Her Story
About Martha
I have been in dentistry my entire professional life, spanning 40 years. I graduated from dental school at age 23 in my home country, where I was deeply passionate about making dentistry accessible to underserved communities. I did a lot of social work in towns far away from big cities to help people get dental services who otherwise wouldn't have access. When I came to the United States, I couldn't see myself doing anything else but being in dentistry, so I continued on this path. I started as a dental assistant and gradually moved up the ladder, taking on roles in management and eventually becoming a regional manager. I also had the opportunity to work with NYU Langone from New York as Director of Operations in their West Palm Beach office, which served the university's donors who come to Palm Beach. That was my first experience as a director of operations and my initial step out of the clinical dental field. For the past 6 years, I have been the Director of Operations at AETON Medical, a company that specializes in dental implants and parts for implants. This opportunity gave me the chance to get out of clinical practice when I was experiencing burnout, and it has been a great experience. In my role, I oversee all operational aspects of the company, including advertising, inventory management, customer relations, board meetings, and forecasting. One of my main responsibilities is talking to customers and ensuring we maintain strong relationships with them. My most notable achievement has been maintaining the company's sales and production levels during these difficult economic times. The dental implant field is largely elective, so when the economy struggles, patients often postpone treatments. This has pushed me to expand our market by bringing in new doctors and laboratories as clients, which has been challenging but achievable. Throughout my career, I have always loved making a difference in people's lives through dentistry. It's incredible how much people's self-esteem can be affected by their teeth, and helping them smile again has always been what drives me.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Martha
01What do you attribute your success to?
I am a very warm person, and I try to get along with everybody. I learned a lot from the younger generation of dentists, and I think that communication between the very young generation of dentistry and me, with all my experience, put me at a level where I was able to communicate with everybody and achieve things I wanted to achieve that I didn't even know I was going to be able to. I enjoyed teaching them different ways of doing things and mixing the new with the old. I think all of that helped me get where I am right now.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
To be open-minded and to listen, because you will always learn from everybody. You cannot close yourself to just what you like or what you know is going to work. There's always somebody else who knows more than you or has a different technique, so you have to be very open-minded to listen and talk and brainstorm with people, whether they're young, older, it doesn't matter.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
If you're going to get into the dental field, you really need to love what you do, and you need to go into the field hoping that you can make a difference in people's lives. Just between you and I, a lot of people go into dentistry thinking that they're going to become millionaires, and that's the wrong way of doing it. What I would say is, if you're going to get into the dental field, you really need to be in love with dentistry.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The big challenges right now have been the financial situation and the economy in the country. I'm in a field where most treatments are elective, unlike something like a broken hip where you don't have an option. In my case, if someone needs an implant, a lot of people say, 'Okay, doctor, I will wait. I don't have the money right now.' So that has been a big challenge, because when I talk to clients, the problem is finances. Patients are not accepting treatments like they were 2 years ago. This has pushed me to open up the market more to get more clients, because I had this bank of clients that are very loyal to the company, but their sales are going down. So I've been opening that group and getting new doctors and new laboratories into the company so they can buy our products. It's not been easy, but it's been achievable, so that's a good thing.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
I think you need integrity, honesty, and empathy. These values are very important to me.
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