From Dentist to Delegate: The Inspiring Journey of Dr. Allison House

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Welcome back to the Dentistry for KidZ podcast. Please allow me to introduce Dr. Allison House, a highly respected general dentist in Phoenix, Arizona. Dr. House isn't just your average dentist. She's a powerhouse of vision, skill and action. Not only is she the founder of house Dental, but she has also carved out significant pathways in organized dentistry. She served as the youngest president in the history of Arizona Dental Association, where she was honored as both mentor of the year and dentists of the year and advocate for inclusion in leadership. Dr. House has founded women in dentistry program in Arizona, empowering female dentists and building a stronger, more diverse dental community. But that's not all. on a national scale. Dr. House serves as an Arizona delegate to the house of delegates of the Arizona of the American Dental Association, and ADA council for dental practice. Her voice extends to the political arena to where she works diligently on the Tooth Fairy political committee, making sure the importance of dental care is recognized by both state and national levels. And if you think her passion ends there, you'd be mistaken. Dr. House is also the co host of the popular podcast, the authentic dentist and an active participant in charitable organizations, including the Arizona Mission of Mercy and the Arizona dental foundation. Dr. House, it's an absolute honor to welcome you to dentistry for kids. Your credentials are truly impressive. Can you share with us what inspired you to get into dentistry in the first place?

Dr. Allison House: Well, thank you so much. It's, it sounds like so much. And yet I just, this is just my life. It's fine. So I thought that I was going to be a physician when I went to dental school. I mean, when I went to college, and I started out with a degree in math. And my junior year of college, my dad was diagnosed with oral cancer. And our family dentist found it. And that just changed the trajectory of my life because I recognized what a dentist could contribute to people's lives. And it was incredible. And this dentist saved my dad's life. He lived into the 25 years. And so I went to dental school.

Oh my gosh, that's great. That's so inspiring.

Dr. Allison House: If it was amazing, I mean, it was a great way to start out in the profession.

And I guess you were the youngest ever president of Arizona Dental Association. So what unique perspectives did you bring to the table?

Dr. Allison House: Well, I came in, probably because my math, I was in the House of Delegates. And I pointed out that the budget didn't make sense to me. And a lot of people told me to be quiet. But it didn't make sense to me. And so I kept asking questions. And then pretty soon people were like, Well, maybe you should just be on the Board of Trustees. And I was very young at the time. Yeah, it was only about 10 years out of dental school. So I got to be on the Board of Trustees at Arizona. And yeah, they just I guess I was just refreshing because I thought differently than, than the people around me. So it's always good to bring a different perspective. For whoever you are. You we need voices that are different than the ones that we're hearing right now.

Oh, no, certainly, like you can hear a bunch of different opinions. And I think it just like helps create a better community in general. Ah, so it's commendable that you started the women Industry Program, Arizona, can you please tell us a little more about its objectives and what impact it has so far.

Dr. Allison House: So I mean, I started it in 2015. Because I felt like women didn't have a place to talk about, we have different challenges than men. They're not better. They're not worse, there's different. And, you know, trying to figure out childcare. If your parents are sick, you know, a lot of times that falls on the female of the family. There are just a lot of challenges that my male colleagues didn't understand. And they had different challenges. I mean, truly, they have some challenges that I don't understand. So it's nice to create a community. And then the community just grew. I mean, it was nice to have somebody that you could meet at a continuing education and somebody could travel with when I first started in the profession I had male colleagues to travel with, which wasn't as comfortable, you know. So it was really nice to have this group of women that were all very similar to me. And yeah, so I've been really pleased with that group.

Well, yeah, that's Great. And I guess like, during your time as a woman in like, a specifically male dominated field, were you ever, I guess, did you ever feel like you didn't have a voice? Or was it just you fought through it?

Dr. Allison House: I would say both. My undergrad is in math. And then I played soccer on an all boys team, and I'm an Olympic weightlifter. So I've kind of lived in a man's world for a long time. And yet, yeah, I'm married. I had two children while I was in dental school, which was an insane thing to do. And so I just Yeah, so I've had some challenges that my male colleagues didn't understand. But in all honesty, my male colleagues have been wonderful to me. When I was in dental school, I had two children in dental school. And every time there are 60 people in my class, only 10 were women. And I got like 50 dinners for 50 dates. So my male colleagues who are not married, brought me dinner, after I had a child to help me. Every one of them held my my son, not all of them for my daughter, but every one of them held my my son while I waxed up a denture or placed to crown or, I mean, just, they were just wonderful, so supportive. And then on the other side, yeah, there's been some major challenges where I get dismissed and called Barbie, because I'm not I'm not getting my voice heard. So you know, I am, that's probably true with everybody's experience. There's some people that are wonderful. And then there's some people that are not so great.

