dental-ish by browngirlrdh
The first black dental podcast mixed with a little something extra. Podcast topics range from family, entrepreneurship, education, to working in the dental industry as black professionals. Brought to you by BrownGirl, RDH.
dental-ish by browngirlrdh
Saved by Dr. Bell: Resilience and Passion in Dentistry
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Ever wondered what it takes to pivot from a PhD program to finding your true calling? Dr. Bell's journey provides a fascinating look at how personal orthodontic experiences and the mentorship of an African American orthodontist reshaped her career. Through shadowing opportunities and the realization of the transformative power of dental care, Dr. Bell discovered her passion for dentistry. She candidly discusses the emotional and professional hurdles within the field, including burnout, and emphasizes the importance of maintaining passion and balance in your career.
Navigating career transitions, prioritizing self-care, and embracing new opportunities are keys to sustaining professional joy. Dr. Bell, known on social media as "saved by Dr. Bell," shares her wisdom on these topics, offering practical advice for pre-dental students and professionals alike. Learn how to manage dental school applications, create effective study schedules, and avoid burnout, all while staying true to your aspirations. Dr. Bell’s down-to-earth approach serves as a motivational guide to achieving personal happiness and success in the dynamic world of dentistry.
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Journey to Dentistry and Mentorship
Speaker 1Welcome back to Dental-ish season three . I don't remember what episode we're on , but I do have a fun , special , funky guest . Her name is Dr Akidra Bell and she is here with us . Welcome to Dental-ish , dr Bell . I'm so glad to be here , can't wait to get started . Woo , woo , woo . Y'all . I'm doing like hand raises , but y'all can't see that right now .
Speaker 1But anyways , I really wanted to connect on this season with a bunch of doctors , a bunch of hygienists , and really give them some inspiration and anybody else who's listening and you are one of the accounts that I have been following for a long time . You have really been an inspiration for me , wanting to become a dentist and seeing you blossom in the four years , like you've always shared it and now you're coming into from what I can see like you're a womanhood , like all right , she's a boss and she's showing up and she's actually practicing what she preached . So thank you for being that and actually having that transparency and authenticity , because you can really tell who's authentic and who's just really trying to help . And one of the things I did not know is you're from a small town in North Carolina , right across the street from me , elizabethtown , north Carolina , so can you talk about , like your journey from just being a little girl into becoming into dentistry and to being this mentor , and now I would say you're definitely an influencer . What did that journey look like ? Well , first , thank you so much . I feel like being on social media and trying to help and trying to give back some days can be so defeating because social media is tough and you feel like you're not reaching enough people , not doing enough . So just thank you for those kind words . I've always said that if I can help one person reach their goal , then I've done my job , I've done my due diligence . So that is just pushing that forward every day . So just so happy to be here . I'm from Elizabeth City , north Carolina , very small town . We have a couple of stoplights , we just got a Chick-fil-A , we just got a chocolate smoothie , we got a cage journalist . Now we're moving on up , but it's a very small town where no one that was a dentist or physician that I knew looked like me .
Speaker 1Somewhere along the line kind of growing up , I really had this affinity for science and I really wanted to be in medicine and I grew up wanting to be a pediatrician . That journey changed a little bit as I got older and I saw my grandparents kind of decline . I mean , just with my attitude and how much I care for people and me wearing my heart on my sleeve I knew being a physician might not have been the best thing for me , because me giving bad news even to the day about having to take a tooth out just really kind of defeats me sometimes and I want to save everybody , which is where saved by Dr Bell came from . But I had a real affinity for medicine . I thought about doing pediatrics and then switched over to dentistry because of my own smile transformation and then going into the dental field . I didn't really have a mentor . I didn't really know where to get resources from . In dental school I met so many people that wanted to get in or had trouble getting in . I had classmates that applied three or four times and it's just because us as minorities don't have enough resources . So I just wanted to stand in that gap as much as possible and so now I really focus on mentoring and giving back as much as I can .
Speaker 1Oh , wow . So when did you officially become licensed ? It wasn't that long ago , was it Not that long ago ? I actually was a COVID baby , so I graduated from dental school in 2020 in the midst of COVID . Never had a graduation , only wore a cap and gown for pictures . After those long four years of struggling through school , literally only had my moment through pictures and a small little graduation party with like my closest friends , but never got to walk across the stage because of COVID . And then I did a residency and graduated from residency in 2021 in Atlanta , georgia .
Speaker 1Oh , where'd you do it ? At Grady Hospital in Ben Masell Dental Clinic . But most of the time was spent at Grady because it was COVID . So we spent most of our time at Grady in the in the hospital . So that was a good thing for you to do that residency to , to really hone in on those skills , because it was a COVID graduation . Oh , my goodness , absolutely .
