When Patients Change Everything | Part 2 (E.314)

“There’s a beauty in understanding that the interactions we have with people really affect us and have this extraordinary ripple effect.” – Dr. Maggie Augustyn

 

Brief Overview of the Episode

In Part Two of this series, the conversation shifts from difficult patient interactions to the positive moments that quietly shape how dentists see themselves and their work.

Regan Robertson, Dr. Chad Johnson, and Dr. Maggie Augustyn reflect on patients who extended trust before it felt earned, moments of grace under pressure, and early career experiences that still influence how they show up decades later.

Through stories from dental school, unexpected complications, and deeply human exchanges, this episode explores how perspective, compassion, and trust can recalibrate a dentist’s approach to leadership and care.

What This Episode Reveals

• How trust from patients can shape confidence early in a career
• Why perspective matters most when things do not go as planned
• The long term impact of grace in high stress moments
• How formative experiences influence decision making years later

What You’ll Learn

• Why patients affect dentists more than they realize
• How early experiences shape emotional regulation under pressure
• The role perspective plays in handling complications
• Why compassion and accountability can coexist
• How remembering what truly matters changes how you lead

If This Sounds Familiar

• You still remember patients from dental school
• Certain moments come back to you years later
• Complications feel heavier than they should
• You hold yourself to an impossible standard
• Perspective is easier to talk about than practice

This episode gives voice to those experiences.

Next Steps

This episode concludes a two part series on contrast, patients, and leadership.
If you missed Part One, start there.

Stay tuned for next week’s follow up.

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TRANSCRIPT

[00:00:00] Regan Robertson: Doctors, last week, Chad and Maggie and I sat down and we discussed. What one negative patient interaction, what memorable one stuck out to us that changed the way that Chad and Maggie practiced dentistry? And before we start our podcast today, I want you to quickly think about that one. You can go back and watch the previous episode or two.

[00:00:23] Regan Robertson: I want you to get in that brain space of think of a time when a patient has had an interaction with you, positive or negative, and man, it just rocked your boat. It just sent you into the stratosphere and made you think differently, maybe about how you showed up, maybe about your practice, uh, maybe about your love of dentistry.

[00:00:43] Regan Robertson: Who knows. Um, these reflective questions are really important, I think, especially as we close out the year and head into a new one because New Years are about new beginnings and, uh, you know, changing our patterns, looking at our patterns, and then deciding what stays and what goes. So today, [00:01:00] hi Chad and Maggie.

[00:01:01] Dr. Maggie Augustyn: Hello.

[00:01:03] Regan Robertson: We are going to discuss the positive patient interaction memory that both of you have that changed perhaps the way you look at yourself or the way you look at your practice. Chad, how are you today?

[00:01:15] Dr. Chad Johnson: I’m doing great. Uh, I just worked this morning and, uh, we did six implants, uh, and yeah, and then pulled a couple teeth.

[00:01:24] Dr. Chad Johnson: Got her ready for,

[00:01:25] Dr. Maggie Augustyn: did you use yummy?

[00:01:27] Dr. Chad Johnson: Did not, no, this was in my Pleasant Hill office and just did a surgical guy, dropped him in and, uh, that was a, a great two and a half hour appointment, um, and good money. And then the, you know, came home for lunch with the, uh, with Sarah and Gabe is done with his finals for the week.

[00:01:46] Dr. Chad Johnson: So he had lunch with us and went out to the greenhouse for a minute or two to check on stuff and things. So I’ll tell you what, I’m, I’m happy I’m sound is a pound.

[00:01:55] Regan Robertson: Nice. Sound is a pound. I’ve never heard that, but I’ll take That’s a,

[00:01:59] Dr. Chad Johnson: that must

[00:01:59] Dr. Maggie Augustyn: be an Iowa [00:02:00] thing.

[00:02:00] Dr. Chad Johnson: No, it’s an Austin Powers reference. Oh, no, no.

[00:02:06] Dr. Chad Johnson: Sound is a pound. I’m sound is a pound baby.

[00:02:11] Regan Robertson: Maggie, how are you? You look so elegant. If y’all are watching us on YouTube or if you’re not so going.

[00:02:17] Dr. Maggie Augustyn: Thank you. We did match all three of us, didn’t we? We did a pretty

[00:02:20] Regan Robertson: much, we unintentionally. So

[00:02:21] Dr. Maggie Augustyn: unintentionally. Yeah. Yeah. I’ll tell you. So, um. I generally don’t have someone buying me things, so I usually buy them myself.

