Anne: Hello everyone, it's Anne Duffy and welcome to Dental Entrepreneur the Future of Dentistry's Podcast. I am so happy you're here with me today and I'm very excited about our special guest today. Let me tell you a little bit about her before I introduce her. Dr. Denise Hale is a seasoned general dentist with over 30 years of experience.
She is the president of the Chicago Dental Society. She has held several leadership roles within the Chicago Dental Society, including president of the CDS Southwest branch and the current branch correspondent. As 2025 CDS board President Dr. Hale has led the planning efforts and preparation for the historic 160th Midwinter meeting.
She is a fellow of the American College of Dentists. In addition, Dr. Hale is a clinical assistant at the University of Illinois Chicago College of Dentistry, served on the board of the Hills Chamber of Commerce, and practices in Palos Hills, Illinois. Please help me welcome Dr. Denise Hale.
Hello, Denise. Thank you, Anne. It's a pleasure to be here with you today. Oh, I'm so excited because, you know, we were speaking before we started recording how much I love Chicago Midwinter. You guys have always had a fantastic conference. Tell me a little what's new exciting with Chicago Midwinter this year.
Denise: a big new thing for the dentist is we're offering panky essential one course. It's a three day course from 7 30 in the morning to 4 30 in the evening and they provide lunch. They don't let you escape to kind of lock you in and you don't get to leave. But it is a fabulous course, especially for like maybe some newer docs or some people wanting to expand their practices.
The other thing we have that we get a lot of auxiliary at our meeting, we get a lot of dental assistance, we get a lot of hygienists and this year. It's about time we're offering a luncheon and it's going to be kind of like a come and go. It'll have a buffet from 1130 to 230 on Saturday and it's called Shine and Smile and it's for the hygienists.
So they can come in at their leisure in and out and they can do some networking and some seeing colleagues, meeting new colleagues, seeing old friends and I think it's about time we had something special for them and I'm really excited that we're having that this year.
Anne: Yes, that's sounds like something that a, a female dentist may put together.
I don't know. I just feel like it was all for it. I bet you are. I mean, that's, really nice and networking. There's so much that can be learned from that. And I think it very rich when you leave and can execute some of those things. I've
Denise: always said that dentistry can be a little bit lonely if you don't get together with your colleagues.
Because not everybody shares your passion for teeth. Yeah. So I think this is going to be really nice for the hygienist.
Anne: Oh, I think so too. And they can bring that back to their offices and really enhance their careers, which is wonderful. Absolutely.
Denise: when we ask our members what they're looking for, a lot of people in general, and maybe it's Americans as a whole are looking for health and wellness. And we do have quite a few people there. We have yoga. We're going to be offering yoga there again. every day at noontime.
And then we also have it offered on Saturday morning. I know you said you like yoga, so I might see you over there on a mat. I'll be just observing. Okay. But they want a lot of health and wellness. And one of my absolute, I had to have her there was Dr. Toronto low dog. I don't know if you've ever met Dr.
Low dog. I love her. She's got A limited number of podcasts. And I keep telling her she needs to get more podcasts cause I've already listened to them all. And she is very holistic and I just love her. So she's there on Saturday. She's doing a program in the morning and the afternoon. A lot of people wanted workshops.
They want hands on. And so we do have a lot of workshops this year. I have to say, I think all the hygiene and assistant workshops and courses are selling out. Really fast. you know, We know that staff want to come and be there. I think it's nice that we offer a three plus one. So for every three members of your team that you know, register for the meeting, the fourth one is free.
So it kind of gives office a little bit of a break. So I think that's a nice thing too.
Anne: Yeah, that's a lot of incentive to get everybody there because I think you have to have everybody on board when you get back in the office. Absolutely.
Denise: And
Anne: I have to put
Denise: out a little something about our keynote.
We have Grant Ackets. He is a three star Michelin chef from a restaurant in Chicago called Alinea. He's actually one of the co owners and he's very well renowned. Awesome guy. It's very hard to get into their restaurant. I think it's over a year to get a reservation. And so he's going to be there and he actually is a stage four tongue cancer survivor.
In 2008, he was at the University of Chicago under the care of Dr. Vokes and his team. I know very familiar with the program because my cousin at the same time had stage four oropharyngeal cancer. So Grant is going to be our keynote speaker and he is going to be emphasizing the importance of dentists doing oral cancer screenings.
So I think that's a really important thing.
Anne: Well, That's going to be a very powerful keynote and kudos for you to be able to have him on stage and it'll be really interesting for him to just see how far dentistry has come and the excitement of where dentistry is going.
