The Future of Dentistry with Corinne Devin!

Had a great time chatting with Corinne Devin in this episode!
We talked about how to have critical conversations, what it means to be a leader, and many more!

Watch on Youtube⁠
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qW5i1GH8w_0
Listen on Spotify⁠
https://open.spotify.com/show/33wgFWb3Df12hMXYHY2QNb⁠
Listen on Apple Podcasts
https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/the-future-of-dentistry/id1615607901

Instagram: @drcorinnedevin
Facebook: Dr. Corinne Devin

Hey everyone. And welcome to the future of dentistry. This is Allison Lacoursiere with clear coaching and clearly IG, and I'm so excited to have the amazing, beautiful guest Corrine Devin on the show today. Welcome to the podcast. Thank you so much for being here.

Corrine: Allison, thank you so much for having me.

It's truly an honor to be part of your show and I've loved the movement that you are creating in our industry.

Oh, my gosh. I feel like that it only makes sense that you get to be on the show that you were here interviewing because what you are doing the industry is so cool. So just share with the audience, like where you are right now and what time it is.

Sure.

Corrine: It is actually 5:37 AM in the morning, Friday. I am 12 hours ahead of Allison in the feature I am, uh, calling in from Eva Cooney, Japan, which is outside of Hiroshima. So yes, as an American, you can practice orthodontics. Everywhere in the world. And that's courtesy of me being in the United States.

Allison: Amazing. Amazing. Okay. So let me introduce you to those of those that are listening that do not know you yet because you are just somebody that as soon as I met you, I was like, we need to be friends. I am just so impressed and so inspired by you. And I just can't wait for everyone else to get to know your journey and you know, where you've been in.

Going because it's really, really cool and really inspiring. So, um, Dr. Creon, Devin is a triple crown holding beauty queen and a us Naval officer. She is a Navy commander orthodontist and a public speaker with a passion for volunteering. So she's currently situation stationed in Japan and she is returning to California, concluding her active duty in 2023.

So while she was in residency, she competed in one. The title, miss Texas. And then after graduating one, miss United States, 2012, internationally one Mrs. Galaxy 2014 and miss earth, 2018 and international miss 2020. So this title allowed her the opportunity to get involved with local communities. Speaking at events, including elementary schools, where she mentored young girls and show them that they can be and do anything from beauty queen to Navy officer to orthodontist.

She continued to balance her two pounds. Serving as the keynote speaker at the stem science technology engineering and mathematics conference to over a thousand middle school girls for the department of defense in Japan. She believes that being well-rounded in a multitude of areas can inspire, motivate, and place the seed of determination into our youth and their peers.

So, wow. Wow. Wow. Well, welcome to the future of dentistry and I am excited to talk about how you are creating and helping build the future of dentistry of orthodontics, um, today. So can you just tell us, like what has inspired you to, you know, that's such an incredible. The path that you've been on such incredible journey.

What has inspired you to do the work that you've done and to have accomplished everything that you've accomplished so far?

Corrine: Well, thank you. And I appreciate such a humbling introduction. I would tell anyone in the audience who's listening that. How, what inspired me was the fact that someone told me no, there was times in my life, whether it was a career counselor, a teacher, even a family member who told me, Nope, you're reaching too far high.

You know, that, you know, let's, let's not go outside of really what you can do. And that was just fuel to my fire of like, okay, Watch me now I'm going to make this happen. And it was just learning how to be instead of falling to traffic, leaving a trail. And that meant me asking for a lot of people for help taking a critical look at who I was and areas that I can improve, because we all have our strengths and weaknesses.

That's just part of being human there's things that we just naturally get. And other things that we have to work really hard at. But one thing that I learned, um, from growing up in a military family to drinking the Kool-Aid was. You know, natural talents only going to get you so far. It's the extra hard work, the dedication, the doing the things that other people won't do that over time is going to build the character and is going to give you that extra edge.

And, uh, you know, that that's no different than becoming an orthodontist, what everyone did to get into dental school and to get into residency to someone starting their own business and realizing that they really want to. Find their niche or be that person, industry known for that one thing. And so for me, you know, pageantry was a complete dare from some colleague in school that told me I could into it orthodontics.

