A book cover with the words " dentists, leaders and health."

Shaping the Future of Dentistry

|Teeth First|
A teal colored fabric with the words " it's time to inspire ".

Our surroundings influence how we come together and how we come together in turn influences how we speak with one another. Knowing these fundamental facts, Dr. Ian McConnachie, Dr. Clive S. Friedman, Dr. Stephan Abrams and myself, Dr. Marielle Pariseau, launched a workshop this morning to facilitate a different kind of working conversation at the heart of ASM14, the Ontario Dental Association’s Annual Spring Meeting.

This workshop embodies a different way of learning that has the capacity to engage and empower our membership in dealing with the many concerns that have been identified with regards to the present and future of dentistry. It models an agile style of leadership that sees a leader in every chair in the room and it uses conversation as a core process around questions that invite all participants to make choices today to positively influence the future of dentistry.

We put a lot of thought in creating a space for this workshop that would give participants a new perspective, a sense of belonging, of connection with their inner wisdom and that of others around them. A space to inspire participants to move from knowing deep inside what to do, to talking about it, and to actually doing it.

The vision at the core of this process is

EMPOWERING ALL DENTISTS TO BE

LEADERS IN HEALTH

 A spark was ignited this morning as a result of this workshop. As a participant, we invite you to keep the spark alive with your comments. The rules are the same as the ones we presented during the workshop:

  • Be mindful
  • Be willing to be influenced
  • Set aside your preconceived conclusions, your judgement
  • Comment from your heart
  • Engage your right brain: your left brain may be very smart, but without your right brain you can not see the whole picture

If you were not a participant this morning, May 9 2014, we welcome your comments too. However, if you find it difficult to express your inner wisdom in writing, we understand. This is normal. We learn to speak before we learn to write and this is WHY we created this workshop, to give dentists a chance to speak first. You may want to contact us to explore the possibilities of hosting a Shaping the Future of Dentistry workshop at the heart of your dental community.