How to Bridge Dentistry with Humanity (E. 263)

“There are things that we sometimes have to hide, and when we shine a light on them, they become less unforgivingly painful.” ~Dr. Maggie Augustyn

Big changes are happening on the Everyday Practices Dental Podcast! In this special episode, hosts Regan Robertson and Dr. Chad Johnson introduce a brand-new addition to the team – Dr. Maggie Augustyn joins as the podcast’s third co-host!

Bringing her heartfelt perspective, passion for dentistry, and a willingness to dive into both professional and deeply personal topics, Dr. Maggie promises to add a fresh and exciting dynamic to the show. The hosts unveil their plans for a new series, Everyday Practices: After Hours, where they’ll tackle the hidden, unspoken challenges dentists and dental professionals face.

As you listen to this episode, we want you to think about the following questions:

• How can I balance clinical demands with my mental well-being?
• What tools can help me stop comparing myself to others?
• How can I feel less isolated in my role as dentist and business owner?

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

[00:00:00] Announcer: The Productive Dentist Academy Podcast Network.

[00:00:03] Regan Robertson: We have to share. If we don’t share, then how can people really get the information that they deserve, the education, the options. If we don’t do this, then how can we really, really connect? Welcome to the Everyday Practices Podcast. I’m Regan Robertson and my co-host, Dr. Chad Johnson and I are on a mission to share the stories of everyday dentists who generate extraordinary results using practical proven methods you can take Right into your own dental practice. If you’re ready to elevate patient care and produce results that are anything but ordinary buckle up and listen in. Doctor, do you ever feel like you’re putting in all those hours, but you just don’t see the growth you deserve? Imagine how it would feel knowing you have a clear path forward with action steps where every decision sets you and your team up for success. This Cyber Monday, Productive Dentist Academy gives you the chance to make that vision a reality. Register for the PDA conference and you will unlock an exclusive one-day virtual business planning session with PDA’s CEO, Victoria Peterson and Dr. Maggie Augustin. PDA clients, just in the last 10 months alone, have boosted collections on average by 219, 000 using these strategies. Don’t wait. This offer is only here until December 13th or it sells out and once it’s gone, it’s gone for a year. Go to productivedentist.com right now and guarantee your own growth in 2025. Welcome to Everyday Practice’s Dental Podcast. I am your host, Regan Robertson, here with a surprise. What could be better than listening to Chad and I every single week?

[00:01:39] Dr. Chad Johnson: There’s an answer. It’s not a trick question. There is an answer.

[00:01:41] Regan Robertson: What could it possibly be, Chad?

[00:01:43] Dr. Chad Johnson: We have a new co-host that rhymes with schmaggy. Now, if you can guess. Long-time visitor on our podcast, a multi-platinum visitor. So Regan, would you do the honors in formally introducing?

[00:02:02] Regan Robertson: Oh my gosh, it is my honor. So, you know, if you’re listening to this right now and you’ve been following us for a while Everyday Practices Podcast is really about bringing everyday skills solutions, everyday tricks that Chad and I have learned on our journey to make your life better, to make it easier, to put things into play that aren’t super heavy lifting. And in order to do that really well for you, we need to bring in different perspectives. It’s important. Chad loves to do what he loves to do in the practice and, and can help and we bring in guests tailored around that I can bring in the marketing and the authenticity and the business. pieces, but to connect these together and put compassion in the forefront and bring another doctoral perspective that is really about connecting at that human level. Who loves endo, unlike Chad? It’s our huge honor to officially welcome Dr. Maggie Augustin to the team as our third co-host for everyday practices. Maggie, welcome officially.

[00:02:59] Dr. Maggie Augustyn: Oh, thank you. Thank you. One of the honors of my career in dentistry and just being human. You two are my favorite people and, uh, I sure hope that I’m going to bring some value to the audience of this podcast. Thank you.