I was never drink. I never had braces and never dreamed that would be an orthodontist. I wanted a pediatric dentist and that was just by a mentor by chance who told me I had the personality. And I would say, you know, the military, that was just something that if you told my eight year old self that I would do my dad's job and deploy and live in the parts of the world, I would tell you we're crazy.

But you know, I think it's just been one opportunity presents itself over the other. And I've, I've had colleagues along the way, uh, where I'm so grateful for when I was unsure what to do at a fork in the road, they're like, go, I would. You're never going to have a time in your life. You could always do this.

So that's really, what's kind of pushed me and I've been incredibly humbled and grateful for the opportunities to speak. Um, my most recent was through the American association orthodontist where I thought, you know, I'm, I'm not someone who teaches at a residency. I'm not in private. Correct. I, yes, I do practice orthodontics, but I'm in the military, which is such a different realm of the industry than what you, in what, you know, some people see because my patients go on ships, they go on airplanes.

Like if I opened my sunglass door, you would hear F sixteens flying by my window because I live in a high rise in downtown, um, Ava, CUNY, where it's a Marine Corps station. So it's sometimes it's surreal. And sometimes, um, it makes me grateful for the small thing. So, yeah, that's it. In a nutshell, I would say.

Allison: Oh, my gosh. I love that. I, I love that. You said like, you know, even grateful for the opportunities, but you've taken the opportunities, but not everyone does, you know, sometimes we get opportunities and we allow fear or we allow self criticism or like perfectionism or all of these things to get in the way of actually taking the step or taking that journey.

It sounds like you've really allowed yourself to step into challenging situations that have allowed you to grow to where you are today. I think that's amazing. What challenges, like what have been some of the hardest challenges that you faced, you know, being well-rounded sometimes has people put us into boxes or into kind of like categories that you have to break out of, or sometimes you have to kind of like prove to yourself or to others that like you can be in all these different spaces.

And so, in, in that sense, like what challenges have you faced kind of being in these multi-faceted careers and, um, industries.

Corrine: I would say some of the challenges I face and the criticism I've face is like that something's going to suffer. So, you know, you know, these are what I'm about to say, you know, is these are my views and not the views of the Navy, but being enable officers.

My first job, it comes first, actually over being a dentist or an orthodontist. Cause I was a general dentist for a couple of years and I've learned that. With any other passions that I take on any other hobbies or areas that I want to explore beyond that you have to do two things really well. One is you have to communicate really well.

I have taken coaching lessons. I have constantly worked in fine to my communication and I still am. There's still areas, you know, even this past week, I was told that I can improve on and it's learning not to. Take that as a criticism, because I think it's easy where we all have that type a perfectionist, but learning that, but learning how to lean in and be curious and be like, okay, I didn't see it from your perspective.

Let me see how I can be better because I've learned that when people do take the time to let you know, Hey, this is coming up from the right place, or this is how it's being perceived. They care about you because if you're, you know, no one's telling you any way to prove, I'd be a little worried. You're taking time to do that.

So that's one area, but communication, the second area is job before. You have to show that you are crushing it at your day to day job. Um, and that that's always been my focus. And I think that when you can show those two things that you are meeting the mark, meaning the mission, whether it's seeing patients, whether it was two days ago, me being weapons, familiarization with an M 16 rifle or a nine millimeter pistol or.

Next week running a physical fitness test and showing that I am in crushing those, then bringing in these other areas that you want to do, whether it's public speaking, getting involved in the community, um, writing a book, like all of those other passions are pageantry. It shows that you are already like maintaining and taking care of your, your primary focus and that's, those are the two areas I would tell people.

Like, you know, whether you're running a practice, you know, that is your baby. If you aren't crushing that, then bring other things in. It shows you haven't lost focus on what's more, what's important. You can add to it.

Allison: I love that. I love that. And I think that's something that as the title era, as somebody that's ambitious or somebody that really wants to do multiple things, it can be challenging because you don't want to let opportunities go by, but you also don't want to drop any balls.

And so I love that you've been able to kind of strike that balance and also just the advice. You know, create, make sure the performance is there and, you know, demonstrate that performance every single day. And then these other things aren't going to get in the way really of the, of the baby that you have.

