Personal Growth
While working at Texas Children’s, Dr. Wilmore began to crave more growth from her career. She wanted to have a greater impact on the level of patient care, but didn’t feel that medical doctor was the right choice for her. The long hours in residency and unpredictable schedule once out were two of the biggest turnoffs. But until she had an epiphany at her dentist’s office, she hadn’t considered the profession.
“I realized, [my dentist is] a doctor, he’s 100-percent involved with his patients, he owns his own practice, has great hours – the kind of hours a woman could have, especially if she wanted to be a mom. That same day I left the dental office and told my mom I wanted to be a dentist,” Dr. Wilmore says.
Getting started on the path to becoming a dentist was a challenge, but Dr. Wilmore lucked out. She was accepted at the University of Texas – Houston, the only place she applied because her fiance worked at Texas Children’s Hospital (it’s where the two met) and she didn’t want to uproot him. While taking care of a young boy at the hospital, Dr. Wilmore met a key alumnus of UT – Houston, Dr. Les Fullerton. The boy turned out to be Dr. Fullerton's grandson. With the doctor’s encouragement, she trusted her decision to become a dentist even more.
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Dr. Wilmore married in the summer of 2003 and then started dental school, which was in some ways even more difficult than her job as a nurse. “It was challenging going back to school, getting back into the groove of taking tests and studying. Dental school was a job, I was studying all the time.”
Getting Started
After graduating from dental school, Dr. Wilmore took an associateship with a local dentist but quickly realized that she wanted something different. After she resigned and began looking for other opportunities, she remembered Monetta Reyes, the Patterson Dental territory representative who worked with her former employer. Dr. Wilmore called Reyes and the two began meeting regularly to discuss Dr. Wilmore's future. Out of their working relationship, a friendship developed.
One evening, at dinner with Dr. Wilmore and her husband, Reyes presented the couple with an idea that the doctor should start her own practice. “I was looking for other associateships, but knew I wouldn’t be happy,” Dr. Wilmore says. “I wanted to practice my philosophy and be different.”
“We had no training in school about how to start your own practice. There was no business management training,” Dr. Wilmore says. Because of this, she placed her trust in Reyes to provide her with the resources and guidance to start her own practice. Beginning with the Practice Harmony seminar at Scottsdale Center for Dentistry, Dr. Wilmore “leaned on me and trusted me to guide her,” Reyes says. “It was just having a relationship with someone you could trust to help make decisions.”
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