I'm A Black Dentist: Driving for Lyft

What happens when a practicing dentist finds herself driving for Lyft to make ends meet? Join us as we uncover the remarkable journey of Dr. Codjoe, a first-generation Ghanaian dentist from Chicago, who shares her compelling story from childhood dreams to the reality of financial struggles even amidst a thriving practice. Discover how her early fascination with the dental profession led her to Georgia Tech and UAB in Birmingham, and the unexpected twists and turns that followed. Dr. Codjoe candid discussion on the financial hurdles she faced, despite being a successful dentist, sheds light on the often unseen challenges within the dental industry and emphasizes the importance of transparency and support among dental professionals.

In this eye-opening episode, we also explore the innovative path of travel dentistry that Dr.Codjoe  has embraced. Learn how this career choice offers greater flexibility, helps avoid burnout, and allows for a healthier work-life balance. Dr. Codjoe shares invaluable insights on maintaining mental health and the emotional impact of patient interactions, reinforcing the necessity of self-care in the profession. We wrap up by highlighting the crucial need for a supportive community within dentistry and introduce Dr. Codjoe Instagram account, "I'm a Black Dentist," as a resource for further connection. This episode offers a refreshing, honest perspective on modern dental practice and the importance of both professional and personal well-being.

Transcript

Journey of a Traveling Dentist

Speaker 1 0:00

Welcome back to Dentalist Season 3 . I do have a special guest here , Dr Kojo . She is from Chicago , a native first generation from Ghana , and she's a dentist here and she is a travel dentist . She's going to share some gems with all of us about what it is to become a dentist or to be a dentist and , for those of you thinking about going to dental school and you're a dental hygienist and we have our Dr RDH Facebook group she's going to share some insights from her point of view . It's very , very , very refreshing to hear another outlook on what dentistry looks like and maybe it will help some people , inspire someone or influence someone on their decision . So hi , Dr Kojo .

Speaker 2 0:43

Hello , so happy to be here . Thank you for having me .

Speaker 1 0:47

You're welcome , and welcome to Dentalish . I just gave them a mouthful . It's not often that we do interview dentists . We actually had a dentist podcast host and they was Dr Joshua Golden . That was last season , so we always try to switch it up with seasons and it was just the funniest season ever the golden dentist .

Speaker 1 1:06

Right , yeah , the golden dentist , yeah , so he was our season two podcast host , co-host , and he's a very good friend of mine , a Sagittarian . Sometimes you listen to the podcast but we're a mess up here . But I'm just happy to have you in , happy to have you share the other side of dentistry and , coming from someone who looks like us , you know what I mean . So where did you go to school , where did you graduate from and what made you come into dentistry ?

Speaker 2 1:35

So I'll start back way , way back . The first time I wanted to be a dentist I think I maybe was like two or three . I remember saying I want to be a dentist . I think I was like two or three . I remember saying I want to be a dentist and because I went to the dentist and then afterwards I would get something from the treasure chest and I was like this is a pretty cool gig , right here , you know , I get prizes and stuff , so that kind of sparked my interest .

Speaker 2 2:01

But then as I got older I started shadowing interests . But then as I got older , I started shadowing , I started volunteering at different offices , things like that , and it's , it's weird . I just got a sense of peace about me whenever I was in dental offices and like working and helping out there , that I didn't get that anywhere else and so I was like , okay , so you know , this is what I want to pursue . So I finished undergrad at Georgia Tech in Atlanta and then I finished dental school at UAB in Birmingham hospital and I've been in Chicago ever since . So that was six , coming up on six years ago .

Speaker 2 2:39

Now that you know I've graduated and it's it's so crazy like now that I'm in it I'm just like man . Y'all should have told me one or two things about what I'm about to get myself into , and so now what I want to do is like I've had a lot of different experiences and I want to be honest about those experiences because I think it can help people not make the same mistakes that I did , and so people understand what they're getting themselves into . Dentistry is a great profession , a lot of pros about it , but there are a lot of downsides , if I have to be honest , and it's all about like , how do I approach those things when they happen , right , and how do I get through it , because we all struggle , and something that I found out is that and similar to what you're saying like a lot of people are struggling , they're just not talking about it and being real about it , and so I'm like you know what ? Let's be real here , guys . Let's be honest , because we got to be real .

