Let's Talk Teeth
Get ready to take a bite out of dental school with Let's Talk Teeth, the podcast that gives you the inside scoop on what it takes to succeed in the world of dentistry. Join hosts Victor and Saad, two D2 Dental students, as they share their experiences, offer pre-dental advice, and discuss the latest trends and technologies in the field of Dentistry.
Feel free to always reach out to us at letstalkteethpodcast@gmail.com regarding any questions you may have or if you are interested in being a guest!
Let's Talk Teeth
Conversations with Dr. Mia Geisinger: UAB's Periodontics Director
Welcome to another episode of Let's Talk Teeth! Today, we have a special guest, Dr. Mia Geisinger, a professor and director of advanced education in periodontology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Dr. Geisinger shares her inspiring journey into the field of periodontology, discussing her educational background, career progression, and the mentors who influenced her. She provides valuable insights into her philosophy of patient-centric care, the impact of technology on dentistry, and the unique aspects of UAB's periodontology program. Dr. Geisinger also offers thoughtful advice to students and aspiring periodontists, emphasizing the importance of innovation, mentorship, and maintaining a growth mindset.
00:00 Introduction and Guest Welcome
00:25 Dr. Mia Geisinger's Background
01:13 Journey into Periodontology
03:34 Early Career and Mentorship
05:47 Transition to Academia
12:25 UAB Periodontology Program Insights
15:47 Choosing the Right Residency Program
18:26 Value of Education and Cost Considerations
19:39 Career Freedom and Financial Decisions
20:12 The Value of Education and Diplomacy
20:45 Technological Advancements in Periodontics
22:23 AI in Dentistry: Opportunities and Challenges
25:39 Qualities of an Ideal Residency Applicant
28:50 UAB's Residency Curriculum
33:33 Mentorship and Career Growth
39:26 Closing Advice for Aspiring Dentists
All right, everyone. What's up? Welcome back to another episode of Let's Talk Teeth. Today, we have a very special guest, Dr. Mia Geisinger. Dr. Geisinger, if you don't mind just kind of introducing yourself. Let us know what you're doing, where you want to dental school, what kind of led you down to the field of where you're at. And we can just kind of go from there.
Mia Geisinger:All right. Well, Hey, how are you doing? I'm Mia Geisinger. I am a professor and director of advanced education and periodontology at the university of Alabama at Birmingham. I'm also the acting chair there. And I am the president elect of the American academy of periodontology. I have been here at UAB for 17 years, but before that, I was in private practice outside of Nashville in Goodlettsville, Tennessee. I did my undergraduate training at Duke my dental school at Columbia University in New York City, and my perio training at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio. So I guess that's kind of my background. And give me a little bit of clarity. Like how far back do you want me to go? And yeah that's good enough.
Victor Razi:So, what kind of got you into perio? Was that in dental school or was that something like prior that you knew?
Mia Geisinger:No, I don't have any family members who were dentists. Both of my parents trained as school teachers. My mother was a chemist. My father was a business teacher for a long time in community college. And then he went out of education and he worked in international mergers and acquisitions on the business side with General Foods, and then Philip Morris and then Kraft Foods, it was all the same company. They just kept getting bought and bought,
Victor Razi:right?
Mia Geisinger:so I, first of all, I had no connection to dentistry at all. And when I was. 16, I decided I was going to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. So, I thought what are the things that I'm good at? And basically I came up with foreign language and science. And then I was like, unless I want to be a simultaneous interpreter at the UN, I don't think there's a lot of money to be made in. Foreign language would that I have, I invented a duolingo though, but but I decided I do something in science and I didn't really think that I wanted to be in a lab petting things all day. I thought something in health science. And so, again, this is a little Spoiler on how old I am. I took my parents Rolodex and I called every person that they knew who is in healthcare, physicians, physical therapists, PAs, nurses, nurse practitioners, and dentists. And I said, you know, would you be willing to answer three questions for me? And the questions were if I was your child, would you tell me to go into your field? What do you like best about your line of work? And what is the one thing that happens at your job that ruins your day?
Victor Razi:Those are good. Especially the last one.