Yeah, but it's great that you had a like, a bunch of supporting a supportive community. Yeah, that's great. And so unusual. Yeah. Normally, like with all the stories, I don't really hear about, like a lot of the positive experiences. But it's great that you have them. And then I guess you were also honored as mentor of the year and dentists of the Year by the Arizona Dental Association. So what do these I guess mean to you, and how have they shaped your practice?

Dr. Allison House: I mean, shaped my life, I think, because I didn't really have much of a mentor, I had all these wonderful male colleagues that treated me like a doctor, which was wonderful. And I could call them when I would get into trouble. So I know not all of your listeners are dentists. So one of the challenges of being a dentist is that people think that you know, everything. And there's no person on earth that knows everything. So you would run into a challenge. And you wouldn't know the answer. And you don't want to say that in front of your patient. So you have to have somebody to call. And so I had lots of people to call and ask not sure what to do here. I'm not sure how to say this. And I, I was wonderful. So I just felt like I needed to pass that forward. My husband, I also own a gym, in our garage, and we coach on Olympic weightlifting. Oh, yeah. And so I just found that a lot of coaching that you do in any sport is similar to mentoring people in business and in dentistry, because it's all about how you encourage people and support people to do the best they can possibly do. And so I've just brought that in. And now I try and give that to my patients, you know, you there's an opportunity to be really healthy. You don't have to take it. But it would be nice if you did, wouldn't it?

Do you educate all your patients on like health and then, like, advise them to do weightlifting this stuff, or

Dr. Allison House: not necessarily weightlifting, but I do tell them, food is medicine. Food is medicine, what you eat is really important. And if you can't eat, it's gonna affect your overall health. So this is it's important teeth are really important. And we forget that. And the other thing is their smile. You know, the smile is the way you communicate with people and that confidence. People need to have the competence to smile. So yeah, delight education.

You also served as the Arizona delicate of to the house of delegates of the American Dental Association. Could you tell us or explain the work you do in that capacity, especially in relation to pediatrics.

Dr. Allison House: So just like you have in government, we have a president and a House of Delegates and a Senate. So in the American Dental Association, we have the similar so there's a president, an executive branch, and then there's also a congressional branch or the House of Delegates. And so in the House of Delegates, people from all of dentists from all over the country come together, and we express our views on what should be the standard of care. How should dentistry look? And you can imagine that we don't agree, no one agrees. But we sort of debate it and try to come up with a standard of care. We call that a resolution. And in Congress, you will call it a bill. So the bill will pass. The ADEA is not necessarily law, but it is our standard our policy, and then states will adopt it into their dental practice that so it does really become law at a state level. So it's it's kind of an odd process. But it's a really great process to keep the standard of care moving. Because if we can't practice the way we did 30 years ago, I mean, stop possible. There's all kinds of things happening now. So that's what I did. And in terms of Pediatrics, we had a whole bill on SDF, which is the fluoride treatment, and how it should be applied and who should be able to apply it and oh, my goodness, was it debated on the House floor for hours? But we did kind of just something that I think was good for patients, and good for the team.

I'm a little curious, can you maybe explain what it is

Dr. Allison House: SCF is a new levels, it's a new products have been around about 10 years. And what happens is you place it on a tooth, and it will kill all the bacteria on the tooth, so you have a cavity, and it will turn the tooth black. So on a child, it will clean it all all the bacteria up, and then you can put a filling on top of it. So instead of putting the child asleep, and drilling the tooth out, the child is awake, there's no pain, you just put the SDF on, it turns a tooth black, and then you put a filling on top. And it works. So this sounds like a really great thing. But it doesn't last. So you still have to monitor the patient. And so there were all these rules that we needed to come up with. That made it an appropriate alternative. So we did.

Oh, I see. So I guess like when you guys come to an agreement, is it typically through like votes? Or do you all have to agree on?

Dr. Allison House: So we write the the resolution of the bill? People modify it? There's debate, but yes, we usually, I will say we all agree, but we come to a majority decision.

I see. I see. I see. No, yeah, that's very thank you for sharing. And I guess with your role on the ADA council for dental practice, what initiatives or policies, I guess other than the fluoride treatment, are you currently focused on that can have an impact on children's dental care.

Dr. Allison House: So the fluoride was really at the House of Delegates. So the Council on dental practice a lot of times is doing a lot of research and work to try and bring resolutions to the house of delegates to look at. So one of the current things we're dealing with is 3d printing. So you can't put just anything in somebody's mouth, it has to be not toxic. So there are resins and 3d printing that we can use, and that we shouldn't use. And so what are the rules about that? So we have a group at Ada, we call science. And they do a lot of research on how that will work. They gather information, that counsel looks at how it should be done as a dentist, and then we bring the resolution to the house. So those are one of the things we're working on. And I'm actually not on the council anymore. That's what they're working on. Oh, yeah. I've served my four years. I'm off the council now. Oh, yeah. It's like a college student. Four years?