Speaker 1 3:52

One of the posts that I saw and I think it came across like by TikTok or something . It was like I'm a dentist and I'm Ubering and I was like , well , what's going on here ? Because she got something . And do you know , I was like I looked at the views and the thing and that had like a lot of impressions and a lot of views , and you know why ? Because more people are doing that than not yes .

Speaker 2 4:12

So yeah , I posted that video honestly . Just I'm just being honest . And yeah , I drove Lyft when I was a dentist . This was actually my first job out of residency . I was super excited .

Speaker 2 4:28

Private practice , first job , here we go , let's do it , you know . And then reality set in . You know , as a dentist , a lot of us are paid on commission . So if there are no patients , you don't get paid . You don't do procedures , you don't get paid , and so eventually got to a place where there are just not a lot of patients coming in .

Speaker 2 4:57

I don't know if there's enough patients for two full-time doctors . There was an associate beforehand , but I don't know . Even the owner was like man , it's been like unusually slow and , honestly , it could have been also part of me . Maybe I'm new dentist , maybe I wasn't treatment planning you know correctly as well but I made more money in residency than I did in private practice . But I made more money in residency than I did in private practice . So that gives you kind of like a view as to what you know we were going through or what I was going through . And so , yeah , I had to make ends meet . So I was like download lifts and I started driving because you can't pay your bills , when you see one or two patients a day and they're for profeeds and you're getting a percentage of that right and people don't understand .

Speaker 1 5:53

Dentistry is a business , right , these are businesses . So if revenue is not coming in , those patients aren't coming in the door , we're not producing enough as a business , then there's not going to be money going out . That means employees , jobs are going to be cut . That means low wages . That means that they're going to be putting their , their doctors on a production base versus an hourly because they have to pay to have that doctor there and overhead and and payroll is your highest expense in the dental office . It is . It's probably more . It should be about 25 , but usually about 50 . So if I , if someone has a doctor , if a business has a doctor , and they're paying their doctor a set day rate and then they're not making that coming through the business , then they put them on a commission base and a lot of dentists are on commission base when they get out of school and I think they kind of guarantee you for the first couple months and then they kind of let you go , depending on where you are , but you didn't get that guarantee .

Speaker 2 6:54

I was not able to get that guarantee and I did ask , you know , multiple times , but you know the position that the owner was in and you know I have nothing but love for that owner . The owner was just not able to do it and I asked multiple times like , hey , I I got , like I got , I got bills , I bought a car so I can come to this job . You know used car , by the way , used honda civic , still driving it to this day but on the civic hatchback , I love it .

Speaker 2 7:25

I love my Honda . So , yeah , things really got real and I've always been someone that I will hustle like and I don't ask for help either , which is something I'm trying to get better at but I will hustle . In college I used to sell my notes , because people love my notes . I used to sell my notes , make study guides . I was like doing all these research studies , I will hustle . I was like doing all these research studies , I will hustle . So I was like , let me get on Lyft because I know that's money I can make . So I dropped down to part-time because it just was not working . So I only did it . I didn't do it for a long time . I did it for probably about like a month or so , just to kind of get things going . And then COVID hit and so it's just .

Speaker 1 8:06

It was a crazy time coming out of coming out of residency , for sure not what I thought Wow COVID threw a monkey wrench in there , but what COVID also did was created a lot of entrepreneurs and gave a lot of people purpose to tap into who they really are and what they can achieve deep down inside , because no longer are you going to work for someone else or going to school . Now you're like , what can I do for me ? You're sitting at home watching , you know , watching TV . So I hope it was the best thing that ever happened to me personally . But I just feel like , outside of that , people that were tapping into like , hmm , maybe I want to pursue this . They , they , they went to school online . You know they started taking those undergrad school , those undergrad classes that they needed to take those prereqs to further their degree from dental hygienist or dental assistant . And there's a strong population of people who , like , are going so hard to to become dentists and I don't knock anybody's hustle at all , like if that's what you want to do , or knock anyone's dreams , but you have to be informed and you have to know , like , coming out of school , you , you got to get your skill up , you have to build your skill and in today's economy with inflation , unfortunately , the practice business owner or doctor owner , doctor , whoever , they simply can't afford to have a loss . I mean , this is their livelihood . This is the difference between them shutting down versus paying themselves and their employees . So a lot of dentists coming out of school have to take that into consideration and you might want to have a backup or a side hustle or something that you can sell mentorship e-books or , you know , your notes .

