A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of spending time with our team in Nashua, New Hampshire.  We hosted a program for dentists in NH and surrounding states – over 200 participants in an eight hour program!  Thanks to our team Sheri Ganter, Courtney McInerney, Dan Hart, Susan Signori, Larry Jacobs (Editor of Doctor of Dentistry), Gregg Karlins, Lynn Mawhinney and Jessica Feil for their quality care and hard work. 

A special treat preceded the seminar!  Two of our Ultradent Elite doctors, Dr Jim Borbotsina and his brother Thomas joined a physical therapist friend, David Gazzola, in Manchester, New Hamshire to form a restaurant called  “The Way We Cook” (see background below).   Together, they have folded together the dishes they recall from their childhood in a marvelous menu.    Jim moved his dental office to the floor above the restaurant so he could stay as engaged with the operation as possible.  They fed us like kings!  And then after we were "wined and dined", the trail of desserts began- multiple desserts in large quanitities and ALL homemade!  This grand finale was an incredible array and expression of "old and new world" Greece.

Background of “The Way We Cook” http://waywecooknh.com/

The Way We Cook, opened in 2003, was conceived by two men who shared a love for cooking and wished to bring their respective heritages to the public. Both men are sons of immigrants and nourished by these traditional foods as they grew:

David Gazzola, a physical therapist, was raised in an Italian family and has been cooking the family recipes from a very young age.

Jim Borbotsina, a dentist, has similar experiences in his Greek heritage.

Together they bring forth the dishes that they recall from their childhood in a manner that is reminiscent of good home cooking.

Also, in the pictures from the restaurant you can see my wife Leenie and sons Daniel and Austin.  For the weekend following the lecture, we toured some parts of New England.  This was something I had wanted to do with my family for years.    Part of our tour included walking the “freedom trail” through Boston.  There is fabulous history there of the founding of our country and built on the invaluable democratic ideals that not only we, but so much of the world, holds precious.  I recommend to all that you do this at least once in your life. 

According to Ultradent’s partner, GreenFiber, the largest producer of cellulose insulation in North America, recycling 1 ton of paper saves 17 trees, 3.3 cubic yards of landfill space and 4,000 kW of energy every year.  In an effort to conserve the natural habitat and landfill space, Ultradent has implemented a formal recycling program.  Newspapers, phonebooks, office paper, magazines, catalogs and books will be collected and donated to GreenFiber for renewal as environmentally friendly, highly efficient, flame resistant insulation and to create a greener community in the process. 

All employees will be encouraged to consider the environment when printing, even printing on both sides of the paper whenever possible and recycling used paper.  The benefits will be shared by all.

Dear Ultradent Colleagues,

 I would like to congratulate Dave Nuttall and his team for being honored with the Charles A Caine Workplace Safety Award. Dave, with the support of the HR department and so many employees, has done an excellent job of looking out for our best interests. This is a gorgeous example of caring humans living/emulating our core values of integrity, care, quality, innovation and hard work.

With more than 68,000 Utah workers reported job-related injuries last year. Workplace safety needs to be a top priority for Utah companies. Kicking off June as National Safety Month, Workers Compensation Fund honored 13 business that lead the way in workplace safety. Each winner was selected through a nomination process and earned the award based on their safety record, program effectiveness and their success in creating a safe workplace.

Last Thursday, Ultradent was honored with the 2009 Charles A Caine Award for Workplace Safety. Ultradent was one of 24, 000companies in Utah and neighboring states to receive this distinction. For Ultradent to achieve this distinction is commendable especially considering our relatively large size and broad and diverse vertical integration which includes departments as machining and tooling, chemical R & D, formulation, molding, etc. Effective safety practices such as an emergency response team, offering CPR and First Aid courses to employees and their families, preventive safety measures developed both in R&D and Engineering, an on-site first aid room and continued support from management contributed to this award winning safety program.

Congratulations to everyone for making a conscientious effort in keeping Ultradent a safe and productive workplace. And let’s all: KEEP IT UP!

Thank you.