[00:03:15] Regan Robertson: You know, one of the things that you’ve done for, for Chad and I, aside from being great friends with us and being on this journey of longtime PDA membership and coming to conferences and contributing your voice there is it’s been amazing over the last almost five years now to see you grow and share your knowledge and you know, Dr. Bruce Baird, who co-founded PDA 20 years ago, he’s always said, “Become the best at what you choose to be and then share it with others,” and there is a generosity that is not inherent to everyone because it means sacrificing, you know, you’re sacrificing your time, uh, you’re choosing where you place your efforts to make a great impact and you’ve chosen that path of service to the dental industry, in addition to your patients and it’s been amazing to see you grow and contribute, you know, as a recurring contributor to dentistry today, as you take the stage and your keynotes have just skyrocketed across the globe, you know, you’re even out of the United States at times, I think the stories that you’re going to be able to share with us are incredible and you want to give the listeners an inside peek at how we went through this process. We said, okay, we got three hosts and what are we going to talk about? Should we plan out the season? Should we be methodical with this? How has it felt so far, Maggie?

[00:04:26] Dr. Maggie Augustyn: It’s been a lot of fun. It’s been kind of like, you know, it’s been crafting and it’s been putting together a puzzle, but that’s what I think the three of us are really good at. I look at life a little bit differently in that. I like to. Connect our dental side to the human side and just lead with our human side as opposed to our dental side and the areas of expertise that each one of us brings into this particular, I don’t know, melting pot and the things that we’re all passionate about, the various things that we care about to bring front and center and encourage and empower our listeners and teach them with the guests that we are going to bring this season, those are the things that I am really excited about.

[00:05:07] Dr. Chad Johnson: I have definitely seen your forte in this regard, because as we’ve been planning, Maggie, you’ve been very excited about coming up with various ideas and it’s really cool. If you’ve not apologized twice, you’ve almost apologized twice. It seems, you know, to be like, “I’m sorry, I’ve got more ideas,” and it’s just like, this is great because some of them are ideas. I never would have thought of, or if I thought of it, I wouldn’t have brought it to fruition and you’re bringing it to fruition. So I’m already super stoked.

[00:05:36] Dr. Maggie Augustyn: There’s going to be a special edition of this podcast, Regan.

[00:05:39] Dr. Chad Johnson: Wait, wait, wait, wait. What are you talking about? What is this? I’m trying to bring some to

[00:05:45] Dr. Maggie Augustyn: me.

[00:05:45] Dr. Chad Johnson: I’m trying to bring some drama to this, but please do tell Maggie, what’s your, what’s your brainchild?

[00:05:53] Dr. Maggie Augustyn: Well, so, you know, we talk about dentistry and we talk about our lives as dentists, but we are humans first and there are things that we sometimes have to hide and living hidden makes us feel really alone and I know in my life, the more I have shined a light on being hidden has made me feel less alone and there’s very complex and difficult and scary and I don’t know, just life can be so unforgivingly painful. If we open up the trap door to that unforgivingly painful areas of our lives, and if we were able to share those moments with one another, all of a sudden they become less unforgivingly painful and so, you know, there will be times in this particular podcast that we will talk about those things that nobody really talks about, right? And you, Chad, came up with a name for that.

[00:06:51] Dr. Chad Johnson: Yes. Everyday practices after hours. For example, listeners, I mean, I feel like Maggie, you’re talking as though you’re like looking right through me in my pocket is some Benadryl because three weeks ago I got into some poison Ivy and it’s something that’s hidden under my shirt, but I’ve got this poison Ivy rash and all of a sudden, like, I also started getting these hives on my hands.

[00:07:19] Regan Robertson: That’s gnarly.

[00:07:20] Dr. Chad Johnson: And see, this is something that you normally, you know, like when you’re Want to hide, not share. Right. And this is almost silly because this will go away really quickly. I’m at week three right now. So it should be going away any day now. But, um, like when you were talking about, it’s just like, you know, there’s things that you kind of don’t want to talk about, but then if you were to talk about it, that you feel heard. So if you’ve been in poison Ivy lately, I, I not only hear you, I feel you.