Mia Geisinger:Yeah. And to a person, the dentists were the ones who said, yes, I tell my child to go into dentistry. I love my job. I love the fact that I get to help people. I love the fact that most of my emergencies are not something that is life threatening. And you know, the things that, that ruined their day were really things that I thought, you know, at the end of the day, if that's the worst thing that happens, I'm probably okay. So in college, I actually worked as a dental assistant to pay my bills and I was a certified dental assistant in an oral surgery office. for three years. And I love the surgical aspect of it. But I, one of the things that I found hard was that we saw those patients mostly for an initial consultation on the surgical day, and then for one or two post ops, and then we never saw them again. So when I got to dental school, we had a break between first and second year. And I figured, okay, well, let's see about another surgical specialty. And I'm a licensed dental assistant. Let me cold call every periodontist in Manhattan. See if I can get a job for eight weeks. And I ended up interviewing a couple of places and ended up getting a job with a periodontist whose name was Dr. Freya Karsh. Dr. Karsh was the first woman to go through the perio program at Columbia University and she was a hygienist before she became a periodontist and she was what can only be described as a tough broad. And I just loved her practice. I thought it was really neat that she got to do so many different kinds of surgery, but also that she saw patients, you know, for years and years. And she knew where their kids went to school. And if someone had, you know, their first grandchild, or if someone's kid was getting married or you know, She was there for their whole life. And that was one of the things that appealed to me about dentistry. So, between her and then some mentors that I had in dental school, I decided to go into perio.
Victor Razi:Nice. That's a crazy story. And honestly, not a big thing I got from it was just like, When you wanted to do something, the amount of hustle you had to get that done. It's okay, I'm just going to call everyone who's ever existed on the planet and see if this works.
Mia Geisinger:It's a lot of periodontists in Manhattan too, by the way, I mean, some of them did not need a dental assistant and they gave me a very nice letter or email or whatever back. But yeah, it was. It was, I was really lucky to find and fall into the situation that I did for sure.
Victor Razi:Sure. So you did private practice outside of Nashville. And then what kind of led you to like academia?
Mia Geisinger:Oh accidentally I'm an accidental academic. Yeah, so I always say that my best friend from dental school went to Harvard. She did the four year DMSC program at Harvard and she was going to be the academic mission. And I was going to be the clinician and we've both failed miserably because she is in private. And it's in Colorado and I am in academics and have been for the last 17 years. When I moved so we were in Tennessee because my husband was in the army. He did, he's a physician, he did HPSP paid for his residency. And then he got some really great government sponsored desert vacations. And he was stationed in Fort Campbell, which is in Clarksville, Tennessee, about 45 minutes north of Nashville. So on the north side of Nashville, and when he was getting ready to get out of the army he was looking for a job and really looking all over. And he happened to get connected through a a reservist who rotated through Fort Campbell with, he's an anesthesiologist with the group that he's with now in Birmingham. And so we moved to Birmingham with my intention being that I was going to start a practice. I had a preliminary lease on a space. In fact, when we moved the last time I threw out all of my little Korean counter samples and my blueprints for what it was going to look like. But at the time, Alabama had its own state board that was offered once a year. And the other way to get a license in Alabama was to get it by credentials. So I was a board certified periodontist. I hadn't cut a class two in probably five years. So I was like, well, I'll do it that way, you know, cause nobody wants me like cutting a class two on them. That's terrible. So, at the time Alabama required a background check in every place that you've ever lived since you were 18 years old. So if you've moved to all of those different cities, that's a lot of background checks. They called five personal references and five professional references. And they asked every single one of them, is she fun at parties? Is she fun at parties? Which I don't know what the right answer is to by the way.
Saad Alamgir:Wow.
Mia Geisinger:Is she fun at parties? No. Antisocial weirdo. Is she fun at parties? Yes. Alcoholic. What's the right answer? But it took about six months. So in the meantime, I know no one in Birmingham. I am sitting in my house. I've been married a year and I'm like, I'm going to get divorced. Cause I don't talk to anybody all day long. And then my husband comes home and all I want to do is talk at him. So I was like, this is unsustainable. We cannot do this. And I'm going a little nuts. So I called the chair of the period department at the time. And I said I'm a board certified periodonist. I'd like to come in and teach a couple of days a week and you don't have to pay me. And he was like, so
Saad Alamgir:all about those cold calls.