Dan

Dear Colleagues,

I feel remiss in how long it has taken me to do what I should have done sooner. The reality is that I’ve been out of town for most of the weekends of the last 5 weeks for either lecturing or dental meetings which has caused me to be running in “catch up” mode on both the business and home front (spring is a busy time for a “farmer- boy” you know).

Two weekends ago, I had a wonderful time delivering a full 8 hours of lecture to a great group of dentists in Seattle. By in large, this group was a very classy group of dentists. They were knowledgeable, caring and wanting to absorb/learn all they could. That being said, something that has really helped me is learning from the evaluations provided me from the previous dentists I’ve lectured to over the last few months. They have given me some great inputs (even direct and somewhat painful at times but hey, we need these the most) that have allowed me to improve my presentation. Life is always about improving and pushing to do better each time. If we ever get to where we lose the desire to do better, we are on the downhill slope.

I was so impressed with our Tams who organized this. Janet Gjerde and Michelle Champion were the leads. They were probably responsible for bringing in 80% of the 120 dentists (plus 30 auxiliaries) who attended. They both are so driven, so caring and such great representatives for UPI.

Michelle always has a great positive attitude (as so many of you do). She sets her own goals and then is driven to reach them. Janet is a champion. Nobody pushed this program more than her. And furthermore, her husband, Pat, a gifted firefighter up there supports her in tremendous ways. He was even at the program the night before and late, helping to get things set up. (This is something I’ve seen so many spouses do for/with our TAMS. It makes me feel very humble and thankful for the caring people and families that we all are fortunate enough to work with.) Add to these two the bright, upbeat and personable Judi Galusha, our Tam in Portland Washington, who even brought a number of her dentists to the lecture albeit from some distance plus the likes of Cody Sunderland,(Endo), Jessica and Rachel of Seminars plus the gracious and professional Marti and it was a heck of a program filled with not only great dentists/customers but with great caring Ultradent colleagues.

The pictures show our team plus the wonderful lecturing guru Dr Nasser Bargi who happened to be in Seattle at the time and working with our great school representative, Jay Frazier yet at another program, plus the rest of the team as described above. The second is of the lecture.

We can be proud of this group and so many of the rest of you, the great and caring Ultradent individuals and groups around the country and the globe who give it your best. It is drive and purpose like this by you/us all that will push us through this “down turned” economy!

Thank you all,
Dan

Earlier this year, I was able to lecture in the Eastern Europe/Central Asia region. Olga Klar, our territory manager for both areas, was a real “trooper” in helping me. We ran into a number of obstacles trying to get a Visa for a particular country in the trek. Our attempts were finally rewarded after Olga’s great efforts, without which, the trip may not have occurred at all.

Here you can see one of the programs we presented. In addition to the didactic lecture, we did live demonstrations on volunteers using both Opalustre and Opalescence Boost. The people there are hungry to learn and most gracious. Our distributor is a young guy who is working hard to build a company with his wife. They appear to have “all the right stuff” and are driven to stay focused on Ultradent’s products and mission to improve oral health globally.

So many of us feel the constraint of our life circumstance. It’s easy to do so considering how difficult change can be. I can recount numerous periods of time in my own life where I felt challenged by circumstance. Perhaps one of the more significant periods of change relates to my childhood and the process of breaking free from a culture that had a definite impact on how I viewed my life goals. Growing up in this community, I would have never envisioned the opportunity to complete my education, start a business and have a family of my own. I know my life would be very different today had I not been hopeful about making change happen. I will also say that my circumstances helped me appreciate the change that followed. It’s sad to say this but I probably would have never understood the full meaning and value of “freedom” without living the first half of my life without it.

The most unexpected and painful change in our family occurred 6 weeks ago. A very special and tender 28 year old son was found dead, his car and body burned beyond recognition. One of the most haunting fears I have now is that I might forget how his always warm and tender voice sounded when he’d come home and say “Hi Dad” followed by a long, warm hug.

For sure, our family must move past this knowing that the huge hole left by Lorin’s vacancy can never be filled. It is important that we as a family continue to grow stronger and more embracing of all good humans which Lorin taught us in vibrant ways. We can never lose or forget the fabulous lessons we’ve richly experienced from Lorin; an individual who presented no more and no less of himself. It is so important that his life continue to bring the valued meaning it deserves. And this I shall embrace as a turn the corner of the finale marker of my 60s into a new adventure, my 70s.