So I love that. What is the biggest thing you've learned being in the military?

Corrine: Well, I know we don't have like hours on a bed. Um, there's been a couple of things I would say is, is learning to ask for help learning, to ask for help and, and, and admit when you are wrong. The hardest thing we do is we, we go to school for so long.

We're told all these things, and then we get thrust in a position of leadership or thrust in a pedestal that you feel that if you do anything to break that perfectly porcelain veneer, that it makes you less as a person when really. You, if you can just be honest, we could be like, you know what? Gosh, I'm really torn on what to do.

I would love to help her. Do you know someone I can go to, I think it makes you more human. It makes you more relatable and people like that about you. Um, you know, the other day when I had a colleague brought something to my attention and it kind of struck me and I was like, gosh, you know what? I'm happy to take a closer look at this.

Who could I talk to? Like, is there a book I can read? Is there someone I could learn from so I can be better? I think that speaks volumes of your purse of your integrity and also the courage you're willing to take to be a better verse in versus just saying, okay. I got it. Good to go and not really leaning into the problem.

So that would be definitely a lesson that I've learned. And it's a lesson I didn't really learn until probably about, I would say when I was in residency. So not until I was about four years in the military, went up in my first year of residency of admitting, like, I don't know everything even around these officers who are my attendees, who just are this shining example of like, God.

But in front of me.

Allison: Oh my gosh. It is, it is. So I it's something I still struggle with is asking for help. And I think you try, it's almost like the duck on the water. You like, you're glad you're trying to look like you're gliding along, but underneath the surface, you're just like, Ooh, like

Corrine: crazy and like help, you know, how much, how long can I stay up?

What can I do to still like, look like perfect. And it's hard. It's definitely hard, but it humbles. I mean, that's something that I always do, especially with the people that I lead is like when they come to me with issues or problems and be like, you know, how would you solve this? And they're not used to hearing that because I want them to know their input matters and that's something I would challenge.

Anyone in our profession is, you know, if you're in a leadership position, you know, when people come to you, you know, with their issues, you have to remember as a leader, they're trusting you to take care of things. Like you give away all the credit and you're taking out all the responsibility. It's not.

And with that, that's where I always tell people, if you come to me with a solution or how you would do it, if you were in my shoes, I'm going to, I'm going to do my best to actually implement it. You know? And I think that makes people feel even more empowered and more eager to come to you. When they see, you know, something that looks like a small ball going down the hill before it becomes a massive snowball that would turn into an avalanche.

I

Allison: completely agree. And I think people trust you more when you know how to ask for help. And when you, when you, when you're that person that's like, Hey, I don't know how to do this, or, Hey, what do you think that really allows them to trust you more as a leader? And that's something. I talk to my doctors about all the time.

It's something I talked to my teams about all the time, and that is like leadership skills. Like we didn't really learn leadership skills or, you know, dentist orthodontist didn't learn leadership skills in school. And so how, like, what would you say to my dentist or my orthodontist that are listening in terms of like developing their leadership skills?

It's something that I get a lot of, it was like, I wasn't prepared for this. I wasn't prepared to lead this team. Like what, what would you say. Start on that journey. Well,

Corrine: you know, for me, there's, it's, it's almost like going to the gym. Like you can kind of dabbled into it. Maybe take a couple classes, maybe read a couple books, but think about how you can apply what you learn.

Like what method is it? Some people need more. Like one-on-one coaching others, like take a book, they take notes. So I would say, I would first ask you to, what is that? What's the mode or the modality that you feel like you learned the best? Because once you know that, then, then the tricky, then the next part comes of like finding the person that's the best fit.

I have a few coaches in my life because I find I do really well with one-on-one having someone that I can reach out to. Really good situations, but then also apply what they learn, whether it's through emails. I would say the biggest thing with leadership starts with communication, hands down, hands down.

It's it is so easy and the society and the culture that we live in, how things can be misconstrued and mistaken. And. Also in-person communication is so much more effective than an email or a phone call. That's one of the circles I have. My boss is on another island in Japan, and I work with eight other clinics that are on different islands.

