Guiding Next Steps in Dental Education and Leadership

About Kelly G. Tanner, Ph.D.,RDH

Dr. Kellly Tanner Dentistry

Dr. Tanner is a renowned leader at the forefront of reshaping dental care, helping teams and individuals achieve professional fulfillment. With a Ph.D. in Business and Leadership, Dr. Tanner uses her skills to train teams in a group practice setting. Kelly’s Ph.D. focused on organizational metacognition, an in-depth study of group dynamics, and how to elicit permanent personal and organizational change management.

Through measured assessments and interaction, she helps create sustainable systems for personal and professional productivity and accountability. Her ability to motivate the team to take ownership of case acceptance builds trust and strengthens the relationship with patients and the dental team.

Additionally, Dr. Tanner has served in areas of dentistry including academia, corporate, clinical, entrepreneurship, and research. She has been recognized for her outstanding leadership within health care and university settings. She has also been included as a top consultant in Dentistry Today for four years in a row.

Dr. Tanner offers customizable courses in the areas of clinical concepts, leadership, and team empowerment courses.

Courses Offered

With over 25 years of speaking experience, Dr. Kelly works with you to tailor programs and training for your target audience. These are a few programs Dr. Tanner has recently delivered:

  • This comprehensive and immersive course is designed specifically for dental hygienists seeking to improve their self-leadership, expand their knowledge, enhance their skills, and stay ahead in the ever-evolving field of dental hygiene. This course will cover a wide range of essential topics, ensuring you have a well-rounded and advanced understanding of dental hygiene principles and up-to-date practices. Through a combination of engaging discussion, hands-on experience, and demonstration of cutting-edge technology, this course will empower you with the expertise and confidence to take your care to the next level.

    Topics Included in This Course:

    *Self-Leadership

    *Understanding Your Bias

    *Infection Control

    *Evaluating Your Patient’s Oral and Systemic Risk Factors

    *Occlusal Dysfunction

    *Periodontal Treatment, Diagnosis, and Management

    *Dental Implants

    *Caries Management

    *3D Scanning

    *AI in Dentistry

    Program: 3-5 hours: Workshop and Lecture *Team training available

    An abbreviated course (Hygiene Essentials) is available as well for 2-3 hours.

  • This immersive course is designed specifically for dental hygienists seeking to expand their knowledge, enhance their skills, and stay ahead in the ever-evolving field of dental hygiene. This course will cover a range of essential topics, ensuring you have a well-rounded understanding of dental hygiene principles and up-to-date practices. Through a combination of engaging discussion, hands-on experience, and demonstration of cutting-edge technology, this course will empower you with the expertise and confidence to take your care to the next level.

    Periodontal Treatment, Diagnosis, and Management

    *Simplifying AAP Staging and Grading

    *Understand protocols for treating and managing periodontal disease.

    *Discuss the effects of vaping and marijuana.

    *Gain confidence in coding for periodontal care.

    Occlusal Dysfunction as a Risk Factor for Tooth Loss

    *Understand what recession and loss of enamel tell us about the patient.

    *Appreciate how occlusion is related to dental and overall health.

    *Discuss how to educate, treatment plan, and support patients with malocclusion or misalignment.

    Caring for Dental Implants

    *Protocols and products for assessment and care of dental implants

    *Discuss how to educate, treatment plan, and support patients who could benefit from dental implants

    *Home care maintenance for patients with implant

    Caries Management

    *Assessing caries risk with patients

    *Updated technology and products in caries management

    Program: 2-3 Hours Workshop and Lecture *Team training available

  • In an environment where COVID and social conflict affect our daily lives, we may feel unable to find our ground inside and outside the workplace. As healthcare providers, all social and emotional awareness aspects are integral for career success, clinical efficacy, and self-fulfillment. This course will help you understand the importance of emotional intelligence as a dental professional, understand how to identify blind spots, and help understand how to rewrite feelings and reverse triggers, which will increase your impact both personally and professionally.

    Learning Objectives:

    *Understand the importance of emotional intelligence to dental teams and connecting with patients.

    *Recognize triggers, reactions, and emotions and trace them all to their source.

