Chairside - Glidewell Dental Labs

Dr. Michael DiTolla: The thing I love about you, Lee, is that
you are dentistry’s version of Justin Timberlake, in the sense
that you really do it all. You teach photography. You teach
occlusion. You teach adhesion. You teach preparation. There’s
almost nothing beyond your reach. I think that’s due to a
combination of talent and your educational background. It’s
been an amazing path that has taken you to where you are
today. So as we get started, for our readers who are not familiar
with your background, take us through what you’ve done since
you graduated from dental school.
Dr. Lee Ann Brady: Absolutely. As you were describing that
broad range of topics, one of the things that came up for
me is that it also mimics what I do in my practice every
day because I’m a general practitioner, so I have to be well
versed in all of those topics. My path did not happen with
intention, so much as it just happened serendipitously. I am
a general dentist, as I said. I graduated from the University
of Florida in 1988 and was in and out of various practice
models in the years between then and 2005, when I was
asked to join the Pankey Institute down in Key Biscayne,
Florida, as a full-time faculty member. So I moved down
to Pankey and taught there full-time. I was their clinical
director for four years.
MD: That’s amazing to me that you got asked to be a part of
Pankey because the only communication I’ve had with Pankey
is they have asked me not to come to the courses.
LB: (laughs) Oh, come on!
I was sitting in one of their classes ...
and Monday morning of that class,
Irwin Becker, who was chairman of the
department of education at the time,
came up to me and said, “I’d really like
for us to talk privately.” And, honestly,
I thought for sure they were kicking
me out. It was like being called into
the principal’s office.
MD: So I’m amazed that they asked you to come on board like
that. How did that happen?
LB: You know, I’ll tell you as best as I know the story.
From a purely factual perspective, I was sitting in one
of their classes — I was taking their second class, which
at the time they called “C2,” their bite splint class —
and Monday morning of that class, Irwin Becker, who
was chairman of the department of education at the
time, came up to me and said, “I’d really like for us to
talk privately.” And, honestly, I thought for sure they
were kicking me out. It was like being called into the
principal’s office.
MD: You thought he was going to hand you a check with a
refund for your tuition and have you leave out the back door?
LB: (laughs) Exactly. “Get out of here!” So I was nervous
until we found a time to talk. We finally found the time
and went to lunch together and he asked me, “Have you
ever considered doing anything in dental education?” That’s
literally how I got asked. Up until that point, I really hadn’t
considered it. I taught briefly at the dental hygiene program
at Santa Fe Community College, which is in Gainesville,
Florida, my first year or two out of dental school, just
because my practice wasn’t busy and I was looking to keep
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