Before I tell you more about our ride, let me tell you what will happen when you make the decision to have a philosophy to live the life of your dreams through your slight edge disciplines. To learn, experi-ence and embrace your new philosophy, the disci-plines can include: í Meditation or prayer daily for a few minutes; í Read a few pages of an inspirational book every day; í Walk or other simple cardio exercise 15 minutes each day; í Journal a few sentences about something wonderful from the past 24 hours; í Add three things in your life for which you are grateful; í Send an email to someone, thanking them or praising them; í Sometime during the day, rewrite your clear, exciting goals; í Put energy into your five best relationships. As you are grateful for the moment, grateful for the opportunity, loving each and every person in your day, you will find everything different, a completely new world. How you see yourself will have changed. Your perspective will have changed. My husband Claude says it this way, “Your world is now one of opportunities to contribute and to build, not to take or lessen.” Your world is one where your seemingly small day-to-day contributions are huge. You find yourself not wanting to sit in front of a TV all evening. Much more time is spent creating, instead of receiving. Your view of yourself will have changed completely. You see yourself as responsible for yourself, and not others responsible for you. You feel more self-reliant, not disappointed in life. No longer waiting on others to give you what you want, you are more creative, and know you are not helpless, or trapped. “Two people may suffer the same disappointment, one might be saddened, the other understanding. Two people may receive the same insult, one might be hurt, and the other compassionate. Two people may have the same disagreement, one might be angered, and the other feels love. According to author Mike Dooley, how you react to circumstances, people and things, “is a choice, your choice... based on your use of compassion, understanding and love.” Your eyes always see what you are looking for. You will find your patients becoming more compliant, as you are empathetic -perhaps sympathetic -and supportive to the other person’s -the child’s or the parent’s -needs and desires. So there we were, setting up a stand-alone orthodontic practice from “scratch.” Most patients’ parents in the existing and next-door pediatric prac-tice were accustomed to paying only their “co-pay.” They were accustomed to accepting only the treat-ment that is “covered.” And we were telling them if they were Medicaid-covered, their child’s orthodontic treatment was not covered at all, and if they had insurance, we did not deal with insurance, other than to give them the invoice for them to use with their insurance company. Importantly, with orthodontic care, something that helps is the fact that parents want orthodontic treat-ment for their children. They value it ~ more than other dental care, I believe. (And for what we value, we will find money to pay.) We had them sign the requi-site form to state they understand Medicaid does not cover their treatment, and that we do not take insur-ance, and that they wanted the treatment for their child, and would be willing to pay for it out of pocket. While fees for non-Medicaid patients were in line with the region, we offered ortho treatment for Medi-caid patients at about two-thirds of the typical orthodontic fees in the area. 30 percent was paid at banding, and the rest over the treatment time estimate, which was typically 12-15 months. And they paid. We built it and they came. They came for the orthodontic treatment. They came for the smiles -their child’s and ours. They came for the coffee. Actually, the coffee is one of the amazing ways we loved the parents. It was premium coffee, top-drawer delicious, with condiments (including chocolate chips) and we offered it to each parent. I delighted in asking the parents if I might get them a cup. Many said yes. And they smiled. While the staff was providing the mechanics and care I had delegated or requested of them, I would chat with the parents and serve coffee. It was a delightful experi-ence. If two receptionists, one assistant and I all offered coffee -that was more than okay. They came for the love. Yet we were amazed! Think back to some of your plans for your life, and how your life has unfolded. Your dreams as you live your life out are likely to be very different from the ways you first envisioned. When I was a young student nurse, I certainly never would have dreamed of doing dentistry, let alone in Abu Dhabi. Nor would I have dreamed of building a million-dollar ortho practice in Texas in just one year. The Texas orthodontic office was across the parking lot from its parent pediatric division office. One morn-24 Summer 2017 JAOS
Journal of the American Orthodontic Society Summer 2017/Buyer's Guide: Page 24