Absolutely. You know, Absolutely. We were also talking earlier like, I also wanted to know, the founder of Dental Entrepreneur Woman, I am very impressed with you that you are the, president of the Chicago Dental Society and now leading the 106th Chicago Midwinter Meeting.
what inspired you, honestly, Dr. Hale to rise in the ranks that is, it can be political at times and, you know, very few women get to where you are. Why and how did you do it?
Denise: I've always valued leadership roles and my family would probably tell you that I'm bossy.
So and I'm organized and I like things to flow at a certain level. Sometimes you can sit back and let somebody else be in charge or sometimes you can say well, you know what? I would like to be a part of that. And I would like my voice heard. And I think too many times, maybe, women sit back and they wait.
I have to be honest in all the years I've been in dentistry, I have never felt that because I was a woman, anybody really treated me differently. And now maybe that could just be, I have thick skin and I don't pay attention to things I'm not really sure. But I've always felt like my colleagues have always been very welcoming to me.
I appreciate that they value my leadership because honestly, I don't want to think that I became the president of the society simply because I was a woman in a box had to be checked. I hope and I believe that people voted for me because they thought I would be a good leader.
And that's what I want to be. I want to be known as a good leader, person who listens to what people say. people want and try to provide for them what they want and what they need to be successful.
Anne: I love that answer. Honestly, Dr. Hale, because I think sometimes we do take things a little bit, personally and as a leader, you plow through those hard times.
And I, believe it. I think there's so much room for women in dentistry and leadership. And I'm proud of you for leading the way,
Denise: we have a lot of female students now. Our incoming freshmen class is 50, 50 women.
And it wasn't like that when I was in school, but I've tried to tell these women, Dennis, Having your own practice is so valuable, especially if you want to have kids and have a family, because I've had my own practice all this time. And if my kids were sick and I wanted to bring my kids to the office, I could bring them because you know what?
I own the office. Nobody's going to tell me I can't bring them there. And there is such value in having your own business, your own office, because you can do that. And why shouldn't I? Because I don't think any of my patients have ever looked at me like, Oh, you bring your kids here. they look at you like, wow, that's awesome.
Because they see what you do. And you're an example to your daughter and to your son about what women can do. And I think that's important. So I try to tell them, try to have your own practice. That way, if you want to take off for a school party, you can take off. If you want to change your schedule to accommodate your family, you can do it.
And you can still be successful.
Anne: those are words of wisdom. And what they sometimes don't understand is that it is possible and it is really important. I think as a woman to be able to make those decisions, because what I think causes burnout so often is that you get chained to a situation and you feel like you're missing out on things.
you can make those decisions, that's, Beautiful. Boy, I'm telling you, you're singing my song. do love that. And I hope that going forward in other situations, even if you don't have your, own office, that the lead doctor or the lead organization will allow that because have to make it so that women can have it all it depends on what the capacity is and where your wants are but to be able to make decisions It really does stem from being the owner of your destiny
Denise: And I think that what you might see changing is the way dentists practice, especially if you're getting more women in dentistry, you may find women banding together into smaller groups and practices so that they can Help each other and facilitate each other because I would probably say compared to my male colleagues I probably didn't put in the same amount of hours because I personally didn't want to never burned out Because I didn't do that.
And so you might have maybe one or two or three women who are who come together to own a practice together so that they can work together to make it happen for all of them and for their family life, that work balance and the young people, they want work balance. Yeah. They don't want to be just totally working and they don't want to be totally at home.
They want to have fun. A little bit of everything. And I think that's a good thing. People won't get burned out and then you enjoy what you do longer.
Anne: Yeah, exactly. And I feel like that was my history of being a hygienist. I could actually have side gigs that got me where I'm at today. And I loved my profession.
I loved practicing. In fact, I miss clinical. I mean, I was in for 46 years of clinical hygiene and I'm, I miss that. I miss that. have just that sole focus on five days a week work, work, work, work, work. And I think that is a mindset that younger generation we can still make dentistry just an amazing career and amazing, not just for ourselves, but for our patients and the world and continue to have balance.
So I love that you also, and speak a little bit about that, because you were saying Again, you want to have more of the work life balance opportunity. Is that covered in the I think we've found that that is covered in CE accreditations as well because we realize how important it is for good dentistry.
Denise: Absolutely. And, and, And I do think that, we're moving in that direction and I think that's a good place to be. really do. And because I have seen some of my male colleagues who have devoted so much time to being in practices just burn out and burn out quickly. And they're to the point where they don't enjoy their career.