[00:07:43] Regan Robertson: So you know how I talk about data and emotion, there’s the logical side, and then there’s the emotional connection to it. Poison ivy doesn’t on the surface sound too bad to me. It’s a temporary issue. However, I’m not a dentist though, that’s in people’s mouths and you know, you have gloves on, but if

[00:07:59] Dr. Chad Johnson: I have gloves on

[00:08:01] Regan Robertson: That, I can see how that might make you feel a little insecure.

[00:08:03] Dr. Chad Johnson: I definitely turned myself a different way and even my hand for the handshake. Oh yeah. To, oh yeah, to make sure that they saw the palm of my hand and stuff like that. It really wasn’t near my hands until the hives started breaking out ’cause my body just gets really allergic to this stuff. So what do you do?

[00:08:20] Regan Robertson: Well, you know, when Maggie first brought this to us, said, “What if we present the shadow side of everything and talk about taboo subjects?’ It made me do a really deep and heavy pause because I knew first and foremost it was right. I knew it would be good and it would be right, and it would be the brave thing to do. We have to share if we don’t share, then how can people really get the information that they deserve, the education, the options. If we don’t do this, then how can we really, really connect? And one of the areas for me personally is if you know me on the surface, I hear it all the time, “Why are you so smiley? You are always so happy. You are bubbly. I have sparkles is one of my nicknames.” If you know me on a deeper level, I’m not always that way. Right. I think, um, to an extent it might be masking. Also, it is a big part of my personality and who I am. Not everything is positive. Not everything wants to be talked about and it can be very difficult for professionals. I went through this. When, when she brought this up, I thought to myself, well, uh, you know, how far are we going to go with these topics that once this is out, this is out for forever. So my family will hear it, everybody will hear things, how vulnerable are we going to go? And, um, so we put a lot of care into how we present our topics and, and after hours is a phenomenal way, I think, to give extra value to have a little, you know, boosted episode where we do, we go into the deeper side of topics and life and the underbelly, if you will and I think it’s going to be a really incredible journey. journey. What type of topics, Maggie, can you share for the listeners that we’re going to kind of, we want to touch on?

[00:09:48] Dr. Maggie Augustyn: The list is always growing in my head and in my mind, but one of the first things that we are going to tackle, and there’s already one episode that Chad and I recorded and, uh, you know, you could be listening to this episode at any point, but we are recording this on the heels of the election. So the election, uh, of 2024, the presidential election just happened and, and shortly before Chad and I, uh, recorded this, recorded an episode about how to make it work in a relationship of two humans, two friends, two colleagues, when they have divergent political opinions.

[00:10:27] Dr. Chad Johnson: And even socially at a holiday, you know, stuff like that. So yeah,

[00:10:30] Dr. Maggie Augustyn: Because it’s a Dickie situation, you’re not supposed to talk about it. So we give you some tips on how. He and I make it work because he and I have very different political views. And we are, which

[00:10:43] Dr. Chad Johnson: I disagree with her. I, I don’t, I don’t even see eye to eye on that, but

[00:10:50] Dr. Maggie Augustyn: We’re very good friends and we do talk about politics.

[00:10:53] Dr. Chad Johnson: We do,

[00:10:54] Dr. Maggie Augustyn: We do. We talk about it all the time.

[00:10:55] Dr. Chad Johnson: And somehow we find ways to honor one another. It’s just like, you know what, that is a horrible idea, but I still love you. You know, that we can say that to each other and like, that is really, there’s something cathartic about being able to go to someone that you’re like, I know you’re going to disagree, but I’m still going to tell you, and I think you’re going to, like, you’re still going to accept me as a friend. Like, that’s pretty cool.

[00:11:18] Dr. Maggie Augustyn: Yeah. Uh, the next thing that we have lined up. Again, it’s a huge issue. It’s addiction and we have two ways of addressing addiction. We have drug addiction and we have alcoholism. And I think that most people have faced addiction in some way and I’m not saying

[00:11:35] Regan Robertson: But what about shopping?

[00:11:36] Dr. Chad Johnson: Sure. Right.

[00:11:37] Regan Robertson: I’m not even kidding. There are other forms, right? I mean,

[00:11:39] Dr. Chad Johnson: Absolutely.

