A fundamental aspect of any clinician’s journey is the process of learning and developing new skills. This continues throughout a career in dentistry, as professionals strive to improve their patient care.
For every student in dentistry, there must be a mentor. This professional relationship is imperative in modern healthcare fields, and relies on individuals being able and willing to step up to teach others.
Whether you are at the beginning of your clinical journey, or feel able to take on such a role right away, it’s important to consider what makes a good mentor. Not only can this help you develop your approach, but it may also open up new opportunities to learn whilst in this position, furthering your own capabilities.
Mentors never stop learning
Clinical mentoring must be based on current best practices and evidence-based guidelines – without these, truly successful outcomes cannot be achieved.[i] It’s vital that clinicians keep up with the latest findings in the wider dental sphere and the fields they focus on, and endeavour to apply new learnings into their own approach to patient care. This process may take many forms; individuals could turn to published journals and the research that they present, as well as take on one-day or weekend courses that introduce new workflows and treatment techniques.
Moreso, it would be important to take on longer-form courses that ensure you are able to excel in the areas of care that you intend to focus on and go on to teach others. As well as this, you may develop improved knowledge of more advanced skills that allow you to identify when a clinical problem may be too complex for a given moment in a mentee’s journey.
NHS England provides guidance on the broader subject of mentorship, and requires all in this position to have a formal mentoring qualification, training and/or experience.[ii] This ensures mentees can access high-quality tutoring, and allows professionals that take on a teaching role to feel confident in their abilities. Such courses will be available at a wide range of institutions, but suitable experience may also come through working alongside other professionals who have delivered educational and mentoring support for years already; they are the guide for the mentor-to-be.
Communication and the peer mentoring experience
Effective communication is paramount in the mentoring relationship and relies on authenticity through both verbal and non-verbal actions.[iii] The opportunity to dispense information is only considered a success if the message is understood completely.[iv] In the modern approach to dental care, there are many ways that the mentoring relationship could commence. Clinicians need to be confident in their ability to translate their thoughts in person or online, depending on how the mentoring relationship is configured. Neither approach is easier than the other, but developing each is essential. This could present new challenges to professionals, but asking for feedback of their own from both mentees and other experienced professionals can behelpful; in turn, they may find an opportunity to refine and improve their chosen methods of communication.
Dental professionals can strongly benefit from the discussions that specifically come out of in-person peer mentoring. Previous literature has observed positive communicative outcomes in these settings. Some clinicians felt that it offered a new chance to reflect on their experiences, and students noted that hearing feedback from a peer was sometimes easier than hearing it from faculty staff.[v] This also creates the chance for clinicians to develop their essential professional soft-skills.
The dynamic of a peer mentor relationship can also drive productive results and successful clinical developments. The literature has found clinicians may feel a sense of increased confidence, or determination to improve clinical outcomes when working with a partner and being tasked to assess their skills.v There is also the opportunity for shared ideas, and a discovery of new ways of thinking, which can effectively equip clinicians when they proceed to mentor further in the future.v
The Postgraduate Diploma in Implant Dentistry from One to One Implant Education is the perfect opportunity for dental professionals to develop their clinical skills and mentoring capabilities. Expert clinicians Dr Fazeela Khan-Osborne and Dr Nikolas Vourakis teach a myriad of clinical features such as immediate implant placement, guided bone regeneration, full arch implant dentistry, and more. The course features a tiered peer mentor system, which offers delegates the opportunity to learn from those who have completed the course before and therefore understand the clinical demands required of them – in turn, they can help to mentor others, developing their own skills further.
Mentoring is an essential part of dentistry, but it would be remiss to say that only a student or mentee learns in this relationship. The teacher themselves can discover so much through the process, a key reward for taking on such a pivotal role.
To reserve your place or to find out more, please visit
https://121implanteducation.co.uk or call 020 7486 0000.
Author bio: Dr Fazeela & Nikolas
Dr Fazeela Khan-Osborne is the founding clinician of the FACE dental implant multi-disciplinary team for the One To One Dental Clinic based on Harley Street, London. She has always had a passion and special interest in implant dentistry, particularly in surgical and restorative full arch rehabilitation of the maxilla. She has been involved in developing treatment modalities for peri-implantitis within clinical practice.
Dr Khan-Osborne is also the Founding Course Lead for the One To One Education Programme, now in its 20th year. As a former Lead Tutor on the Diploma in Implant Dentistry course at the Royal College of Surgeons (England), she lectures worldwide on implant dentistry and is an active full member of the Association of Dental Implantology, the British Academy of Aesthetic Dentistry and the International Congress of Oral Implantologists.
Nikolas is a Senior Implant and Restorative Surgeon in private clinics in London and Edinburgh.
His special interest and main qualifications are in Oral Surgery and Oral Implantology, while he has vast experience in all areas of Aesthetic Dentistry.
He has been a practising Dental Surgeon since 2005 after graduating from the prestigious Military Academy Medical School at the University of Thessaloniki, Greece.
Nikolas started his training in the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Department of the 401 Military Hospital in Athens, Greece. As a military officer, he then went on to serve as a team leader in a field hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan – an experience, which shaped his commitment and dedication to his chosen field. On returning to Greece, he furthered his
training completing a Postgraduate Diploma in Oral Implantology from the University of Athens, Greece and a Master of Science Degree in Oral Surgery/Implantology from Göethe University of Frankfurt, Germany.
He recently obtained an Advanced Surgical Master Curriculum in Regenerative Implant Dentistry next to Dr Istvan Urban in Budapest, Hungary.
Nikolas is lecturing about Dental Implants and Regenerative Dentistry, and he is holding a program for introducing and mentoring dentists in Implant Dentistry.
He is a Member of the Association of Dental Implantology and the International Team for Implantology.
[i] Keinänen, A. L., Mikkonen, K., Lähdesmäki, R., & Kääriäinen, M. (2021). The dental healthcare professionals’ competence in mentoring students in the clinical practice. European Journal of Dental Education, 25(2), 385-396.
[ii] NHS England, (2014). A Guide to Mentoring, (Online) Available at: https://cec.hscni.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/NHS_England_Mentoring_Guide_5bv5_FINAL5d.pdf [Accessed November 2024]
[iii] Nathwani, S., & Rahman, N. (2022). GROWing in dentistry: mentoring the dental professional. British dental journal, 232(4), 261-266.
[iv] Rollnik-Sadowska, E., Glińska, E., & Ryciuk, U. (2022). Model of communication effectiveness in the mentoring process. WSEAS Transactions on Business and Economics, 19, 1-12.
[v] Parkison, P. T., & Bartek, J. K. (2010). Peer mentoring and collaboration in the clinical setting: A case study in dental hygiene. Reflective Practice, 11(2), 231-243.