[00:02:28] Dr. Maggie Augustyn: So I ask my husband if it’d be okay if I bought myself this new watch for Christmas and it’s the ugliest thing you’ve ever seen. I mean, truly it is an awful looking watch. It’s

[00:02:37] Dr. Chad Johnson: But you like it?

[00:02:38] Dr. Maggie Augustyn: Well, I do because it’s so ugly. Yes. It’s called the Gucci Grip if you wanna look it up. I mean, it is truly one of the most.

[00:02:45] Dr. Maggie Augustyn: Awful looking watches that exists. So I bought it. I’ve been obsessed with it for like two years, so I finally bought it, and they don’t sell them in stores anymore, so I bought it on eBay. Turns out you cannot change the links on it. You cannot take the links. This [00:03:00] watch apparently is known for not being siz.

[00:03:04] Dr. Maggie Augustyn: So I spent this morning going to a custom watchmaker to have the links removed and they got it done. So it looks like I’ll be keeping the watch.

[00:03:14] Regan Robertson: What color is it? I’m

[00:03:14] Dr. Maggie Augustyn: very sad. That was

[00:03:15] Regan Robertson: my morning. I don’t think ugly, first of all, I just did a quick, a little Google search and it, it looks cool to me. What color is it?

[00:03:21] Dr. Maggie Augustyn: It’s gold. Chad, what are, what do you think about that Watch?

[00:03:25] Regan Robertson: That’s wicked cool.

[00:03:26] Dr. Chad Johnson: Well, no, I mean, I think Reagan’s, uh, got a great opinion. You know, that’s one if you, I think, I think it’s ugly.

[00:03:33] Regan Robertson: So it looks like a weight scale, like an old s weight scale that you put your little feet on.

[00:03:37] Dr. Chad Johnson: Yes. That the Federal Reserve uses to measure gold weight.

[00:03:42] Dr. Chad Johnson: Um, I, I mean, it’s weirdly cool, but, I mean, I’m not a watch guy, but like, I’m just like, if you wore it and you’re like, what do you think? I’d, if you’re happy, I’m, I’m cool with it. Whatever.

[00:03:53] Regan Robertson: I love it. I think it’s very unique and I think it’s chic. I think it, I think if I saw that it would make me pay attention and I can [00:04:00] immediately, you know why I like it?

[00:04:01] Regan Robertson: You can read the time on it. I don’t care for watches, especially luxury watches, where I have no clue of what the actual time is. ’cause to me that’s just, it’s, you’re wearing a sculpts, which is fine, but I want it to have a little bit of function, so. Okay, we’re squirreling.

[00:04:20] Dr. Chad Johnson: Well, here we are. Dr. Maggie. Do you have out of 20 years, uh, someone in your mind that you just go, that was a. That, that I always go back to that as my happy place, as my, uh, model patient of reference for fun. In a good conversation, you have a student come job shadow you and you and they say, have you ever had one patient that that’s been extra ples, pleasant or pleasurable for you?

[00:04:47] Dr. Chad Johnson: What would you say?

[00:04:49] Dr. Maggie Augustyn: I have a cop out answer. And then as I was thinking to give of giving you that cop out answer, I actually, somebody came through, um, and I’m not gonna tell you his first name, but I’ll tell you [00:05:00] his last name. He’s passed since his name was Mr. Scarano and he was my dental school patient.

[00:05:07] Dr. Maggie Augustyn: And I don’t know why he just entered my mind now, because I’d been given a week to think about it. And I still was driving into the office. I could not think of that one patient until you started speaking. And the reason why Mr. Scarano, he gave me a bottle of wine for my dental school graduation that he made himself.

[00:05:25] Dr. Chad Johnson: Oh wow.

[00:05:26] Dr. Maggie Augustyn: And then I kind of followed him a little bit and I mean, it’s been 20 years and he was like in his eighties. And then I did see that he, he’d passed. But the reason why. It was really important for me to, um, to call out this particular interaction, this particular patient is because he really trusted me and I like, I don’t know why, like I was a dental student, right?

[00:05:51] Dr. Maggie Augustyn: Like, why would you trust this kid? But he did, he had tremendous respect for me and he really trusted everything that I said, and [00:06:00] he allowed me to take care of him. Oh. And so, and I, and I did a fair amount of work on him also, which helped me satisfy my credits, um, or my, however many units, um

[00:06:12] Dr. Chad Johnson: mm-hmm.