Speaker 1How'd you take your boards ? We funny thing is we took boards the week before COVID hit . We went to ECU , we took boards and I mean we are . We're just all excited like , oh my gosh , y'all . We took boards , we passed , it's about to be the best like eight weeks left of school . We go back to our clinics because at ECU we rotate to clinics around the state and I had just started my third rotation . I mean , the house that we lived in was great . I had a room to myself , I had a jacuzzi . It's at the beach . So I'm just picturing my whole semester , like or whole last nine weeks , running on the beach and eating some seafood . We took boards .
Speaker 1We went back and then the news hit and it was like go home for spring break and take your stuff , and so we're thinking it's going to be one week . One week turns into two , two turns into six , six turns into seven . Then we start getting the emails like yeah , there's no graduation , here are your things . You can rent a gown if you want to . It was one thing after another and literally our graduation was our names rolling across a screen . They never even got called our name , just literally rolled across the tv screen for our parents to watch after all that time . So that's how it happened . We literally took boards a week before and then we passed . Most of my class passed , thankfully , I think there was like two people that had to go back , kind of once things broke and then they never went back to inpatient boards , they just kind of kind of stayed with mannequins . But we were the one of the last classes to take patient boards and we finished the week before COVID hit . So no , even to this day , no more patient . It's only mannequin . I've only seen , I've only heard of mannequin . I haven't heard of any more patient boards since we finished . I think the next class may have done part mannequin , part patient , but from pretty here and now it's been just mannequins from what I remember .
Speaker 1It just puts things into perspective for me . I'm just like my word , my go-to , is . I was like does it , does this stuff really matter ? Does the graduation matter ? The cap again . You still achieve what you did , you did , how hard you worked , and you know where you are , you know where it's taking you . But everything that we're doing like is it really , does it really matter ? So it could be a blessing in disguise to just make you realize , like what's important is I made it and now you're changing lives because you're looking back . Did you really miss it or did you feel robbed of it ? Did you feel like I don't know ? I definitely felt robbed .
Speaker 1And then , like the next year everybody went to like oh , we're going back to graduation . In my class we were just really close-knit . Everybody couldn't make it back . They only gave us like a week to prepare . I'm in Atlanta , somebody's in Chicago , somebody's over in California , so like we all couldn't come back . It wasn't really organized , so we just kind of like at first we were just really sad because you look for it at graduation and me specifically , I ruptured my Achilles in my third year so I couldn't wear heels , I couldn't walk , and if you see me on Instagram I'm like a heel girl , they like to be cute .
Speaker 1But I went . I had to go eight months without wearing heels . I did hard PT every day and my goal was to be and I told everyone like I'm trying to pump across that stage in some Christian Louboutins for graduation and that's all I'm trying to get into , because those are some high heels . And so they were like , well , I don't know what that little Achilles you got and how thin it is , you might not make it . So my goal was to be able to walk across the stage as red bottoms and I didn't get no graduation , but it's OK , it's okay , you need to go into Sims and just walk across the stage . That's it . You know what I'm saying and that's why y'all see me . If y'all see me on Instagram walking in the video , it's because I can walk in the heels and even though I didn't come to the stage , I can walk in my heels after my injury and I made a comeback like Kobe .
Speaker 1How did you retro your Achilles ? What happened ? You know , sometimes I will do well for a while and then fall off , and this time I really fell off . I went to the gym . I was at a CrossFit class , burn boot camp . I went every Saturday morning . I was doing the warmup . I mean , we hadn't even got started yet Doing the warmup and I'm running with my classmate and I was like girl , why you just kick me ? When I turned around , she was so far behind me there's no way she could have kicked me and I just started falling over like my body was collapsing . And the leader in the classes came and kind of like scooped me up before I hit the ground and laid me on the side and literally I called my best friend , who's a physical therapist , and within 30 seconds she was like yeah , you're up to your achilles , you don't need surgery and I lost it .
Speaker 1I'm like I should have just stayed in the bed , I should have just not went to the gym this morning and I would have been okay . Wow , life , life , be life and but God be God in . Okay , that's that's , that's my motto . That is the craziest . So nothing . You just went out , just went out and I went to the doctor .
