Maybe they just like the abuse. Or, since the dental profession tends to draw altruistic caregiver types, maybe they actually think there’s a chance they can change me for the better—smooth out my mischievous edges, calm my Type A tendencies, convince me not to add in a root canal at 4:30pm—for the benefit of society at large……no, they’re smarter than that.
Whatever the reason, I’ve been very fortunate to maintain a long term staff without hardly any turnover, the “youngest” one having been with me for three years—she replaced a hygienist who retired after 25 years in our practice—and the “oldest” one having been in our practice for over 22 years. Not bad, considering I’ve only been in practice for 18 years!
It’s hard to put a price on longevity. The value of long term employees is measured not in dollars, but in the hundreds of little things that are done on an ongoing basis that don’t require my time or thought, but are done according to the way I would do them (more or less!) if I were to do them myself. Talk about force multipliers—I have ten of them. Thank you, ladies!