[00:06:13] Dr. Maggie Augustyn: But, but he’s the one, just this elderly, extraordinary positive gentleman that just made me feel like I was, I, I was important.

[00:06:27] Dr. Maggie Augustyn: Like I, I was like, I mattered. Um. My cop out answer was going to be every patient.

[00:06:35] Dr. Chad Johnson: Right,

[00:06:36] Dr. Maggie Augustyn: right. That’s like the, the movie where like you’re watching a murder mystery and all of a sudden the aliens end up killing the, you know, the, the person. Um, and I, and I don’t intend to have that be a cop out answer, but it was a really difficult question to answer.

[00:06:50] Dr. Maggie Augustyn: It

[00:06:50] Dr. Chad Johnson: is,

[00:06:50] Dr. Maggie Augustyn: and I think within each patient interaction. There’s so there. It’s, if you pay attention enough that that interaction, other than the [00:07:00] one that I talked about on the last podcast with the lady that I told her to, GTFO, um, every interaction can be the most significant interaction if you’re looking for the right things within that interaction.

[00:07:15] Regan Robertson: I, I find it fascinating, Maggie, because you know, I’ve worked with you on your own brand, um, you know, your practice brand, and to me your biggest core value is making sure that people feel seen and making sure that they matter. And I think that’s a really fascinating connection. Um, do you feel like this individual, like, gave you a.

[00:07:42] Regan Robertson: Firsthand experience of what it felt like to be seen.

[00:07:46] Dr. Maggie Augustyn: Yeah. I, I, I, I think that’s perhaps where that started and, and, and the falsehood of that was that this is what my life was going to be like moving forward. Right. That his [00:08:00] respect and adoration for me, um, his trust in me was just how it was going to go moving forward.

[00:08:07] Dr. Maggie Augustyn: It, it was that, and, and there’s some. You know, falsehood in that. Uh, unfortunately that’s not always the case. And, and, and the other interesting part of that is for me, within this interaction as we’re talking about, is I kind of grew up invisible and unseen, so. Um, that really fed into whatever was missing in my life, whatever it is that I needed in my life.

[00:08:31] Dr. Maggie Augustyn: And I suppose that’s what took that interaction or that particular patient relationship to, to a place where I’m talking about it today. Yeah. Feeling seen is not something I experienced, but it is something that I want to give to the people in my life, including my patients.

[00:08:47] Regan Robertson: You know, when I think about my, my own career, there have always been times like strategic times where clients will come in and they extend trust when I don’t think trust is earned.

[00:08:58] Regan Robertson: And they extend [00:09:00] that level of belief in in you. Even though, like for me, for example, it’s like I’ve never done anything like this before. I’ve never given a shot. Why would you believe me? And there’s such a generosity in that that I think. It can kind of, um, put a soft kilter, not in a bad way, but just a surprising way.

[00:09:17] Regan Robertson: And, and, um, for me it’s made me curious, you know, it’s, it’s made me curious, but also encouraged. Chad, what are your thoughts when hearing Maggie speak to this and her one special patient?

[00:09:31] Dr. Chad Johnson: Um, I had the same thing in mind at first with, um. With thinking, not, not all patients, but my thought was many patients.

[00:09:40] Dr. Chad Johnson: So I wasn’t as generous as saying, you know, like all of them, all, all 1 million of them have been wonderful, but it’s like, I don’t know, it gives

[00:09:51] Regan Robertson: you’re suddenly royal. Is it a

[00:09:53] Dr. Chad Johnson: Well that’s the idea is are you being Madden

[00:09:55] Regan Robertson: around

[00:09:55] Dr. Chad Johnson: the

[00:09:55] Regan Robertson: palace of, are

[00:09:56] Dr. Chad Johnson: you being so magnanimous that you’re like, uh, all of you have been [00:10:00] so integral in my life?

[00:10:02] Dr. Chad Johnson: Um, but. I don’t know. I’d say like, it’s like at least half. Um, so, so that was, uh, that was cool. But, um, uh, yeah, it’s, it’s, it’s, I also a thought of mine was dental school was kind of, um, even I though it was 20 years ago for me too, it was integral in. Those few patients. I mean, we saw just a handful, or you could call it 50 or a hundred or 10.