Speaker 1I actually went to the emergency room that day because it swelled up so bad but I had no pain , like it was like a golf ball and playing basketball , growing up and being active . I mean , I'm a sprained ankle , I broke some wrists , I've done everything . So I went to the . I went to the ER , my mom assisted on it , and the doctor was like , oh , you just sprained your ankle . So we had a burnisher's ball that night , which is like our dental ball for the school , and I wore heels , thinking I just had a sprained ankle . Like I wore heels and everything and surprisingly my Achilles didn't roll up any further than what it was , because apparently , if you put it in the wrong angle it can cause it to spring up and they would have had to basically like extend my scar halfway up my calf muscle . So just thankfully , even though I got the wrong diagnosis , it didn't get any worse . But I went to the doctor like two days later and they were like , yeah , it's ruptured .
Speaker 1No heels , no , no , working out , no , any of this , none of that . It's eight months recovery time . You gotta have surgery if you want to come back . Sign this paper so we can get started . Damn , one thing after another one , one thing . So now I'm a true fitness girly . I've been in the gym hard , I've lost 15 pounds , I feel good , I look good , but , yeah , we're back and we better . Okay , okay . Okay , you need that setback for the , for the comeback , but come back . You know that's the word setback for the comeback , for the comeback , you know that's the word setback for a comeback . My goodness .
Speaker 1So did you go to ECU for your undergrad and dental school ? I went to Elizabeth City State University , hbcu , pride , okay . So I went there for undergrad . I actually started at Winston-Salem and transferred and finished at Elizabeth City and then I did dental school at East Carolina and actually in between undergrad and dental school I took a two-year break and taught high school . Oh , okay , wow , that's interesting . That's really because most people like they're like high school undergrad , go straight in .
Finding Purpose in Dentistry
Speaker 1So at that time , when I was graduating , kind of that last semester , that's when I started to get that like , oh , I don't want to do , and I was pre-med , I don't want to do medicine anymore , so was pre-med . I don't want to do medicine anymore , so I don't really know what I'm going to do . I actually went and got into a PhD program that was fully paid for at Virginia Commonwealth and I was going to do clinical research . But when I got there , the clinical lab that I was working had lost funding , and so on my first day of class they gave me two options Pick another lab or stay here for five years until the lab gets new funding . You talking about staying in Richmond for five years ? No , ma'am .
Speaker 1So I picked another lab , hated the lab . I was working with rats . I would hear rats in my sleep . It was too much . I just couldn't do it . I was like mom , I'm not doing this . So I literally took a leave of absence and never went back . Never so teaching was my . I can't sit at home . Never went back , never so teaching was my . I can't sit at home , I need to go get a job . So I applied to some labs , I applied to some some some teaching jobs and I got a job teaching within a week and I went to go teach because I can't sit at home . Ok , and then when , where did dental dental school come there we go .
Speaker 1So growing up I was a little ugly duckling . I had some jacked up teeth so I actually got braces twice . And the funny thing is is my orthodontist Lord God rest his soul . I used to go in there for his visit . He was a . He was an African American orthodontist . Everybody from Elizabeth City ended up going to him because he did take Medicaid and he was just wonderful and I would go in there . He was like you're going to be a dentist , you're doing great down there .
Speaker 1In school because a three point . I had a 4.0 GPA all the way until my end of my junior year . Then I tried , then I pledged and I was . I had 24 credit hours at the same time . I felt a little bit short so I ended with a 3.89 still pretty close , but I would take my report card and he would give us , you know , gift cards and he would . He would congratulate us . He was like man , you're gonna be a dentist , you're gonna be a dentist , you're gonna be a great dentist . I said you're crazy , I'm not getting anybody's mouth .
Speaker 1And then those words came back to bite me and so once my braces came off and I actually got to finish everything , I had to get one implant and one crown and my dentist awesome man , he's in Greenbrier , he works at Greenbrier Dental was like hey , just come and I'll give you some money off . If you come to shadow money , I'll be there tomorrow morning . How early do you need me there ? Because I this bill is expensive . So I went to go shadow and , like the first patient had like a tube that was broken , causing him crazy pain . He got him out of pain . I was like , well , that was cool .
Speaker 1And then the next , like kind of week later , after I had been shadowing for a week so many cool things I got my smile finished . So he submitted my crown , submitted my implant , which we all know implants take time . So I got my implant finished , got my crown seated , didn't have to wear that retainer no more , and I was like , oh snap , this girl is cute , look at she . For the longest time I had one triangle peg lateral and then I had whoever's assistant was I can't remember who she was and I didn't know any better she matched the peg laterals . So my retainer that filled in my missing two space that I wore for like six years was also another peg lateral and they both look like sharp vampires . So I look completely different with just those two things and I was like , oh my goodness , wow , I am a new human and I want to help other people do the same thing because my confidence boosted .