Speaker 1 9:50

I love that . I love that selling your notes . You must have some gel pens and some real organized detail notes . I got some of the notes . Read my handwriting . But , yeah , just thinking outside of the box of other ways to do , to , to , to generate , to generate income . So that that was really great . So where are you now ? I know you said you're in Chicago . You started a residency here in here in Chicago and then you just kind of stayed . But where are you now in your career ?

Speaker 2 10:21

so about six years in am I decided that I needed to create a path for me that works within dentistry . I've tried the traditional route , I've tried being an associate , I've tried working in community health , I tried a lot of different positions and everything like that , and it's very for me it has been difficult to find something that works in I won't say all arenas , because that's hard to find , but a lot of different . You know arenas

Travel Dentistry and Self-Care Balance

Speaker 2 10:59

. So I decided , you know I'm going to create my own path and do travel dentistry , or welcome dentistry , where basically I fill in for clinics and offices that are in need . Let's say , and a doctor is going on vacation , let's say it's a new clinic and they're in the search for a permanent dentist , but they want to kind of get things running . That's where I come in and I like it because I'm in a sense more in charge of me .

Speaker 2 11:31

You know I love the flexibility . I like what it brings . You know I love the flexibility . I like what it brings . You know I feel like I'm being compensated , you know well too , and there's a lot of good things about it . There are a lot . There are cons about it too , but for me this is something that works and I'm happy . You know I'm much happier than you know what I've been in the past too , so that's kind of what I'm doing now .

Speaker 1 11:57

Yeah . So when you said like you're happy , you're like , I seen your face light up here and you were like you found it , like you found your space . So I can genuinely see like this is what , what it is for you , because you don't have that pressure of coming into the same office or that commitment , right , like you know , like hey , if it doesn't work for me , on to the next thing . Instead of being like I'm here and I'm married to this one , you know , because then you commit to those patients and it's automatically like okay , sign this contract , you're here . But now it's just like you know what , if it doesn't work for me , if I'm not happy , if I'm not comfortable in it , then I can renegotiate what's going on or I can move along . So you're giving me very free spirit .

Speaker 2 12:45

Yes , and I do want to say I don't want to say like I have commitment issues .

Speaker 2 12:50

I don't know , maybe I might , but what I realized is that dentistry I have a very unique relationship with dentistry , in a sense that I need breaks from dentistry . I've experienced very , very extreme amounts of burnout which I did not think I was going to experience and for me , I realized to prevent that from happening , to getting to that point , I need to be able to take breaks when I want to take breaks and not have to affect an office , you know . So , coming up , this week I'll be flying to Ghana . I'll be , you know , I'll be out for a couple of weeks and then I have another . I have a wedding in Dallas and then it's my birthday , I'm going to Panama . So I'm taking five or six weeks off and it's hard to do that when you want to in a traditional office because you're going to disrupt everything . Patience , you're going to disrupt , you know , the staff getting paid , everything like that . I have to do this so I can have a longer career , like longevity .

Speaker 1 14:07

Longevity . Yeah , I see it and I'm glad that you realize that , because people are like okay , I'm married to the game , this is it . I'm here , this is my life . Like we , we are not built as humans . We are not created to work . Work for eight hours , then go home , you know , take care of kids and take care of responsibility . You go fish your dog , whatever , then hurry up and eat , then go to bed and get up and do it . We're not robots like we are meant to enjoy life .