So we function in two countries and a 19 hour time zone change. So there is not a day that goes by that. I am not on my cell phone waking up early, staying up late. To make sure that an email didn't take a life of its own or a message from another person wasn't misconstrued to think something else. And that's tough as a leader, I would say it's an evolution.

It's, it's not, it's not, it's like the muscles that you maintain. You just don't stop going to the gym and think that you're going to make it. It's like the leadership. You're not going to stop going to a course, but I, I would say the hard part is once you know how you can learn. Finding the right coach.

Cause there's a lot of coaches out there and there's some that are great. And some that just, they may not be a good fit for you, but you have to find that person who's going to push you and put that mirror in front of you, that your family and friends just won't do. Because I mean, it compliments are great, but if you're not giving me things that I can work on, like, okay,

Allison: That's, you know, that's why we're here is to grow and to become the best versions of ourself.

And if we don't have those people that hold that mirror, and I say that a lot and my coaching practice, or even in myself, like when somebody holds a mirror to me, I'm like, you hope you held a mirror to me. And what I saw wasn't pretty, but I learned, and I understand. And so I love that it's like the humility to be able to see that and, and be able to do something about.

What would you say to, um, a dentist or, or an orthodontist that was struggling to have a critical conversation? Because, you know, it's, it's easier to not, but it's so important to have a critical conversation. What encouragement would you give them or what, you know, what would you tell them in order for them to move that forward?

Corrine: When it comes to critical and confrontational conversations, let's just submit. They're not easy. They're not easy because there's so much at stake. If there's any way for you to practice the conversation ahead of time with someone that you do. I definitely recommend that because it'll make it more smoother.

You'll feel more prepared I would do in a space where, you know, your emotions are not going to get the best of you, whether that's in the morning at night or in the afternoon, a time and space where, you know, you can be responsive and not reactive, and also learning to live. It's hard. It's hard for me. I love to talk.

I'm an extrovert. So I have to remind myself all the time, like, don't say anything, crank, let them talk, let the people speak. Because very often when you let the person you're having the conversation. Say what's on their mind. They're going to tell you exactly what you need to hear in order to resolve, to move forward.

And, and sometimes it's hard. I, I have them all the time and I just give them my direct attention. I'm not looking at a computer, I'm not looking at phone, I'm giving them and you're listening. There's three forms of listening. There's listening. That's passive listening. There's listening where you're quick to respond and then you're listening to understand, and that is something.

Um, my myself, like I really struggled to listen to, but I know how important and how beneficial it is, because even if you don't agree at the end of agreement or you don't get resolution, if the person felt they were heard and understood, you still have a relationship you can build on that relationship has not been torn or damaged.

Allison: Oh my gosh. Yes. It's a hundred percent. And you can tell when somebody is listening to just reply back, like you can, you can feel that energy. And so I hope, I hope this gate give, gives everyone listening, some encouragement on the importance of it, and then also some tools to have it because some of these are very practical.

Um, I really love everything that we've touched on. I know we don't have all day to talk about this. I feel like we could, I feel like we need to just like start like a leadership seminar right now and get moving. Um, have you so much for that. I really want to dive into kind of how you're shaping the future of dentistry.

So I love to talk about the future of dentistry because what we're doing right now, every single day, everything that we're working towards, working on how we're developing ourselves, our teams, and as leaders that's creating what is going to be in the future of dentistry in the future of the world. And so tell us what you're working on today.

That's going to help shape the future of dentistry because I know it's really amazing.

Corrine: Oh, well, thank you, Allison. One of the things I am working on is I'm getting ready to release a book. It's called commander to crown lessons learned as a Naval officer orthodontist and a beauty queen. And that comes out April 26.

And this was a labor of love. It's a book about my life, my journey, and also the lessons I've learned along the way, and people who were very beneficial and helped me at those forks of the road at those critical points that I have their permission to share in my book. And. You know, one thing that I have seen as an orthodontist and especially in our world that has just really blown it with social media is people want to know who you are besides this professional person they see in front of them in a white coat.

They want to know like, are you a mom? Are you a godmother? You and aunt, are you a father? Are you a pastor in your church? Like, what are the things about you? Because it makes you more human and more relatable. And. Empathetic to their situation. And when you have those multiple sides of who you can share, You know, that's going to be what people are gonna remember when they walk into your office or they meet you at a conference is how you really made them feel.

