Myo Life

#8 When Your Boss Doesn’t Get It

• Carmen Woodland • Episode 8

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If you’re passionate about myofunctional therapy but your boss just doesn’t get it, you’re not alone. Many hygienists face resistance from their employers when they start seeing the bigger picture of airway health, tongue ties, and early intervention. In this episode, I share my own experiences, the challenges my students have faced, and strategies to navigate these tough conversations. Plus, I give actionable tips to help you prepare for the transition into your own business—even if your boss isn’t on board.


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Speaker 1:

Hey, I'm Carmen and welcome to Mayo Life. That's short for my outrageous life, which is exactly the kind of life I get to live since I found the courage to ditch dental hygiene and build a life I'm bonkers about as a Mayo functional therapist and entrepreneur. Here you will find all the things Mayo business and how to build a life that you, too, are bonkers about. I'm very happy you're here. Shall we dive in. Hi everyone, welcome back to the podcast. Today we're diving into something that I know resonates with so many of you what happens when your boss just doesn't get it? Now you're sitting there eager, all excited about myofunctional therapy, seeing the potential to truly change lives, and your boss either doesn't care, doesn't understand or just flat out isn't interested in what you're doing. Does this sound familiar? I've been there, my friend. I remember the conversation I had with my own boss when I first decided to get trained in myofunctional therapy and start my business. I was met with skepticism, a lot of questions and, frankly, a bit or a lot of resistance. And I know I'm not alone. So many of my students inside the Ditch Hygiene Academy have had similar experiences. But here's the thing While it can be frustrating to deal with a boss who isn't supportive, it doesn't mean that you're stuck or that your vision for the future has to stop. First, I want to say there are becoming more and more bosses out there who are supportive, and this is thanks to the educational efforts of people like Dr Zoggy and the Breathe Institute my own beloved mentor, dr Bieneman, here in Colorado organizations like the AAPMD, which is the American Academy of Physiological Medicine and Dentistry. So this is an organization of professionals like doctors, dentists, osteopaths, physical therapists, speech, language pathologists, myofunctional therapists lots of different disciplines that collaborate on the topics of optimal airway growth, proper facial development, proper function so basically all the topics that concern you in myofunctional therapy, like sleep, sleep apnea, mouth breathing, craniofacial development, airway focused orthodontics, tongue ties, posture, all of those things. So these people and their organizations, they are educating everywhere you go. So I really feel like they're going to be instrumental in the paradigm shift. It's also a great place to refer your boss if he or she is interested in learning more about what you're doing. So they are. They're great, great tools. So basically, what I was saying is that I think over time, more and more bosses will become supportive, but today we're talking about if you have one of those bosses who just didn't get it. So the first thing that I want to talk about is what I call the mild perspective shift. So this happens I'm pretty sure it probably happens to everybody as they're learning.

Speaker 1:

Myofunctional therapy is you start to understand things that are concerning, and it's very hard, for you can't just unsee them. You take, say, you take the Ditch Hygiene Academy, and my course is very practical and hands-on, and at the end of every lesson I'm telling you like, hey, this is what you can start looking for today, or this is a conversation you can start having today. And it's very hard when you have a boss who maybe doesn't understand it when they hear you start having conversations that they might confront you about. So a couple of examples. Let's talk about tongue ties. So if you've been in the myofunctional therapy world for any amount of time, you know that just because all of these doctors know how to do a tongue tie release, aka phrenectomy that they shouldn't be doing them. So that's what's really hard, and it might be a conversation that your boss confronts you about when they say, hey, I heard you talking to Susie about a tongue tie and I heard you say that you're going to refer her to Dr Bieneman, like I know how to do those. That is a conversation that you want to think about ahead of time, because I found myself in this exact instance and kind of the way I handled it was that I said well, it really is important.

Speaker 1:

You know, in the field we're trained that having a phrenectomy done by somebody who does a lot of them is really, really important. So perhaps you can give an example, like you know, having a knee replacement you know, dr So-and-so, who would you refer your mother to to get a new knee? Would you refer her to somebody who does three a year or three a week type of situation. And that helps them understand the perspective that you have as a professional. And you will look. You will probably know so much more about tongue ties than your boss does. So that is one thing.

Speaker 1:

So you can't unsee a tongue tie. You do have to be having a conversation about it. That's one thing that I really hit on inside the Ditch Hygiene Academy is that you have a responsibility. I honestly think that once you learn the stuff about myofunctional therapy, that you have the responsibility to have a conversation about what you're saying, whether you feel comfortable about it or not. And of course, comfort is a whole nother conversation, a whole nother training. I have you covered with all of that stuff, but you have to feel confident. That stuff, but you have to feel confident, doesn't mean you have to know everything, but you do need to be able to have a conversation. So that's one that I think you should be prepared to have a conversation with your boss about is the tongue tie. The other one would be airway ortho referrals. So say, you're looking in Johnny's mouth, you see, you know all this crowding.

