Last we celebrated Teacher Appreciation Week in honor of our amazing instructors at POS. In this interview with Dr. David Dana he discusses what he loves about teaching, what he appreciates about POS instructors, and one of his favorite memories of working with POS Founder Dr. Don McGann.
Click below to play the video or scroll down to read the full transcript.
Video Transcript
IVETA MERKER: Hi, we are here today at Progressive Orthodontic Seminars and McGann Postgraduate School of Dentistry talking about Teacher Appreciation Week. We are here with Dr. Dana, and first of all, Dr. Dana happy birthday from all of us.
DR. DAVID DANA: Thank you, thank you.
IVETA: Any special plans for today?
DR. DANA: Yeah, we’re having a nice dinner, the whole family, somewhere in Beverly Hills. Should be fun.
IVETA: That sounds like fun.
DR. DANA: Couple of bottles of wine, why not?
IVETA: Dr. Dana, can you please tell us about how you got involved with the company and also how did you become an instructor?
DR. DANA: Early in my days of practice, as my practice was growing, I realized that I needed to know more, to learn more. And one of the things I needed to learn more and know more was orthodontics. When I started thinking about it I really didn’t know if I was going to do it or not, but I just needed to know more so I could have intelligent discussions with my orthodontist at that time. After doing some research and evaluating different courses and many of my friends recommending Progressive Orthodontics, I decided to give it a try. I came in for the first seminar and met Dr. McGann, was very impressed within the first half of day, went to lunch with him, we talked and by the time the first day was over, I not only knew that I was going to learn ortho with Progressive, I was convinced I was gonna do it. And surprisingly by the time I finished my seminar series which was about a year and three quarters, almost 2 years I had more than 100 patients already in braces full ortho treatment in the practice.
IVETA: That’s fantastic.
DR. DANA: How I became an instructor is because of the passion that my teacher, my mentor Dr. McGann had. I had the opportunity to meet a couple of instructors there, and the passion they had, the way they were offering their knowledge was inspiring. At one point I just got up one day, Dr. McGann was talking about the next series, he showed us the brochure with, in those days we were like 6 instructors in the company, shows us the brochure to give it around to our friends, and I got up and I said you know what I’d really like, I want my picture here. And it was about a year after I graduated that I took my first assignment. He invited me to be an instructor right after I graduated, but it took about a year for him to position me and give me my first assignment and that was 23 years ago.
IVETA: Well time flies when you are having fun right?
DR. DANA: Yes, yes it does. It’s been a great, great ride.
IVETA: You have worked with dentists, thousands of dentists all around the world. What is your favorite part of being a teacher and what does being a teacher mean to you?
DR. DANA: I think one of the favorite things of being an instructor is when you have a group full of doctors at Seminar 1 and you're talking about ortho as a subject that they are not really familiar with, and towards the end of the first day you start seeing their eyes opening. The light bulb goes on and they are ready to take on ortho and that is just one of the favorite things, you know, to see how in a day they start getting transformed and becoming part of being an orthodontist.
IVETA: Aren't the graduations fun?
DR. DANA: The graduations are also the favorite part. More when you have spent time with the group and you see them kind of like starting not knowing anything. And then you come a year and a half to two years later and they show you cases that are just phenomenal. Cases that are working fantastic that are coming up to perfection with great finishes and to see their pride and to see their face full of hey I can do it, it's just fantastic. It is another one of my favorite parts and you know, I rarely miss a graduation. This is it, you know? It's the culmination of a lot of effort from all the students, but also all of us that stand in front of the class, you know, trying to get them to learn, so yeah.
IVETA: It's a great achievement that the teacher sees the fruits of their labor.
DR. DANA: Absolutely. That's why we do it. It's really a selfless work, you know, because you just want to give the doctors the knowledge that you have and you wanna teach them your skills. Just trying to build them up so they can reach their maximum potential and when you see them reaching this potential, that's the gift of standing up in front of the class for hours and hours on, you know? Seeing your students becoming fantastic dentists.
IVETA: It's very rewarding.
DR. DANA: Absolutely, that's the reward. That's the biggest pay we get.
IVETA: Dr. Dana, what is it like to work with all these fabulous instructors we have from all around the world?
DR. DANA: It is actually one of the best things that I have ever had. We talk about fabulous instructors and they are really phenomenal people. Each and every one of the instructors are gifted, their level of intelligence is beyond and everybody has other fields of expertise. We have implantologists, we have pedodontists, and the way they bring their knowledge and the relationships that we've built I mean, we have 50 people around the world right now teaching almost every weekend for us and I can tell you every one of those instructors is a friend for life. You know, the joy to see them and hearing their success is just fantastic. Keep in mind that if not all most of them were my students and when I hear reviews from them as "oh my god the greatest teacher we've ever had," it makes me so proud to see people that sat in my class, like the saying says, "they have done better than the teacher" and I believe that many of the instructors that sat in my class can teach me anything, anytime and they are better than I used to be. So it's really fantastic.
IVETA: Dr. Dana, now can you please tell us what was the transition like going from being a POS Instructor to become an Educational Director for Progressive Orthodontic Seminars and McGann Postgraduate School of Dentistry?
DR. DANA: It was very interesting and bittersweet, if I can say that. Why bittersweet? When I became the educational director I had to give up some of the stuff that I love to do, like I don't lecture as often. And I really enjoy being in front of the class almost every weekend. And today because of all the things I have to do, I really don't have the time to be out in the classroom as often as I used to. Fortunately, I still have the opportunity to travel a little bit and lecture overseas, lecturing here [in the US]. So that is one of the parts that I do miss being in front of the class as often as I used to. And on the other hand, it was a great opportunity to take over the job that Dr. McGann used to do.
IVETA: You worked with Dr. McGann for a long time, do you have any favorite memories?
DR. DANA: You know working with Dr. McGann, it was really interesting. Actually if I was to summarize how it would be working with Dr. McGann I can put it in one word: exhausting. I mean your brain will keep going and going because his brain would never stop. It was very interesting. I learned tremendous amounts not only about ortho but about dentistry and management practices and managing my patients. But it was very intense. I will never forget, this is when we were designing the IP Appliance, at the initial steps...
IVETA: Yes, I remember those times.
DR. DANA: I was teaching here in Orange County, he came to the office so I finished my lecture, we went to dinner and of course at dinner we talk about the appliance and why we need to make a new one, and the inefficiencies of the existing appliances. So we finished dinner around 10PM and I'm driving him to his hotel and he goes oh no, no, no, let's go to the office. So we ended up in the office he takes me to the lab and he starts showing me all the studies and wire spin and friction and this and that. To make the story short, it was 2:00 in the morning when he kept talking and talking and I go like "Don, we gotta go, or you can stay." But really we could have spent another 3, 4 hours talking about the design and it would have been fine. So it was really intense but it was really a phenomenal time working with Dr. McGann.
IVETA: So Dr. Dana I would like to thank you for taking your time today to talk about your experiences as a teacher and also I would like to thank all of our dedicated instructors from all around the world for spending their time from their busy offices and spreading the word of ortho and other fields of dentistry.
DR. DANA: And I'd like to thank you all. I know all time and effort that you put to make this company great. I know all the dedication and the effort you make for all our students to be successful. And being Teacher Appreciation Week I'd like to share my appreciation with all of you. Thank you guys for doing such a great job. Thank you, Iveta.
IVETA: Thank you Dr. Dana. And again, happy birthday.
DR. DANA: Thank you.