[00:11:40] Dr. Maggie Augustyn: Yeah. Did you say donuts? Yes. Oh my gosh. If I could have a donut every day for the rest of my life, I think I would be the happiest human on earth.

[00:11:48] Dr. Chad Johnson: Right but why just one is my problem. That’s my addictive problem. problem. I go, “Why just one?”

[00:11:53] Dr. Maggie Augustyn: And, and what about social media? I mean, if I think almost all of us are addicted to social media, addiction to dopamine,

[00:12:01] Regan Robertson: Um, we call that the cigarette of our generation. That’s what I told my kids. Social media and your phone is the cigarette of our generation.

[00:12:07] Dr. Chad Johnson: I could quit whenever I wanted.

[00:12:08] Regan Robertson: Yeah. That’s what I said too and the kids put a test to me and I had to pick up my phone and I realized that that moment, “Oh,”

[00:12:14] Dr. Chad Johnson: I’m actually just playing around. Yeah.

[00:12:16] Regan Robertson: So I think, you know, it’s going to be, it’s going to be exciting. I’m really, really looking forward to the guests we’re going to have and to being able to help you as you listen, because it’s an illusion, it’s an illusion that there’s, you know, work and you compartmentalize it, and then there’s your personal life. You should, there’s everyday things that you can do on both sides of the fence, I think, to improve your life and we’re just really honored to continue this podcast. We’re honored to have you, Maggie, join us and, you know, to be able to just continue using this platform in a way that’s helpful for others, because. We’re all in this together and, uh, you know, regardless of our beliefs, when we move forward with respect and we just share what we know, hopefully you’ll get something out of that. So I think it’s going to be an amazing new season coming up and, um, final thoughts, Chad,

[00:12:59] Dr. Chad Johnson: Listeners. If you don’t know, Google Maggie Augustine and look up her articles online and notice that she’s speaking, you know, so this is what we’re bringing to the podcast is a different angle of contribution and I’m super excited about it. Um, that’s my final thought.

[00:13:17] Dr. Maggie Augustyn: Thank you, Chad.

[00:13:18] Dr. Chad Johnson: Well, welcome.

[00:13:19] Regan Robertson: I can’t wait, Maggie, to just continue to bring forth in a recorded way the private conversations that you and Chad and I have together and, uh, I’m just so excited, so excited to bring everybody into our conversations and, uh, let’s be provocative. So Maggie, final thoughts.

[00:13:37] Dr. Maggie Augustyn:  I’m very excited and my hope here is that by opening this trap door and laying the light on some of the things that you might be holding in that you’re just so protective of your secret. Here’s the thing you don’t have to share your secrets with us, what we’re going to do is we’re going to bring in the guests to share their secrets in the hopes of making sure that you don’t feel alone and the hope is that you can walk out into the world feeling more supported in the way that you’re feeling in whatever hardship that you’re facing.

[00:14:07] Regan Robertson: That’s excellent. It’s going to be a great season. You can look forward to more Everyday Practice, the clinical standpoint, we’ve got a lot lined up for cosmetics, some incredible doctor stories and what they’re doing every day and our new addition, Dr. Maggie as our third co-host and our special everyday practices after our episodes as well. Oh, and by the way, before you click onto your next podcast, Dr. Maggie is also presenting at March’s 2025 PDA conference. So she will be a keynote for us. Uh, you can go to productivedentist.com and underneath the conferences, you will see, uh, Maggie in our lineup for that event. So head on over to productivedentist.com. You can learn more about Maggie there, Google her, and we look forward to seeing you next episode. Thank you for listening to another episode of Everyday Practices Podcast. Chad and I are here every week. Thanks. There are community of listeners just like you, and we’d love your help. It would mean the world. If you can help spread the word by sharing this episode with a fellow dentist and leave us a review on iTunes or Spotify, do you have an extraordinary story you’d like to share or feedback on how we can make this podcast even more? Awesome. Drop us an email at podcast@productivedentist.com and don’t forget to check out our other podcasts from Productive Dentist Academy at productivedentist.com/podcasts. See you next week!