A Day In The Life: Practice Owner Allison Alberts, DDS, Prosthodontist
A Day In The Life:
Practice Owner Allison Alberts, DDS, Prosthodontist
For The Love of Dentistry & Football
Some people raised in Small Town, U.S.A. eagerly await the day when they can pack up and head to the big city. Dr. Allison Alberts, who grew up in Smithton, Illinois (current population sub 4,000), is not one of them.
The small town of Pleasant Prairie, WI, located steps from the Lake Michigan shoreline, where Dr. Alberts opened her AD&I affiliated practice last July, was exactly what she was looking for. It took a few years in a big city, experience under her belt, and the knowledge of what affiliating with Affordable Dentures & Implants’ would offer her to get there.
The small town of Pleasant Prairie, WI, located steps from the Lake Michigan shoreline, where Dr. Alberts opened her AD&I affiliated practice last July, was exactly what she was looking for
Dr. Alberts worked in Chicago at a few different private practices as a prosthodontist, with a goal of understanding how various leaders ran their practices. It exposed her to some realities that she didn’t want to be a part of.
And then she came across Affordable Dentures & Implants and what a career there would look like.
“I thought, ‘Oh my god, this can't be true.’ I get to do what I like to do everyday...I love dentures and I love surgery. It’s the best of all worlds for me. I could be the leader...the boss...and make my own [clinical] calls.”
And that she does. Dr. Alberts makes all of the clinical calls and that’s it. Those are the only calls she wants to make.
“I can just focus on the dentistry and not worry about anything else...and with the amount of implants I’m placing...I’m getting better and faster and learning so much still.”
Not only is she doing what she wants to do professionally, she’s doing it for the clientele she so desired.
And then she came across Affordable Dentures & Implants and what a career there would look like.“I thought, ‘Oh my god, this can't be true.’ I get to do what I like to do everyday...I love dentures and I love surgery. It’s the best of all worlds for me. I could be the leader...the boss...and make my own [clinical] calls.”
“The thing that is really fulfilling is that, since I come from a small town, I’ve been wanting to work with a population that needs help...dentistry can be expensive and many people can’t afford it...the value you get here is amazing and just being able to work with a population who needs it and appreciates it, for me, that was another big draw.”
And so, every weekday morning in the friendly village of Pleasant Prairie, Dr. Alberts can be found running. Not on a treadmill or paved path, but rather from chair to chair in her own practice, serving her beloved population. And she’s gone quite the distance.
Since Dr. Alberts opened her AD&I practice a year ago, mornings have kept her on her toes. Literally and figuratively. The lights come on in her office at 7:30am, and so it begins.
Consultations and impressions. Wax try-ins and crown deliveries. Perhaps a pre-lunch surgery or two. Patient after patient after patient. They leave with varying dental treatment plans, yet every one of them initially arrived at Dr. Alberts’ practice with the same intention: transformation.
Implant and denture patients seek transformation so greatly, desperately even. They have reached their final breaking point where they no longer wish to live a self-conscious life. They want to remove the pain and discomfort, but, more often than not, the mental and emotional change is what they seek most.
And Dr. Alberts gets it. Of course, she does. She’s lived it.
“My obsession with teeth started when I hated my smile.”
When she finally got the smile she wanted, that huge change stuck with her.
And Dr. Alberts gets it. Of course, she does. She’s lived it.
“My obsession with teeth started when I hated my smile.”
Growing up, Dr. Alberts had a gummy smile. At 16 years old, as expected of any teenager, she wanted to fix her smile once and for all, and gain that boost of confidence that would accompany it. Instead, she got two crowns on her lateral teeth and the wrong color, making her even more self-conscious. When she finally got the smile she wanted, that huge change stuck with her.
Initially desiring a career in engineering, Dr. Alberts reverted and decided to follow in the footsteps of her family and embark on the healthcare path, specifically dentistry. It turns out that her role as an AD&I dentist and practice owner happens to combine her love of engineering and dentistry; hence, she refers to herself as “a carpenter of the mouth.”
Her love of of dentures, implants and the surgical aspect of dentistry, combined with her personal dentistry experience, influences how she treats her patients - from both a clinical and compassionate sense.
Her afternoons mainly consist of implant surgeries and, come 4:00 p.m., she and her team are done for the day. And she is able to enjoy other aspects of her life, like football. Not watching, mind you. Playing.
“Most people who come here are terrified that they will be yelled at. I don’t lecture them...or tell them what they already know...I say, ‘You’re here now and we can get you to a place of health and make you feel confident about your smile again.”
Dr. Alberts patients, her small town patients, come first. They are the primary ingredient in a day well-lived for her. They are a part of what she has hoped for in her career and overall lifestyle.
Her afternoons mainly consist of implant surgeries and, come 4:00 p.m., she and her team are done for the day. And she is able to enjoy other aspects of her life, like football. Not watching, mind you. Playing.
Dr. Alberts plays receiver and safety for the Legends Football League’s Seattle Mist team. A member since 2013, during the season her evenings consist of exercising or watching her opponents’ reels, noting their offensive plays, further preparing herself when she and her team meet them on the turf.
Dr. Alberts plays receiver and safety for the Legends Football League’s Seattle Mist team. A member since 2013, during the season her evenings consist of exercising or watching her opponents’ reels, noting their offensive plays, further preparing herself when she and her team meet them on the turf. And on the weekends, its game time, where she can be found squaring off against teams from Los Angeles, Denver, Omaha or Atlanta, to name a few.
Starting her 7th season, Dr. Alberts explains, “I played sports my whole life, and I just needed an athletic outlet.”
Dentist by day, football player by weekend, Dr. Alberts credits living the life she wanted to AD&I’s business structure and culture; allowing her to be her own boss, focus solely on her craft, enhance her skills and deliver technique and compassion to her patients.
So now here she is. Working as a carpenter of the mouth, making a big difference in a small town, with a bit of football thrown in. Exactly what she was after.
If you too desire the opportunity to make an impact on the health and well-being of those in beautiful small towns across the country, you can (and if you want to play football — that can be possible too!).
Check out our many opportunities for dental practice owners, associate dentists, front desk assistants, dental assistants, dental lab technicians, office managers, and more!