Speaker 1:

The traditional model is that typically dentists, if they are not forward thinking, if they're not myo aware, if they're not trained by some of these lovely humans like the AAPMD, they don't know that really the gold standard at this point is that we don't wait to just cosmetically straighten kids' teeth. We're more worried about the facial development, the development of the airway, and so that's early intervention, that's not waiting until all of the permanent teeth have come in at 14 years old, because we also know that the head is 90% developed by age 10 to 12. So that doesn't make sense. So this is going to be another hard conversation with your boss that I think you need to prepare because they're going to be saying well, but I don't refer to Dr Airway Prevention, I refer to Dr Outdated down the street who has done all of my kids' ortho and they may not understand the importance of that optimum facial development. So that is going to be a conversation that I think you need to think through because that once you have that mild perspective shift, when you see things you can't unsee them. You can't unsee that Johnny has teeth stacked on teeth stacked on teeth, which means he has a concern. Yes, all of these people are going to need you and that's not what we're talking about, but they definitely need to be referred out and sometimes, if it breaks the status quo, that's when it's going to be hard for your boss. Okay, so you have a responsibility to talk about the things that you're seeing.

Speaker 1:

And the way I really handled it and now that I look back on it is probably more of kind of with, with a kind of a passive, aggressive tone is that if my boss or somebody confronted me about you know, having a tongue tie conversation, I kind of almost turned it back on them Like oh, you didn't see that tongue tie. Oh, you don't screen for tongue ties. Oh, you don't screen for snoring or sleep apnea concerns that kind of stuff. So if somebody was very confrontational to me, then I would kind of give them a little dose of like oh wait, and made them feel like maybe it was something that they should look into. Okay, so that leads me to topic number two be prepared for conversations. So of course, this is not all inclusive of the conversations that may come up, but the first one is like what is your plan?

Speaker 1:

When you have a conversation with your boss and you're a dental hygienist, the first thing that they're thinking is are they going to lose you? Because that's one of the bigger reasons why they can't support you. I have had several dentists that I have met in my years since I have been teaching and they say Carmen, I know that you are knowledgeable, I know that you know your stuff, I want my dental hygienist to take her training from you, but I don't want you telling her to leave my practice. Okay, so they're going to be thinking about losing you. So if you have thought ahead and are prepared for the conversation about your plan for transitioning out of dental hygiene, if that's your goal Now I teach a lot of people who just are trying to breathe fresh air into their hygiene career. They're just trying to bring something new to the table to make a bigger impact. So they're not really thinking about ditching hygiene, or at least not in the near future. So think about what your plan is. You know, if you're working full-time now, you know, are you planning to cut back one day of hygiene, maybe in six months? So having that information for that conversation is going to be very helpful. So what is your plan for transitioning out?

Speaker 1:

Next, if you're starting your own business, you definitely want to be prepared for this conversation because you don't want to build your business in the practice. Now, again, this is a whole nother conversation. Definitely stuff that we go over inside the Ditch Hygiene Academy. But, in a nutshell, you don't want to build somebody else's dream and if you build your business inside your current dental practice, you are building a house on a rented lot because you have no idea at what point your boss might say no, we don't want this anymore. Or all of those patients that you have transitioned into clients, they're still his dental patients.

Speaker 1:

What happens if your boss dies? What happens if your boss sells the practice? What happens if your boss brings on an associate and you go from loving your job to hating your job. These are all scenarios that I have consulted on and it's very real and it happens. So you want to have a plan to start your own business. Funny, that's exactly what I teach you inside the Ditch Hygiene Academy, but this is about preparing for that conversation with your boss. So, also, total side note, but don't let them pay for your education as well. Every single student that comes into the Ditch Hygiene Academy. Yes, it's an investment, yes, you're worth it, but you own it.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so you do not want to build your business inside somebody else's practice, because I think you're limiting it, but have this conversation in your head and be prepared to have the conversation with your boss. Okay, so that leads me to the next one with your boss. Okay, so that leads me to the next one. They will refer to you. So you're going to set up your own business. You're going to be a referral source, just like the endodontist, the pedodontist, the periodontist, all of that kind of stuff. So they refer out to them. They're going to refer to you. Now. Oftentimes my students wonder if they should be paying for those referrals. Well, that's going to be between you and your boss. Frankly, I think it's BS, and I have told dentists that over the years that you don't get paid to refer to the endodontist, they don't pay you per client or they shouldn't be. This is just a professional collaboration and if you want the best for your patients, then I should be part of the referral team. Okay, but think about this up front Now, and I have had students who do pay some sort of referral fee. I would rather you do that than build a business in the practice.

Speaker 1:

Okay, all right, so let's talk about how I navigated it. So, in my personal journey, I had a boss who had zero interest, no matter how much we talked about what I was learning. Okay, she was more interested in telling everybody about her hundred thousand dollar Lexus rather than looking at the grade four tongue tie that she just completely overlooked. So that was my situation. So, knowing that that was the layout of the land, I got my website up really quick so that I could give somebody a sticky note with my website on it. Okay, so I did not give out business cards If I was having a conversation with somebody and they asked hey, where do I get more information or how do I get in contact with you? I just simply wrote my website down on a sticky note. That way I was not soliciting to them. I never reached out to somebody and said hey, linda, I talked to you in the chair today. I never did anything like that because I wanted to make sure that if my boss ever confronted me that I was saying, hey, I just gave her my website information and she contacted me. So that's how I handled it.

