How your financial support impacts graduate orthodontic programs: One educator’s view from the trenches

Dr. Cheryl DeWood, an assistant professor in the Department of Orthodontics at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Dentistry, has experienced firsthand the benefits of the AAO Foundation’s Awards Program. She provides her insights as to why support of the AAO Foundation and one’s alma mater is important to the specialty of orthodontics.

In the interest of full disclosure and to get this out of the way at the beginning, this is the third year I have been the grateful recipient of an AAO Foundation (AAOF) Faculty Development Award. But before you start to think that this article is about how my AAOF award tipped the balance and made the difference between me being on faculty and being in private practice, I have to confess that I would teach even if I didn’t get paid. In fact, I did teach for a long time without being paid for it specifically. For example, I volunteered at the GPR program near my practice, I loved every opportunity that came my way to educate my patients, and I considered it proof of a good day when one of my staff members went home from work with new knowledge or a new skill. I have always thought it was cool that the word “doctor” means “teacher.” Everyone I know who teaches has this in common: We all have a need to share what we know. If we didn’t feel this way, if we didn’t find some personal satisfaction in it, we wouldn’t do it. I start with this information to dispel the notion that I am in some way “taking one for the team” by being in education. When I first meet colleagues who find out I am a full-time teacher, they often thank me. Frankly, while I do enjoy their appreciation, I feel a little guilty letting them persist in the belief that teaching is somehow a sacrifice for me. I’m in education because I like it. I do miss some things about private practice, but, for the most part, there is no comparison between working with patients and working with students.

That is not to say that there are not some trade-offs. That’s where you come in. Consider the following example. In spite of the fact that I have made the choice to teach instead of being in private practice, I still have to decide how to pay for the CE courses I want to take. My AAOF Award is my CE budget for the year, which, in the past, has allowed me to take courses on TADs that would have been a financial stretch for me otherwise. At Tennessee, we have an alumni-sponsored foundation. Using funds from this foundation, we bought TADs-related equipment in an expedient manner. This purchase would have required special requests (resulting in delays) if we had used the standard procurement process. Together, the combination of AAOF support and alumni support made it possible for us to offer TADs as part of our clinical curriculum sooner than we would have been able to otherwise.

When I was in practice, I supported my school, but I really didn’t think it mattered that much. Now that I’m in education, I am astonished at how important it is. If you already support your school or the AAOF, thank you. If you support both your school and the AAOF, thanks even more. If you do neither, you should start. I have always thought that it was unseemly to