Mia Geisinger:So I was here about three months and a faculty member was leaving and a position was open. And the chair at the time, Dr. Mike Freddie, who's the dean and vice provost at UCSF now said Yeah, you know, if you wanted to apply for this job, I think, you know, you might be a good fit. And I was like, absolutely not. No way. You know, I have Ivy league debt. And my husband got shot at, so he didn't have educational debt and I'm, I can't. And he said, I totally understand. Promise me this. You'll take a weekend and you'll call one person you trust. And I said, fine. And if I make a promise, I keep it. So I called one person I trusted and he said, Mia, there's no wrong decision. If you decide to go into private practice, you will do a great job. You will have a wonderful life. You'll treat every patient the way that they deserve to be treated. And it's a wonderful 30 year career. But if you decide to go into teaching, you have the opportunity to change the way that every single one of your students treats every single one of their patients for the next years of their career.
Victor Razi:That's empowering.
Mia Geisinger:And I was like, crap, I'm going to have to do this, aren't I? So, 17 years of academia. I used to say half the money, twice the fun. But our dean here said that's not entirely accurate. It should be third the money, three times the fun. So, so there you go. You know, but it's been great. It's been great.
Victor Razi:So I know that like you had a, kind of a crazy story, honestly, too. Well, in that gig, I actually didn't expect it to go that way, but you, I mean, what did UAB do right to keep you there for 15 to 17 years?
Mia Geisinger:I mean, I've been really lucky and that I work with some amazing people. Also I work with students and residents, so I can pretend I'm 26 until I look in the mirror. It keeps you young and it keeps you curious. I think for me, it's really been you know, I knew what it was like to be in private practice and I loved practice. I loved treating patients. I really did. And I think I would have been very happy had I hung up that shingle and open my office, but doing what I do now, even on the days when I'm frustrated. I don't think I could go back. Every day is different. I feel like I get to make a difference with students, with residents with patients. I feel like I get to make a difference for our profession on the whole advocating for science, advocating for patient education. Changing the way we do business in dentistry through changing our understanding of the treatment modalities and the fundamental science that we do. So, you know, at the end of the day, I think that's what keeps me here. And of course, the wonderful people I get to work with students, residents, team members and other faculty colleagues.
Saad Alamgir:Wow. Yeah. I mean, the more I hear about your story, the more amazed I am, honestly. I mean, sounds like you made it happen. You know, you cold called everyone you. Basically decided to work. I got
Mia Geisinger:really lucky too. I got really lucky. And a lot of people gave me a shot when they didn't have to.
Saad Alamgir:Yeah. So how long have, I think you mentioned you're the director of the perio program now. How long have you been doing that for now?
Mia Geisinger:Since 2015.
Saad Alamgir:Okay. Wow. Yeah. Almost 10 years. What do you think? You've gone to period programs in the past. You went to one in San Antonio, I want to say, and what about UAB's period program sets them apart from other programs,
Mia Geisinger:I mean, I'm not here to tell you that there's one right place that is the best. I think there are places that are better than others for people who are applying for residency programs. I think, you know, people have to be honest with what they want at the end. And what their their goals are what their personality is. So I'll tell you the strengths and weaknesses. I think that we structure our program at UAB so that residents can get a breadth of clinical experience. We don't have a shortage of patients, so we're really lucky in that regard. And we have great relationships with our interdisciplinary colleagues endo, proths, ortho, oral surgery we're really lucky. Our residents are able to do deeper dives into things that they are interested in through both research and clinical patient care and, you know, really have the opportunity if they take it to achieve not just clinical competence, but clinical proficiency. The flip side of that is. I have a kid. I don't want to be anybody's mother except for hers. So I'm not standing there with a clipboard checking them in the morning, checking them out in the afternoon. I expect that if you come to a residency program, that you are a doctor, that you are an adult that you are here for the right reasons, that you want to learn. And this is not the program for you. If you work on eyeball power, meaning if I had to be looking at you, right. This is the program for someone who is self motivated, who is a self starter and an independent thinker who is. Willing to take every clinical opportunity as a learning opportunity, not to do surgery with my brain and your hands. I know how to do it. Right. I want you at the end of the day to walk out. Being a not just competent, but proficient period honest and part of being a doctor is that you're not executing what I'm telling you to do. If that, then you are you know, a secondary health care providers, a dental hygienist. You know, if you're the doctor, you're executing based upon your diagnosis, based upon your understanding of the evidence, and that's really important. And as a specialist, it's even more important because there's a very small area and the knowledge base is very deep and you have to know it.
Victor Razi:Right. Well, Mia or Dr. Geisinger, tell me that this, if you were. If you were a student right now applying for residency, what would you be looking for throughout each program?