Oh, four years. Okay. I see.

Dr. Allison House: Yeah. The other thing we worked at was workforce. And we found that we have a shortage of hygienists in the country. And how do we start more hygiene programs, when there aren't enough people that will teach hygiene? So there was lots of things to look at to try and move the profession forward? was, it was an amazing thing to do?

No, yeah, that sounds really interesting. And it certainly seems like a very, I guess, meticulous plan you have to follow through with and examine every level. And I guess, like, what are some of the other ethical considerations you guys take in place?

Dr. Allison House: Well, the fluoride thing was a big one, because we knew that it would be okay in children because children lose their teeth. But in older adults, you know, when would that be appropriate? And when would it not be appropriate, because if something's going to fail, we don't want to fail catastrophically. And the patient loses their teeth. But we do want the opportunity to if you live in Alaska, and no one is up, there's no dentist up there for six months that we could at least have that option for you. And six months later, we could solve the problem. So there's there's some ethical dilemmas that we have to make sure that patients are taken care of in a, an a fair way, and that we're not limiting our abilities, but we're not hurting people. So there's lots of pieces to think about.

I see. So it's different for I guess every state in every situation you're in is that we kind of thing. We try

Dr. Allison House: and make a broad a broad decision that in this case, this is what's going to happen and this kids this what's going to happen and you can't allow for everything. But we make it very broad and then Alaska may make a different decision than Arkansas, or they may adopt the same policy that ADA has adopted.

Oh, I see. I see it No, yeah, thank you for sharing. And I know you started your own podcast, the authentic dentist. So are there any episodes that specifically address issues pertaining to children's mental health? Oh,

Dr. Allison House: no, um, most of my podcast is about mindsets. And can I just motivated yourself to be the best you can possibly be? Which is very difficult nowadays, you know, I feel like there's so much negative on all of our social media, on television. And so trying to find, how do you be happy? And how do you bring your positive to your patients every day? And it's a tough thing to do, because can be a little stressful? So most of it's about Yeah, mindset and eat your vegetables, get enough sleep, go to work, find some happiness.

No, and I'm sure you do that everyday, too. I can see like, You're a really happy person. I think it's great that like, you're like the role model for everyone.

Dr. Allison House: Oh, you're very kind. It's, it's a struggle for me just like it is for everybody else, you know, there's definitely days I won't don't want to get out of bed or don't want to do the procedures or do things that people want me to do. But you have to and you know, that's how you build your life is? Where do you find the positives. And that's one of the big things I talk about on my podcast, I try and make a every day I make a list of the three best things that happened. And then when you look back over the week, you sort of forget all the negatives, you just remember those three positives that you had, it's one of the best mindsets.

And I guess if people are, like having bad days, like, what advice would you tell them to help them get motivated to do, I guess the tasks that they want to do or have to do?

Dr. Allison House: I mean, there's all kinds of little tricks that I use, I never have coffee in the morning at my house, and I my favorite cream at the office. So that I will go to the office and have my coffee and my cream. And somehow that just makes me feel better, even though I absolutely could have it here. But I go to the office, and that makes me feel better. I look for all the positives, three positives every day. Because you can get overwhelmed with all the negatives. I mean, negatives just come everywhere. So trying to find those good things. I also try and pick a patient every day that I can connect with, because they think that it's motivating to connect with somebody. Our my job as a dentist is very much about connecting with people. And sometimes, yeah, it's hard to do that. So I try and think at least one person every day that I can connect with. So that it's those little things that make you want to get up in the morning and move the ball forward.

Oh, no, yeah, that's great. Thank you for sharing. I'm gonna start implementing your three positives a day. And I guess as a mother of two, how did being a parent influence your practice in your approach to pediatric dentistry? Oh,