[00:10:31] Dr. Chad Johnson: I mean, I, you know, I don’t know how many the number is of patients in dental school. Um, but when you think about it, like your first pro patient or your first crown or your first denture, and, um, you know what’s funny? Is there, maybe it’s unprofessional. I’m gonna say it. ’cause like it’s, it’s, it’s a nice unprofessional, but I think of a guy.

[00:10:53] Dr. Chad Johnson: That I did his denture in dental school and he was really trusting of, of me and stuff, and. [00:11:00] I look him up every once in a while to see if I can’t find out where he is and stuff. ’cause I’ve never really been able to get in touch with him. Um, but uh, like whenever I’m driving down to St. Louis, I pass by the town where he, uh.

[00:11:15] Dr. Chad Johnson: He’s from, and I think of him and, um, you know, I, I think, I wonder, I wonder how he’s doing. I wonder if his son who had come to some of the appointments or his wife, uh, Marilyn, who had come to some of the appointments and stuff, like, I still remember that. And so that also what shocked me, you know, about your story was I was just thinking, you know, the, not necessarily all, but like yeah, a lot of patients.

[00:11:36] Dr. Chad Johnson: And then you mentioned a dental school patient and I was like, man, you know. Thinking about those patients and how, um, gracious they were, uh, for that when you didn’t deserve it, as you said, re Reagan, you know, and, uh, stuff like that. So yeah, it resonated a lot with me. There’s

[00:11:56] Dr. Maggie Augustyn: so much to unpack in that, from

[00:11:58] Dr. Chad Johnson: correct

[00:11:59] Dr. Maggie Augustyn: from the idea [00:12:00] that people trust us without knowing us to the ripple effect of someone being our patients under eye care, how it affects us and how much we think about it.

[00:12:11] Dr. Maggie Augustyn: 20 years later.

[00:12:12] Dr. Chad Johnson: Yes.

[00:12:13] Dr. Maggie Augustyn: Right. I, I mean, just, uh, I don’t know how many patients know that they affect us so profoundly.

[00:12:22] Dr. Chad Johnson: No, they don’t. When they’re working from a fear point, they don’t think about how, how they might negatively or positively be affecting us. I had a dental school patient and I can still remember the chair I was in and everything and, and I’m putting the guy’s gold crown on tooth number 18,

[00:12:42] Regan Robertson: so specific.

[00:12:42] Regan Robertson: Of course you would remember the exact tooth,

[00:12:45] Dr. Chad Johnson: all of it. Well, here’s why. He, uh, uh, he’s an older gentleman at the time, I think he was 88. We’re putting this crown in. I was so proud of this crown. We’re putting this crown [00:13:00] in and I’ve got everything, you know, isolated and ready and, um, I go to,

[00:13:04] wait.

[00:13:04] Dr. Maggie Augustyn: It was a gold crown?

[00:13:05] Dr. Chad Johnson: Yes.

[00:13:06] Dr. Maggie Augustyn: Did you cast it yourself?

[00:13:07] Dr. Chad Johnson: Uh, not this one. Okay. So this one was done by the lab, but still proud of it. You know, I can just think of the, the, you know, how parallel you make everything and you know, just everything, just right. How many, man, I think we got four hours to prep the dumb thing. You better be good.

[00:13:25] Dr. Chad Johnson: You know, so, but I’m putting it in and I’m getting into place and he’s, he coughs. No. Yes,

[00:13:38] Regan Robertson: no. He cough.

[00:13:39] Dr. Chad Johnson: He coughs in me. He coughs

[00:13:40] Regan Robertson: right when you’re putting it in place.

[00:13:41] Dr. Chad Johnson: Yes. And he goes, oh, excuse me. All right, hold on.

[00:13:45] Regan Robertson: No.

[00:13:46] Dr. Chad Johnson: And he opens back up and I go, uh, and he goes, did I, did I swallow that?

[00:13:55] Regan Robertson: No, no, no,

[00:13:55] Dr. Maggie Augustyn: no.

[00:13:56] Dr. Chad Johnson: And I said, I, I mean, do you feel it in your [00:14:00] mouth?

[00:14:01] Dr. Chad Johnson: No, he, he. And so. So I had to go get the professor.