And I just think it's a great career. And I really, like the fact that I enjoy it and I'm doing it because I enjoy it, not because I have to,
Anne: I love the fact that you enjoy it. And I love the fact that you are professor at University of Illinois, Chicago, because It's really hard in dental school and you're giving them hope that there is a great career on the other side and you can have that career on your own
Denise: terms. you sure can. it is a great career. just told students the other day, I said, Dentistry, we've learned a lot from watching the physicians seeing what happened to them.
And I think that we are going to, for a lot of years moving forward still have that autonomous practice that, we aren't going to be part of big major group corporations, they're going to be out there. There are definitely DSOs out there and that model works for some people,
Anne: you
Denise: but it's not the majority of the model of practice.
Actually solo and small group practices are still, on the rise. So, It's good to see, love dentistry.
Anne: Well, just like your keynote, there's a great menu and you just Pick what you want, and you just make sure that you enjoy it, that you build on it, it's continuous learning, people, that go into dentistry, they're so smart, and you're giving them this opportunity to learn all different career lines, honestly.
Denise: And you know, when they go to the midwinter meeting, the other fun thing is we have so many, good relationships with each other. Dentists we look after each other. If something happens to somebody in the dental community, everybody's there to help them out. so midwinter meetings fun because you connect, you meet new friends, but then you see all your old friends and you see classmates from school and the social end of it. I love. But then I love the exhibit hall too because you know, I like shopping. I try not to take my credit card with me on the exhibit floor we have the sip suds and sales where you can have a few drinks. Yeah.
Anne: And then the credit card really comes out.
But you know, the thing that you said I want to touch on that Real quick. It's like it is important to show up in person. There's something about the seeing, the feeling, the touch, the smell, everything about being in our community. I know there's so many dues women that are going. And of course, if you're a man and you are You're a dude.
So the do's and the do's will be at Chicago Midwinter. We're already talking about where we're going to meet up and what we're going to do. so tell everybody if you haven't gotten your tickets or you haven't signed up and registered, how do we do that? You can go to
Denise: cds.
org, go to our website and you can register for midwinter meeting there. You want to try to register before the end of January because we're still offering the 25 rebate. They did it last year and at first I was Oh, it's going to be like a virtual credit card thing. But you know what?
It was awesome. They had like a hundred different things that you could use it for. Like they had Ulta, they had like restaurants So you definitely will find something you like. And it was really nice to work with them. to use that. I mean, Amazon, they've got everything on there. but you got to do it by the end of January.
You won't, You won't get that 25. And if they would have done it earlier, they would have gotten 50, but okay,
Anne: well, 25 is good. We'll take it 25, I can get something for 25. I'm sure. So they can still
Denise: register. They can still come and you're absolutely right. When you said People in our field, we like to touch things.
We like to feel things. And when you're on the convention floor, you can try that product out. You can hold that Capitron. How does that feel in my hand? Because I'll be honest, when we had the virtual meeting during COVID wasn't so hard, it was not good for the exhibitors because we don't buy an order like that.
Just from looking at something on a screen, we want to see it. I think that's important too, for the meeting. Yeah.
Anne: And that's why it's such a buzz done on the exhibitor floor. Well, I'll be walking the floor. I hope I get to see you. We'll get a hug for sure. I am positive. And I'm just so thrilled that we got to have this time together.
I look forward to seeing you at Chicago and the Chicago Midwinter and then also just following the rest of your career because you're not done. As I told you, dental care women, they don't retire. So we're going to keep at it for a long time. Dr. Hale. Thank you so much for being with me today.
Is there any last words that you'd like to shout out to our audience? Just,
Denise: you know what, come enjoy the midwinter meeting, enjoy, obviously Chicago's got great restaurants at night, we have a few fun venues, you know, we've got the Friday night beats and bites it's going to have a DJ the formal dinner dance is awesome.
We have the Chicago cats. They played last year. I've never heard such a great. orchestra. They played the entire time. I've never seen the dance floor that full and you can wear your gym shoes underneath your gown. It's like a sneaker ball. feet are killing you by the end. Exactly. And so much for having me today.
I know I'm going to see you down there. There's a podcast. Lounge down there, right?
Anne: Yeah, I think so. I don't know. I gotta find
Denise: that out. I'm gonna get have to get involved
Anne: in that. I don't
Denise: want to find out. I'll expect to see you there and on the yoga mat.
Anne: And on the yoga mat. I will be there. Well, Thank you so much, Dr.
Hale. Give your colleagues my love. And also, if anyone's listening, remember, the most important thing is to keep doing you. Thanks, everybody. We'll see you in Chicago.