Speaker 1 14:36

We're only on this planet for a certain amount of time and half more than half of your life nowadays is going to be working like . If you really look at your life , you're like life nowadays is going to be working Like . If you really look at your life , you're like I don't want to be working for half my life and then some . So I think what you're doing and what you see and how you're looking at things like I know I need that break and let's face it . People come to the dentist with their problems . There's already a lot of mental health issues , doesn't it ? But people come to you as a doctor , as a clinician , with their problems and , depending on who you are , you can absorb a lot of that energy . You can , and it can take a toll on your mental health and you wouldn't even know that it's something that's very heavy on you . If you've ever been on social media and you've been scrolling through and you see something or you read something and you instantly feel sad or your emotion changes . That's energy . And I think you get the same thing with patients . When you have someone that's overly talkative or Debbie Downer or just rude or you know , you just feel sorry for their situation . Like those are an array of emotions that you're going through in eight hours . Situation like those are an array of emotions that you're going through in eight hours . And then you go home . You're like just staring , like , right , yep , what is this ? Like fml .

Speaker 1 15:52

So I , I get it and I love , love that you can identify that and create this pathway with the travel dental , the travel dentist and you know , get out there and just be like this is what I want for me and it works and I want other people to know that it can work too . Because the first thing I always hear and I've interviewed dental students on this podcast , the third season who are like , yep , I graduated six months ago and I'm opening my dental practice and I'm like you say , say what now ? Like you're doing what I was like dentistry is not hard . Like you're doing what I was like dentistry is not hard . The people that come in and the people that you work with make it hard . The . The profession itself is not hard if all you have to do is not talk to nobody . You're joe teeth girl , you'd be so happy , but you're dealing with everybody else's baggage , their childhood traumas . You know their edges that fell out , whatever it is that they're dealing with now becomes your problem .

Speaker 1 16:44

It's our problem . Now it becomes your problem . So good , good for you . I mean good for you . Do you have any mentors that you can think of in this field or on social media , someone that you really look up to and find inspirational ?

Speaker 2 17:00

There are some people that come to mind , and I haven't met these people , but I follow them online and I think they're awesome . One is Dr Rose Lift . He is like a . He's a dentist in Texas somewhere , I believe black dentist , and he just does . He's so raw and authentic , and authentic too just does .

Speaker 1 17:27

He's so raw and authentic and authentic too , and his work is just amazing .

Speaker 2 17:29

The last , person that I just did a podcast interview with said the same thing . He's , he's , he's really awesome . Again , I've never met him in person but like we've , you know , interacted a little bit , you know , through social media and everything like that and it's , it's just awesome to see other black dentists doing well , doing great , you know given that you're attracted to his light .

Speaker 1 17:50

Y'all gonna hear me say this guy said it on the last podcast . I looked at his non-profit like for that he does for the youth and he does the smile makeovers and the only reason why I know this is because we have brown guard . H has a black history month magazine that we do and we featured him as one of the top influential dentists and I had to go do his research , listen to all his podcasts . Girl , I felt like I was digging . I had to do my journalism , so I know a lot about him . Funny story come to find out my .

Speaker 1 18:16

My boyfriend does music and he records you know celebrities and they had a show I forget whose show it was , I think it was like little baby or something and Dr Rose does music and he was backstage with him . So they got to meet each other and you know exchange numbers and stuff . So when I started following him I was like , wow , this man does a lot . And then his story he actually was shot . I don't know if you knew that , but he was shot coming out of his practice and he almost lost his life and I didn't know that until I read it and then he gave his life to God and he transformed who he was , you know the person that he was . He's like he attracted what happened to him and it just got way deeper again . I had to do my research on it , so I was listening to interviews and stuff and I became intrigued and , like the light , his light , it , it , it attracted me to him .

Speaker 1 19:13

I don't know if that's the right verbiage I know it's , but and it seems like a lot of other people too like it's . Like he's authentic , you know he's trying to help . There's no ulterior motives like what you see is what you get , and like that's just , he's authentic , you know he's shooting help . There's no ulterior motives , like what you see is what you get , and like that's just the person that is like . I can see myself in that person and it's good to see that . You know he's influential for you . I had a dental hygienist on the last podcast and she said the same thing and I was like , oh , my goodness , yeah . So I decided to , for Black History Month , just give people their flowers , and he was one of them . And then my boyfriend called me and was like oh , my girlfriend or my wife . He called me his wife . I'm like you ain't earned that .

Speaker 1 19:54

Don't be trying to put that on me . What does my wife ?