Dr. Allison House: so this is a bad story, but I'm going to share it. My daughter at 13 Well, I had a Girl Scout troop. And my daughter's best friend and her mother was my co leader and the girls were in that Girl Scout troop. When Darby was 13, the mother and a daughter were murdered. Yeah, it was just, and the worst time because at 13, you're such a mess. I mean, 13 is just a really hard time in every teenager's life. So she just struggled so much. And I had to get her some counseling, which means that I had just some counseling, which means the whole family had to have some counseling. And that actually turned into a really positive thing where I started understanding some of the Depression, people are dealing with what depression looked like. And so even though medication and all of the things counseling needs to happen, a lot of it was was trying to find some mindset. And when in the midst of a terrible tragedy, how do you find how do you find the motivation to keep going on? So that was that was really positive and yet terrible. So we started the gym at that point coaching kids. And I think that's how that mentorship came along. So I mentor a lot of kids, they're in their 20s now. And I do have some kids that are teenagers, but most of them are in their 20s. Now, some lawyers, a lot of dentists, because, yeah, if I can help somebody out, I want to I never want to be in that situation again. Yeah, no, yeah, that's

no, oh my gosh, that's

Dr. Allison House: fine. Oh, it was it was a big tragedy, and it really affected our family. And yet I think that everybody has tragedy in their life. You know, we don't always talk about it. And how do you grow Oh, and I become who you want to be after something like that. It was. And my kids are wonderful. They're now 23 and 25. They're doing great. My daughter lives in Germany. Her husband is in the military. And my son lives here. And he's an actuary. So he's a mathematician.

Oh, he took after your, your genes?

Dr. Allison House: A little bit. Yeah. Yeah. So they're doing great. And it's so fun to watch them grow up. It's so fun to watch all the kids in my practice that we've mentored my own growing up and, and just taking on the world. It's kind of fun. No, yeah.

Cuz do you train your I guess? Like for your Olympic weightlifting? Do you train them when they're a teenager up to like, they're an adult? Or do they swarm we start adults.

Dr. Allison House: I think the youngest lifter, I do not train my husband training. I think he was like six or seven years old. And then we have kids in their late 20s, early 30s, that are still lifting that necessarily competing. But yeah, it's something you could do your whole life. But it's weightlifting as a metaphor for life. You know, I tell people that all the time, because it's all about your own platform, and weightlifting, you stand on a platform and you lift as much weight as possible. And you can't pay attention what's happening on the other platform, because it'll get in your head doesn't matter. It only matters what's right in front of you, and what you're doing right now. On your own platform. It's kind of that that's Wait, isn't life doesn't matter what everybody else is doing. It only matters what you're doing right now.

I see. Did you? I guess, like when you were Did you consciously learn that? And apply that technique? Or did you already know that about life? And then I guess, like, sort of integrated with weightlifting? I'm not sure if that made sense.

Dr. Allison House: So my dad was an Olympic weightlifting Coach and an international coach. And he definitely imparted a lot of that. But it took me a long time to figure out that, oh, this is more than just weightlifting. This is actually about my life. So and now I try and explain that to people.

No, yeah, cuz I felt that when you said that I felt really similar because I played golf. And it's like being about staying present in the moment and everything. I think it was just a really great connection you made.

Dr. Allison House: Yeah, because the same thing with golf, you can't be thinking about went before you or after you. It's only what you're doing in order to be your best.

No, yeah, sure. And I know, it's like, that mentality has helped so many people, and especially like, in both their, I guess, athletic career and their like, like career, because it just helps people like go, but it's great. And I guess like how do you encourage young dentists, especially those who are female, or like part of minority groups to get involved in organized dentistry?

Dr. Allison House: I mean, it's on everybody's own timeline. So it's the right sometimes it's not the right time. If you have too little kids at home, that may not be the right time for you. But absolutely every voice is really important. And sometimes people feel like, well, nobody wants to hear my voice. That's the voice we really need to hear. Because there's a whole bunch of people just like you that aren't speaking up. And so we don't know what the challenges are. And it was really hard for me to speak up. But I mean, I'm just one person, there's so many more perspectives now that we're just not hearing. So I encourage everybody in every aspect of your life to speak up. Speak

up. And like for the some of the people who are still in their shells, I guess, what do you recommend them to do to try breaking out there showing like getting the courage to speak up?

Dr. Allison House: It just a little thing. I mean, come to some of these meetings and just listen to what they're talking about. You'll find that you have an opinion. If you live in that world, you have an opinion, if you agree, great, but if you don't, like really maybe talk to some other people about it and see if if you're a lone wolf, I bet you're not. But there's a lot of people that are great, that just don't have the courage to say it. Hmm,

yes, for sure. And finally, for parents and young dentists who are listening right now, what's the most important piece of advice that you can offer them?

Dr. Allison House: Oh, can't you just can't give up? You know, one of the biggest challenges, things will go wrong, you'll never be perfect perfection is a myth. You just have to keep going. You do your absolute best for every single patient. Some days will stink. Some days will be amazing. But you just keep going and and you build an amazing life like that.

Oh, yes, that's great advice. Thank you so much. I'm gonna get to but no, but thank you so much for coming on again. It's a pleasure having you.

Dr. Allison House: Well, thank you. I'm so honored that you invited me it's been fun. I appreciate it. Yes,

it's been fun. So thank you for listening, and we'll catch you on the next episode. Thank you

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