Speaker 1Growing up I just had really low self-esteem . I was joked all the time . I was heavy , like I always struggled with weight , and when I was 15 years old I was 190 pounds , five foot tall , 190 because I was round a brick house and not in the , not in the way , in the good way , to talk about something . I was a house and so , like , just growing up I've always struggled weight , struggle with my self-esteem , like I . And so that just going into college , losing weight , coming into myself and then having that to just seal the deal , I just felt like a new person . I wanted to be able to give other people that same smile , that same give back .
Speaker 1So we don't , we , we don't talk about enough how much your smile affects your mental health or overall health . Like if you're confident and you have that smile , it can transform into how do I feel about myself ? How do I feel about other people ? How do I treat other people ? How do I treat myself ? How do I treat things that I put in my body . You know what I mean . Like how am I reacting to how I feel deep down ? And that's one of the things where we want to make people feel good about themselves and really care and , on the back end , working in dentistry because we care so much and because we take a lot of other people's issues right , because we want to fix things , I want to make you happy , I want to make you smile . I want to make you smile .
Speaker 1Then we tend to get burnt out . So you've been practicing four years , five years now . Do you see yourself still practicing dentistry ? How do you break that up so that you don't get burned out ? Or have you even gotten burnt out yet ? Burnout is real , do I think I've been burnt out in some moments ? Definitely so .
Speaker 1In my first job at dental school , I worked for Heartland Dental , which is a corporate dental office , and I was not supposed to be running the office but ended up running the office because I didn't have an office manager . So not only was I doing dentistry , I was helping the front desk and helping with this and helping with insurance and making sure patients were called and handling patient complaints and so handling drama in the office , like between the hygienist and assistants , and so for someone coming fresh out of residency , when you can , you learn . Ecu will teach you all the dentistry that you want to know you can . Those clinical skills are going to be A1 coming out . But we did not have a class about managing humans . So I was the national president of the Student National Dental Association during my last year at ECU and I worked with students all across the country and we managed S and D for all the dental schools across the country and I thought that my experience leading students was going to be the same no , completely different thing . So I was a little burnt out . I felt like I wasn't making exactly what I wanted to make because it was a brand new office in the area , a lot of things going on with how Hartland was kind of growing in North Carolina , and I just felt like I wasn't kind of accomplishing what I wanted to accomplish .
Navigating Career Transition and Self-Care
Speaker 1So I think the biggest thing is knowing when it's time to move , knowing when it's time to transition , understanding that you know your goals change . Everything pivots and giving yourself that room to grow . Giving yourself that room to move , because our parents , you know , my mom has worked in the same place for 30 years , and then you have this mindset like , oh , I got to go here , I got to stay . And that's not the thing . If it's not working for you , move . If that's not working for you , move again . Everyone's hiring , everyone needs it . There's so many opportunities .
Speaker 1And so I left that area and I went into a new job and I mean , but even then , still , you can have some days where you feel burnt out . I think the biggest thing is giving yourself grace is doing the best you can while you're on the clock and not taking that stuff home . Find a hobby , find an outlet , work out , zen outlet , workout zen , breathe , pray , do whatever you have to do to take care of yourself , and that's the biggest thing . But it's definitely easy to get burnt out . You definitely that experience I'm believer in everything that you go through opens the door for the next thing . Next thing not have reached the next level until you went through that . So that experience was what it was supposed to be .
Speaker 1So when , when people like you said , generational , like your parents stay , you know , at a job forever , forever , it's not the same because we are constantly evolving as people and our mindset is changing . There's no longer I'm unhappy and I'm staying in a relationship I mean we call it dating and dentistry . You better find your office . It's not working now . I'm sorry it's not . It's not . It's not you and me , it's not y'all , it's me . I got to go , I got to do what's best for me and I think the biggest thing is understanding that these jobs these days do not kind of appreciate you as much as they did back in the day .
Speaker 1You know jobs back in the day my mom's job , they're going to switch . If she wants a new position they're going to switch around . Make sure she's still happy . Today . People will replace you and that's why I tell people about taking vacations , taking that day off if you need to . You have to take care of you because if something happens to you and you can't go to work , they don't replace you . They get an attempt doc , attempt hygienist , attempt assistant , and you will be replaced . They're going to replace you that day or the next day and they don't keep moving .
Speaker 1I asked the question and my question was what piece of technology can you not live without ? Like you said , you're a girl's girl , but you also used to be a tomboy . So what piece of technology or what can you not live ? It could be food , it could be whatever , like what is it that you got to have for you ? Oh , so it doesn't have to be dentistry ? No , it doesn't have to be dentistry .
