It was shopping day today. Alissa and I went to the grocery this afternoon to buy our week’s supply of grocery. While I was paying our purchases, a former colleague, who’s now a dentist in Costa Mesa, was next in line.

She mentioned she was going to a conference next week in San Francisco. She was looking forward to the cosmetic and aesthetic lectures. She said most of her patients these days go to her clinic for cosmetic purposes. So, any new technique she learns is a great edge for her practice.

That got me thinking. I’m a dentist myself but cosmetic dentistry, although important, is not what dentistry and dental care is all about. I still think that softer skills and customer care lectures are the most important. We deal with people every day, so the more we need to learn customer care, business skills, and communication ability.

It’s a difficult balance, business and people skill, but I do hope many dentists will develop both skills. So, I tell Alissa every day that if she wants to be a dentist too when she grows up, she just be like mommy—a dentist and customer specialist in one.