1…2…3…4…. my pencil traced, connecting the dots, in my favorite coloring book, while anxiously waiting for the outline of a surprise image to reveal itself to me. Sometimes it was an airplane, other times a butterfly, and on a rare occasion, it was a unicorn!
Although Dot to Dot puzzles is one of my favorite childhood pastimes, I realize that these educational games describe my unconventional career journey from jailhouse dentist to Senior Community Health Planner for San Mateo County. How did I get here? What were the moments, the decisions that I made, and the chances that I took, that somehow, unbeknownst to me, got connected and woven together to create one of the most rewarding positions of my career overseeing the county’s overdose prevention and education response. As Steve Jobs said, in his 2005 Stanford Commencement Address,
“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So, you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something – your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”
I would like to take this opportunity to look backwards at the dots that shaped my present, and who knows, perhaps will shape my future!
Dot #1: Developing multiple skills. After graduating from dental school and completing a general practice residency, I had to find a job, or should I be more specific, jobs. I could not find a 5 day a week position, so I found multiple jobs to fill up the work week! I associated in private practice on Monday’s and Tuesdays, did hygiene in another practice on Wednesdays, worked at a health clinic on Thursdays, and volunteered at the dental school on Fridays. I learned to become a Jill of All Trades and adapt to different practice models, patients, and environments.
Dot #2: Saying yes. Back in the day, when there was no LinkedIn, your job search involved looking at the classified ads in the Sunday paper. One Sunday, I saw an ad for a dentist at the Sonoma County Jail and became intrigued. I had no idea that medical care let alone dental care was offered at a jail. I convinced myself that I would never work in this environment even though I cut out the ad and put it front and center on my desk! I finally called the recruiter, learned that the position involved providing emergency dental services to more than 800 detainees at the jail, interviewed, and was offered the position. Saying “yes” led me to a job, that for 27 years, literally defined my career!
Dot #3: Being curious. I still remember my very first patient on my very first day of work in 1997. His name was Tom and he was about 20 years old. When he opened his mouth, I gasped when I saw that his teeth were blackened, broken, and grossly decayed. I also gasped when I told him that he needed full mouth extractions. However, Tom’s dental condition was not an anomaly because the majority of my patients had similar states of decay. I knew that blackened decay was a “symptom” of something much more than high sugar consumption and plaque levels. I began to ask my patients questions and learned that they had a history of methamphetamine use. This put me on a path to understand the oral effects of the drug and led to my research study on “Meth mouth severity in response to drug-use patterns and dental access in methamphetamine users,” and my book, “A State of Decay”: Your Dental Guide to Understanding and Treating “Meth Mouth”.
Dot #4: Thinking outside the box. A few years ago, a slight whiff of discontent began to creep into my being; was it post-COVID fatigue, career burnout, boredom, or the early signs of “it’s time to retire”? I began to take inventory of what was causing me to feel this way and concluded it was a feeling of helplessness. Over the course of 27 years, more of my patients were walking through my doors with lives and smiles destroyed by substance use. I felt stuck in my abilities to truly help them. I knew that addressing their dental emergencies and managing their pain and infection was a short-term fix for a much larger problem, addiction. One day, I decided to contact a resume writer. She asked me what position the resume was for and chuckled when I replied, “I really don’t know!” She then sent me a homework assignment that included writing a value proposition statement, answering questions about my leadership style, and practicing a 1-minute elevator pitch! Although this was not what I had anticipated when I hired her, it did encourage me to start thinking outside the box and consider if my experiences and interests could extend beyond the profession of dentistry? One week later, I went on LinkedIn (Yes, Sunday ads no longer were the way to do a job search) and found my current job as Senior Community Health Planner for San Mateo County. I stepped into this new role with courage and confidence knowing that the dots of my past had connected me to an opportunity I could never have dreamed of! In my new role, I am involved in program development, community engagement, and mass media communication to reduce overdoses in San Mateo County! I found my unicorn!
What are your dots? Have they connected?
