Volume 7 • 2020 • Issue 3

Dr. Nette has become a mentor himself, though he is humble about it. He teaches part-time at Dalhousie University. “I imagined teaching as a situation when I would be a mentor, but I actually learn a lot when I teach,” he says. “At the university, I’m fortunate to be in the presence of people who are giving back to the profession.” Dr. Nette also instructs dental students at the North End Community Health Clinic on Gottingen Street in Halifax every Wednesday. The clinic has provided services to socio-economically vulnerable and homeless people since the early 1980s. Indeed, Dr. Nette worked there a few days a week between 1982–83, while he was establishing his own practice in Wolfville. “It’s a delightful opportunity as an instructor because the ratio is four senior students to one instructor,” says Dr. Nette. “And for students, it’s a clinic that demonstrates the degree to which dentistry is often for the ‘haves’, not the ‘have-nots.’ We don’t always think of ours as an elite service, but it is.” At the clinic, students get to see the importance of dental care and other services to the community firsthand and the difference it can make in people’s lives. Often, at lunch, Dr. Nette and a few of the students sit around an oval table in the Gottingen Street clinic’s lunch room. “There’s a lot of time during the day for us to discuss, debrief, and think things over together,” says Dr. Nette. “So, at lunch, I think students have realized that we can talk about anything on their minds.” The greatest thing that Dr. Nette believes he can share with students? “It’s not so much what I know or little tips I’ve gleaned,” he says. “Rather it’s my enthusiasm after so many years of practising dentistry. It’s greater than it has even been. I just love this profession.” He does his best to convey that being a dentist can be a truly gratifying vocation. Dr. Nette says that being involved with the profession can help make it fun, but, as with his definition of mentorship, he defines involvement expansively. “Different people have different styles of engaging,” he says. Formal study groups “If a dentist’s first priority is the well being of their patients, at all times, they’re going to enjoy their work more than if their priority is their bank balance. I’ve observed this in dentists I’ve met over the years. They stay in the profession longer. They just have more fun. The happiest dentists prioritize their patients first, then their staff, and, finally, their bank balance. And what’s better than having fun at work?” are good. So are local dental associations. Local CE classes. Volunteering for a committee. Staying involved with dental education. “It’s necessary to realize that you have a lot to learn from other people,” he says. “But you can do it however it makes sense for you.” Dr. Nette’s daughter is a dentist—he works at her practice a few days a week—so he feels personally connected to the future of the profession. “I, like many others, have concerns about the corporate practice model,” he says. “I like that as individual practitioners or practitioners in a group practice, dentists are empowered to make minute-to-minute decisions guided by what they feel is in the patient’s best interest. My understanding of the corporate model is that there are typically quotas to meet, and this may influence how dentists operate.” Dr. Nette also worries about how technology is changing how people communicate. “My perception is that increasingly it’s harder to really engage with people,” he says. “May there always be local dental society meetings in a restaurant, over a burger and a beer, with a guest speaker, and people chatting before and hanging around after. Hopefully that will never go away.” Often, Dr. Nette and a few of the students sit around an oval table in the Gottingen Street clinic's lunch room. “I think students have realized that we can talk about anything on their minds,” he says. Visit CDA Oasis to hear the full conversation with Dr. Nette: oasisdiscussions.ca/2020/01/24/dr-andrew-nette-the-life-of-a-mentor Key Piece of Advice from Dr. Nette I ssues and P eople 26 | 2020 | Issue 3