[00:14:09] Dr. Maggie Augustyn: That’s bad. And I, so like, he can press play again on your C know,

[00:14:13] Dr. Chad Johnson: right. R Right. So, so I, we call, you know, I, I, I’m in the, uh, the chair right next to the, the, the hallway, the clinical hallway. And, and I go find my, you know, clinical professor and I’m, I say, so my patient.

[00:14:31] Dr. Chad Johnson: Coughed while he was putting the crown in. He doesn’t know if he swallowed or not. So we have to go get a chest x-ray to make sure he didn’t aspirate it.

[00:14:38] Dr. Maggie Augustyn: Inhale. Yep.

[00:14:40] Dr. Chad Johnson: So we go to do that.

[00:14:42] Regan Robertson: Or he like go into his lungs.

[00:14:44] Dr. Chad Johnson: Correct. Like if he coughed it into his lungs, it could be an infection point. So Yeah.

[00:14:49] Regan Robertson: Right.

[00:14:50] Dr. Chad Johnson: And then at 88 I could give him a young man, kill him, no problem. Yeah. You know? No, no high stakes.

[00:14:55] Dr. Maggie Augustyn: What was your stress level at this point?

[00:14:57] Regan Robertson: Just gonna say,

[00:14:59] Dr. Chad Johnson: I mean, I still [00:15:00] remember to this day, and like it was super nerve wracking. Super nerve wracking. Yeah.

[00:15:07] Dr. Maggie Augustyn: Um, because you’re like, you’re a kid. It’s

[00:15:09] Regan Robertson: like getting thrown into the deep end.

[00:15:11] Regan Robertson: Yeah. Right out of the gate. You could kill him. No big deal. Let’s move on.

[00:15:14] Dr. Chad Johnson: When I, when I had that happen, let’s see, I was either 24 or going on 25. Yeah. I mean, you know, and, uh, so we find out that it’s in his stomach and we give him some gloves. No. And Yep. And he’s like, I’ll just, I’ll get it.

[00:15:33] Dr. Maggie Augustyn: I’ll get it.

[00:15:33] Dr. Maggie Augustyn: Uh, like draw it up.

[00:15:35] Dr. Chad Johnson: No, no. Uh, fish it out the other end. And

[00:15:40] Dr. Maggie Augustyn: and then aren’t gonna reuse it.

[00:15:42] Dr. Chad Johnson: Yeah, we sterilized it and we gave him a poop tooth, which is funny ’cause I called it that. I called it that because I have a dental school buddy in Curtis Caruthers, who’s down in Tennessee, and he has a story about a poop tooth.

[00:15:57] Dr. Chad Johnson: And, and about every year on his, on his [00:16:00] Facebook page, I’ll write, Hey, happy birthday Mr. Poop tooth. He had a poop tooth. He shouldn’t have told anyone. I’m telling everyone

[00:16:09] Regan Robertson: that. Oh my gosh.

[00:16:09] Dr. Chad Johnson: But okay, so now let me tell you the cool part about this story, okay?

[00:16:13] Regan Robertson: Mm-hmm. I think the whole story is cool, but

[00:16:15] Dr. Chad Johnson: okay, so this is just absurd.

[00:16:17] Dr. Chad Johnson: Now I’ll try not to cry.

[00:16:20] Regan Robertson: Aw.

[00:16:21] Dr. Chad Johnson: He shows me on his wrist, his tattoo. He says I was in a concentration camp. I’ve gone through worse things in life. We’ll get through this.

[00:16:36] Regan Robertson: Oh wow.

[00:16:39] Dr. Chad Johnson: And this was really cool. I mean, you know, like to think that he was a late teen when he was freed from a concentration camp and then this dental student, uh, is some 67 years later is thinking that he’s having a bad day because you know, of [00:17:00] the stupid crown that we can remake, you know, it’s not the end of the world, uh, but.

[00:17:06] Dr. Chad Johnson: He was a guide and that was really cool, and I’m still thankful for him for that. That was, that was really cool. I, I still, I, so if it’s like, how do you remember the chair and the tooth and his tattoo on his arm, because it’s like, it always so impactful. So that was really cool. And for those listening, I’m gonna wipe my eye.

[00:17:30] Dr. Chad Johnson: ’cause that was, it was just tender. He was very tender about it. He could have been mad and demanding and stuff like that, that Of course. Sure. Rightfully so. All that, um. I mean, I might have been mad back at him. Well, I didn’t tell you to cough, you know, like I could have said, I’m mad too. Then you gave me a bad grade.