    *Utilize emotional intelligence to redefine goals and create career fulfillment.

    Program: 1-2 hours

  • Turnover, stress, and people problems are not new to the dental industry. Staffing is the #1 challenge faced by practices, and turnover creates significant changes in motivated, stable team dynamics. It has become more critical than ever to focus on attracting and retaining the best team and leveraging technology to communicate and retain patients. High-performance teams move differently. The team is cohesive, works in unison, and adapts to the day quickly and efficiently. What sets them apart? Mindset, habits, personality, and communication. Join Dr. Tanner to uncover valuable insights about your team and maximize your potential to solve some of your most challenging problems.

    Learning Objectives

    *Understand the habits and mindset that can help you and your team achieve long-term success and well-being no matter where you are in your career.

    *Discover insights into personalities, triggers, and effective communication.

    *Learn how to leverage technology to attract and retain your team and communicate and retain patients.

    *Apply real-world, daily practices and strategies to elevate and unite your team to greater success.

    *Acquire the skillset to apply these principles indefinitely to keep your team and patients motivated, happy, and fulfilled.

    Program length: 2-3 hours

  • Take back control of your time and maximize patient care with streamlined digital scanning processes! Join Dr. Kelly Tanner in discovering how to seamlessly incorporate health scans into preventive appointments - even when you don't think it's possible. Learn proven strategies, get the tools needed for successful implementation, and save precious minutes while delivering better quality service than ever before.

    Learning objectives:

    *Establish protocols that set you up for success to scan in your practice.

    *Optimize your time, when and how to scan and improve your workflow.

    *Confidently provide handoffs to every member of the dental team.

    *Confidently communicate the results of the health scan to educate patients.

    Program: 1-2 hours

  • What is the occlusion on the right? How about the left? What does this mean for your patient’s oral health? Malocclusion or misalignment can lead to oral maladies that increase the risk of tooth loss and periodontal disease. Malocclusion may also be a marker for airway issues, TMJ disorders, and migraines, significantly impacting the patient's overall health. Receding gums and tooth wear isn't something we should dismiss as "normal". Taking the time to research these conditions can help us identify factors leading to long-term damage, so our patients enjoy a lifetime of healthy smiles - saving them from painful procedures or high costs down the line.

    Learning Objectives:

    *Understand what recession and loss of enamel tell us about the patient

    *Appreciate how occlusion is related to dental and overall health

    *Discuss how to educate, treatment plan, and support patients with malocclusion or misalignment

    Program: 1-2 hours

  • Dental implants require specialized care, but do you have a WHY and HOW behind your workflow? This course will provide insight into creating a diagnostic and maintenance workflow, utilizing the latest technology and homecare recommendations to set your patients up for a lifetime of success.

    Learning Objectives:

    *Differentiate between a healthy, inflamed, and diseased implant.

    *Understand the technology and techniques available for implant maintenance.

    *Understand when and where specific technology is indicated on implants based on periodontal condition and type of implant.

    *Apply knowledge of what tools to recommend to patients for homecare around implants.

    Program: 1-3 hours:

  • We are typically advised to go with our gut and trust our intuition. However, going with our gut and doing what feels most comfortable can lead to devastating results in our relationships. Our autopilot of comfort is adapted from ancestral fight or flight. Yet, our world is speeding up with technological advances, team shortages, and turnover, and how we all understand and process information intensifies and affects how we communicate and solve problems. To solve our mental blindspots, we must debias our thoughts to improve our relationships.

    Learning Objectives:

    * Identify where judgment errors may be playing a role in our relationships.

    *How cognitive bias hindered us in the past is hindering us now and may hinder us in the future.

    *Develop a specific plan to address your cognitive bias.

    Program: 1-2 hours

 

Clinical Coaching

  • iTero Scanning Implementation for Hygiene and Teams

  • Updates on Protocols and Techniques

  • Customized Coaching

Team Workshops

  • Team Communication and Connection

  • Connecting through DISC, Emotional Intelligence, and Driving Forces

  • Mindset and High Performance

 

The Dental Handoff Podcast with Dr. Kelly Tanner