Mia Geisinger:Alright, so I would look for a residency program that had a patient mix that reflects what individuals see in private practice, so not too heavy in any one area. Most periodontists will report that their practice is approximately a third. implant and implant site preparation procedures, a third treatment of periodontitis or periodontal diseases, and about a third periodontal plastic surgery procedures. So mucogenital treatment of mucogenital deformities treatment of aesthetics, that kind of thing. So I would look for that kind of mix. I wouldn't want a program that was too heavy in dental implants with Lacking on treating disease particularly because if periodontists don't treat periodontitis, who's gonna we better be doing it. And you know, I'd want to make sure that the patient population was there, that I was going to get a good. Breath of information. I would want to look at a program that had a good record of achieving board certification for their graduates. Right now, more than 50 percent of period honest in the United States are board certified. More than 80 percent of new graduates become board certified. I certainly expect That individuals who finish at our program are in the top half, not the bottom half of periodontist in the country. And I think board certification is a way to show to patients, to your colleagues that you are committed to that higher level of achievement, but also through the board certification with ongoing formative assessments to lifelong continuing education. And lastly, whether or not I cared about research I would look at a program that had a good record, a good scholarly record of publications and research because that's how a program makes its reputation. Nobody invites Dr. Gers. Our dean, who is a periodontist to speak because he is an amazing teacher. He is an amazing teacher, but that doesn't get you on the podium anyplace. They invite him to speak because he's an expert in certain areas and how you show your expertise is really through the scholarship that you produce. So, you know, if I had a certificate that was going to hang on my wall for the 30 years of my career,
Victor Razi:right.
Mia Geisinger:Think about what that meant.
Victor Razi:Right. It seems to be too that I don't know, you went to Columbia and it seemed relatively expensive. Right. So, what would you say you know, some programs are like almost polar opposite in like price, I guess, like some of them are like, I don't know, 150, 000 a year, like cost of attendance. And then some of them are like, Oh, we're going to give you a 20, 000 stipend. So like, how does that, how would you factor that into like your process? Right. Yeah.
Mia Geisinger:All right. So first of all, I want to say that yes, I went to Columbia at the time it was the least expensive private school and I had a scholarship they made it less expensive than my state institution. So, that was part of my decision making process when I opted to go there. I think that value is an important consideration and what I mean by that is Price is what you pay, value is what you get, right? So, cost isn't everything, but it's something. And particularly if you think that you can get an equivalent education at multiple institutions, thinking about the value. That you're getting versus the tuition that you're paying in. I think it's important. And you want the freedom to make decisions in your career. Both chair side with patients, but also, you know, maybe to work in private practice four days a week or three days a week and teach, right?
Victor Razi:Your own accord.
Mia Geisinger:You want those, that freedom to make those decisions and not have them dictated to you by the debt load that you're carrying. So I do think it's important. It's not the only thing that I would consider, but it would be value. We once had a applicant who Applied to our program years and years ago. And when I asked him why he applied to UAB, he said, cause it's cheap. And I said, you're not married. Cause there's a more diplomatic way to say that. So yeah, I find it to be a good value would be maybe a kinder way. Yeah.
Saad Alamgir:Right. Dr. Geisinger switching gears a little bit, obviously you've been in the field for more than 20 years, and I think you've seen a lot of advancements in the field periodontics, and obviously now there's A lot of advancements in AI and stuff like that. So I was just wondering, do you see any of that type of technology effect in the field of periodontics today or in the next five to 10 years?
Mia Geisinger:So what I would say is you would be remiss if you didn't think that technology will impact the way that all of us practice dentistry. It, it would be foolhardy. To say that, but all of these technologies, whether it is lasers or whether it is AI or whether it is some technology that we can't even conceive of today that'll come out next year and we'll totally change what we're doing, right? They are tools. they are tools to get us to an end. But the one thing that doesn't change is biology. So for us in periodontics you know, the key is to understand the fundamental biology and then to understand how those tools can help us treat our patients and meet their needs based upon What we see as a physiology and pathophysiology of the disease processes going on.
Victor Razi:I see. Yeah, Saad and I had the privilege to go to the IADR conference this year. And we went into a perio room and it was a guy pitching a software that like analyzes your perio chart and gives you a treatment plan. And It was honestly like pretty cool. We didn't know enough. We don't still don't know enough dentistry to have a total opinion on that. But just from like a layman's perspective, it was like, whoa. Cause like they were training it to I don't know. It seemed like a very cool, like supplemental thing that a doctor can have to make an educated decision.
