Being a mentor is not just being happy where you are with your knowledge and thinking you can teach others.

It is a path you take when you realize you can never really know everything and want to learn more. Dentistry is a never-ending journey; there is always something to learn. The naive or lazy dentist can get to a point where they think they now enough to do well, but that can create a static practice that can quickly fall behind and wither and die.

CEREC Dentistry is no different. You want to be comfortable and efficient, but it is such a dynamic field that very quickly you can fall behind. Mentoring with cerecdoctors.com online, in Scottsdale and on the Mentor field trips can really shock you with reality. There is always more to learn (there is always “more than one way to skin a cat,” as my grandfather use to say. Still not sure what he really meant. But he grew to be old and was successful so I guess he knew what he was talking about.)

I just had an opportunity to join some of the cerecdoctors.com Mentors in Minneapolis to have a rare look behind the curtain at 3M. This company that has turned out to be a great materials partner with CEREC. They are constantly pushing the envelope to make the life of the CEREC dentist better, to make the dentistry we render to our patients better. They don’t sit back and think they have done everything and are happy with where they are right now.

We took a tour of the Innovation Center, where we were introduced to the past, present and future of this remarkable company. They say you are never farther than 15 feet from a 3M product or something built with the help of 3M. After this trip, I believe them.

We learned about the philosophy of the company, how it refuses to be locked into a linear train of thought. It encouraged cooperation among the six platforms that shared the 46 building blocks. Fifteen percent of time at work is to be devoted on personal projects. Employees are free to think, be creative, to team up with other individuals from all different parts of the company. These teams are encouraged to be creative, not be afraid of taking chances – and not be afraid of failing.

This is a company that has decided that it wants to be a bigger player in the dental materials market. And they have a budget of $1.6 billion to make sure it happens.

The Mentor program came to mind as the discussions went along. The cerecdoctors.com family is also a very dynamic community, with many doctors from all over the world  sharing their viewpoints and  advice, that enriches those who  participate in the discussion.