[00:17:50] Dr. Chad Johnson: You know, like, and or something like that. I don’t know. But, uh, the, the grace abounded and that mattered. Um, and that was really cool. [00:18:00] And you know, there’s, yeah. Yeah.

[00:18:02] Regan Robertson: Go.

[00:18:03] Dr. Chad Johnson: Well, I’m just saying there’s other stories, you know, like that maybe not as. Significant. But you know, like dental school had patients that were really with you while you were growing and you occasionally are either doing dumb stuff or I was naive enough to like be bold.

[00:18:23] Dr. Chad Johnson: And then there’s some students that are not naive and there, so then they’re really scared about what they can do and then they’re, they’re not doing anything ’cause they’re frozen and they’re overthinking everything, you know, and, and stuff like that. So, yeah.

[00:18:38] Dr. Maggie Augustyn: That’s a pretty extraordinary effect than one Hu human can have on another.

[00:18:44] Dr. Chad Johnson: Right. I’m

[00:18:45] Dr. Maggie Augustyn: curious if that’s part of the reason why we’re talking about this is, is just how is it important for patients to know how much they affect us?

[00:18:54] Dr. Chad Johnson: Yeah. And um, I think it was

[00:18:57] Dr. Maggie Augustyn: course or none of their business. Is it kind of like parent and child [00:19:00] possibly where a child should never be raising a parent?

[00:19:02] Dr. Maggie Augustyn: Right. Sure. The child should never be responsible for the emotions of a parent. Sure.

[00:19:07] Regan Robertson: I really like it when I really like it when I can see the human side of people and there’s something to that story that, the thing that moves me so much, Chad, about your story in particular is there’s this beauty that exists in the imperfection of life and looking at each other and like leveling the playing field and saying, we, we will get through this together.

[00:19:28] Regan Robertson: There’s something so, so human about that, that is so compassionate. It’s almost like he was. He gave you, like you, this whole thing gave you this opportunity to see firsthand when compassion is extended to you, what that feels like and and looks like. And we’re all so hard on each other and I think, and ourselves really.

[00:19:48] Regan Robertson: Um. It’s fascinating to me that you’ve got to have that experience and also put things into perspective because I know doctors are so critical about how serious, you know, the role is and, and [00:20:00] it is serious. ’cause it could, you know, if it, if it’s something that dangerous, it could really have a life altering impact in a negative way.

[00:20:06] Regan Robertson: And I think that’s a lot of weight for a human to carry. Um, personally I think that’s, that’s a lot to have to deal with. And so you can cope, um, you know, you can use coping mechanisms, you can try to shut it off, but I, I don’t. I don’t think you ever can fully shut it off. I think you can maybe just doll it out and so that’s, I, I’m so grateful that we did this exercise.

[00:20:26] Dr. Chad Johnson: Yeah,

[00:20:26] Regan Robertson: right. That’s a very powerful story.

[00:20:30] Dr. Chad Johnson: Yeah. Yeah. Just one of many. And, um, it was, it was cool that he was, uh, so gracious about it. It also gives me early perspective at that time to over the next 20 years when I am doing. Harder surgeries and stuff, and something go, doesn’t go right that I’m actually kind of calm about it and I’m just like, listen, you know, like, okay, so what, what can we fix?

[00:20:59] Dr. Chad Johnson: What can we not fix? [00:21:00] So go back to stoicism, right? Mm-hmm. What can we fix? What can we not fix? You know? Um, if you’re making a decision but it tears or something and you’re like, oh God, it tore. But it’s just like, okay, is it fixable? Is it not? If it’s not. You can’t, I mean, it’s not fixable. It, it’s inherently not fixable.

[00:21:18] Dr. Chad Johnson: If it’s not fixable. So like, let’s not get upset about it. What can we fix? And, you know, what can we do to make this, uh, this suture line better? And instead of going and crying about it and being like, oh, no one was, and fine if someone’s gonna cry, it’s, I’m not saying it’s off limits, but, um, you know, to be able to even keeled, just sit and go, wait a second.

[00:21:41] Dr. Chad Johnson: This is gonna be okay. And Maggie, I’ve done that, you know, when we’ve had, uh, some surgical consultation stuff where I’m just like, it’s gonna be okay. Yeah. And I think in my mind, probably subconsciously that patient plays into my mind. It’s just like, oh shoot, we’ve done harder things. We’re not, we didn’t just kill a patient in heart surgery.

