PAGD Keystone Explorer Winter 2019 20

16 www.pagd.org With more and more women graduating from dental schools in the US, we can expect to see more changes in our profession to include those women who are also mothers. Dr. Grace Yum, a pediatric dentist in Chicago and mommy of two began a simple Facebook group to help bring these women together. She also hosts a podcast and has published two books, which all highlight the struggles and celebrate the triumphs of “Mommy Dentists in Business.” She agreed to share some of her thoughts with our editor. You are the founder of Mommy Dentists in Business. Tell me about your family, your business, and the pathway to getting there. In what order did you earn each of these titles of “mommy,” dentist, and business owner. My first accomplishment was to graduate from dental school and then do two more years of pediatric training, so my career launched before I became a mother or business owner. I practiced as an associate for four years and then opened up my own practice. After that, everything else fell into place. I got married and had kids. The mommy part came last. I became a mom in 2012. When you started this group, what were you personally looking to gain from connecting these people together ? The mommy dentist group has quickly grown in two years. I started it in 2017. I started it for fun to catch up and keep in touch with my friends and colleagues. It was just a small circle. My intent was to make it a support group for all of us to help juggle so many things. People started asking, “Can I add my friend? She can really use the support.” Now, there are more than 6,000 members, there is a UK/Canada chapter as well as regional chapters. I allow associates in the group because many of them owned a business first and now are associates or there are people who are in the process of buying in now. There are also community clinic directors who are running a business or doctors running a business as locum tenens. It is not just owners of dental practices. The concept of “dental business” has taken on so much more than what I thought it means. The doctors in my group are running so many different businesses alongside their role as mothers. Tell me about some of the standout people you have met with or spoken to within your group and what particularly about them impressed you. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would meet so many wonderful people. I am amazed at how many specialists and GPs are practice owners that are doing such incredible things. There are women who are in organized dentistry, there are women who have seven practices (like a mini DSO), and there are some that have a small three chair practice and are just killing it! There are so many who are fantastic and inspirational. It is particularly honorable to have Dr. Maxine Feinberg as a member. She is the first woman president of the ADA and it is just wonderful to have her contributing to our tightknit community. In talking to the female dentists of your group, what have you found to be the most supportive and helpful thing another woman can do to support a mommy dentist business owner? Women empowering other women, simply this. Sympathy and empathy are very powerful especially if you are walking in their shoes. It’s not like you’re talking to a college girlfriend who works for JP Morgan as an investment banker. The affirmation, whether positive or negative is invaluable when it comes from someone who can truly relate. What have you found the women of your group to site as the most supportive and helpful thing a man can do to support a mommy dentist business owner? If the man is a dentist, it seems that what the women in our group find most valuable is in the form of mentorship. What makes the business of dentistry different for mommy business owners versus any other industry? I haven’t worked in any other industries, but I think it’s probably very similar. If you’re a mom and you’re working, Interview with a Mommy Dentist Q dentistry issues