Speaker 1:

The other thing and many of you guys, if you've been with me any amount of time, you know that as soon as I could, I left my full-time job for a part-time job. Now, part of that was because I needed to cut back and have more time for Mayo. But this was also part of my strategy because when I left my full-time job, I got a part-time job with a different dentist, different city. He already knew that I had a myofunctional therapy practice because you know, we had a conversation and I think he asked me if I was interested in maybe working more full-time than part-time. I said no, I already have a business. I want to do that. So there was no weirdness, because he knew I had a practice and I would have conversations with people. And again, he even we did have an awkward conversation once when he heard me talking to a mom about a kiddo's tongue tie Again, super bad tongue tie and my boss said, well, I have a laser I can release it.

Speaker 1:

And I was like, oh no, there's an inch of dust on the laser. I've been here for you know eight months and I've never seen you use that laser. You were not using that on my patient. So it's not that it was perfect, because I think ultimately he had no idea what myofunctional therapy was. He had his own life. He literally was not advancing himself. He was coming in doing dentistry, going home Okay.

Speaker 1:

So, but it helped me. It helped me go to a job where they knew that I had a myofunctional therapy practice. So if I had a conversation in the chair with somebody and they came, uh, they called, then the front desk knew that I obviously had a business. So that's how I navigated it. I just quickly got out of the place. That was not going to be a good place or support my business. So I got out of there as soon as I can, all right.

Speaker 1:

So the thing to understand about boss mindsets is that now this is not saying everybody okay, but what I have found is that older bosses tend to have a more antiquated thought process and they might not be interested in what you are doing at all. Your boss might not even believe that what you're doing is a thing. They might not have heard it. Your boss might not want to change anything that they're doing it. I have always believed that dental hygienists are the agent of change. So I don't know about you and your past continuing education, but in the past, when I would go to a continuing education, I would come back to the office and I would have to share what I had learned. So that's a great opportunity for dental hygienists to bring change into the office or, you know, to let them know hey, I'm taking this new training course and this is what I'm learning about.

Speaker 1:

Screening for tongue ties. This is what I'm learning about screening for sleep apnea. I mean, we do oral cancer screenings. Why don't we do these other things? So I think just kind of thinking about where your boss might be, but definitely the older ones, especially the ones that are thinking about, you know, selling the practice, retirement, that kind of stuff, those are the ones that are very much likely to be saying hey, what are you doing, mayo? Who Whatty whatty you know. So it can be challenging.

Speaker 1:

So let's talk about some actionable tips. The first is practice difficult conversations in your head. So, before you sit down with your boss, play out the conversation in your head. Think about their potential objections and how you'll respond to those. That way, when the conversation comes up, you are not reacting emotionally, you're confident, you're prepared, you've gone through this, you're ready to have the conversation. So that's the biggest thing Practice, practice, practice. You practice it in your head. You can do a voice recording, you can write it down. However, you learn best. So that's the first actionable tip. The second one is leverage the situation. So if your boss doesn't support your goals, then use it as leverage to move closer to the life that you want. So sometimes resistance is the push that you need to take the leap and leave hygiene behind for good.

Speaker 1:

Okay, now let's talk about temping, because I think that's the third one, because not everybody can just say, oh hey, my boss doesn't support my goals, I'm going to just leave hygiene. So temping is a great option because it puts you in a position of meeting lots of different people. I don't know about you. But anytime I tempt into an office, they would say hey, girlfriend, you're good, do you want a full-time job? And I would say no, I have a myofunctional therapy practice and I am too busy.

Speaker 1:

Um, also, I have students who use temping as an opportunity to market. So every time they go to a new office they take their brochures, they take their business cards. They will give a spiel about what it is and who they can help and how they could team up. So that's really helpful. That's a good way to kind of still have income but also be a little bit more in control. Also, the nice thing with temping is you get to decide when your foot's on the brake and when it's on the gas. So when I was building my business, if I was working really hard on my website, maybe I would not temp that week or maybe I would only temp one day. So you get to be in control. But it helps you not stay where you're comfortable, but also not stay in a place that's not going to support your business, and it's. It is helpful for you as far as financial goals Also, because I teach a lot about working with your freedom number or finding your enough, which is basically your bottom line.

Speaker 1:

The whole point of basically just making enough to get by is so that you have time. You have white space on your calendar for building your business, and the nice thing with temping is that you can control that. So definitely, I think that makes the transition out the easiest. All right, so the thing I want you to remember is that dealing with a boss who doesn't understand your vision can really be disheartening, but don't let it derail you. Remember why you started this journey where you're headed. Your goals, your dreams, the impact that you want to make these are valid. They're worth pursuing, no matter what. No matter if your boss gets it. So if you're feeling unstuck, unsure or stuck, don't forget that I am here to help, whether it's through this podcast, the Ditch Hygiene Academy or any of the other courses that I've created. You've got support every step of the way through this process. So thank you for tuning in and, as always, go out there and build a life that you are bonkers about, and I will see you next time, my friend.