[00:21:59] Dr. Chad Johnson: This [00:22:00] is a, a tooth is, you know, has more cavity on it than we expected. Oh, no. Right. Their problem. Right. Dr. Bruce. Their problem, not ours. We’re here to help and we can only help so much. It’s unhelpful if we don’t do the right thing. If it’s just like, well, let’s just leave that mush there and cement the crown on top of it.

[00:22:20] Dr. Chad Johnson: You know? It’s just like, and then it breaks off later. You didn’t help the patient. You’ve gotta tell ’em. It’s just like, this is all mush. I wasn’t expecting that. I didn’t know this is all mush. We’re gonna have to, you know, trim it up. But after I trim all that off, there’s no tooth left to put a crown on.

[00:22:36] Dr. Chad Johnson: So it’s an example where, you know, doing the right thing and uh, keeping perspective is advantageous to the utmost. Yeah.

[00:22:46] Regan Robertson: Both of your stories remind me of Rick Epting. So I want this, I want this on, on audio. I definitely wanna share this story because, uh, I’m not a dentist, so obviously I don’t have patient memories.

[00:22:58] Regan Robertson: But he was [00:23:00] a, um, my closest mentor. I met him in my early twenties working in a little weekly newspaper, and I didn’t know at the time that he was a Rhode Scholar that he played 12 string guitar, wrote music, and he sold advertising for an arts And Energy was like responsible for the Arts and Entertainment Weekly pullout section, which in small town America.

[00:23:20] Regan Robertson: Hey, that’s a big deal. And I. Got the up bat, like the up to bat, to design it and work with him, and he extended so much trust in me and he saw obviously what I definitely didn’t see in myself. Uh. I leaned into that and I said, well, just take a step forward. You know, no matter how scared you are, and it’s funny because you mess up an arts and entertainment section, nobody’s going to die.

[00:23:46] Regan Robertson: But to my brain, it was that serious. I remember the first time I made a huge mistake. I was responsible for not just the ads, but the layout of it, and I sent it to print and, um, and it, and it [00:24:00] printed until I found out that, you know, I don’t know, 10,000 had gone out, whatever it was. Um. And the table of contents was one from the previous issue.

[00:24:10] Regan Robertson: So the whole table of contents piece was completely jacked and it went out and you know, you’ve got, working in a newspaper is, is the most dynamic thing because it’s almost like it’s school in a different way. So you’ve got the print shop crew, you’ve got the prep crew, you’ve got the ad crew, the journalists who are very.

[00:24:27] Regan Robertson: Spicy case in and of themselves. You’ve got the administration piece. It’s, it’s just all of these different things working together in friction. And I thought, I just let everybody in this organization down. I’ve just let everybody down. And I felt so bad and he came up to me and he goes, man, well the worst that’s gonna happen is you’re gonna die.

[00:24:47] Regan Robertson: And I was like. He goes, the worst that’s gonna happen is you’re gonna die. And I, it was such a pattern interrupt, like, it just stopped me. And I was like, well, I had to think about it. And it was almost like when you’re redirecting a horse, like, like, you’re so [00:25:00] set on this track. And so it like broke me neurologically and I had to think about it.

[00:25:03] Regan Robertson: And then I started to laugh about it, and then I realized, you know what? Nobody’s gonna, nobody’s gonna care. Nobody’s gonna know in, in probably even a month or a year. Definitely not 10 years down the line. And, and that. His interactions with me and little things that he would say, like that definitely changed how I show up today and how I handle, you know, situations that come up that didn’t go as expected.

[00:25:26] Regan Robertson: And, okay.

[00:25:27] Dr. Chad Johnson: Now did he say this face to face to you?

[00:25:29] Regan Robertson: Yes.

[00:25:29] Dr. Chad Johnson: Did he say it with a straight face? Like was it, was it stone cold humor?

[00:25:33] Regan Robertson: Uh, I’m close thinking about it. I, yes, but he always has, uh, he always had a twinkle, a little smirk, his eye and a little smirk. Uh, yes.

[00:25:44] Dr. Chad Johnson: That’s cute. Do you ever see him around?

[00:25:48] Regan Robertson: He passed away.