Saad Alamgir:And I think from a dentist's point of view, I think it would also help raise trust between the patient and them because obviously there's really, you know, there's some dentists out there who diagnosed stuff that aren't really there and there's some patients who just have that reality, but having the option of showing like, Hey, AI is showing you that you have a cavity right here and they see that, then there'll be more inclined to believe them. So I think it could also help raise just patient trust between provider and them.
Mia Geisinger:It absolutely can. The caveat there being, particularly with periodontal charting, is garbage in garbage out, right? So your periodontal charting, including your assessment of things like gingival overgrowth, negative recession Your perinatal probing, your assessment of mobility, your assessment of furcation involvement. Boy, that better all be right on. You better be able to perform those assessments in a accurate way to allow them the artificial intelligence to be able to help you as a tool.
Saad Alamgir:Yeah,
Victor Razi:I agree. What do you think? I feel like people were either like, Oh, I'm with it or oh, I'm against it. You know, what's your take?
Mia Geisinger:It's just a, it's just a thing. It's just a tool. You know, it's like saying I believe in that the sky is blue. It is. You can't say I don't believe in it. It is, it exists. And how we use it matters a lot. And by the way, Whether or not we are using it in the dental office, our third payer pay, our third party payors are using it to assess our performance right now. Every time you send a chart or a X ray in, it is running through AI on the insurance side, I promise you. So. It's a part of what we do now and will continue to be a part moving forward. And we just have to figure out the most possible way to use it so that it protects our patients from a, Patient autonomy standpoint, but it also protects their privacy. One of the big concerns currently with some of the AI amalgamators is that they're being built into these EDR softwares. But the terms of agreement is that the big AI company is using those data.
Victor Razi:Wow.
Mia Geisinger:And you know, is that okay? For now, you know, I mean, I think these are the bioethical questions that we are going to have to answer.
Victor Razi:Right. I totally agree. Kind of turning tables a little bit with AI. I know we have a lot of students at our school and honestly, students that just have reached out to us and they're like applying to residency and interested in period. What would you say is like some big things that you had to be kind of looks for in a. Ideal applicant. You probably get asked that all the time.
Mia Geisinger:Well, I mean, you know, that's a moving target, right? Because we are looking at the applicant pool for this year, which is different than the applicant pool for last year, which will be different than the applicant pool for next year. And we're looking for folks that we think can be successful in our program, which is going to be different than folks who are running a different program. That being said, you know, I think a genuine interest in the the field, a patient centric attitude matters a lot, right? I've never once had a sinus lift walk into my office. It's always a patient who needs augmentation in their sinus to get dental implants in the posterior mass. But I hear patients if I don't know, turn on an Instagram live or go to a CE course. I hear patients referred to as arches or procedures quite often. And to me, that is really antithetical to who we are as individuals. healthcare providers. And it also really impedes learning. If you view patients as procedures rather than as a whole patient you know, I have to hang out with folks who are in our residency eight hours a day for three years. So I want them to be nice. I want them to be team players. I want them to be people that if I'm going to spend almost as much time with you as I do with anyone else in my life,
Victor Razi:then you're going to want to hang out with them. I
Mia Geisinger:want you to be like a genuine, nice person who is going to, to my life, not subtracted from it. And, you know, obviously there is a level of academic achievement that is required to be successful in a period of program. It's, you have to be willing to do a lot of studying. My joke that I always tell is it's the smallest body part you can major in, right? It's a lot of information about it. So, you know, you have to be prepared for that and you can't come in and think you know, it's going to be all cutting gums and sinking implants because you know, I definitely. Think that our residents get more so than that. I hope they get a great deal of diagnostic experience and experience in patient management and leadership development. All of those things are really important and probably in many ways more important for your success. As a in particular private practice period on us, but in any aspect of your next step in your career.
Victor Razi:Sure. So, kind of piggybacking on that. How does UAB's curriculum kind of unfold with like clinical versus like didactic work?
