already a ranked member of the Minnesota Women’s Golf Association, Dr. Hubert looks forward to more time pursuing her second passion. However, this more senior partner still strives to set the bar high for her younger colleagues. Dr. Hubert has just returned from taking her fellowship exam at the

Academy of General Dentistry and is look-ing forward to receiving her results. She also maintains a license to practice dentistry in Arizona, where she owns a second home.

Before she leaves for the warmer climate, Dr. Hubert will be investing considerable time in training Wetzel as their new associ-ate in the practice. “Erika’s very well trained in all areas of dentistry and yes, there are going to be things I’m going to teach her, but I’ll probably teach her the most about learning patients and their personalities. It’s all in the presentation and how you handle a particular patient, how to interject humor and still at the same time be empathetic,” said Dr. Hubert.

Dr. Bauer looks forward to expanding their cosmetic and implant services with the addition of Wetzel. “I learned all my implant training through hands-on experience, while Erika has an implant case she’s working on in school right now,” said Dr. Bauer, who added that they look forward to learning from each other and extending support to other women entering the field. “I think I would mentor any woman who had an interest in becoming a dentist. We all have a sense of pride in this profession. And it’s been a very good career for us, it’s profitable and yet an independently successful business for a female to do.” n

Dr. Bauer showing Erika the impact a dentigerous cyst has had on a third molar.

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Champlin Family Dental12233 Champlin Drive

Champlin, MN 55316

(763) 323-0678

www.champlinfamilydental.com

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