And that is the future of dentistry. It let's be honest. There's tons of amazing orthodontist and general dentists out there. But do you remember the filling they did in the mouth? Do you remember everything they did about their smile or do you remember how they. I feel every time they sat down in your chair or you lit, or they listened to you.

And that is something that I really am helping to see is kind of break that stigma of the dentist, the office being such a scary place versus it's a place where you go and they make you feel better and feel more confident. And that's something that I do my office and, you know, I have to, it's tough. I will be honest in the military.

I have a little bit more, I have a hierarchy and other things that I have to be respectful and remind myself of, but it doesn't mean you can't be professional and respectful and make people feel good. And that's something that I, I even do the, I get it. I have the honor of dream military kids here. They call them brought to the military.

But even yesterday I had a young boy who. It was really kind of, he was a teenager, tiny taken granted. And I said, you know, the reason you're here is because I looked over and said, your father is a Marine. He's a warrant officer who serves our country. And if he didn't do his job, I wouldn't have. I wouldn't have to be able to see you and take care of you.

And he just got really, really quiet. Cause I asked him, I said, do you know what your dad does? And he's like, I don't. I said, why don't you go home tonight and ask him what he does? And when I come see you to take off your braces, next time you can tell me one cool thing about your dad's job. And that is just another way to have people see the other side of being an orthodontist.

And I think that's really important. I

Allison: so agree with that. And I think as we get, you know, the world is getting faster, there's more technology, it's more competitive. All of these things are changing, but the human touch and the human element is becoming more and more important. And I think that's something that's never going to go away.

And it's something that we as individuals and as healthcare providers, Something that I remind my teams of all the time. It's like we're in the business of changing lives. You know, it might be moving teeth. It might be developing a proper and healthy occlusion over the course of somebody's life. It might be removing decay in somebody's mouth and helping them be healthy.

It might be battling periodontal disease, but at the end of the day, we're here as dental healthcare providers to change people's lives. Just as your example, you know, that kid might remember that forever. That might've changed the relationship he had with his father, because you're bringing every hat to the table, your leadership skills, your life skills, all of the things that you've been through.

And so, like I would encourage my doctors, listening to the student, like share their gifts with our patients, all of their gifts, not just their clinical gifts, but every gift that they have because we have that amazing and unique opportunity to touch people's lives and be consistently in their lives for a period of time.

So. That's amazing. Thank you for sharing that story. And I would love for you to share where people can get to know more of you to follow you, to get your book. Like where can they find you on the internet?

Corrine: So I have a website that's going to be coming out soon as well. The last week in April, it's going to be Dr.

Kerryn, Devin dot. C R C O R I N N E D E V I N. And that's the same name you can use to find me on Instagram, as well as on Facebook and YouTube and LinkedIn, and, you know, please reach out. I always love hearing from people. Um, whether it's orthodontist people in the dental industry, I will be at the American association orthodontist.

I'm actually one of the live speakers where we're connecting with people back that are doing the virtual course from the live course, as well as I do. States about every three to four months, depending on the travels with Japan. So, um, yes, next year I will be back state side station in California, which I'm very looking forward to being back in the United States, but yes, reach out soon.

I love, um, being part of people's journey and networking and seeing what is, what other people are doing at other parts of real, because if we can grow and learn and share it, you know, why not? Like I, you know, God is the age of where people. I feel that they have to keep things private. And if you do that, I respect that.

But for me, I'm someone who loves to share and grow and learn. And I would love to hear from you.

Allison: I love that. Thank you so much for your time for waking up early in Japan on a Friday morning. So Thursday for us here in Bermuda, but thank you so much for being here for sharing your wisdom, your light, and for being on the show today and for everything that you are doing, um, in your profession and you know, in your personal life as well.

And I'm so excited to meet you in person and just a few weeks. Um, so. Go and reach out to Corinne and get, go get her book and learn from her. And we're so excited to see how you're going to shape the future of

Corrine: dentistry. Well, thank you so much, Allison, have a wonderful rest of your day. You too. Bye.