[00:25:50] Dr. Chad Johnson: Oh

[00:25:50] Regan Robertson: yeah, he passed away quite, quite a while ago. And, um, and yeah, I was, it, it, it made me deeply sad and at the same time [00:26:00] amazingly grateful because his interaction with me maybe wasn’t for that long. It was a few years, but the impact that he’s left on my life since then has he altered the course. And he was one of the first people to ever believe in me, uh, and, and give me, and give me a chance.

[00:26:16] Dr. Chad Johnson: Yeah,

[00:26:16] Regan Robertson: yeah, yeah. I went on, I designed a, a CD cover for him. I did t-shirts for me, had a band also on the side. So he, he gave me, you know, opportunities to go outside of advertising and marketing, and probably was one of the first people that, that bore my interest in branding and understanding what that was.

[00:26:33] Dr. Chad Johnson: Mm-hmm. Very cool. Yeah, I like it.

[00:26:36] Regan Robertson: Yeah. So in the words of Rick Epting, if we don’t see in the future, we’ll see it in the pasture.

[00:26:44] Dr. Chad Johnson: Oh boy.

[00:26:47] Regan Robertson: Final thoughts, Maggie.

[00:26:51] Dr. Maggie Augustyn: I think it’s, there’s a beauty in understanding that the interactions that we have with people [00:27:00] really affect us and have this extraordinary ripple effect.

[00:27:03] Dr. Maggie Augustyn: And I’m, I’m really being mindful about not. When I say that, I’m being mindful of not the negative ones and, and something, you know, it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s that saying you might be, uh, one thing to the world, but you are the world to one person. Um, and, and I, and I think that all we have to do is choose to believe that those interactions are real and present and begin to live our lives.

[00:27:30] Dr. Maggie Augustyn: Looking for them and focusing on them. And I think that if we do that, you know, our life goes, goes so much better in this idea that, um, you guys talked about being in it together, how Chad, your patients said we’re in it together. It, it, it makes me sad that it’s feels so extraordinary and it feels so extraordinary.

[00:27:51] Dr. Maggie Augustyn: ’cause it’s rare.

[00:27:52] Dr. Chad Johnson: Mm-hmm.

[00:27:54] Dr. Maggie Augustyn: Let’s try not to make it so rare.

[00:27:56] Dr. Chad Johnson: I like that. Hmm.[00:28:00]

[00:28:01] Dr. Chad Johnson: I think we should leave it at the, I have nothing else to add. That’s great.

[00:28:06] Dr. Maggie Augustyn: Can I add my own poop story real fast?

[00:28:08] Dr. Chad Johnson: Yes.

[00:28:11] Dr. Maggie Augustyn: Wrap

[00:28:11] Regan Robertson: it up. Okay. Let’s throw the poop.

[00:28:16] Dr. Maggie Augustyn: We have rotations who came in with a demented crown. It was a gold crown also. We put it back on next week. The wife came in and said, Hey, you’re. Did he tell you that he had fished it out of the other end? Oh. And um, and I thought that was kind of not a nice thing to say about anybody, you know, like what is the purpose of doing that other than to embarrass your significant other, um.

[00:28:44] Dr. Maggie Augustyn: But it’s, you know, people tried to save money and all things like that. And I’m not saying that I wouldn’t do that, but I’m also not saying that I would do that, but I just wish I would’ve known. So we could’ve put it through the sterilizer, I suppose is what I’m trying to say.

[00:28:57] Dr. Chad Johnson: Fair enough. I mean, [00:29:00] as if your mouth is some clean place in, right.

[00:29:03] Dr. Chad Johnson: You know? Yeah. There’s that

[00:29:05] Regan Robertson: hails from the other end of the drill.

[00:29:07] Dr. Chad Johnson: Yeah. Just

[00:29:12] Regan Robertson: thank, thank you listeners for hanging there, uh, hanging in there with us today. Uh, another great episode of Everyday Practices. We would love it if you would leave us a review. We’re on iTunes,

[00:29:23] Dr. Chad Johnson: especially a five star review.

[00:29:24] Regan Robertson: Yeah.

[00:29:25] Regan Robertson: But yeah, yeah, five stars would be great.

[00:29:27] Dr. Chad Johnson: One star people screw you. We don’t want your one star reviews.

[00:29:34] Regan Robertson: If you have a topic or idea, you can email me, Regan@productivedentist.com. And, uh, we will entertain that topic because our goal is to really help you, give you one thing that you can do to, uh, grow yourself or grow your practice. Thanks everyone.