Mia Geisinger:So in our residency program, our First year residents who just started on the 1st of July come in and they take two back to back intensive seminar courses within our department. So they take advanced therapeutics and periodontology and introduction to surgical implants. Those are kind of, basement setting courses where we say, okay, this is The dental school or textbook level knowledge that we expect you to have to be able to start building upon that in your residency. They also are taking other didactic courses at the same time. But they also get started right away seeing patients. And they have an opportunity to get think their first patient assignments got to them. They started on the 1st of July. The 1st patient assignments got to them on the 10th of July and our 1st years have already started seeing patients and doing procedures. But you know, they have a continued didactic curriculum. That is a. Literature review curriculum that looks at presenting case conferences, a digital dentistry curriculum that runs through all three years here and we do something that we we started a few years ago that focuses on topics that are outside of clinical periodontology. So practice management, leadership development. Financial acumen. We do a book club. I'll actually show you our book for this semester. We read a book each semester. So this is for this semester after business. It's an entrepreneurial book. It was the number one. business book in 2019. And I happen to know the author mostly because she's married to a period honest.
Victor Razi:You
Mia Geisinger:know, she is actually going to come and do a whole exercise on she refers to her program. I'll grab the book. She refers to her program as A sort of M three program, which is meaning mindset and mindfulness on developing your track as an entrepreneur. And she has all these coaching aspects that she talks to entrepreneurs with and her she's a licensed social worker, but her practice really focuses on entrepreneurial development in the dental space. So she's going to come and do all of those activities with our residents. And we're going to do a team building exercise on the same day. But, you know, we might also have a lecture on how do you get started running a study club or lecturing for your local district dental society. What are some tips and tricks to get up in front of people, you know? If you think about what people report as their number one fear, more people are afraid of public speaking than they are of dying. So they at a funeral, they'd rather be in the casket than given the eulogy. Right. It's about 4 percent difference in the public.
Victor Razi:Right.
Mia Geisinger:But in our role, even if you don't want to, you know, that kind of interaction, whether it's individually with patients or in front of a larger group with. offices for referrals or you know, in study clubs or whatever is going to be important to your development for your practice and your market.
Victor Razi:Yeah. I'm sure your residents appreciate that too. The, I don't know. I feel like you kind of have the keep it real mindset. And like when you graduate from a perio residency, the odds of you owning and operating a peril office and just inner counter encountering those things that like y'all incorporate with y'all's education. It's you know, just keeping it real, I guess, is what comes to my mind when like you're adding these things on top of just their clinical and like patient oriented education. So, I appreciate that much for that part.
Mia Geisinger:I mean, I hope that they appreciate it. Well, I guess I always say give everything a tincture of time because when you're in it, you know, I mean, residency is not like down by kittens. It's a lot.
Victor Razi:Right.
Mia Geisinger:And so, much like dental school you know, you sometimes need a little bit of separation to realize oh man, that. particular teacher who is really tough on me. I probably learned the most from him or her. You know, they had high expectations, but also the belief that I could reach them. And you know, in the mid, in the moment, it might feel like, Oh my God, another thing to do. Right.
Victor Razi:Right. So Mia, kind of closing out here who has been like your biggest mentor in your career? Like Well, who's the first person that comes to mind, I guess, when you think of somebody who's impacted you and kind of like how have they done that?
Mia Geisinger:Well, I would say two people and in different ways. So, he was not my program director, but my program director was a periodontist named, Jim Mellonig, who is deceased who was a wonderful person. And I would say. You guys might not know what this instrument is, but there's an elevator we use in Perio called the Pritchard Elevator and it's big. And you use it to protect the soft tissue and it's always dinged up from the high speed hand piece, right? So it always looks a mess because you hold it in between where you're working with the high speed handpiece and the soft tissue. And I always think that's what Jim was for us. Protected us as residents. But, you know, he was never delicate about it. And one of the proudest moments of my life. He always used to say, I'm Dr. Mellonig until you get your board certification, then you can call me Jim. And I remember seeing him at a meeting and walking across the room and saying, Hey, Jim, how's it going?
Saad Alamgir:Oh man, that's powerful.
