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Women in Dentistry: Women in the Boardroom: Brasseler USA’s CEO Reflects on First Women in Dentistr

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Last year, Brasseler USA held its first Women in Dentistry advisory board meeting with female dentists from across the country to extrapolate and discuss key topics and issues specific to women in the dental profession. We sat down with Don Waters, president and CEO of Brasseler USA, to discuss this pivotal event—an event the company plans to hold on an annual basis.

Don Waters

Why did Brasseler USA create an advisory board composed solely of female dentists?
Waters: This advisory board is another example of delivering Brasseler USA's "By Your Side" brand promise.

Quite simply, we felt that we needed to take the time to really listen and learn from female dentists. It is an opportunity to initiate honest discussions in order to identify and explore any needs, challenges, and concerns that relate specifically to the female practitioner, and discover how Brasseler can create and facilitate appropriate solutions for her. We want to be by the side of female dentists as they work through these challenges.

We felt it was important to have personal interactions at a deeper level with a representative group of female practitioners if we were really going to be serious about learning, understanding and contributing to this important segment of dental professionals. Our "why" is simply to be able to listen, learn and assist as best we can.

Why is this segment of dental professionals so important?
As we all know, the percentage of female practitioners has been steadily increasing, and women currently make up a significant portion of dental practitioners today. We anticipate that the trend will continue.

Can you explain how Brasseler being "By Your Side" contributed to the thought behind holding this event?

The Brasseler USA brand promise is to provide the most current and reliable dental instrumentation and procedural solutions, as well as educate and advise clinicians, enhancing their knowledge and increasing their confidence to pursue new avenues to build their practices.

This support is summarized in our "By Your Side" tagline. This initiative is simply one implementation of our brand promise. At its core, "By Your Side" is simply doing the right thing for each unique customer, and developing beneficial relationships that will assist her or him in achieving any individual clinical objectives.

Our classic, company direct-sales model allows Brasseler USA to develop professional relationships on a personal level, and then have 100 percent control in delivering on our promise.

Who was invited to be part of the advisory board, and why?
When we started to assemble our board, we sought out women who, at their core, are dynamic, knowledgeable and truly care about the unique challenges that women in dentistry face.

Our advisory board consists of female practitioners from across the nation, and range from thought leaders with years of experience in practice to relatively new, "Main Street, USA" practitioners, all of whom are on the front lines of oral health care each day. We are honored to have such a thoughtful, intelligent group of women who care so much about the state of their profession. We couldn't be more pleased.

What important information came out of the discussions?
We received a significant amount of valuable information from all of these smart and savvy practitioners that will help Brasseler USA further deliver on its promise of being "By Your Side" in dentistry. We had in-depth discussions about many topics, including ergonomics, practice instrumentation, and hands-on clinical product evaluations.

One thing that was made very clear is that this group does not want to be pandered to. We inherently knew that, but it was very interesting to listen to the horror stories that some of them have experienced in their professional lives. This was particularly true for those on the panel who have been in practice for some time. They quite naturally want to be approached on their own individual terms.

Was there anything that was presented by the dentists that surprised you?
We're not sure it was a surprise, but the diversity of opinions on certain issues and how they affect the female practitioner struck us. This group is certainly not a monolithic one! Of course, you can't place any group of individuals in one box based on one demographic.

We believe that the diversity of challenges and needs is a reflection of the market. For example, one particularly robust discussion centered on their self-view of dentist and female. That is, do they view themselves as dentists who happen to be female or as women who happen to practice dentistry? It was an extremely interesting conversation.

Do you think you are filling a specific need in the industry by forming the advisory board?
We believe so, but only time will tell. We absolutely don't want to be a solution looking for a problem. Any outcomes from the group and support by Brasseler USA will be a function of the female practitioner's unique expressed needs, not Brasseler's. As we receive direction and insights from our group regarding where help is needed, we'll survey the larger market for verification. It's going to be interesting to see where this leads us!

What can Brasseler do with insights gained from the advisory board?
We can either execute on them, or help facilitate execution if the challenges are outside of our immediate core competencies. The bottom line is that this group was formed to serve as an effective conduit between female dentists and Brasseler USA with the goal of identifying their needs, and then addressing them accordingly.



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