Speaker 1Okay , because dentistry , baby , I can't live without a scanner . Don Don't get me to take no traditional impressions , no more , I cannot . I don't want to do that . I need a scanner . And what can I not live without in life ? It's probably a basic answer , but my cell phone . Everything is on my cell phone my calendar , my clock , my timer , my reminders . Everything is in that cell phone . If this thing gets lost , I'm lost . We're both lost together . We're lost together . We're in shambles . Somebody get her cell phone now . Then somebody get my cell phone , because I can , I can't live without it . Like it has my flight , it has everything in there that I need to do . It's just , it's my , it's attached to me . Yeah , yeah , we took out an iphone . I got iphone 15 . Is that the one that's out now ? 15 , whatever , 15 , 14 , whatever the newest one is , I don't know . Okay , okay , okay , all right . So five years years into dentistry , you're a technology . Yes , you are a technology because you do a lot of content creation .
Speaker 1You're a perfect day . What does it look like ? Perfect day is working out in the morning at 5 am , because I am a fitness girly , but that clock be going off actually don't make it . Getting breakfast , so getting my eggs and my protein in so I can build this booty , and then going to work treating my patients , of course , um , hopefully closing some Invisalign cases , closing a veneer case , being able to treat my patients and then taking a good lunch break , getting me a nice healthy snack at lunch and then coming out to close the day , going home on time , all notes finished and then coming home , probably catching up on some things I need to do for social media . So I usually use like two hours of work time and then resting . That's my perfect day . So I'm in rest mode by nine o'clock so I can be in bed and sleep by 10 . So then at five o'clock the next morning I'm back and ready to roll Back and ready to roll .
Speaker 1Okay , that's a day in the life y'all . If y'all didn't know Day in the life , I might be seeing the content creating coming out . But I'm like I don't have the brain cells to create content . But you do it and it's engaging and people are watching it . Even when you don't think they're watching , they are watching and that's the beautiful thing about having influence that you don't know that
Empowering Dental Career Guidance
Speaker 1it's happening .
Speaker 1Okay , anything else you want to let the people know when to find you ? Any last words , any gems for the audience , listeners , absolutely . So where to find me ? I am saved by dr bell on instagram , as well as tiktok , for as long as that's around , because we don't know what that looks like right now . I say about dr bell , instagram with all the inspiration rich auntie vibes , boss girl vibe how to get to where you want to be , and definitely . I'm honing in right now on pre-dental help and how to get you guys into dental school and how to get you guys out of dental school as well . So , especially if you are wanting to go dental school , this is the place to be . For sure , I have everything you need . I just released a personal statement guide on how to write the personal statement for you , so definitely download it . I think it's very helpful . I heard a lot of feedback from students that it's been very helpful , so definitely get that for sure .
Speaker 1And then gyms . Gyms are to whatever you are going towards , whatever that goal , that dream , is go for it . Don't let anything stop you . Whether that's a business , whether that is a side hustle , whether it is going back to school , whether it's going into hygiene or dental assisting , or whether it has nothing to do with dentistry , go for it . Whatever that is , go for it . If you're in dentistry and you're feeling burnt out , don't give up . It's okay . Take some time to center yourself , whether that's a vacation or whether that's just some time off of work . Take some time off recenter reset . Figure out what's going to make you happy in that career , because you chose it for a reason . So always remember your why and understand that it's okay to pivot if you need to . Um , that job does not define you , that one location does not define you and it's okay to move . Your license will move with you and it's okay to move . And then , for anyone that is applying right now , stay in the state , stay moving forward .
Speaker 1For the DAT , definitely create a schedule and go for it . It is intimidating , I was intimidated , but if I can do , anyone else can do it as well . Look out for mentors . If you need a study schedule , need help , come to me on Instagram . I'm here to help you . We can do a spark . They are free , you don't have to pay for them . But I'm here to help us in the gap , to help you with resources .
Speaker 1Reach out to mentors and the biggest thing is always believe in yourself . No matter how many no's you get , how many doors shut you need . You only need one yes to start anything that you are doing , and if the yes is not now , that yes will come . So always believe in yourself , keep pushing and know that at that finish line we're going to be cheering you on . We're cheering you on now , and that you have what it takes to become whatever you want to be . That's right .
Speaker 1Y'all just got saved by Dr Bell . There you go . Well , thank you , dr Bell . It was just very nice . It was a lot of enlightenment and it's always like I keep saying it's a refresher , it's breath , air , just to see someone come on here that looks like us , that's a dentist , that's humble , that's down to earth , that can really say like reach out to me , I'm here to help if y'all need it and I'm just a round the way , girl , that's all . I'm a regular girl from East , hometown girl , small town girl , big city dreams , and I want to make sure that you reach all of your dreams as well . That's it we got to make .