Mia Geisinger:It was one of the proudest moments in my life. But my research mentor in residency was Dr. Brian Mealey. And he's actually the person I called when Mike ready said, call somebody. And he is for sure the educator. I want to be, he is. encouraging to a fault. He's tough. He's smart. But I think he does truly believe that folks that he work with, he works with can be bigger and better than themselves. And I hope that, that's something that I strive to do. I don't know that I get there all the time, but I strive to do it for our residents. And then from a leadership standpoint Dr. Mike Reddy who was our dean here at UAB and was the chair when I started here is always who I wanna be as a leader. He is. Really innovative person. He's a servant leader. He, you know, is the quintessential leader's last type of a person. He's never going to tell you to do something that he wouldn't do himself. He's a very introverted person. But I also think that In many ways, allows him to really have an opportunity to observe people in a way that when folks are focused on outer life they don't necessarily and I just, I think he's so, forward thinking and Such a wonderful example of how you can be excellent as a clinician, as a scientist, as a teacher, and as a leader. So for me, it would be those two. We, Dr. Mealy and Dr. Reddy they are in different aspects, you know, who I want to be when I grow
Saad Alamgir:up. That's awesome. I just want to say it's, I'm glad that you were able to have those awesome mentors. And I keep hearing you say you're lucky, but I just, I don't think that's the case. I think you were really prepared when The opportunity arises. I think the saying goes is when luck is when opportunity meets chance. And I think you're properly prepared for the moment when that situation arose and you're able to get it done. So I'm not buying the luck. So I think you're here because of your own accord and your own hard work. And that's something you should be proud of.
Mia Geisinger:No one. Does anything in life and leadership, whatever by themselves. You always have people who are supporting you, whether that's your family, your significant other, your your colleagues, it always is a team. And I would be remiss to take credit for anything we do here at UAB or anything I've done outside of UAB solely by myself, because that would be absolutely. It would be so untrue. I'm really fortunate to work with a great group of folks. And I've been fortunate to have people who have really taken the time to help me along the way and have given me, you know, really honest, sometimes hard to hear feedback which is, you know, in the moment really hard to hear, but Hopefully, if you take those things to heart and you do things differently you can grow. And I think keeping that growth mindset is really important for all the work in progress.
Saad Alamgir:Well, the way you speak about your mentors, the way that you talk about your program, it shows a lot for your character and UAB is definitely lucky to have you. You've created a generation of very qualified periodontists, which. I'm not sure if she was around, but one of our professors did go to UAB. So she might be
Mia Geisinger:Dr. Bain. I taught her.
Saad Alamgir:Yep. Yeah. So you're one
Mia Geisinger:of my favorites.
Saad Alamgir:Oh my gosh. Yeah. Well, you're indirectly teaching us right now then. So it just goes to show how far your influence has reached across the nation. So kudos to you and just closing up. I just wanted to say do you have. Any closing advice for anyone who might be listening to this, maybe a dental student, someone who's getting ready to apply for residency, maybe even a pre dental student, just is there any last words of wisdom you'd want to give them?
Mia Geisinger:I mean, what I would say is dentistry is a great career and we are all so lucky to be a part of dentistry and to be a part of dentistry now because think of all the things that are changing and think of our opportunities in dentistry. The future for all of our careers. Maybe yours more than mine because, you know, I'm on the, I'm on the downslope of my career. But, you know, from my perspective, I think it's a super exciting time to be in dentistry. And I think we have opportunities. to help our patients in many different ways. I mean, one of the things I love about perio is that we are in the oral health business, but we're in the overall health business too, right? Cause periodontal disease is tied to so many systemic diseases and conditions. And you know that opportunity for a medical dental integration for working with interprofessional colleagues is only growing. And I think that's super exciting for all of us. And you know what I'd say to folks who are maybe newer in dentistry is Yeah all of us have been through dental school and there's going to be tough days. And we know
Victor Razi:that for sure.
Mia Geisinger:Do it. You know, I think just remembering where you're going and having those safe spaces and those mentors that you can really talk to when you're feeling frustrated and always remembering that if you center the patient. and what you do and if your first guiding light is treating that patient to the best of your ability and getting your education so that you can better treat your patients almost everything else you do will fall into place because if that is your focus morally from a job, a satisfaction standpoint, everything is better.
Victor Razi:If
Mia Geisinger:you take your patient and you put them at the center of everything that we do, so, right. You know, for our residents, for example, we have them write a motto. And you know, say, okay what would your motto be? If you had to describe what you want your career to look like, what is your guiding principle? What is your mission statement? And you know, for me, it's period honest, make people smile. Right. So, you know, and I mean that in every sense of the world, I want them smiling because they're happy, they're healthy because we've controlled their oral disease because we've made them look better and chew better and function better and feel better. But yeah, that, that would be, where I live. So, I, best of luck to the both of you. I think it's an exciting time to be in dentistry and it was fun to talk to you guys today. Yeah.
Saad Alamgir:so much for coming on. It means a lot to us.