A Career Choice or a Choice Career!

Does an opportunity to help in-need and appreciative patients appeal to you? Would a student loan repayment program be helpful? Is working with a team of supportive and knowledgeable dentists in modern facilities throughout the country what you're looking for?

If you need to make a career choice, then consider being a part of the Opportunity, Adventure, and Purpose of the Indian Health Service Division of Oral Health - and make it your Choice Career!

Here's what four recently-hired dentists have to say about their decision to be a part of IHS:

Q: A dentist has a number of choices after graduating from dental school; why did you choose a career with Indian Health Service?

Nathan: My wife and I wanted to start a family when I got out of school but working as an associate in private practice, I had no insurance, no benefits - we honestly couldn't afford to start a family. When I joined IHS in September of 2002, I chose to serve in the Commissioned Corps and one of the reasons was because of their excellent healthcare benefits.

We also wanted the opportunity to live in different parts of the country that we wouldn't normally ever consider. I was raised in Alabama and thought I'd be practicing and living there for the rest of my life. My family and I looked at IHS as an adventure - that's why we made the move to South Dakota. We considered it our western adventure. The opportunities are endless as far as places that you want to go.

Changa: After graduating from Howard University's dental school, I worked in private practice for about a year. Having grown up in Washington, DC, I wanted a change of pace and considered IHS because it offers more varied locales. I really had a choice as far as different localities and there are just tons of different opportunities. Plus, the Student Loan Repayment Program was a pretty good draw and definitely helped make the choice. It allows me to do something that I like to do and want to do.

Mark: I joined Indian Health Service right after graduating from dental school at the University of Missouri in Kansas City. Since I wanted a career, I decided to start in the Commissioned Corps, which was the best option for me given the vacation time, medical, and travel benefits they offer.

I like to travel and am interested in different cultures and working for the IHS is almost like leaving the country without a passport. With the IHS, I'm exposed to all different types of cultures within the different tribes and different areas of the country. It's a chance to be a part of a larger healthcare organization and to do things outside your community.

Q: An important part of professional growth is the people you work with; how has the staff at your IHS assignment contributed to your career growth?

Changa: The staff is very encouraging, very friendly, and knowledgeable. If I come upon a challenge all I have to do is look left and look right and I'll see two doctors who have been doing this for ten, fifteen years and they say "Oh, I've seen that and this is what you do." You see one, do one, and then you teach somebody else. That's the philosophy we have here.

Jeremy: We see a lot of patients and because of that I see a lot of unique and different dental issues. One of the big advantages of working at a large clinic with many other dentists is being able to go to them for advice if I have problems or questions. The staff is very experienced, they know how to deal with patients and everyone works as a team, which makes a big difference. They also give us the opportunity to practice with new equipment, like digital radiography, as well as different types of procedures like rotary endodontics.

Mark: A really big plus is that we meet and collaborate with different departments at the hospital and have the opportunity to ask questions. To be able to do that at the start of a career on a daily basis is very valuable. We often have in-house lectures, when specialists come through or a pharmacy resident gives a lecture, and those help keep me sharp.

There's definitely a collegial feel — we consult with each other on a regular basis, whether it be the new drugs that are coming out in the pharmacology field or new types of renal treatments. If I want to do a difficult surgery, I'll usually schedule those on the day when the surgeon's here and I can try more difficult procedures that I wouldn't have done by myself in private practice.

Q: Dentistry continues to introduce new technologies for treatments; is IHS keeping pace with these advancements?

Changa: IHS is certainly more technologically advanced in a number of ways than dental school and from the private practice I was in. We have digital x-rays here, which we didn't have in dental school and you don't find in most private practices.

Another advancement is EHR — a paperless chart. Just think of it as a computer screen at every operatory and with a few keystrokes, I can get the patient's medical history, the last procedure I performed on them, and any future treatment I've planned.

Mark: Warm Springs is a fairly modern facility with a six-chair clinic and they're working on an expansion. It's not a hospital setting, but it's a large clinic setting so we do have other specialties. We have a medical department; we have podiatry, optometry, dieticians, a full pharmacy, and a full lab. We are also one of the flagships in IHS in that we have completed switching over to an electronic health record. So we've gone digital here, which other facilities are now starting to follow.

Q: Making the change from dental school or private practice to an organization like Indian Health Service can be challenging; what were the biggest adjustments you had to make during your first year?

Nathan: Coming from private practice, the hardest change for me was going from seeing patients in one room with a very limited amount of chair space to practicing in a large clinic with multiple dentists. Here I'm running a number of chairs, seeing a lot of emergency patients and it forces me to pick up my speed and at the same time, pick up my skills. There are a lot of sick people, with not only bad teeth or oral conditions, but medically sick people. It's gratifying to be able to take care of them and get them back on track.

Mark: The most challenging aspect for me was to understand how to treat the needs of this patient population and how the treatment needs differ from those of the greater population. There's quite a bit going on here that you wouldn't find in the general population or in a suburban middle class type of general practice. We have a high caries rate in this area and there are many variables that are in the equation of treatment. As a matter of fact, we're doing an FDA study here to determine whether a type of fluoride varnish can help.

Jeremy: In private practice I had to deal with broken appointments, problems with collections, and different types of dental insurance. Because IHS isn't a fee-for-service operation, I don't have any of those problems. I can greatly increase my dental experience and at the same time receive a competitive salary and not have all the different types of stresses as I did in private practice.

Changa: You're going to have challenges. There have been numerous experiences when I've seen something for the first time and wondered if I was up for the challenge. A particular problem I've never seen before and I just hunch over and say, "hmm." The good thing about the job is that I always have a veteran dentist around who has seen it. When you have that level of dental expertise around, your confidence level is boosted and your skills get that much better.

Q: Personal reward comes in many different forms; what do you find personally satisfying about working for IHS?

Jeremy: The enjoyment for me is coming here and helping people. Many of the patients we work with wouldn't receive any dental care if we didn't help them. And it's satisfying to know that I'm helping people that probably wouldn't get any work done anywhere else. Essentially, I can show up and practice dentistry.

Changa: Anytime I'm working with children it's very rewarding on a personal level. I come in and see kids and know that they have dental needs and that I'm able to service those needs. In the end, what does it for me is the child who comes back and looks at me and says, "Thank you." It's just that smile and it's just that simple.

Nathan: I would tell fourth year dental students that if they want to make their career and experience an adventure, the Indian Health Service is a good way to do that. You'll be able to go places you probably would never have thought about going; and you’ll do more and see more than what you would have in school or in private practice.

Mark: The most rewarding aspect is the people. The people are what make the work great!

Point of Contact: Timothy L. Lozon, DDS
1-800-IHS-DENT (447-3368) or 301-443-0029 (direct)