It is only with humility that one can talk about the lesson of giving back. During my career, I’ve encountered many clinicians who were willing to serve support missions abroad spreading the message that Ultradent is also passionate about - to improve the level of oral healthcare globally. There are amazing accounts of these individuals traveling at their own time and expense for the rare opportunity to help others. The Diversity Foundation, which Ultradent launched a few years back, has been instrumental for many of these type of activities. The word empowerment has a unique but important stance in the foundation’s mission. The act of “giving” empowers the receiver through access and the giver through mindful awareness. I hope we have the opportunity to continue giving back beyond the finale marker of my 60s.

When asked what influenced my career the most, I don’t hesitate in saying it was the importance of the human in the chair. Even in a figurative sense, referring to humans in parts of the world where dentistry isn’t even available, it’s still all about the human. And certainly for the clinician, the ability to change someone’s life for the better is the greatest gift one can receive.

As a dentist with a staff or as a CEO of a large “small business”, I’ve come to learn that it is critical to listen to the inputs of caring colleagues. It is important to listen to managers, especially those who have grown to levels of high competence and experience. It is impossible for one person to know all that is required to run a dental practice or business at peak performance day in and day out.

Additionally, I’ve come to learn that I should pay attention, listen and respect the valued aspects of patients or colleagues lives. What is very important to one person may be of little consequence to another. The more we learn to realize and respect this truth, the more open our minds become and the more people will want to be around us. I’ve also come to learn that it is wrong to jump in with answers prematurely. As I get older, it becomes more satisfiying to hear solutions come from those around me.

Regardless of whether the idea was the same as mine or better than what I would have offered, there is a sense of pride in allowing them to provide the solution. I will confess that I slip from time to time on this very important subject (and others) but I hope I work towards perfecting them before I turn the finale marker of my 60s.

Dealing with mistakes professionally can provide a healthy “awakening for the soul” which may also help us remain humble. While I understand that I have mistakes ahead of me, I’ve learned that when mistakes are made, it is most important to apologize and compensate if needed. The next step is to make sure the mistake is not repeated.

Learning to apologize even if one believes they’re partially right, can be liberating. It lifts a load off one’s shoulders and brings fruitless debates and hurt feelings to an end. It can be a fabulous point to build from and often provides an opportunity to develop a better relationship with the other person.

It’s also good to laugh at yourself for certain mistakes (when it’s not inappropriate or disrespectful, of course). When those who surround us or even answer to us discover that we’re human, it connects us to a large degree with being genuine. And besides, some of the best laughs result from our own silly little mistakes.

Mistakes sometimes require compensation. I learned in my early years to beat my patient to the punch by offering to redo something they didn’t like. In the grand scheme of life and business, a few replaced crowns or even thousands of dollars if larger mistakes are made, become “pennies” in light of a relationship that continues to grow.

Albert Einstein once said: “Make new mistakes”. I do believe that if one is pushing through new frontiers, even going places humans haven’t gone before, mistakes will be made. To this end, I hope to be making new mistakes as I turn the finale marker of my 60s.

Dan

I never imagined how a small family business born in the basement of our home could sprout to a global operation. I think it critical that a sense of direction is determined as soon as possible however. As the saying goes, “If you don’t know where you are going, you’ll end up somewhere else”. Additionally, it is so important to establish, maintain and build on a culture that attracts good people. For sure, Ultradent has not been built by Dan Fischer alone. It is the result of many quality, brilliant and hard-working people who have contributed to the end goal for years. By having quality people come together and align their values and work ethic towards a common goal, amazing things can happen. We now have quality colleagues in Ultradent offices in Japan, Brazil, Italy, and Germany and yes, here in the US. I feel fortunate every day that we have been able to attract and keep “in the family” so many fabulous people all over the world. I look forward to being in there swinging it out with them as I turn the finale marker from my 60s. After all, why should one retire from what one is enjoying especially if knowing it makes a difference for others? Small ideas, even later in life, can still make a difference.