Speaker 1 19:55

mean Don't say wife if it ain't a wife it ain't a wife , so he hates when I call my boyfriend . But , um , he was like , yeah , my wife , you know , did this thing on you and then he he shared it and it was . It was just good to see like it was . It was , it was really refreshing . It was him and some other doctors Dr Kwan Watson , dr Portia James she's an oral surgeon , dr Kwan Watson has Care Mobile and it was another dentist I think I had . Oh , dr Rico Short , he's an endodontist , yeah , endodontist , so it was . It was . It was four of them and Dr Golden was like why you didn't put me up there .

Speaker 1 20:29

I was like , yeah , you didn't earn it yet . No , I'm just kidding . But um , yeah , those are some of the people that I look up to in , in , in , you know , in in the position that I am in , and I was like I just want to share a little bit about them , especially Dr Portia James , because you don't see a lot of black oral surgeons . Like she's doing maxillofacial surgery , yeah , and I'm like , wow , that that , to me , is like she's that representation . You don't see a lot of a lot of that . Yeah , you know , you were born in Canada and you've lived in Georgia and you're , let's say , your dental hygiene . Your free spirit has probably to do with a lot of where you moved around . Where do you see yourself in five years ? Where do you want to be ?

Speaker 2 21:13

Honestly , I love Chicago so much I still see myself in Chicago , unless the Lord tells me to move somewhere else . I hope to be in five years and doing clinical and non-clinical dentistry . Right now I'm doing a lot of you know I'm working as a dentist . But what I've realized that what I really like to do , too , is talk to a lot of newer grads . I get a lot of them commenting and DMing me and stuff like that through my page and just having honest conversations . A lot of them are just like thank you so much for saying what I've been feeling all this time , Like I thought I was alone , I thought I was the only one struggling and everything like that . And as we talk , as we connect , you know it's giving them tools or , you know , sharing my experiences to make their career a little bit better in the beginning than it was for me . So I hope to be doing a little bit more of that in five years .

Speaker 1 22:24

Yeah . So like more mentorship , yeah , I actually love that because when you're going through something and nobody else is going through it , you're like what is wrong with me ? Is it me ? And then you really realize people aren't sharing their failures , they're not sharing their struggles , and that's one of the things . When Brown Rage was created , I was like I cannot be this hygienist , making this money and still going through this type of low energy , this money . It's still going through this type of low energy stuff . You know , you know . So it's just knowing like you're not alone . And hey , there are people out there that will help mentor you and that will share little tips and resources and get you through , because you're a living testimony like you . You're here and then you found your happy space . That's what I'm happy about for you like yeah like you found it , so that that is .

Speaker 1 23:16

That is where can people find you any last nuggets that you'd like to share with the audience ?

Speaker 2 23:23

if I had to share anything . I will want to especially speak to , like I said , the newer grads , but also to some of the dentists , like in my age group too . Honestly , I've had even dentists that are 20 , 30 years out reaching out to me and just saying again , thank you for being honest . Like I've had these struggles throughout my career and I've been questioning you know whether or not I made the right decision x , y and z . But , bottom line , you are not alone . Please know that you are not alone . If you're struggling , if you have burnout , anxiety , depression , whatever , whatever it might be , you

Support and Connectivity in Dentistry

Speaker 2 24:08

are not alone .

Speaker 2 24:08

Dentistry is not something . That is it . It's not an easy profession . There are a lot of nuances that come with it , but know that I feel like people are starting to become a little bit more open . You know a little bit more honest about the conversations . So find that community , connect with those people and know that you are able to overcome , because there's so many people who have done the same thing and , at the end of the day , we all want to help each other . So , yeah , you're not alone . That's the bottom line . You're not alone .

Speaker 1 24:40

I love it . I love it . All right , you guys . So this is Dr Kojo and you guys can find her . Where can they find you ?

Speaker 2 24:48

Yes , you can find me on Instagram at I'm a Black Dentist on Instagram , yeah .

Speaker 1 24:55

All day , every day , all day , every day , All day , every day . All righty , well , thank you . Thank you so much for being on this episode . It's very enlightening and I'm sure you'll get some more DMs . You'll get some DMs from me too , because I got to talk , all right .